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... and I feel like such a noob

In the time I would need to set up all the shader and enviroment exposure nodes etc I would have already rendered like 2 full res maxwell pieces with outstanding materials

Still, I think mental ray is kinda interesting, and I will try and learn more.
Any suggestions, tricks, links?

One suggestion, forget about Mental ray.
And on great link: www.maxwellrender.com
And about tricks, Maxwell doesn't use any

I still envy the abilites you have when it comes to stuff that really makes renders pop.

2D&3D Procedurals, being able to animate all those, volumetric stuff.
The shaders are obviously crap compared to maxwells great BSDF, but the way HOW you can use them is pretty amazing.

Then again I'm recently dwelling into character work, which is not really Maxwells strength, esp if youre planning to go into animation.
Unless you do stuff like Meindbender of course.

Anyhow, I'm really enjoying learning it, and as a nice side effect im also starting to understand some maxwell functions better.

I find myself grinning at the UI now and then esp when you try to work with these CLUSTERS of Shader and texture nodes.
Its kind of a joke to me