Print Problems

[Hiraghm]

Something is confusing me badly, and I need help understanding it...

I've a scene I've created of a building, looking up from ground level. As I created it, I did test renders at 640 x 480, and for some bizarre reason I set the focal length at 100 and the aperture to 4. Oh, and the pixel ratio was 1.0. But it looked perfect.

I first calculate the dpi I'll need to render it for printing on an 8.5 x 11 page, then I used the plugins to recalculate it. Resolution came to 3508 x 2480.

I do a current frame render, and I get a closeup of one window, instead of the entire building. in the 320 x 240 preview window (I haven't yet finished the render; it's going to take awhile, but I don't want to waste hours rendering trying to figure this out, and I've already turned off all the optimizations and volumetrics to speed things up for testing.)

Am I seeing just a portion of of what the entire image will be, or is this zoomed-in view what my final render will be? If so, I can live with that. I've tried moving my camera until the building is just a little object in the distance, and the preview render then shows me most (not all) of the building. I've tried changing my focal length and aperture settings, with the same kinds of results.

Could someone please explain, or point me at a tutorial, what I'm doing wrong?

[Lightwolf]

Hi Hiraghm,
You're just seeing a portion of the final render. The render preview is very screwy as far as showing the whole image is concerned.
Ignore it. You're safe, relax, have a beer :)

Cheers,
Mike

[Hiraghm]

Thanks Lightwolf, I've started rendering, on faith...
It's been over two hours, and it's still on the first pass of the first segment (2 segments.) I turned the volumetric fog back on, but sheesh.. at this rate it'll take a week to get it render. And I thought a 1.9 ghz P4 was fast. :(

[Lightwolf]

You're welcome.
Yeah, volumetric fog is a hog. Since it is part of the SDK I tqweaked the algorithm a bit and got a speed boost of 300% out of it, hm, may be I ought to finish it up and release it sometime...
Cheers and all the best for your render,
Mike

[Hiraghm]

well, I rendered for 3 hours, and it finished the first past on the first segment, then started on the volumetrics. 4 hours later it was 25% finished... I decided that since the volumetric effect wasn't that important (mostly a "smog haze" effect) I could drop the raymarch algorithm and use fast fog settings I'd used in my test renders, then touch it up in post with Aura. It's now been 10 hours since I restarted the render, and it's begun rendering the 2nd segment, so I'm happy.

Thanks again for the info and advice!

[Lightwolf]

:) Yeah, I know that kinnd of renders...
To (almost) quote a famous song:
Should I abort or should I re-render? (to the tune of should I stay or should I go...)
Cheers,
Mike

[richpr]

I saw some of these symptoms (preview, long render times) while trying to make a 3200x2400 pic for printing. I figured these numbers would work for a standard sheet of paper and taking 300 dpi for its resolution. It makes sense that it's gonna take long, since your quadrupling the image sizes in some instances...

While on the topic (and I looked around the forum for printing tips)...

I would like to know what are the kind of 'standard' resolutions for print, like you would offer to a printer. I have never printed my renders at a printer, but would like to. Anyone know how to best prepare your render setup?. I am looking to make some medium size posters that could be laminated or framed...? I saw from some threads and from what I've heard, CMYK is most likely gonna be involved and a conversion in Photoshop...

Any help appreciated! Thx