Now we're cooking. So many experiments in this one render -- and they all worked out. This is Michael 8 standing in DM's Abiding Sanctum, with Iray lights set, and Iray creating the sky (iue., "Draw Dome" is turned on). I've also changed the shaders on the costume; the DOF is set on the camera ... and the whole whole thing rendered in six minutes while the computer stayed cool as a cucumber!
I'm juuust about through the experimental phase, in many ways. Everything is working just fine, and I've also thrashed out how to get the third party content to install properly, and (just as important!) be FOUND after it's installed! Turns out, it's the SAME file path to install both DAZ Studio Content and Poser Content. Studio reads the content differently and pushes it into two different menus, when you come to load it into scenes (which I wish it didn't), but during installation, it's the same file path. So we're happy here.
Next, I'll be installing lots and lots of third party content (something like 250 items), and then ... we're good to go. This is juuust starting to turn (back) into real fun!