@ Lady of the Lake: Merry Christmas back at you!
@ N-drju When I added that balloon, I later thought...umm, hot air balloon vs North Pole...well I believe in the magic of Christmas, so ....
I am working with curves and tried some candy canes, I will probably use the vary color clip as my mapping failed on red stripes through camera. I set size at 1, maybe go 25 or .025?
Roof candy has translucency and lower opacity, front chocolate, reflective shader
3 hr render at 0.5 micro detail and AA 6
I tried bobbystahr's trick with the balloon, using 2-- mapping one and cutting opacity with the other. I think I picked the one image up here, possibly yossam or DocCharley, thanks to you if that is true.
Santa cannot seem to stay away from this place