Regarding the render times of "Where The River Goes" - how long did it take to render one image? You simply have to multiply the render time for one image with the number of frames. 50 hours does not sound strange to me! This means less than 9 minutes per frame. Not bad i think. Totally normal. Regarding your new test. When have you seen last time seen an animation with this settings? Especially when you imagine that a normal (PAL) video image has a size of 768x576 pixels. I think never. One reason why not are these rendering times. Another of course is the size of the movie - you can't really do much with it. If you calculate, with your setting each frame renders shortly over 14 minutes. THAT IS GREAT. Maybe you do some short tests wether you really see a difference - in movement - between final/broadcast and ultra. For render timers it makes a huge difference, maybe not for the visual improvement. But thats something you must "define" for yourself - look and decide! Indeed, Pro is optimized for G5 processors. But i would think that, what you gain with the optimization you lose with higher render options. Therefore hard to decide. But maybe you simply try it out with the demo version? All in all you don't do too much wrong. You simply must learn that 3D means long render times. And patiently waiting for results. Good for people that meditate a lot - lololol. At that point i always tell the story of my Bryce render record - three weeks rendering time for one image! Ok, a calendar with big images, but we needed 13 images that size! Juhuu! I hope i was able to help you a little, Walther

One day your ship comes in - but you're at the airport.