well my topic maybe was too provocative ... i dont need to become the ultimate guru :) what i have meant is that i have often seen that in the lifetime of using a software by a community a path of steps to be learned reveals itself. like "know these basics first" then "start playing with these settings" and only at the end "tweak these ultimate complicated but resulting in great results buttons".

when i look at clouds and skys there are so many factors that i feel overwhelmed. do i start with experimenting with different light models? do i start with cloud attributes? how does camera and sun stuff factor in? this kind of clarification is what i was hoping for.

when i was starting with indoor rendering my first attempts years ago where so disappointing that i completely ruled vue out for this kind of requirement. after reading more tutorials, examples and getting a feel of what does what today i see that actually it might become my preferred tool for indoor rendering (esp when it comes to integrate outdoor stuff seen in windows ... MR with Maya is great but once you load a couple of trees and grass with billions of polys it starts to get tricky).

of course i am aware that everybody learns differently, expect different results and basically is very unique. so i guess i was asking if someone was able to read my mind and produce a magic quickfix to help with supertight deadlines in the office life ... which of course is absurd and more than anything else a sign of my impatience to fully learn this great piece of software. come to think of it "patience" is one of the requirements that should be put on the box :)

anyhow ... in any case i'm very happy with all the feeback one receives in this nice forum and hope i will be forgiven if sometimes i produce silly post!

chris