Can i use only Global Illumination

[mangalore]

I would like to know if i can use only mentalray GI for an animation (Without FG) and ways to get the render time very low but with good quality?

[SandmanNinja]

I would like to know if i can use only mentalray GI for an animation (Without FG) and ways to get the render time very low but with good quality?

 

Hi

 

I bought the mental ray tutorials from www.mentalboutmax.com - he's very good and gives you background info and works through several lighting and material options. He uses Max 9's Arch & Design materials a lot.

 

I used a skylight and turned on Final Gather and that did some good stuff for me.

 

But I'm focusing on V-Ray now.

 

Also, www.3d-palace.com is releasing a 'Mech Tutorial soon that uses the A&D aspect of Mental Ray / Max 9

[SandmanNinja]

Hey Guys,

 

Joel - Thanks for the kind words, but how can you

slip to the darkside? (just kidding).

 

 

Regards

Bri

 

Hey Bri!

 

Heheh I'm using v-ray in anticipation of my Gnomon tutorials that should arrive in a few days. But I spread the good word of your fantastic tutorials where anyone asks anything about mental ray.

 

Didn't know you hung out here - guess I should have figured. Hehe

 

Cheers mate - and eagerly looking forward to the next module in your series!!

[mangalore]

Ok I really thanks all of you for your prompt answers. I will further the question a little more: What is the average time for only one computer in doing animation with max+mental ray gi+fg? (I dont have access to renderfarms in my city) I use a athlon x2 3800 processor with 2gig ram ddr2, nvidia geforece 7800 pci xpress videocard. I tried to use fg in mr but it takes a long time just for one frame. I am trying to render a 3 minutes animation of interior archviz. Is there any setup that could be shared for interior rendering?

[AJLynn]

Wait a minute. A 3 minute animation on one PC - there's your issue. 3 minutes is 5400 frames.

 

You need to cut your render times to about 90 seconds/frame to be able to render that in a week. In this case, you're going to need photons+FG. Also, make the materials as fast rendering as possible and render at a reasonably low res, and use read/write FG map file.

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

in addition to the amount of time it takes to render a 3 minutes animation, interior frames will take longer to render. this is not a mental ray thing. i don't use mental ray. ....but in general, interior frames will take longer. so now you have a double whamy.

 

now, ...a solution might be to bake your GI into the scene, and scanline render it. don't ask me how to set it up, like i said, i don't use mental ray.

[SandmanNinja]

Bri - Yeah!!!!

 

mangalore - that's a tough question and really and truly there is no way to calculate how long an animation sequence will take to render out.

 

The conditions change.

 

You might have lots of lights and shadows and heaps of polys in one area, and then as you move around, the amount of calculations will vary.

 

I have heard of a render farm in the UK, but they charge by the CPU and CPU cycles or somesuch.

 

It took me a WEEK to render out a 45-second animation - and I have a duo-core processor.

[mangalore]

I am usin max9 but really dont know how to setup this for gi+fg i could afford i guess 5-10 minutes render time theres is a test i did just with gi and exposure filter in photoshop. Where can i post an image so you can see my test?

 

I used maya gi plus fg in the past, but i think is a little faster than in max i dont know why. And also the setup window for gi is so different than in maya; less controls.

[mangalore]

Why i am using max? because in maya is a pain in the a... to import autocad files for template purpose. They become like thousands of lines and everything slows down.

[nisus]

Do NOT use GI only. Think GI if FG is to slow, use GI for your bounced light instead of FG, it's a lot faster.

 

Quick ways for FG: set VERY low rays (5!) but a higher density... Might not be 'superb' but it will render fast and decent...

Think client/deadline-minded: an animation in less quality is better than NO animation at high quality...

 

nisus