Static V-Ray Settings

[braddewald]

I tend to use the same V-Ray render settings for every job that I use. I know that what I always hear is that render settings SHOULD vary from job to job. I have a simple render farm and always render interior scenes with one or two (maybe) windows. Is it a bad idea to use the same render settings every time? Or, if I am doing similar scenes every time, is it ok? Also keep in mind that time really isn't an issue, so if the quality is great every time, is this a problem?

[ctk111]

Seems fine for the most part. Most of the settings effect quality and speed. If you're fine with both then you shouldn't need to tweak the settings. If you have some spare time it would be useful to change some of the options to compare render speed vs. quality. This will also provide an opportunity to learn more about what each setting does. Also, if you haven't already, pick up the 3dats book intermediate to advanced. There's a breakdown in the back of suggested settings with explanations.

[BrianKitts]

I don't think its a bad thing as long as your settings are set properly for your work. My work is also very constant in scene types so I pretty much work with 4 sets of quality settings. I have my working and production settings for interiors, and working and production settings for exteriors.

 

What kind of frame times are you getting? If your images always look good because exteriors are running you 10 hours, then no it's not the best.

 

(edited to reflect Brian Smith's well made point in the next post....)

Edited October 6, 2009 by BrianKitts

[Brian Smith]

There are 3 types of settings in any 3D program; quality settings, appearance settings, and tools. It's important that you know which are which. Using the same quality settings (such as Subdivs settings or Min/Max rates) each time, which all are geared towards controlling detail and noise, is no problem if you don't care about time. In fact, you could just use progressive path tracing in many cases and achieve the best possible quality. But you should avoid using the same appearance settings each time, such as color mapping, lights intensities and color, etc. That will just lead to the same old look each time and blunt your creative side.

[braddewald]

Thanks for the great advice. I typically get a render through in about an hour and a half just to answer the previous question. And I do change the color mapping settings for every job but I keep everything else the same.