CGTalk - Speeding the render of glass objects?

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brentlowrie

04-11-2002, 10:07 PM

Hi Gang

I have a laboratory scene with numerous glass beakers and vials, etc. Rendering even a single image at 430x200 pixels takes over ten minutes on my PIII 850.

Can anyone suggest a way to minimize the render time while still maintaining the look of glass objects with liquid in them. There are no camera moves so I was thinking of rendering the glass objects and using the image as a map with an alpha. The final output is for the web at the resolution mentioned above.

Thanks in advance...

Joel Hooks

04-11-2002, 10:36 PM

I would say it would call for some sort of composite.

if there is no camera move you could render the scene as a backdrop and composite your character over that with matte/shadow objects so he casts shadows. (I assume this is what you are doing)

I think using clipmaps for the glass would not look very good.

brentlowrie

04-11-2002, 10:55 PM

I remember seeing a tutorial for compositing in 3ds max. Do you know if it is possible and perhaps where I would find a tut. I know using video editing software would be the best, I would love to have Combustion, but we have to do without for the time being. Thanks

xynaria

04-11-2002, 11:57 PM

Presumably you are using either raytrace mat or maps..Sorry if this is stating the obvious but have you checked the ray depth contols in the global parameters as the default depth of 9 is rather high for most instances. :)

Joel Hooks

04-12-2002, 01:03 AM

Originally posted by Brent Lowrie
I remember seeing a tutorial for compositing in 3ds max. Do you know if it is possible and perhaps where I would find a tut. I know using video editing software would be the best, I would love to have Combustion, but we have to do without for the time being. Thanks

Compositing is elusive I think. I bought the book "The Art and Science of Digital Compositing" which I just started reading. Really great book.

As far as I can tell there is VERY little top level work that doesn't involve composites. It's been a mission of mine lately to learn at least a rudimentary knowledge of the subject.

However, at this point I can't offer much suggestions. Maybe if you posted a picture. I assumed its a character working in the lab, but without a visual I am at a loss..

[edit] forgot to add.... video post is a fairly decent compositor. it's no combustion by any means, but for a simple backround plate and composited character it would probably work.

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