Khai, I love your adaptation of the Mentat Mantra. Maybe, "that thoughts acquire speed- the teeth acquire a stain- the stain is a warning" Very funny. wolfmanjim, I'm not sure I've seen you're problem but do make sure that you're not outside an object wall. In preview mode an object with only inwardly facing normals might appear transparent but when rendered will block the camera unless you turn off back facing polys in the render settings. This may not be what you're experiencing but that condition can cause results similar to what you're describing.