Hey, those do look great. Photography really picks up those surface highlights. It's a real art challenge to paint a tree with that kind of surface form, though it should be attainable (easier said than done I'm afraid :) I've been looking at the range of contrast recently. It's what gives that sense of depth, as in the inner branches and foliage against the outer edges. I've been loath to go really dark, but as I look at these, the shaded areas are almost entirely black, and I think that constrast range really sells the trees as dimensional. Thanks for posting the great render. It's a real challenge to see if I can get a similar result. If that's possible, I'll post a PDF tutorial on what was done, along with the nozzles/tubes necessary to try it yourself. Dennis@DigArts