Ambiant set to black is why poser people often have such ugly black shadows under their chins and arms when rendered. Select the skin (in the menu hidden under your line, top right) and make the ambiant color a nice dark mauve (purplish-grey, I use H-S-V commands, with the value at about 15%). Do a test render of a naked person against a neutral background. Do another with the ambiant set to black. You might even play with bright lime green and run a test. I think you'll want to avoid black ambiance for skin tones if you are doing live people. (Zombies are another matter.) OK, now select the "head" camera and close up on the face. Run a test render with ambiance on black. Find iris and pupils in that menu and set the ambiant color to orange (full strength) and render it again with the main lights down low: with the right settings, you can do hell-hounds and other glowy-eyed monsters. You can play with the reflective color the same way. Only by testing will you really find out what the dials can do... and you will inadvertantly discover some great effects. When you do something which you like, make a note of your settings! You may not need a milky-eyed moon maiden now, but when you do, you will want to remember how you got "that look". Carolly