Things i’m especially interested in:
Why raytracing seems to “wash out” texture? (without RT new pencil looks like old one and old one is completly %) -ed )
How to make bubbles on surface of tea? Whatever I try(raytracing depth, different approaches rto modeling) they’re opaque.
I tried to make surface of tea more “live” with VColLight but it requires more subdivision, May be I just need switch to Yafray?
Could anybody tell what font is used by Koh-i-Noor for markings of their pencils?
hi, looks good. if your texture is washed out, play with the brightness and contrast in the texture buttons. for bubbles, did you try using tiny spheres?
However i can’t quite understand where are brightness and contrast buttons (all textures on pencils are procedural, basically bump maps and color map for wood at the tip.)
As for bubbles being separate objects - will try it too,
Problem is that RT will always make it appear that the image softens up - it’s because people get used to the ZBuffered algorithm. You should see the Oberon engine room in ZBuffer - looks like a child’s drawing with bold colours and massively over-bright lights. The problem is not with RT, but with ZBuffer being a little over the top. Always remember that for RT, colours and lights need to be just that tad more intense to get the same effects - even more so when you switch to Yafray.
For that image, try these:
Soften up your shadows - if you have a harsh lamp up above - try switching to a more distant spot where you can control the intentsity and softness radius. More softer, less intense lamps will give you a better image than a single strong one.
For your bubbles, do what you did to get the opaque ones, but twiddle with the Fresnel and Fac values to push some of that opaqueness to the edges. Do bear in mind however, that you are looking almost directly down onto the bubbles, and the colour that you see in them may really be of the tea behind - not the bubble.
Also try fiddling with the Translucency (which controls the rear-side of the transparent surface), and the make sure that you don’t have mirror too high (that will make a transparent surface appear less so because of the mirror effect).
Updated http://blending.hotbox.ru/Practice.html (the top one is new). Tea is still messed up, but in a different way, and tried new lighting. And no, i’m not s.l.o.w. I. a.m. j.u.s.t. b.u.s.y. a.n.d. l.a.z.y. s.o.m.e.t.i.m.es…
So it’s 3D render about drawing. 
(all textures on pencils are procedural, basically bump maps and color map for wood at the tip.)