It will be nice to see what you have achieved.  I don't know if you are aware of vincebagna's tutorial on IDL based on Whichway's findings over at RuntimeDNA.  It would worthwhile to check it out.  Link:

http://www.runtimedna.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46536

So far, I have been playing around with it using Terradome.  Let me tell you, the results are fantastic but the render time is a killer!