Do I Need An Upgrade?

[Jeffrey]

Following is my current Spec:

 

Windows XP Pro Service Pack 1

Pentium 4 3.0Ghz

1.0GB of RAM

ATI Radeon X300 128MB

 

When I rendered an image with size 3216x2251 and it took me 23hrs.

I'm using 3ds max with Vray. The project has 94 light with GI 1.0.

 

Anything I can do to reduce the rendering time?

 

Thank in advance~!

[aaron-cds]

If that's a single processor, yes you need a new system. A quick fix would be to add another gig of ram.

[AJLynn]

If you give us some info on Vray settings and any difficult materials you're using we might be able to help. That many lights with GI could get pretty nasty depending on what you're using - might be something you can change without needing new hardware.

 

You don't "need" to upgrade a machine just because it's one CPU. I use 1 CPU. I'd be happier with 2.

 

BTW I had an interview at a firm today. One of the things somebody said to me was that they have a "small" render farm of 30 nodes, and they'll be upping that to 100 soon. This was an architecture office, not a movie studio.

[ihabkal]

surely if you are doing a $35000 or $50000 animation then a rednerfarm inhouse is a necessity. if one is working for $10 an hour like some do here in Lebanon then you can't afford a dual dual core for $6-7000 (plus shipping, customs, taxes which could easily be $2000)

[foxlee]

Why would it be necessary to use so many lights, is it interior?

What type of lights are they.

I do not understand the common need to use correct IES or whatever for every light fitting in an interior.

So the amount of lights would probably explain the render time.

My current spec is a lot lower than your existing ,with no problems.

[Jeffrey]

Thanks for the advices, the following is my setting plus couple of images of the project. Image Sampler: Adaptive subd min=-1 max=3

Filter: Area 1.5

GI: Irradiance map 1.0, QMC 1.0

Irradiance Map: Low HSph=35 Interp=20

QMC GI: Subd=10 Secondarybounces=3

Environment: GI Environment(skylight) 3.0 *light blue*

QMC Sampler: Noise threshold=0.002

Colour Mapping: Linear Multiply: Dark Multiplier=2.0

Bright Mult=1.0

the other settings remain the same.

One target light from outside, +-15 Vray lights(interior), others photometric target point light for creating halogen lights effect.

 

Hope this is detail enough~!.. Thanks!!!!!!!

[Jeffrey]

If that's a single processor, yes you need a new system. A quick fix would be to add another gig of ram.

 

What difference can I expect from another gig of RAM?

[STRAT]

What difference can I expect from another gig of RAM?

 

if your modelling and processing of that model exceeds 1 gig then yes, an upgrade another gig or so is essential, but if you work well within 1 gig's worth, (like i do most of the time) then you wont need any extra. you'll know if you need it or not by monitoring your ram usage.

[alfienoakes]

AJLynn wrote:

BTW I had an interview at a firm today. One of the things somebody said to me was that they have a "small" render farm of 30 nodes, and they'll be upping that to 100 soon. This was an architecture office, not a movie studio.

 

I am doing a homer simpson dribble... Not because you had an interview, but a 100 node render farm... Thats dreamy stuff.

 

I have been doing 5 - 6k frame renders lately, and a 100 node farm would be just the ticket..

 

Anyhow... agree with the other comments. 23 hours is a long time for a render, but.. the image size was quite large, and I bet there's a few glossy reflections in there, with high settings as well.

 

Post those settings, and the guys here will get those render times down.. probably..!

 

Andy

[foxlee]

I see what you mean with the seperate halogen and spotlights, you need the effect in the scene.

The Vraylights can really slow renders down and 15 is a lot of Vray lights , try to split your scene up into seperate rooms for interior hi-res render ,and only put the essential lights for the particular scene in there, delete all unnecesary geometry. Keep another complete scene for walkthrough etc. This scene you will have to economize with light use as well since it is animation.

[JamesTaylor]

with that many lights i'd suggest having a look at the render hidden lights switch in the vray global switches panel in the render dialog box........can't remeber off the top of my head how its set by default but having it set one way means vray will only calculate the lights that are not hidden by geometry (or something along those lines) may be off help

 

check out http://www.spot3d.com for more info...

[Jeffrey]

Thanks Everyone, I did what most of setting you guys suggested and it does speed up a bit~!.. Will do more tweaking.. thanks again~! Have a nice day