"...radiosity isn't necessary, and most procedural effects can be faked in Photoshop within a few hours." In a production environment a few hours is a lot of money spent... and in the event that it is an animation, post production with photoshop on every frame would take an eternity. Just do it right the first time ;) "I've never seen lights as all that important..." The entire purpose of a render engine is to simulate how light reacts with objects in the scene. Extreme attention to lighting is fundimental to a photoreal render. This is what separates the high end render engines from others; its ability to accurately similate real world light interactions in a 3D scene. ;) -Modulok-