There has been a lot of interest in the forums in ray tracing and its possible use for animations. I've been following the recent developments in StructureSynth which I think will excite a lot of digital artists.  The development version of StructureSynth includes support for in-built ray tracing, as well as the export of Sunflow and Povray templates.  There is the possibility of automating either internal or external ray tracing using a JavaScript interface. For a screenshot of the development version of StructureSynth in action sees my blog.