True - they'll almost certainly use custom shaders. I've used shave with Lightwave 6.5, didn't know it could load maya objects?

I'll keep on it in my spare time anyway - i'm a C++ programmer so...

Yes I've been playing about doing things like that. It works really well for stills but its a pain when rendering an animation with moving cameras and objects.

Is there a renderer out there which...

I am fairly new to Maya and am very impressed with the paint effects engine and fur engine. I require to reflect both paint effects and fur but since they are done post-render this is not automatic....