Danamo - thx, but I do use "plop-render"; but I still need to see the whole scene to get the total effect into my mind. Bryce 3.1 here - I don't think I've got the "spray can" :-( Catlin. Hmm. My only objection to using a buoy is that "lonely sea" bit in the quote - I'd rather keep the sea uncluttered if possible. Good idea tho.. After the rather comforting (thx!) remarks, I've decided to persevere (at least for a while). I'm going to re-do the shoes/socks. They are just poser props, with the socks "clothified", but they're too low-poly to work as cloth, I'll need to take the objs into a 3D modeller and sub-divide. That is going to get some time to get right. I've played with the waves, and have something I like better; still not totally happy, but definitely better. I've also got the sand texture better, by changing the sand texture (as opposed to the "ripples") to "object mode" instead of "world mode" (DOH! I thought I'd already done that!) - may reduce some more. My main problem (ie the one I don't have a plan for solving) is getting haze to work properly. I want to soften the horizon, or possibly add a looming fog bank, but: If I increase the haze then it affects the colours in the rest of the scene (makes the near rocks go purple-ish) - I only want hazde in the distance; If I use volumetric cubes/spheres/cylinders sent waaay out there I get a distinct visible line in the sea, and also the smog that I was using shows up as blotchy bits rather than as a smokey effect. I don't know how to solve this yet:-(( Any help on how to soften the horizon would be much gratefully recieved! PS - I deliberately didn't repost a pic so as to cut down on WIP fatigue..:-)) PPS: have made mental note to self "NEVER EVER start a scene with the cam in the default position - always move it to the bottom or top of the screen (as seen from the top view), at right-angles to the default ground plane. That way x and z movements work as expected rather than zig-zagging unhelpfully around"...:-)) Cheers, Diolma. And thx again for encouragement - much appreciated!