Thanks Duckie! I'm feeling a lot better about the project as a whole and the more I render things and tweak them, the more proud I feel. A few explainations about that render. First off, the mirrors aren't mirrors at all... they're glass/Plexiglass planes for poster frames. I just haven't finished the posters to put in there yet. I've toned down the relection quite a bit and in the included render, you can see the difference.

As for the door frames, when I built them, apparently there was a minor inconsistancy with the actual splines - uneven or something - and that makes it look unround (is that a word?). Basically making it appear low res. Not sure how to smooth it out.

By "softening the edges on the round lamp", not sure which lamp you mean and how you mean to soften the edges. The light, the sconce... what? LOL!

Thank you so much for the compliment of the mood of the shot. I'm surprised I was able to get such a dark and kinda scary look going on. And I'm not even a professional. LOL! (Yeah right, like I'll ever get to a pro level with my stuff. LOL!) Remember, it's not a horror film, though the darkness makes it appear that way. Thanks to this list, I've gotten a lot of great ideas and they've truly helped me get that right look. Now if I can fins a way to get a little more of a photorealistic look to happen. I'm close but I feel I'm missing something. Phil McNally, who created the great short,"Pump Action", once told me GI isn't a technique... it's a style. I wish I could just find a way to get that "Pixar" look. I know they use Renderman and I'm sure it's available for Maya. But we have MR now and, with a fast enough computer, I'm sure there'd be no problem getting that look.

Thanks for the kind words and all the help. I'll get this movie looking good yet!

- Russell

P.S. - Included is my latest render of same scene... I added another sconce with both point and area lights to give it that bounced light effect.