Steve , you didn't mention which ray tracer you used.
I more than dabbled with POV-Ray through the late nineties, it's free and about all I could afford.
Once had a fully animatibly humanoid/dragon creature on a detailed Harley Davidson, with a second dragon on the back giving a one fingered salute.
I don't even dare think about how many hours I spent creating those two objects, let alone the rest the things I had...all lost to a computer crash with no backup.
Once made a 30 second animation about a hallucinating frog chasing a TimTam biscuit, it took 5 solid days (120 hours) just to render the frames.
It was about a girl I had the hots for...she didn't like it.
Such is life.
I do still look back on those days with fondness though, very creative times.
Justin