thanks t1ck - yes, I must admit I was kind of getting into the cheesy background sky images - i was kind of going for an end of the day, hippo on the range kind of vibe...:p I will try not to let the sky dominate the final image.

Not sure how much more I will be able to do with this before the deadline, as I am back into work today, but I have my maya books with me and I am reading about shadows and bump mapping...

Thanks for everyone's help.