Looks amazing Chris
I have to admire your patience, I was actually trying to do some 3D text and got to the rendering, render time 4 hours, hit the Esc key after 15 minutes you could imagine the result
Thanks very much Ged for your feedback.
When I work on a 3D image with many objects as this one, I save a copy every 15 min. (PS crashes sometimes).
Then I render little squares all the time, even before applying color or texture. When I'm satisfied I reduce the image to 30% and render this small size. Takes maybe 20 min. to see the quality I'll get.
I almost always start rendering the big size before I go to bed. So 10 to 12 hours is enough in most cases. Sometimes I'm happy with the quality just after 50 % of the rendering time in the morning after breakfast.
You see, it's not just patience, it's more about a good time management. On the other hand I'm a lucky retired guy with lots of time during the day.