Quote - Hm, something else seems to have changed too. It used to be that increasing IDL bounces greatly increased light spread, so that you didn't need extra intensity to lighten up dark areas. My initial testing indicates that may no longer be the case.

Anyone else checking in this area? Maybe I don't have a complex enough scene to make a different yet, I dunno....

I've wondered about this too.  If you use a single directional light, the edges of the figure are black.  This is why I always say one dir light is crap, but then other people seem to be making it work somehow?