Render Lighting setting question Carrara 6 Pro

Box8068_31c338ee4b

Hello
I am rendering simple technical animations done in Carrara 6 Pro.
I happy with the look, and render time. The final render is being done to Quicktime Animation 1080P.
I have done 4 or 5 clips. I use 50% ambient Light as set in the Scene tab, and the single default light when you open a new session.
Render time is not an issue for me so I am trying to set very high quality images.
One thing I don't understand.
In these 4 different sessions, they have different available options in the render window.
Chosing Lighting Pixel accuracy, shadow accuracy, improved edges are available in a couple, but some I have to select "Skylight" or "indirect" light to have these options not grayed out. I would prefer not change my global light just before rendering to get these options.
I looked in the manual. I must be doing something different between these sessions, but I don't see it.
Any Ideas?
Thanks
8068

3DAGE

HI 8068 :)

This is something I've never heard of happening,. ..
The "Sky light" setting, is in a different section. (Global illumination)
Anti-alias settings for Pixel accuracy, and Shadow accuracy are in the main rendering settings,.

I've never seen those two anti-alias options "ghosted" or unavailable as options. any screen shot's ?

The Lighting Quality, and accuracy settings are part of the Global illumination options, and those would normally be ghosted, until you activate the Sky light, or Indirect lighting.

In Carrara, you can save a "Preset" of your (Good scene) renderer settings, as a file which you can then load back into the renderer settings in another scene.

the save / load icon's are at the top of the renderer settings. (see pic)

Box8068_31c338ee4b

Hi 3Dage
The render options in the top half are never grayed out. As you said the controls that get grayed out are the settings below
Skylight or indirect light. I just have some sessions that have neither skylight or indirect light selected yet all the options below are not grayed out.
All the setting I am referring to are in the global illumination settings
Maybe it doesn't matter. I did try saving a cbr file of the render settings and loading in another session but it didn't seem to effect this issue.
Maybe just a little bug?
Thanks
8068

3DAGE

HI 8068 :)

If neither of the main two global illumination options are enabled (sky light / indirect lighting) then the rest of those setting don't really make a difference.
You're still getting a ray-traced render using direct lighting, ...but there's no indirect / G.I. being calculated

Also,. Ambient at 50% seems like it would kill most of the shadows,. but,. I don't know what other scene lights you're using, so, It may be fine for your scene. although, I think many people here would normally have the scene Ambient light, set at 0%, or a low value.

You really should be able to save and load the renderer settings, so, I don't understand why that's not happening for you.

Box8068_31c338ee4b

3Dage
Thanks. I was concerned that I wasn't getting best calculated lighting with out the option to change those settings.
( like I had a dumb setting box checked somewhere )
and I was confused as to whether or not "ambient " light fell under global illumination. These technical animations are quite simple
but look great in Carrara. I do keep the shadows minimized because I have things like analog volt meters where if the needle cast a hard shadow it looks confusing. I don't mind long render times for the final render, I can leave the machine running overnight, but I do like to keep the renders not crazy so as I work I can check frequently how it looks without to much of a wait. So I try to to keep each session to one light , set the shadows soft in that light and fill with some ambient.
I must say I am still amazed at the capability of Carrara Pro. It seems to me to be marketed as more " Hobby " software. I really think they should be targeted at Blender, and a low cost alternative to Maya. I do wished they cleaned up the icon's in the interface so it looked a little less like a game, and a little more pro. That said I am more than happy.
Thanks Again
8068

Box8068_31c338ee4b

3Dage
Just so you see what I was talking about.