huh? susan, i think you're asking 3 questions here.. first of all, you can make metal shine like metal through the way the material behaves (bump maps, reflection maps, etc). second, reflection variables do influence shine. increasing the quality of the render might also give you better results. third, in terms of radiosity, bryce doesn't do it, it can only fake it, and even in that sense, radiosity is not how objects shine as much as the light that they reflect unto others (and not the quality of the shine itself) drac