Hi again!
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Xaviy, one of the reasons Lumion is so absurdly expensive is that they focus more on the content (trees, people, etc) which they probably buy from 3rd party, include in Lumion and get a 50% profit by reselling those with Lumion than by focusing on the engine itself. I guess that´s why they said they would never allow customers to import their own deformable geometry animations (like people walking). They want to sell those (and charge very well for it) instead of focusing on some old time problems of their render engine.
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Good to know. Well, allowing people importing their own animations and any kind of model (high-detailed trees, etc) is definitively one of the priorities in Paradise Sandbox. This will be much more interesting when the animation system will be ready, scheduled for March, so people will be able to create their own animations / high-quality videos. And, as a passionate graphics developer, I will always be improving the core, not just the user interface or "secondary" things.
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Anyway, about Paradise Sandbox: how do reflections work? It is like Lumion where most reflections are cubemaps and planar reflections you must choose a few surfaces and then the engine REPLICATES the whole scene to simulate reflection? Or did you guys find a way to raytrace reflections?
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Yes, we are using raytraced reflections with the viewport data for every surface in the screen and also true reflections (performance hit) in the ocean system.
Look at the floor (or at chairs), these are real-time raytraced reflections (no performance hit).
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Do transparent surfaces cast semi-transparent shadows... or colored shadows (of the semitransparent surface has color)?
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Not at the moment, but should be done along the 1.X version (it's not hard to do, just a matter of times and other priorities right now).
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Can surfaces be at the SAME TIME transparent and have bump maps/normal maps?
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Yes, of course. This can be used for glass or any other kind of irregular and semitransparent surface. Also, PRO users are able to create their own materials and shaders (for advanced / technical users...).
Semitransparent surfaces are able to refract the light too (in real-time!). For example:
https://twitter.com/Xavyiy/status/375947891757432832 
Cheers,
Xavier