wow can't believe i didn't notice that- thanks. i've really got to tighten up my modeling technique. maybe it would be worth it (after the million other things you have to do of course) to put in some sort of "auto snap" that would correct these tiny discrepancies. actually what might be better is to just have the program highlight or draw a circle around places where stuff comes really close but doesn't touch. that way you could correct it yourself if you wanted. of course this kind of stuff is no substitute for clean modeling practices, but it might make moi more artistic and intuitive to use.