If I pursued this image to it's ultimate end, it'd take a fantastically long time to do, compared to the relatively short 2.5 days this wip took. I'm ecstatic with the sky and snow though. I need ideas for creating lights that show reflecting snow without taking forever to render.

Are you using volumetric lights? As you know, that's a big factor in rendertime. very nice render - I like the wind blown effect of the snow. - TJ

Oooooh, I like the windblown snow too! Looks like Chicago in the winter...:)

This is a great image makes you want to be home in front of the fire. How did you get the blurr movement in the snow? Catlin

Believe it or not, the snow is a giant volumetric sphere. the .psd file actually you can see the snow in the head and tail lights of the beetle. The whirling blowing snow was achieved by I believe the "Starfield" base texture, playing with the colors a little, and then choosing "random" application of the texture. Worked awesome. Would love to get all the streetlights working on the bridge. As for the lights, they're invisible, but inside a giant volumetric sphere. Couldn't figure out another way to handle it, because volumetric lights just weren't cutting it well. Didn't want the harsh edges or sudden ends to the lights showing up.

This is a neat scene. I like the perspective and I too am a fan of the whirling snow. I wish I could advise you about the lights, that would certainly add to the scene. Lin

Hmmm... I agree, it looks kinda like the Windy City coming from that one bridge from Indiana (along I-94 I think.) Not exactly, but something about the buildings etc. I've found that volumetric radial lights look alright if they're placed inside/over a glass sphere. Dunno if this helps or not. You kinda have to build and boolean the light fixtures in a way similar to the real thing and actual light would be radial. Also a lot of tweaking and spot rendering would be involved in getting lights right, as the light setup window doesn't always show the light as is. I usually don't play with lights much myself 'cause the render time. Dunno what else to suggest.