Rhino 3 has a plug in called Bongo. There are two plug in renderer's called Flamingo Photometric (as well as Raytrace) and Penguin. Penguin is a fast renderer which will also work with Bongo in animations.

However, the animations I prefer are not Toons. I'm searching for Photorealism.

Another question, would this be the best forum to ask questions about Adobe After Effects? Do many of the users here employ it?

Yank My Doodle, It's a Dandy!