render settings

[louis.cho]

I am currently in testing some renders settings for my animation. It's a 600 frame anim at 720x350.

 

I made theses tests and here the result

FG low, aa 4-16 --- 6m28

FG low, aa 1-16 --- 6m15

FG Draft, aa 1-16 --- 4m35

FG low, aa 1/64-1/64 ---2m12 ---write FG

FG low, aa 4-16 --- 6m36 --- Read FG

FG low, aa 1-16 --- 6m32 --- Read FG

FG Draft, aa 1-16 --- --- Read FG map low settings

 

is it correct? The result is very very similar between all renders. My conclusion is that Fg draft and aa at 1-16 will be very good. 4min35 per frame.

 

Any idea?

[Justin Hunt]

If you are using the proper workflow of freezing the FG the it will have little to no effect on the final rendertime regardless of Low or Draft.

 

AA will have a great effect. 1,16 is fine for stills but too low for animations especially if there is alot of fine detail. 4,16 is better.

 

I am doing an animation right now and have found that FG setting even lower than draft work better than low. I also use AO to bring out the detail

 

Here is a frame of the animation

 

JHV

[louis.cho]

So I will make some test with settings lower than draft for FG and keep it to 4/16. How can I use the AO in a animation render? I never did that before.

 

Thanks

[Justin Hunt]

Absolutly, in fact if you are going the low FG route then Ao in essential

 

I am using these settings

 

Density 0.2

FG rays 400 (can be less)

Interpolate 100

Bounces 3

Trace depth 30

 

This is giving me a nice clean FG that render quickly for a very detailed scene. The colour bleed is more a colour wash and the AO brings out the shadow detail. There is no crawling or blochyness.

 

The animation starts outside and moving inside, walking down a long mall. My lighting rig isnt normal though. I am using Output shaders (self illumination) to light the interior and the MRsun and Skt system. There are also a few omnis to highlight important areas. So in all there are only 10 lights.

 

JHV

[louis.cho]

Ok, it's seems to be a good pipeline, I must give a try.

 

Correct me if I am wrong but what I know about AO(from still images) is that it's a completly different render pass. So I must re-render all the frames with the material overdrive with the AO in it? Is there another way?

[Justin Hunt]

If you are using the Arch&Design materials (which is a must with Max9) then AO is built in

 

If you are using standard materials then use a Oren-neylar blinn shader with the AO droped into the diffuse level slot.

 

JHV

[louis.cho]

just to clarify: when you say 'AO is Built in', do you mean that you don't need to make 2 render pass anymore?

 

If no, what I understand is that I need to make another render with an AO material and mix this render in a software like combustion, no?

 

thanks

[Justin Hunt]

I mean that if you look under the Special Effects tab of a Arch&Design material you will see Abient Occlusion with settings.

 

So no need to render a separate pass for AO

 

Might I suggest you take some time and read the manual with regards to the A&D shader. It will give you a fuller explination

 

JHV

[louis.cho]

yeah, you are right. Thanks anyway for those infos, I didn't know about the built in AO of MR 3.5, this helps very much. I will also read the manual.

 

thanks