Thank you for the input.

I was hoping that the wording of my question(s) wouldn't confuse them with the "which is best / what should I buy" variey, but it's hard to gauge intent by a simple form post, so I do apologize. I was (and still am :)  ) simply, as new to this industry, looking for an effective way to examine one program over another.

I guess I was feeling mentally anguished at putting some more intense efforts in Carrara just to realize down the road that something else was needed or better yet - could have done the same thing faster or more productively, so thank you both for your input and guidance.

If you don't mind me asking a more technical question dealing with plug-in...since I am only on one PC, and obviously render time can be in the "honey, let's go out to dinner" deal. Do the plug ins like Vray, etc, actually reduce render time compared to the program itself? Or is it just a factor of the PC itself?

Thanks, again, and sorry for the stupid question,

• Paul