I render everything with Firefly, with IDL, SSS and Global Gamma Correction on.

With Firefly its the materials that make all the difference.

I replace every single shader with one derived from Bagginsbill's BBGlossy, BBGlossy2, BBCandyPaint variants...

...or run it through EZSkin2.

The thing is, its not strict realism I'm after... but something more surreal, perhaps pseudo real or hyper real... in terms of the rendered surfaces, and lighting.

I'm certainly looking forward to giving LuxRender a go. But I wonder whether it will cater for the things that Firefly gives me...

I'm also wondering whether it will support LuxRender's GPU acceleration mode. Did Paulo mention this feature at all in the recent demo?