Quote - Art is subjective.  Compared to the great paintings and works of art, anime tends to be very simplistic and is pretty far from realistic, but that doesn't mean you can't like it.  Sometimes things can be nonrealistic and still have a visually appealing quality. 

Huh? I'm not following you here. Nobody said anything about anime. The original poster said "trying for a life like render". Are you saying that the quality of being "like life" is subjective? I don't think it is. If it looks like a poorly lit CG, anime or donald duck or physically accurate human, then it is not a life like render.

Put it this way, a render of a Donald Duck doll can be realistic or unrealistic, regardless of whether we like Donald or not, and regardless of the fact that a talking duck that wears a sailor suit is - unreal.

If I knew how to make a render in Poser of a Donald Duck doll that fooled you into thinking that it was a photograph of a real Donald Duck doll, I'd be pretty proud of myself. I still don't know how to do that.

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Renderosity forum reply notifications are wonky. If I read a follow-up in a thread, but I don't myself reply, then notifications no longer happen AT ALL on that thread. So if I seem to be ignoring a question, that's why. (Updated September 23, 2019)