GPU Graphics Card Blues…

PerttiA

kyoto kid said:

...I just assigned each section I selected to a new name ("Right Wall Rear", "Left Wall Rear" and "Floor Rear") then set the opacity to zero for each. I wasn't aware that they could actually be permanently deleted from the scene. 

I just opened the scene and selected  one of the sections again with the editor then clicked on "Geometry Editing, but the only delete options I see are for "Hidden Polygons" and "Unused Vertices". not "Selected Polygons".  Is this a function that was added in a later version of the programme?

Logical solution would be to hide the selected and then delete the hidden 

kyoto kid

...4.10 which is hte own I've been rendering with as the version of Iray is pre-RTX so OptiX is not on by default for my Titan-X.

Lord Majestic

OK, I just checked, in the older versions a few more steps were needed...

First select the polys you want to remove.

Then right click, Geometry Visibility > Hide Selected Polygon(s)

Then right click, Geometry Editing > Delete Hidden Polygon(s)

Though for rendering just hideing them should be enough to remove them from Iray.

 

kyoto kid

..thanks.   

I checked the 4.12 beta I have and the Delete Selected Polygons option is available there so it must have been added in either 4.11 or 4.12.  Also checked and 4.10 is where dForce first appeared though still had some bugs in it so not sure if rendering a scene created in a later version might cause a mesh explosion when opened in 4.10. 

Until I can get an RTX 3060  I'll be doing all my rendering in 4.10.

VitalBodies

kyoto kid said:

VitalBodies said:

kyoto kid said:

VitalBodies said:

Low light and iRay, that seems to be a challenging trick to perform without grainy long renders. I started experimenting with the dynamic between camera setting in "tone mapping" and the environment settings including intensity and the dome settings. It is an interesting balance. I found so far that if I can light my scene just barely below what I am after with the camera and environmental settings only and with NO lights, then I can add lights for effect rather than hoping the power the whole render. 
This has helped with grainy renders for me so far. I am not familiar with each version of DS to know if this might apply to your goals. 

...attached are the two scenes i mentioned:. The first is the one  with the 19 emissive lights (5 lanterns , 13 firefly insects, and a ghost light for the moonlight) That was the one rendered in CPU mode in around 4 hours.

The second is the one has been giving me all sorts of fits even though it has less than half the Emissive lights, and as I mentioned, most of the set that didn't affect the scene removed.  The attached image is the one I rendered in 4.10 instead of 4.12 where it seemed as slow as CPU mode even though it was rendering on a GPU with 12 GB VRAM and over 3,000 cores.

 

I wonder if the second rendering is cutoff from the "environment" dome and thus the lighting might be more challenging?  

...in both cases I set it to "Scene Only" as using the environment dome floods the scene with light unwanted that ruins the effect (same as an HDR).   Again, I am aware such a scene would take longer with, but before dropping back to Daz 4.10 the render time was ridiculous, which again points to the fact that OptiX being forced on older GPU cards is likely the reason for the extreme render time seen in 4.12.

I also removed the ceiling  the scene. For the side walls and floor behind the camera, I used the Geometry Editor and reduced opacity to Zero to reduce ray bounces as none directly affect the scene. The only way to actually remove the wall and floor meshes out of the camera view would require doing so in a modelling programme which is beyond my expertise. 

I found the same yet persisted. I had to dial down intensity to .01 as a starting point. Even down to .005  at times. This is with the dome turned on. 
For me it helped to light the scene with dome only - no lights - to just below what I was after and the turn lights on for effect. I was surprised how low intensity had to be turned down. Took a while as I started at the default 1. I got the impression that light has to scatter over and over and over to not get grainy results. With only lights and not much to scatter and bounce off of it take forever. Instead, the dome provides enough light from every direction to satisfy that. The added light create the effect one is after. 

kyoto kid

...the trouble with the dome in even at a low intensity setting, it is like an HDRI which has full GI and illuminates the entire scene. In the scene I created I only wanted the light sources present to illuminate the scene just like I did in the one with the girl outside the dojo with the lamps and fireflies 

In 3DL this didn't affect render items like it does in Iray though it was more tedious to set up and was not very realistic from a lighting point of view as the light elements themselves did not create the light and often cast shadows of their own..

alan bard newcomer

this was in 410... titanX ... the lights are all emissive light bulbs inside the walls and the the street lights are the same took 47 min used 11800m of vram was either 4kx2k  3800x 2100x according to PS... 
I've seen people tearing their hair over two day renders and others getting 5 minute ones. Mine seem to run 20 to 60 minutes. 
But with 64g and dual xeons besides the titan card... I just start a render and open 4.12 and do other 3d work. 
All the streetlights are a one light, don't know if that helps or not. 
 

alan bard newcomer

kyoto kid said:

VitalBodies said:

Low light and iRay, that seems to be a challenging trick to perform without grainy long renders. I started experimenting with the dynamic between camera setting in "tone mapping" and the environment settings including intensity and the dome settings. It is an interesting balance. I found so far that if I can light my scene just barely below what I am after with the camera and environmental settings only and with NO lights, then I can add lights for effect rather than hoping the power the whole render. 
This has helped with grainy renders for me so far. I am not familiar with each version of DS to know if this might apply to your goals. 

...attached are the two scenes i mentioned:. The first is the one  with the 19 emissive lights (5 lanterns , 13 firefly insects, and a ghost light for the moonlight) That was the one rendered in CPU mode in around 4 hours.

The second is the one has been giving me all sorts of fits even though it has less than half the Emissive lights, and as I mentioned, most of the set that didn't affect the scene removed.  The attached image is the one I rendered in 4.10 instead of 4.12 where it seemed as slow as CPU mode even though it was rendering on a GPU with 12 GB VRAM and over 3,000 cores.

 

ways to make that scene faster. 
Iray traces the relation of light bouncing between objects in the scene. 
Does the background have much to do with interacting with the figure? 
Probably not.
render the girl and the lights save as tif ... (draw dome off) 
the hide the girl and just render the background. 
I bet both renders will go faster.  same camera .. lock it.  
---
Still working on the attached picture because I still don't have a small dragon I like ... 
how many renders in this? 
Background, girl without dragon. dragon, very emissive dragon to create the light 
then stacked in photoshop. 
---
I believe in a normal render the raytracer would want to check all the lines between all the objects 
but obviously the light on the background isn't really a factor for the character nor is the light from the emissive dragon a factor of light on the background. 
---
second picture the hidden dragon is extremely bright in order to create the reflection in her pupils. 
could only be done with separate renders. 

 

kyoto kid

...yes, she casts a  shadow on the door behind, so layering is not possible without having to manually paint the shadow in which I do not have a steady or deft enough hand for doing.

After actually deleting the mesh segments of the set not seen by the camera with the Geometry Editor, the Process finished after hitting the setting of 25,000 samples (80% on the progress monitor) in 2h 21 min in 4.10.  Looks pretty clean :

Haven't tired rendering in 4.12 yet to see if removal of the rear walls and floor make a difference. 

I only have 24 GB memory (mot the MB supports) and a single 6 core/12 thread Xeon.