As already mentioned...much has to do with lighting and texture. Look around you and see how grime and corrosion collects on objects, how light bounces...look at every detail. For example use the colour or bump map (depending on the surface) to affect the colour or intensity of highlights. Always used beveled edges (no edge is perfectly sharp), so that highlights bounce off the edge. Even though this is a big proportion of the equation, the render engine is the other and this is what gives many renders their individual signature.

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