JamesDeacon Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 I'm trying to create a basic animation of a building that I've modeled, but I'm having a few problems with the final gather solution. With Read/Write file enabled and as the animation progresses artifacts begin to appear and continually get worse. The first frame looks fine, but by the final frame the animation looks terrible. Strangely, if I render the final frame without Read/Write file enabled, the result is good. I was hoping to create a final gather map and then freeze it before rendering the final animation to avoid flickering and improve the render time (I don't have a very power full machine for rendering, just a laptop). I have included some images below so you can see for yourself. The first image is the 1st frame of the animation. The 2nd image is the final frame of the animation with read/write file enable (the one with the artifacts). And the final image is the last frame of the animation rendered with read/write file disabled. The scene is simply lit by a MR sun and MR sky with logarithmic exposure control enabled. The final gather settings are as follows FG Point density 3.0 Rays per FG point 1400 Interpolate over number of FG points 6 (I know this is pretty low, but if I have it any higher the weather boards start to look flat) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
postite Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Hi, How much frames of final gather did you calculate and how much frames is your anim? Did you use the same resolution for your pre-calculated final gather frames and for the final anim? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesDeacon Posted January 26, 2011 Author Share Posted January 26, 2011 Currently I am just doing a test animation so it's only 50 frames long and I calculated the final gather for every frame. For the final animation I was hoping to maybe only calculate every 4th frame to save on render time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Hunt Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 what version of max are you using? if it's 2010 or higher have you tried the "FG points along camera path" option? those artifacts look like interpolation errors as well ass image sampling. In gerneral you fg settings are very high indeed, animations can get away with much lower settings, which will help with render times and momory issues. jhv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesDeacon Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 I'm using 3ds Max 9. I realize the FG settings are kinda high, but if I use lower values a lot of the models detail gets lost. Surprisingly the fg only takes maybe 7minutes to calculate for the first frame, and each successive frame is faster (that's with read/write file enabled of course) so it's really not that slow. Whats the architecture industry like in Brisbane right now? I'm an architecture grad trying to find a job, but I'm not having much luck over here in NZ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesDeacon Posted January 28, 2011 Author Share Posted January 28, 2011 Perhaps I could make part of the model available if anyone is interested at having a look? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Hunt Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 pm if you want to send me the file. I am using Max2011 though. The industry was just getting out of the slump when the floods hit. So at the moment nothing much is happening, but I recon things will pick-up once the insurance companies release funds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Hunt Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 [ATTACH=CONFIG]41116[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]41117[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]41118[/ATTACH]Thanks for the model, and a very nice model indeed. I have played with it a bit to see whats going on. Bear in mind that I am using Max2011 so things have changed since Max9 days. I was able to recreate your issue, I still think its the interpolation causing problems. I made a few tweaks which seemed to help. FG settings: Density 0.5 FG Points 500 Interpolation 80 Diffuse bounces 1 Generated FG for every tenth fram Materials Now I cant remeamber if Max9 has the Arch&Design material, if it does use it I changed the material to an A&D, with the Matte preset Diffuse colour 0.7 AO with a 1.5m radius and a mid grey for the shadow colour. This will bring back the detail AA 4, 16 with spacial contrast 0.3 Now alot of the AA issues will be helped/ solved when final materials are applied. Mainly in the Window frames. Just for fun I also did a test using Photons and FG. I feel this gave the most detailed lighting. Photon Settings Max no Photons per Sample 50 Max Sampling Radius 0.3m Optimize for FG ON GI Photons 10 000000 Trace Depth Max500 , reflections 250 and Refractions 250 FG Settings Same as before except Difuse bounces @ 0 I am rendering off the animation with each of the settings and will upload them when they are done HTH JHV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Hunt Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 here are the three animations. they are .mov's jhv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesDeacon Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 (edited) You are a legend, thanks so much. Max 9 does have Arch & Design materials and the AO worked a treat. I did a few tests this afternoon and got some nice results. It's also good to be able to understand how my approach was wrong. I'll install the 2011 trial tomorrow (as long as my bandwidth allows) and have a look at your set ups. I'd heard of AO in the past, but never really understood what it was for until now. I will let you know when the finished product is uploaded to my portfolios you can check it out if you like? Thanks again, James Edited January 31, 2011 by JamesDeacon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Hunt Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 no problem I'd highly recommend reading the pdf on the Arch&Design shaders that ship with max, there is a wealth of info, just look in the additional help JHV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesDeacon Posted March 21, 2011 Author Share Posted March 21, 2011 (edited) It toke me a little while because I've been kinda busy moving to Aus, any way if you're interested here's the result http://www.vimeo.com/21221917 Now all I need is a job. Thanks again. Edited March 21, 2011 by JamesDeacon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesDeacon Posted March 21, 2011 Author Share Posted March 21, 2011 If anyone is interested the result can be viewed here http://www.vimeo.com/21221917 Thanks, James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Hunt Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 not bad at all, problably pushed the contrast a bit too far. Where in Aus did you end up? jhv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesDeacon Posted March 21, 2011 Author Share Posted March 21, 2011 Thanks, I actually wandered that about the contrast . I used the auto-contrast function in premiere, but think I might have a go at adjusting the level manually this afternoon. I'm down in Melbourne at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Hunt Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 good luck on the job front, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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