Orio, Thanks for answering in detail. I am leaning towards Vue4Pro at this time. I intend to be executing on a five node renderfarm. However, I don't know my seconds-per-frame budget yet, and I may have to add some nodes. I am leaning to 4pro because apparently the advanced users in the Vue community have developed tricks with 4 to emulate advanced lighting and other photo-realistic qualities. I also sense that 4Pro has been in use for a while whereas 5Esprit is so new it is likely in the "users are completing the shakedown" period! What I might do at this point is focus on producing the animation itself and render a small format version, perhaps 480 x 270 or even a little smaller. This will buy me time with the client. Then, when 5Pro comes out and gets stable, I will upgrade and re-render at DVD highest quality taking advantage of some of the radiosity features here and there for critical scenes. I can't discuss the content of this project ahead of time, but I will be able to show results afterwards. ::::: Opera :::::