> It probably depends on the scene.
> In some scenes the grainy approach
> is best, while in others the smooth one.

Yes, and now I've got proof in my hand. I've setup a simple scene (I will
post the source in p.b.s-f) and tried my own "one normal with HQ- AA" method
versus the common method you are suggesting "many normals averaged" and the
results speak loud. When there are more than one reflective object and the
rays go ping-pong, my method is best:

1 normal and HQ AA:  2 minutes, 34 seconds.
32 averaged normals, without AA: 13 minutes, 0 seconds.

The results look pretty much the same, except I got my AA and ... your
method was measured without AA.. But when the scene doesn't have objects
where the rays go ping-pong, your method are more than twice as fast as
mine.


Regards,
Hugo

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