Apropos Posted October 1, 2004 Share Posted October 1, 2004 Cinema 4D running on 1.44 G4 Powerbook with 1gig I am rendering a large timber / stone / glass building and have had to model ALL the (many) timber louvres so as to get the effect I am after. There is no context as I will composite the building with Photoshop. I have turned off reflection on all materials except the glass and set the glass texture tag not to generate GI. My G4 laptop has been rendering for 36 hours solid and is only 1/3 the way through the final render. I am using a Dosch HDRI Sky with no other lights. The settings I am using are as follows; Radiosity:100% Accuracy:55% Stoch: 200 Min res: 10 Max res: 150 Prepass size 1/1 AA=Best I am hoping that it may finish rendering by sunday evening (2.5 days) Is this a normal render time for a relatively large model? If not, what can I do to reduce it - I desperately need these images by tuesday next week so your urgent replies would be welcome. Thank you. Jason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STRAT Posted October 1, 2004 Share Posted October 1, 2004 can you post up a screen shot? only allot of modelling detail can drastically slow down gi rendering. also, what res are you rendering to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apropos Posted October 1, 2004 Author Share Posted October 1, 2004 I am rendering to 3000 x 2000 pixels - Too high? I can only do a basic screen grab from an old brochure image - How do I post this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STRAT Posted October 1, 2004 Share Posted October 1, 2004 3000x2000 using those settings on a laptop will take forever. not using HDRI will help render times. what is the intended output to be used for? (ie, what medium/size?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apropos Posted October 1, 2004 Author Share Posted October 1, 2004 It will be printed no larger than A4. The final render will be composited into a photograph of the site. What resolution should I be using given my hardware limitations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apropos Posted October 1, 2004 Author Share Posted October 1, 2004 Also, Do you think it will finish within 2.5 days given that it is 1/3 complete after 1.5 days - It seems to be getting slower and slower. I am reluctant to stop it for obvious reasons - It is looking great so far... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STRAT Posted October 1, 2004 Share Posted October 1, 2004 couldnt say as i dont know how the scene is placed. for A4, i'd render 2000x1500 pixels, change the pre-pass size to 3, and fiddle with the AA settings (ie, up the threashold to 20% maybe, or change the min/max levels to 1x1 / 2x2 ) the GI settings sound fine, so whats probably killing it is the reflection AA. put a render tag or 2 on the glass object to lessen the reflection AA. AA tweeking in C4D makes a MASSIVE difference to render speeds, whilst maintaining a good image quallity. also for the glass, make sure it doesnt recieve AND cast gi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apropos Posted October 1, 2004 Author Share Posted October 1, 2004 OK, thanks very much for your help. Now the dilema is, do I stop it and 'tweak' or let it 'carry on' Answers on postcard please... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apropos Posted October 1, 2004 Author Share Posted October 1, 2004 Another thing... What does cast/ receive GI actually mean? By turning cast/ receive GI off on the glass rener tag what will happen? Will the reflections/ shadows etc. still be visible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STRAT Posted October 1, 2004 Share Posted October 1, 2004 Another thing... What does cast/ receive GI actually mean? By turning cast/ receive GI off on the glass rener tag what will happen? Will the reflections/ shadows etc. still be visible? yes yes yes. stop and tweek. at this rate it'll still be rendering this time next week. cast/receive GI means what it says - it allows an object to be effected by GI, either recieving it or emitting (casting) it to it's immediate surroundings. if your glass is milky, or semi opaque, then you should really keep the GI properties alive on it, but if it's clear glass, then set a render tag to not be seen by GI. Also, to be completely effective, the glass material itself needs the generate/recieve gi tabs turned to 0% in the illumination tab. because the glass is clear you'll not notice any noticable lighting difference in the model as long as cast/recieve shadows and seen by rays boxes are checked it'll continue to act as normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STRAT Posted October 1, 2004 Share Posted October 1, 2004 lol, i forgot to ask the most important question reguarding speed - what diffuse depth are you set to in the gi render settings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apropos Posted October 1, 2004 Author Share Posted October 1, 2004 Not with my mac at the mo' but think the diffuse depth is at the default setting - 3? What should it be set to??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STRAT Posted October 1, 2004 Share Posted October 1, 2004 theres the culprit! there is no "proper" setting for it, it depends how you've lit your scene. but a setting of 3 will take literally 400% times long to render than a setting of 1!!!!!!!!! i always set my diffuse depth to 1. but you'll have to adjust your current lighting solution to suit. diffuse depth is the light bouncing option. the higher the number the more gi bouncing you'll get. (but absolutely MASSIVE render times will happen). most c4d users will swear by a value of 2 or 3 or above, but i personally go for a value of 1, and use 2 or 3 infill omnis or up the skydome's gi luminance just to help lighting levels. this saves masses of render time. for internals make sure these omnis cast soft shads, and are only checked for ambient illumination in the properties tabs. for externals just up the general illumination of the gi material for the skydome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted October 1, 2004 Share Posted October 1, 2004 i always set my diffuse depth to 1. but you'll have to adjust your current lighting solution to suit. diffuse depth is the light bouncing option. the higher the number the more gi bouncing you'll get. (but absolutely MASSIVE render times will happen). --Broken record warning-- The mesh refinement form of radiosity, like what Lightscape does, means that you get hundreds or thousands of bounces in an hour, even with 1/4 million polys, and the results are stored, so you do it ONCE. Then raytracing 3K x 2K can be done in a few minutes. But, you cannot animate it and you can get artifacts, so the C4D methods beats it there. But render times are just killing me with C4D. I know there are all these ways to make it better, but I am discouraged by the compromises you must make to achieve reasonable render times. And C is one of, if not the fastest render engines in use today? Buy more computers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STRAT Posted October 1, 2004 Share Posted October 1, 2004 to be honest, maxon's AR is in pretty desparate need of a re-write and complete over-haul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sketchrender Posted October 1, 2004 Share Posted October 1, 2004 hi can i ask you if you post a cinema file windows if possible, with the lighting set up ie the omni lights and the sky dome, I have had a aughfull lot of trouble settings lighting up. it would be a great favour if you could. thank you phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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