i want to move through a scene i have created, BUT it would appear you cant use gluLookAt if you use glLoadIdentity() within the code following gluLookAt(...), so how do i get around this? i''ve tried glPushMatrix() and glPopMatrix() with no success. So does this mean i cant use translatef() and glLoadIdentity() help please this is very frustrating

try glGetDouble(GL_MODELVIEW_MATRIX,...) save the current matrix and use glLoadMatrix() to reload the matrix when you are ready to view the scene...
only a thought