Well don't think I can get any better. Not saying this is great, but will have to wait on the rest of you to learn new tricks. This I used Agiels star field tip, I used it on the glass as well and toned it down some to try for the wet frost look. Tablecloth,... just something different. I tried to get the pencil a little chewed on. Photo in postcard and background taken by my sister in law on her trip to Germany. Look forward to seeing everyone elses progress and learning from all of you.

Love how the post card is the backround setting! Very clever. That glass came out great, although I'm not sure I'd want to drink what's in the glass. The table cloth works very well and adds a much needed punch of color. Excellent effort.

The glass and liquid look great.

That glass looks fantastic. The backround image is very cool. I think the pencil needs some work. Maybe the backround could be blurred slightly to give the picture more depth. :-)

Wasn't going to post another, but taking the suggestions and it is fun playing with it. Here's another attempt, simplified the cloth some, worked on the liquid and blurred the background. For some reason it took a lot longer to render than before.

Blur increases the render time. The blur came out grainy. The background picture is so interesting that I like it better without the blur. Perhaps if the wall in front of the castle wasn't blurred and the castle was slightly blurred it would work. The blurring should be done in a paint program so the render time won't increase and the grainy look won't be there. It could control what part of the picture you want blurred and how much. Cool table cloth and the glass, cubes, liquid and caustics look great. I'd love to see another render of your scene.

You're right the blur was the cause of the increased time. At first I was trying to figure out how to blur just the background in psp. couldn't find the layer thing that's supposed to be in infi... didn't feel like looking it up, but depth worked like a charm. Much nicer blurring that way, thanks.

That is great looking. Excellent depth increase. I love it.