estherau- you are one of the few really kind and thoughtful people here at Renderosity! And there are more, I know, but most of them prefer to LURK I think. Well, thanks for the comments. As I stated in the thread title, these are "Test Renders"- not FINISHED Art. I always do TEST RENDERS, don't you? Why render TESTS with shadows on if it takes twice as long? If an image looks like it really needs shadows--like maybe a DARKER Frazetta look, I might use them. Stewer- your statement about "importing Poser figures without tearing them in a dozen pieces. Loading and phong-rendering simple 3ds meshes is anything but impressive" You truely don't know what you are talking about here, bud. -"Tearing them into a dozen pieces"? What are you grasping at? Phong rendering? These were rendered in DAZ Studio with the 3Delight renderer. Your ANTI-DAZ, Fanatical Pro-P5 BIAS is really starting to show through now. You and some others are only here to BASH Daz Studio it seems! SinnerSaint - I own MAX 3 and Lightwave 6.5 but rarely use them. I can easily afford upgrading to the latest versions or buy Maya or anything else I want. But I use PHOTOSHOP as my primary finishing software and nearly all my 3D work winds up looking fairly different than a 3D look. For me, my bottom line is: Is this MORE FUN and EASY than doing it in MAX or Lightwave? The answer is most certainly YES. As far as getting to a rendered look that I can further manipulate in Photoshop- DAZ Studio is really terrific. Sorry about my ENTHUSIASM- I realize I should be a Whiner and Moaner and constantly SNIPE at people the way the whole P5 deal seems to work. Actually LIKING the software and the company that makes it is a BIG NO-NO and must be crushed by Renderosity Cynics! Teyon- I was WONDERING when someone would notice that it was an A-Wing and not an X-Wing! I realized it after I made the post- and in fact have an X-Wing I converted from Lightwave that I will be posting soon. I really expected my biggest BASHING would come from StarWars Fans. Thanks for the very CIVIL tone and note. It's AMAZING that someone actually can make a friendly comment without being angry and fanatically cynical, etc. wolf359- I know a number of artists who do things like you have posted and make a HUGE AMOUNT of money doing it. I know that may not be your cup of tea, but I think many in the Lightwave and MAX forums who think that their way is the REAL WAY to do things to are often VERY misguided. People may own lots of hardware and all kinds of special effects software, but often very simple things work for better, especially for people who like to work at their homes and make lots of money doing it "the other way". I really can't, and won't, tell you exactly what I do to make a VERY COMFORTABLE living that allows me to travel around the world and spend the majority of my time in my luxury condo in Hawaii where I am FORCED to watch beautiful daily sunrises and sunsets, and make my main weekly journey into "town" to get all my checks in my P.O. Box and deposit them into my bank account- It's a HORRIBLE LIFE without the LATEST VERSIONS of MAX and Lightwave (HEH!) I'm DOOMED to FAILURE! (He-he). I wish I had listened to all the RENDEROSITY "experts" (ho-ho). Why is my LIFE so BAD??? DAZ could never pay me enough to work for them. I do what I do with DAZ Studio just to make my own POINT- and don't really care what all the cynical little weasels say.