gsscott50@hotmail.com

Hi, I am currently looking at adding a render node to my current setup. I also need a laptop for light 3d work, photoshop and running Realtime engines on. My questions is - do I buy a dedicated rendernode and a medicore laptop or do I buy a good laptop which can do both? I don't have any experience rendering with laptops. Are they able to run at high temps for long periods without ruining the hardware? I will basically be using it for stills where average render times are anywhere between 2 and 5 hours. Anyone using a laptop as a rendernode out there? Anyone got any suggestions for laptops if this is a sensible option? Thanks!

Go to Save As > Archive. This will zip your scene up with all assets. As for plugins, it doesn't really matter, it's the settings that I am looking at really.

or post the scene and I will have a look at it.

The mode should be set to either Multipass Incremental (for your GI pass) or to 'From File' for your 'Beauty Pass'. There is no reason that the mode should be on 'Single Frame' if you are rendering an image sequence. If you are unsure have a look at this from the VRay help files....

i always use precalculated LC and IR. IR @ Medium (animation). AA settings do have a large impact on geometry flicker and crawl as you say. Using a quadratic filter with min1 max 10 settings always solves this problem for me. I have never used (or heard of anyone else using) LC for primary and secondary for animation, but let me know if you get good results, if you could post a sample of your final animation that would be awesome. Good luck!

I like the image. An excellent render considering it's your first attempt using this software combo. My only crit would be the unnatural exposure. Your camera is exposed for the interior, yet, your exterior back plate is also perfectly exposed. It will look more realistic if you blow out the levels to your back plate and possibly add a bit of bloom.

to be fair, your grasp on English doesn't seem to be great.

Bombay Bicycle Clubs new album is a bit special. Perfect summer listening.

I think they are excellent. Ethereal and dreamy. I'm from Scotland, I understand greyness and drizzle. But this is far from it.

do a search for 'royalty free music'. that should get you some suitably cheesy muzak.

right! a bit ridiculous on my part then. I've been using v-ray up until now. I've just been blagging it with mr thus far, but I think it is obvious I need to spend a bit of time learning the nuts and bolts. Thanks for your help.

I was thinking there should be a bit more light coming through. I have one massive mr SkyPortal just outside the glazing - set at '4'. FG and GI are on - settings attached. Thanks for your time matt.

thanks for your suggestions. i've now got a big rectangular photometric spot above ceiling height - cranked up crazy high. it seems to be working pretty well... but im not getting a lot of specular highlights on the gym equipment. it seems to be a bit flat and uniform. ive put in a couple of mr area spots (with spec only ticked) to pick out some glossies. In terms of the skylight? do you mean have a skylight instead of the mr sky/sun?

Hopefully that works out for you. I was going to suggest putting in a higher value for 'max num photons per sample'. This usually sorts out most of my blotchy ceiling problems.

have you got GI turned on?