thanks for the support @james_t :)

nice answer, I've never tried to use it this way :)

Hey @Anson :). I don't believe it's needed, the denoiser worked quite well with just the 5 frames i tried. However, this answer is still needlessly complicated, since there are now free addons that are easier to use :)

No problem, feel free to ask more questions if anything else comes up ;)

Hi :). You need to keep the same Texel Density for all parts of the UV map. There are addons to help with that

Hi :). It's generally easier to have the final render in real world size, so that depth of field and light falloff will be correct.

good ol' nodes magic is what i'm here for :))

Hi :). The ScG is a stylized graphic translation. You'd have a much easier time modeling it from scratch, using the illustration as a guide :).

Hi :). You can link the nodegroup from a different file or scene. Depending on the Blender version, users may see the nodes, but won't accidentally change them.

Hi :). Lowering sensor size works exactly like cropping the final image. So instead you can render it with a higher resolution, and crop the image in post. The result will be the same, and you'll avoid messing with the camera parameters :)

Happy to help :). Good luck with your project.