NPR Animation

[mskin]

My task is to generate a number of rendering animations of generic spaces we create. these short clips will be assembled to create marketing material for various types of projects.

 

question 1: What resolution should i be rendering at. Considering the viewing audience will vary, do i need to render to a 1080 or 720 resolution? clearly the smaller the rendering the better in terms of time management.

 

Question 2: Using mental ray, FG and GI (and saving/re-using the maps along the camera path)- my render times are unrealistic. 500 frames = 147 hours (i have 8 cores, but could build an in house render farm with about 40 cores, but people will start getting mad). somehow i need to get this down considerably. I have considered using scanline, or some sort of NPR approach to the animation that sweeps a space and then fades into a realistic rendering. so perhaps this question is two fold - does anyone know where to start in terms of MR settings to help speed these up? OR does anyone know of some cool NPR animation techniques - if you're willing to share your secrets.

 

i used some paint/ink materials today and was starting to get some adequate results, but they were falling short of the quality i'm shooting for.

 

anyway - thanks.

[alias_marks]

I might try to render out a simple diffuse/beauty pass and maybe whatever the comparable solution is to a vray toon pass in mental ray, then multiply in post... then maybe play around with different types of 'free' passes in post, with some differing filters/blending modes, etc. (*i.e. zdepth, diffuse, AO, etc)

 

Ernest at Acme Digital has some npr animations on his site. I'd be curious what his render times are per frame...

 

Anyway, my gut tells me it'd be best to render out at 1080p if possible, but use the power of post production to keep your render times down, especially since your going for a type of npr.

 

Good luck, would love to see some process along the way.

Edited August 18, 2010 by alias_marks
added passes suggestion..

[Macer]

As for reducing rendering times in MR (assuming that you are refering to interiors), be very careful with your lighting; try to avoid area lights, set lights to emit from points, and only use shadow on enough lights to get the effect you are after. Avoid sky protal shadows!

 

I've often wondered about a NPR animation, please keep you developments posted?

[mskin]

great advice guys. thanks. i have played with a flat rendering and using some filters in aftereffects have achieved some preliminary pleasing results. i look forward to posting as things come together - and i look forward to harsh criticism