Quote - > Quote - For the P8 render the infinite light was left as is (i.e. with AO still on) but I turned off the IBL

That means AO was turned off after all, in the P8 render (taking stewer at face value).

Indeed, but ice-boy seemed troubled that I hadn't used it for the P7 render, when in fact I had.

For what it's worth, I'm trying to be scientific about putting P8 through its paces to try and determine 'best practice' so I'm changing as few parameters at one time as possible.

Early indications are that Specular nodes really bog the renderer down whereas Reflection nodes don't - well, not as much. Also, turning on or off smooth polygons in the render settings or on the object itself  influences those nasty dark splotches, but not in a way that makes any sense to me yet.

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