cutting down on rendering time

[Pe6r0]

hi, I was experimenting with displacement textures when I realized that I needed a vast number os polygons to get the desired effect

temporary render:

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f283/Pe6r0/asteroidsurface.jpg

I like this obj a lot, it has the ammount of detail I need. however theres a tiny problem... 1024^2 points :o makes handling it really slow (which is not really the problem) and the rendering stupidly big and vast. It kinda "jams" in a part - organizing asteroid field (the obj). So Im guessing its making the displacement for the render or something similar. I was wondering if theres anyway I can cut down on this part (maybe make the displacement feature permanent? if so how?) its a fairly uncomplex render besides that part and I would hate to have to make a lower polygon object since I wont get the sharpness desired :(


keep in mind that texturing and the displacement texture itself are all still sketches... not much room for advancement if lowest quality render takes 30 min

[Bushmsn]

What kind of render settings do you have? Try lowering the antialiasing until you are still happy with the output. Also have you tried increasing the threads? In the render options panel increase the segment memory, that might help. Also you could try removing polys from the model. try displacing it in modeler then remove unwanted polys. Also the resolution of the textures will effect rendering times.

[kopperdrake]

If your texture is applied as a planar map ( I assume it is, in the Y axis) then you can just choose 'Save Trans Object' in Layout's File menu, which will save the geometry as it is in Layout, ie with the displacement map applied. You can then bring it back in as a replacement object for the original land object, but with no need to apply a displacement map.

Is this what you were after?

[Pe6r0]

saved trans obj really helped since I could then use it in modeler and removed unused polygons (big flat surfaces and such) :) it cutted rendering time a lot :)

[kopperdrake]

Great :) Pretty much anything that applies a deformation to an object (displacement maps, bones etc) will slow layout down as it has to work it out every frame as you move around layout.

[Stooch]

yeah save transformed geometry. open in modeler and the use quemloss 2 and tweak the setttings until you like them

stuff in the very back, that wont be seen upclose at all can be very very low poly. mountain sides that dont face the camera can be stripped down completely and flat.

also, render a panorama view of your landscape and the mountains on the horizon, map them on a world sphere, tweak the mountains in photoshop too. Use fog and DOF to further hide the background mountains, allowing even less detail.

turn off shadows and diffuse on the sphere and crank up luminosity and now you have a rich world set that renders in a fraction of the time. assuming that you arent changing the environment lighting in real time, you should be fine.

p.s. you can also buy the latest lw upgrade and use Vue5 infinite :)

check out this test i did in like 2 hours of owning vue:

http://www.stooch.net/gallery/d/1563-3/paradisetest2.jpg

there is even a cratered effect to modify the landscape for a moon like surface.

[Pe6r0]

image editing would work if normally except Im making a video :) anyway Im now reducing the polygons and try to the object to a normal size with decent sharpness :)

whats the best way to reduce nº of polygons? Ive been merging flat surface polygons and using a fixed point merging... is there a better way?

[Pe6r0]

found the reduce polygons tool :x

silly me :)

[Pe6r0]

I tried applying qemLOSS2 to the object... makes my computer jam up (and its not a bad one) so I was thinking of dividing it into several sector and applying it individually. The problem would be when I needed to put them back together. does qemLOSS2 keeps an objects edges? any suggestions on how to do this better? (normal reduce polygon has a really low point limit I would need to make about 100 diferent sectors so thats not a option)


sorry about all the loose posts... Ive been putting as I work :(