Little query abt 3dmax rendering, please help me out

[sony]

I do work in PS7 and 3DMAX, I am planning to by a new PC, Currently I have Pentium 4 1.7GHz and 256 Mb Ram. I have Geforce MX 440 VGA card. But I think the rendereing is slow not very fast, especially when I render a scene with volume light the renedering takes many many minutes 2 render a scene. Help me out with this what should I do 2 get more speed in rendering. Should I buy a new Sort of PC or what? If any 1 of u know any think abt this plz help me out.

[Stonepilot]

Man,
You're new to 3D. Generally renders take time. The nicer a render turns out the longer it takes. The last cinematics i worked on we had frames that were taking about 30 to 45 minutes a frame. The more stuff you have the longer it will take. Faster machine will help but its always going to be a problem. Good luck. Oh yeah usually guys that do the lighting and rendering take up smoking. lol

[BlackArmada]

Was told CPU and RAM matters the most in rendering, though i can't really confirm it.

[sony]

thanks Stonepilot, I was wondering that if anyone know something abt fast rendering. these VGA graphics cards help in making good results or not? I don't know abt this if u know, plz tell me.

I don't smoke, lol it will b a problem then.
;)

[shyst]

Sony let me clear it up for yaz-
the mmx 440 is fine for veiwing and even playing a game or two.. it does NOTHING for rendering... NO VIDEO CARD DOES... its only for viewing scenes as you work on them pan zoom rotate ect...but do try to get 128 mb.. it may effect how many lights are visible b4 renering ect.. mebby.... i dont use 3d max5 although i have it - =) im a light wave7 freak-

my advice is to get a DUAL CPU set up like the one i have..

a Dual 1.666...AMD xp 2000's on a tyan mother board ...an old tyan server mother board to be exact... it screams as fast if not faster than ANY mAc g4's...erra it cant beat the dual g5 however...

i have an older chaintech mmx 440 they werk fine ..get 512 memory sticks if you can also.. not a bunch of 256's i swear by AMD though they run hotter than a pentium... but i got 2 volcano 9's so heats not an issue..also get a tower..... lil machines are hotter.. if you can, get a scuzzie set up also--

[fish~]

I do architectural models for a living..
readiosity, volume light, raytrace etc. all make renderings snailish at best.

i run 5-8 cpus at a time for rendering each doing one frame at a time. sequenced out.. its not uncommmon for rendering to take 3-5 hours a frame.. for the primo shots

some of these comps are old...really old.. i got a p3 333mhz
but with enough time they all get the job done..

time saving tips. use xrefs, and or save your lights to a different file. so you can do quick(under ten mins)draft renderings to check your models

tip 2 .. be clean with your verticies. and hidden edges if 2 edges are aligned its ALOT simpler for your render to figure out what to draw. if you have 2 edges near but overlapping your rendering time is gonna grow exponetially..

not to mention its a must with any realtime applications


tip 3. group your models in a tree like structure....to long to explain why.. but trust me :P

[Azulblue]

you need more main memory.
more than 512MB.
i think...needs 1GB for your purpose.

if you want more rendering speed, you need more memory:work field , and dual CPU:processer.

[danwoolley]

Its diffinetly a good idea to get more memory, 512 at least more if you can! Your cpu seems fine, you could get faster but it will do! Your hard disk has alot to play in the rendering speed because unless you have unlimited ram at some point your machine is going to have to use virtual memory, its at this point that the speed really slows down!! try to get as fast harddisk as you can, scsi if poss! these new serial ata's look good to although i'm yet to try one.

[sony]

thx ,danwoolley, Azulblue ,fish, i will buy try 2 by dual processor some other time but i have to buy the ram 1GB

It will be gr8 to have that thx 4 ur replies, I came to know that AMD have manufactured 64bit processor and it is gr8 4 animators & media people :D so don't forget 2 visit AMD site 4 this matter. i don't know when they will be providing it in the market. but that will be gr8.

[scumble fish]

Its been said that no render seq. in a production environment should take more that 20min a frame. That is not to say you could not have 2hr renders for a 2k frame at a large facility ...but on a render farm of 300 Linux machines the issues are different. Most of what you do on your machine at home will be strictly to learn the app and possibly output for your reel at say...NTSC. If anything you render takes more than 10min a frame your probably doing something wrong.
I haven't used Max in quite some time but the saving grace of 3D is that many of the tools and all of the concepts are common regardless of the app. so......

First learn to optimize your render settings:

Watch you lights .....avoid shadow casting for every light and or surface. Reuse shadow maps when possible!

Optimize tessellation on a per object basis taking into account distance from camera (Maya can do this with one variable in render globals). Instance objects whenever possible.

Avoid raytracing everything: Be selective what you need to raytrace. Raytracing is an expensive process. Even for
transparent objects which do not require refraction, don't raytrace! The same applies for GI lighting...nice but not functional for a seq. on a production. Meaning you will probably never be asked to attempt it on a job.

Optimize all variables of mapping....lower bump and displacement values to their most efficient level. Avoid non-square textures. remember 1,2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512,1024,2048,etc.

Don't render a light or optical effect that can be better completed in the composite. Many lighting or fog (particle) based effects can be rendered separately at 1/4 res. and laid down in the composite. In fact get a good node based compositor like Shake or DF, render in layers and comp whenever possible !!!!!!

There are many more variables that have a impact on render times...the point being ...optimize your render setting!!!!



As far as hardware goes.....

Almost all 3D apps take advantage of multi proc during a render. Dual proc wont speed up viewport interactivity. As shyst said your graphics card will have the biggest impact on viewport response time. Geforce MX 440 is adequate.
With ram at such low prices there really is no excuse not to have at least a gig. Stop buying vid games for a while and invest in your machine. Don't drool over the latest and greatest CPU or hardware fix thats coming next.(Max won't be ported to AMD64 for some time is my guess) focus on learning the app and doing something different with it. After all, even with the best app on the fastest machine we aren't going to notice your work here (neither will art dirs.) if its not good.

Oh yea...... get over to one of those 3D forums for Max like Highend3D exist for Maya to get those technical questions answered....And don't forget to HAVE FUN!!!

[fish~]

heh I forgot to mention my shots typically are ment for 24X36" 300dpi stills