Carl
dont panic!!!
we have all been there and I understand exactly how you feel!!
Now draw a deep breath and go to Jim Solomon's site and get a copy of his excellent cookbook
http://www.saratogaskies.com/article...ook/index.html
to begin with follow his workflow exactly; as time goes on you you can experiment. V2 is much better than vi so just stick with v2 of his cookbook..there is also an IRIS yahoo group-on whih Jim is an active member but I really think you will start to see some spectacular results if you simply follow his workflow as outlined in his cokbook
ask if there are any questions unanswered after you have read his cookbook and actually tried it out