Check some of my images, Clyde. Of course, I have a 2.2 gig machine, pushing over a gig of RAM. I also have a 120 gig drive, so I can keep everything right where I want them. I have a large gallery, and some of the images show what can be done with terrains and lighting, just through experimentation and using things in different ways from what is expected. For instance, the sun can be used for ambience and a global light, with linear dropoff and other limations removed, can become the new sun, using much lower intensities than you would with normal lighting. My images are all sharper than you will see posted. However, they show sharper here than they do at some other places, but grainier than at still others. Even a jpeg, going off at 100%, can appear just about as good as a bitmapped image, but it won't show that way at these galleries. To get a sharper image, just make sure you lower the haze some, leaving enough to show distances, get good light right on your important characters, moving it around until you show just what you want to see, constantly doing test renders to check on your work. Having a strong system does help in that department, though. If and when you see my images, remember that each one took from ten minutes to twenty minutes rendering. That's all. Because of that, I can do a lot of little renders, using a few passes, just to be sure I get the light right and there is a balance. Fooling around with lighting especially can be the difference between creating a grainy image and a much sharper one. My terrains are made by mixing and matching various texture maps. The busier the better, I always say. You'll see that in my images, where a few maps tossed around can make a simple terrain mesh look like it's full of cracks, crevices, gravel, little bits of this and that. Who knows what's there? It's important to keep a check on the level assigned to the busy texturing, though, so you don't go overboard and make a flat, uninteresting sandpile, or, on the other hand, an ugly closeup of goofy shapes that look like gobs of wet, colored goo. I play in the deep texture editor, too, in order to alter whatever I see, then I test the results in the staging area. Good luck in your quest. Walt