Thanks ynsaen......I read through and i'm looking forward to more! Its very much what I was hoping to find, but reluctantly incomplete (so far). I dare say the subject of NODES needs(!) its very own forum. A Node Forum, as it were. However, as for my specific questions, my investigations lead me to believe there is no way in HELL that P5 is capable of using nodes to actually cast light, no matter the channel or combination. Sadly, I think I jumped the gun when I saw the 'pointlight' option in the Diffuse node. Ah well, I needed a good cry.