We will pre-render the objects and save the precious time when rendering animations. We'll discover the challenges that we meet (such as missing specular in the baked texture) and suggest workarounds.
We'll spend some quality time with the node editor.
Finally, let's tweak OSA and Octree resolution. The result? Reducing the render time from 2 minutes to 17 seconds - 7 times faster! For 40s animation - multiply this by 1000 frames!

For more see blender-house.spaces.live.com/