Xara is the most underated graphix software of them all. I used to use it to do some basic stuff like text envelope shapes, then Photoshop came out with that so i never got Xara X.
DX is right i'm sure, one of the popular 3D programs made up the bulk of the basic shapes in that design i posted. I'm just looking for the one that is the easiest to learn.
also cost is a bit of an issue, i'm not going to spend 700 dollars on something i'm not going to use that much. I can always 'sample' from other wallpapers i find on the web
not sure what the legality of that is, i see lots of design work with stuff 'sampled' from various other places. I once saw a pretty heated debate about it on a graphics board. Anybody know what the law is on that kind of thing......... i.e. you create a design which has a lot of collage work in it, you want say a pocket watch in it to represent 'time' .......... so you go to Google image search and search for 'pocket watch', how illegal is it to use that photo/illustration in your own design?