Thank you for all of your advice...
My render times have been greatly increased since I changed a few of the rendering parameters.
I am rendering out at 1280 x 584.
Some frames are taking up to 3 hours now.
I am currently using the Mitchell filter size '4'. The Alising is set to min 2 / max 4.
Before this, I was not able to achieve smooth diagonal lines (even with bevelling).
I am using one main spotlight that is emitting 80,000 photons. G.I. accuracy is set to 500.
Raytracing depth is set to 6 for reflection & refraction - due to there being a max of 3 overlaying glass areas.
Saf is currently looking into the possibility of us having access to a farm.
I was planning on creating just one version of the scene - demonstrating the contrast between the daylight & interior lights - by way of animating the interior lights intensity across the length of the piece. I would try to have a completely different light set up the kitchen area:
I know what you mean about not panning the camera both ways. However, The initial frame is what will be seen by anyone entering the house through the front door. Therefore, the animatic demonstrates the maximum panoramic view from this point and then again from further forward in the room. I have reworked the animatic and reduced it by 250 frames.
The 'still' section of the original animatic was where I intended to animate the interior lights to create different moods. However, I figure that this can still be done whilst the camera is moving.
The reason for animating the door open is to show the change and contrast of light & reflections entering the room. Plus I've achieved a nice effect where the two panes of glass layer each other:
I like what you've done with the manipulation of my image. This is one area that I need some advice on. Originally, I was trying to create a 'photo-realistic' scene. With a huge contrast between the brightness outside and the unlit interior. However, as you stated, this doesn't serve to produce the most inviting images...
I am now thinking that maybe I should begin with a 'dark' interior and make the scene come to life with creative interior lighting?
Therefore, the light change across the scene will be similar to what is demonstrated in the last two images in your earlier post.
What would you suggest?
Cheers,
Nigel
Hi Nigel,
ReplyDeleteJust a quick reply for now. I've got to get to work :)
Currently what concerns me most is your long render times. Believe me, when you start doing interior lighting, these times are going to go even higher. You have made no comment on my advice about baking, I wondered if you have looked into that?
Just for you to get a little perspective on things.. on "happy feet" we were rendering 2K images and with all layers were expected to keep render times down under an hour. Most of my shots were averaging about 20-40 mins per frame depending on the complexity. If I were lighting your project I would be hoping for under 20 mins a frame as it is not what I would call a complex shot (straightforward camera move, no fx/fur, no big motion blur issues) I am working on a mcvities advert at the moment, 1024,576, and it taking about 10min a frame, and has maya fur in it.
Here is my advice. Do a quick test. Get rid of GI, and raytraced shadows. Use one spotlight for the sun with a re-usable/once per job shadow map at 2k. Then use an ambient light for your interior (no shadows). Turn reflections depth to 1 and remove refraction. Render a separate occlusion pass (keep settings to 64 samples max) and multiply over in comp. Then tell me how long it took to render. Compare the result with your last render, how different do they look? You can have quality and low render times, it just means looking at things a bit differently.
Look forward to your response.
Tessa