Cutting render time

[jmurray]

Anyone have any tips on cutting render time without sacrificing quality of the image. I am using a g4 quad core 4gb ram power mac, and i am assuming its a pretty fast machine, but i still run into extremely slow renders, even at low dpi. I never use radiosity, so i am a bit baffled at its speed. The only thing i can think of is the area lights, which i try to use in moderation. Please Enlighten me.

[Ray Libby]

What are you rendering?

[jmurray]

Its a trade show booth, a two color back ground, about 16 area lights, 10 spots, 4 directional lights. mostly wood textures from vw, and a few glass textures. i guess it seems like some complex stuff to render, but i still feel like i may be doing something wrong

[Pat Stanford]

What is the purpose of the area lights? To actually light the scene and cast shadows, or just to look like lights? If you just want the look, try placing a 3D polygon with constant relectivity and a plain transparancy. This should greatly reduce your rendering time.

If possible, try to avoid using area and line lights unless you are doing Radisosity rendering.

Pat

[jmurray]

the area lights purpose is to light a graphic inside an aluminum frame, simulating a track of lighting along the frame.

So do i need any lights aimed at these polygons?

[jmurray]

i tried it and i guess the only problem is that the polygons do not emit light on the graphic surface

[jmurray]

ok i fiddled with it some more and i think i got the hang of what your suggesting, i just had to rotate my polygon

[Ray Libby]

If you are using extruded moldings or other details with arcs this adds a lot of overhead to rendering. Try using line segments in place of arcs for the moldings, unless you are zoomed in you won't be able to tell.

[Dave Donley]

Hello jmurray:

In general you can help reduce render times by

1. Reducing complexity of geometry (i.e. lots of geometric detail to less detail)

2. Reducing amount of geometry (hiding things using classes)

3. Number of pixels (sheet layer DPI is one example)

4. Number of shadows and/or complexity of shadows (area and line lights fall here because they are like adding many more lights with shadows to the scene)

5. Amount of reflections and refractions (through reflective textures like glass or mirror, amount of reflections can be controlled through the CustomRW Options)

6. Indirect lighting calculations through radiosity and final gather. The controls for these features are intended to balance speed versus quality.

Hope this helps!