*"*If done properly, you'll match anything coming out of Max, Maya, or C4D no matter what the setting."

I'd love to see some examples of that. The few Vue indoor images I've seen were OK but certainly no match for e.g. VRay. Then again, I haven't seen that many Vue interiors period - probabaly haven't search enough though.

I agree on the hair though that can be tricky in other engines -   IIRC, people have had problems with certain hair in FireFly as well. Like you, it's not something I've spent a lot of time playing with. I've seen one or two tips somewhere and it does come up, so either there's a trick or it is just a limitation based on the way most transmapped hairs are modeled and the way Vue works.

Sometimes it not a matter of whether an application ando something as much as whether it might be done more efficiently in something else. Tha gets into your resources, timeframe, skillset etc., which is probably why you see different apps used in one production - so Vue get used for mattes, Maya for other things etc. Hard to beat Poser and Vue though.  

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"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken