Hi Mike, Yes, increasing the interpolation and photo count will help. I have better succes with AO when Interpolationis at 50% or better and with photon counts approaching 50,000. BIG DISCLAIMER - This is really contingent on what you have in your scenes. Bump maps can really extend render times with AO. I'll usually try to accomplish "fake" bump maps with specialized highlight and shininess channels when animating to save time. Transparency also will extend times - especially if you enabled "Light through transparency" in the AO settings. If you want to post a frame for trouble shooting I can be more specific with helps. Mark