Need help with Interior Lighting & Materials in Mental Ray

[GrimlockJE]

Hello CGarchitect forum members,

 

I am new to rendering in Mental Ray and I'm having trouble wrapping my head around all of these settings.

 

I've tried various tutorials and reached the point where I am now.

 

I'm posting my test renders and settings in hopes that someone may see what I am doing wrong.

 

For Test_19 I used FG + GI combo (each photometric downlight emitting 10,000 photons). Also using Arch + Design materials and ProMaterials. Colors looks good (a bit washed out but still okay) and for some reason I'm getting all of the "white spots" or "artifacts" (as I've learned they are called). Particularly on the metal materials but also seen in the wood chairs and floor tiles. Very grainy bunches of white spots instead of smooth gradients. Me = dumbfounded....

 

I discovered that if I set the material's reflectivity value to zero the white spots disappeared. But this seems like a lame solution and compromises the photorealism. I just feel like I'm doing something inherently wrong.

 

For Test_20 I increased the FG quality and elimated GI altogether. Took about 4 hrs to render. Colors are still good but everything is starting to get blotchy.

 

What's the best method to use in my case? FG+GI combo or just straight FG? Is there any way I can massage the settings to give me better render times with reasonable photorealism?

 

FYI I'm using Gamma/Lut correction of 2.2.

And I'm running 3DS Max Design 2010.

 

Any feedback, thoughts, or comments and any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[pmaggia]

HEllo GrimlockJE

 

Just one thing. Put Diffuse bounces in FG to 10 (now you have 0). Before render, put FG slide to minimum (Draft). For interiors, FG+GI is the best. MR is far the best rendering (and it's included in the package!).

 

Maybe you need to adjust exposure, give me back your comments.

 

Thanks

Pablo

[Justin Hunt]

generally the slodges are caused by your Photon radius being too small.

 

Also check the Glossy refelection samples , the default of 8 is often too low

 

If the image is looking too flat then play with the exposure control settings to bring contrast back

 

pmaggia, when using Photons then FG diffuse bounces must be 0, any more are automatically discarded.

[SandmanNinja]

agree with justin

and worse - if you put multiple bounces in there, it will spend time calculating them and then discard them.

 

I change my samples from 8 to 16 or even 32.

 

Try unticking the photon radius and let 3ds pick the size it feels it needs.

[wasteland giant]

this isn't going to be a lot of help but I really lot that woman - that whole collection of people isn't very good.

 

 

* on a site note, I think the lighting isn't as problematic as the materials and the particlarly camera view you picked. Not inspiring.