haha hey i think i can shed some light on that elusive stuff you were asking about be prepared to be bored LOL ;) first off the rneders your seeing from ilm are actauly broken down to some extent for example the ball your talking aobut doesnt have textures except for the teeth mark etc it probaly has some specularty marks etc but even given the spec maps and the bumps applied its still missing something real i feel the pain heres where thomas knoll and other ilm old timers come into play with some very sweet propitary software One of the best things IlM an Weta do to there films is called digital grading Its way to long and boring to explain here but you can find alot on thenet about it im sure its simply a way to alter colors and light after a film has been made and makes all the difrence in the world ifyou look at a before and after shot its like looking at a actor on film with no make up and standrd lighting vs a model shoot where theres perfect lighting tons of make up and no flaws That alone doesnt mean squat though its the combination of things one huge thing i have seen ilm do is render the scenes with lighting which looks good but not quite real like your saying wven with perfect maps and models but then volumetrics and effects are actauly renedered sepreate and composited in the things like dust particles clouds etc make the biggest difrence ivbe seen get the star wars 2 video it comes with a second disc and on that disc is a before and after shot where it takes you through smooth shaded animatic to completed scene youll see what a difrence the digital grading and volumetrics make! matte painings help tons too I know your probaly thinking that there isnt dust coluds etc in everything but take a look at the dvd of starwars youll see what i mean ok now for a soultion i think we can get you to the point where you can render a realistic ball ill try to do a tut with reflections and lighting set up etc in lw in here this weekend feelinglike crap now for now you may want to try downloading a free plugin call hdr shop that will help but not cure your problem