hi,
I was wondering if there is a way to find the real surface quality of the materials for unbiased rendering, for presenting ones designs?…the remedy for that sickness of the arts which I
in common with many others feel so deeply
must be the giving of a new life to the people.
-- William Morris
And for rendered material properties, check out Dizingof's renders, he seems to have got most of them spot on as can be seen in the Designing Dice for Snobs thread.
It is pretty much down to what software you use and what it's capable of.