Quote - Now, we can recreate that same scene with Gc, on a similar computer, with 2 lights and render in several minutes.  A time saver if you are crunching illustrations for a story.  If you can technically do it correctly the first time then why not.

I use gamma correction.  I can recognize it when someone does not use it.  The specular bloom in the texture, over lighting in the scene, fine details that are washed out, and deep shadows that are just too deep to perceive any detail at all.  These are qualities which can be found the realistic realm, but if you want to carryover some of those qualities onto the next level of your work, would you rather have it correctly available from the beginning than trying to change it in postwork?

Well, I'm going to do postwork anyway because I don't have the hardware to render a complete scene, so I have to composite from several sources. But if GC can save time on the initial render(s), that's absolutely worthwhile.

On the other hand, most of the time I use 2 or maybe 3 lights if I want a rim light. I don't have the patience for more. So does adjusting the shaders into the monstrously labyrinthine things I've seen in the forums not actually increase the computational power needed for the render?