Cheers, I cut down the contrast and the saturation levels. The fur plugin is great! Just wish it did kill SUp!

Here is another with an attempt at putting in a "brooding" sky:

http://imgur.com/XQ2Ne.jpg

I'll have a crack with photoshop and see what I can conjoure up! I'll have a trawl around the library for some books on internal design and lighting techniques - there should be plenty as there is a large design department here at the university!

I'm thinking of picking up a copy of twilight render, as I understand it's based on the same underlying technology as podium but has a fair few more options that I can play with and tweak around, it has a very attractive price point too ($59) for an educational licence 😎 Now all I need is some time to play with it.