yeah, I useta know a guy from philly. big guy, shaved head, goatee, rode a harley with a sock-full-o-nickels to swing at SUV-driving road hogs on the highway. well, I didn't actually know him in person, just went to his newsgroup and website, but I dropped out after awhile. anyway, post a screencap of render settings, as yer settings appear to be bad, as well. one other thing: if these vendors are gonna use promo renders that a newbie user can't duplicate, then said vendors should provide a pz3 file with the settings needed to duplicate the promo render. if they refuse, then don't buy anything from them and/or demand yer money back.