haha...I know what you mean, but the sad thing is, sometimes they do. I'm not a pro on reducing render times, but I would think that some postwork could light the entire scene up fine just by toying with some brightness and contrast...that's how I would usually do it, outside of maybe a few instances where I'd have to roll with something else. I'm beginning to think that a few minutes of postwork in Photoshop or something can save hours in render times and look just the same. Anyone else have suggestions to help out the Squeekmeister? :) MD