I see so you use Lightwave personally even though you work for SW and are involved with the PW section. Good recommendation I suppose. :o)
Funny, the problem I have sometimes with exporting vrml or stl is that there simply aren't enough polys for some objects.... Reducing the poly count if necessary is no problem - there are utilities that do this well and quickly.
One reason I use something else is the ability to import some props from the vast number of models out there. I don't think SW has this capabity yet or can operate in a small render farm either which is desireable for animations.
With 07 PW is at last of a std suitable for SW users re materials and premade scenes etc Well done, however there are still niggling issues with it you need to sort... like the floor..still or again :o)
I might add that each renderer has a signiture look. Different folks will like one better than another or like working with it better or it fits their existing work flow or they are familiar with it or don't want to spend more or whatever. I don't have any difficulty with people choosing to use something else.
My own view is that while you guys have got this up to par this type of render will fade from popularity for stills. As multi core becomes ubiquitous so people will afford the time to run Maxwell and similar. Already people are acheiving really good calc speed that makes it attractive. I would say that networking 16 processors or say 4 quads you could churn out an impressive pic in an hour.
If you are keen to promote PW how about you do one of your ace videos showing how easy it is to use and what results you can acheive in a short time.
If I was really trying to be efficient in generating presentations I would just be tempted to skip the renders etc and capture realview as stills or video. Rendering and animation done well is still time consuming. Someday hopefully as graphics cards capability extend you will bring nice realtime shading etc to realview ;o) It would be nice if SW would refine and extend their materials and textures for realview now that PW is improved...
keep up the good work ;o)