Insectoid Soldier's Secret Lair: Block-Out Refining (01) - 23 minute Production Quality render time!

All progress renders and screenshots to be compiled and posted at a later time.

Current progress
Comparing the difference between the Production quality and the Draft quality renders, the most significant (almost only) difference is the reflections in the water. In order to reduce render time I will experiment further with different lower Raytrace Shadow settings and likely remove the lair's back-most torch because it serves no purpose. The mia_material_x water reflectivity will be reduced significantly, as will further experimentation decide whether the central green spotlight is to be removed. The helmet illumination spotlight's fog also needs to be directly adjusted.

First Production quality Mental Ray render. (23:03)
Point Lights, Raytrace Shadows: Light Radius = 0.200, Shadow Rays = 30, Ray Depth Limit = 3.

Draft quality Mental Ray render. (06:39)
Point Lights, Raytrace Shadows: Light Radius = 0.200, Shadow Rays = 200, Ray Depth Limit = 1.

Render of block-out before refinement had begun.

My original, first block-out paint-over attempt.