here is my basic scene.

My problem is lighting (from the lanterns) and render speed.

When i add a point light to each lamp with a linear decay rate, and shadow casting, rendering takes AGES!!! in fact if i set up more then 3-4 lights in total the scene don't render but instead after 5 mins a popup sais maya has to exit

My comp isn't the prob, i recently formatted, nad i have 2 dual linked vide cards that are quite nice, also 2 gigs of ram and a dual core processor etc etc...

so what can i do to speed up my renders, or at least make them work??

and is there an alternative light form that will work? i have tried them all but i am only used to point light. Volume light seems to screw up when i make it biger and stuff....



lil help plz?? lol