thanks for the explanation yeah the 2d version was similar...just over thinking it with 3d version lol okay, will post my results with this method...and eventually post a new thread on the program mentioned...I may have more questions on some of my procedures I plan to implement in this program. I thought my 'look' procedure for the organisms would be much easier in the large array but...i guess I'll have to rethink how i'll do that, on the 2d version i cheated and just used getpixel lol