Animations Without Flickering

[Noise]

Hi

 

I am very new to Mental Ray and was trying a few short camera paths but, my goodness the flickering !

 

What is the best way to prevent flicking in animations ?

 

Thanks

 

N

[SandmanNinja]

you need to render the final gather map separately, and skip every other frame (every Nth frame=2). Save it, then render your animation using the pre-calced FG map.

 

It should provide a nice, smooth animation.

[Noise]

Joel, many thanks for that. I am mighty busy at present and when I give it a try will no doubt be back for more advice.

[Justin Hunt]

further clarification to "nth frame"

 

depending on how much your camera moves around determinds what n should be. ie

 

if the camera is seeing alot of new areas in a short time, like moving from one room to an other, then n will be a low number. However if the path focuses of a small area with little change in what you are seeing, like a zoom or a pan, then n can be a large number.

 

Also the camera has to move for additional FG samples to be stored.

 

A combination of high Photon values and very low FG values give better results and quicker than high value FG alone.

 

jhv

[cupsster]

further clarification to "nth frame"

 

depending on how much your camera moves around determinds what n should be. ie

 

if the camera is seeing alot of new areas in a short time, like moving from one room to an other, then n will be a low number. However if the path focuses of a small area with little change in what you are seeing, like a zoom or a pan, then n can be a large number.

 

Also the camera has to move for additional FG samples to be stored.

 

A combination of high Photon values and very low FG values give better results and quicker than high value FG alone.

 

jhv

is this method apply also for animation with moving objects with local transformations and deformations like a moving people? or it is needed to render this kind of objects as pass?

 

thanx

[Justin Hunt]

If the moving people contribute very little to the lighting then you can leave them in, (I often do). They will pick up subtle lighting changes as they move through the space . Combined with AO it works really well.

 

However if they contribute a major part to the lighting, then you will have to use a different lighting method and compositing.

 

jhv

[Noise]

Ok, I'm a complete Mental Ray novice so could you please confirm how right or wrong I am please.

 

I am trying to render an animation which doesn't flicker so this is the process I have been using;

 

1. Render every 10th frame with Final Gather on and save FG map (see image 1)

 

http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=31232&stc=1&d=1234183044

 

2. Deselect Read/Write file and select Read Only FG Freeze and untick Enable Final Gather (see image 2)

 

http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=31233&stc=1&d=1234183326

 

Then render each frame to create animation.

 

I am assuming that this is incorrect because the test I did flickered.

 

Thanks

 

N

[Justin Hunt]

See my answers below in

 

Ok, I'm a complete Mental Ray novice so could you please confirm how right or wrong I am please.

 

I am trying to render an animation which doesn't flicker so this is the process I have been using;

 

1. Render every 10th frame with Final Gather on and save FG map (see image 1)

YES

http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=31232&stc=1&d=1234183044

 

2. Deselect Read/Write file and select Read Only FG Freeze and untick Enable Final Gather (see image 2)

IF YOU UNTICK FG IT WILL NOT RENDER WITH FINAL GATHER AT ALL, LEAVE THIS ON, HAVE BOTH READ/WRITE AND FREEZE TICKED

http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=31233&stc=1&d=1234183326

 

Then render each frame to create animation.

 

I am assuming that this is incorrect because the test I did flickered.

 

Thanks

 

N

[Noise]

Is there a way to pre render the FG without having to render the frames ?

 

Thanks

 

N

Edited February 10, 2009 by Noise

[cupsster]

yes, if you thinking of visually seeing actual render proces you can uncheck rendered frame window in renderer output group [f10] (as mentioned elsewhere, it should speed up computation little bit, but i can't confirm that) or just click Generate Final Gather Map File Now on Indirect Illumination tab [f10]

[Justin Hunt]

IN max2009, there is a button under the FG file Path called "Calculate FG now". Hit this and it will calculate and save FG but not render the beauty pass. Works with animations, but not recomended to do this through Backburner.

 

Which brings up another hint, calculate the Photons and FG on ONE computer. Once its frozen other computers can read the FG map file.

 

jhv

[milfora]

When I render my final gather map out, I turn the samples down to 1/64, 1/64 and render out at half-res

 

I typically use Backburner to render out the FG map, but I always select a single server to take the workload, usually the fastest available in the farm. (check 'Use Selected' in the Server Usage panel, as opposed to 'Use all Servers')

 

Another thing to keep in mind is to remove all animated objects from your FG solution. I usually turn off all my animated vehicles and trees. This speeds up my FG calc significantly.

 

AM

[Justin Hunt]

I also like to hide Glass objects, like window pains. Makes it easier for FG samples to get into the building, also make it quicker.

 

jhv

[cupsster]

very useful reading... i read help a lot but this kind of info i think should be provided there as basic one

[ramy]

Check out my postings for dynamic and static animations:

 

dynamic

 

static

 

They essentially are the methods mentioned here, but dynamic animations have moving or secondary animation.

[quizzy]

shouldn't max2010 come out almost??

 

http://area.autodesk.com/index.php/blogs_ken/blog_detail/3ds_max_design_2010_sneak_peek_flickerless_animations_with_mental_ray