I heard somewhere that the reason the early CGI movies (A Bug's Life, c. 1997 comes to mind) looked so sterile was that they didn't have the computing power to add in the dust motes and so on that we don't notice but miss if they're not there.A+++ The little details such as the imperfection of the grains in the sand art bottles, reflections of the computer screen, textures, shadows, very impressive!
How long did something like this take? What software did she use, blender?