[droid42]

I started imagining the paths that would have to be calculated for a large number of instanced chrome spheres under an HDRI sky.........

Yes, such a situation is a nightmare for a path-tracer but it makes little difference (to the CPU) if they're instanced vs. "real" See above...

Ian.

[Hybaj]

Hey droid nice to see you here. Wait a minute! Are you a cust.... why??