one last quick render of everything before leaving... I think the material is almost the same as the background, I might do some new renders tonight...
What renderer, and show your reference photos please. My streetlights do this. All renderers are not created equal. What shadow type are you using? Etc.
I haven't used the hair in a while, but I'm pretty sure you have to bake it in 3ds Max. It's a render effect, the hair is only generated at render time.
Beautifully presented! It was great the way you showcased your texture maps and renders. The AO renders are amazing! Top row stuff! Keep posting your work!
Which renderer are you using in xNormal? The Optix / CUDA is much more faster, but tend sometimes to turn more wash out than the default bucket renderer.
MaxScript is not the right tool for this. It's too slow handling image files. Maybe you can try using render to texture to render a smaller image size (with MaxScript).
The render looks great but as vlad said, the render doesn't really match with the ingame pic. Also a minor mistake on the straps. The crease/wear should follow the gem.