Here is some info I posted at DAZ3D: " ... we took a lot of shortcuts to reduce render time (not our first 48HFP rodeo). 720x480 frame size ("preview" to most), still images with Particle Illusion 2D effect overlays - birds, smoke, etc., (which render in real time or faster, no kidding), actual "preview" render settings in Vue (so no antialiasing, but it was underwater so 'its not a bug its a feature'), only basic Carrara lights [i.e. no Global Illumination], etc. The Houston contest producer, a longtime veteran of the contest and a good friend, got it to look pretty good on the medium size screen, using her projector in the smallish theater. A high res projector in a big theater would have probably been disaster for us. ... the one that really helps, I think, is Particle Illusion's 2D overlays on stills (or videos). Smoke, birds, welding sparks, water wakes, auroras, etc., all render in essentially real time. The video has a bunch of these, making up a big chunk of the 5 minutes. BTW, the overhead view of the ~abstract submarine wake is a Particle Illusion preset titled "Weird Wake", overlaid on a top down view of [PhilW's] 'Realistic Seas for Carrara'. The ~15 second clip rendered in about 30 seconds." I should also add the use of Carrara's NLA figure animation "clips", mostly derived from imported aniMate mocap files.

Keep in mind that, like the other 51 teams, we followed the motto "If you sleep, you're doing it wrong".