Hi Res textures => optimise render time

#1

Hello,

I have hi res Earth texture map :
color = 8k x 4k (8192 x 4096 pixels)
bump = 8k x 4k
cloud = 8k x 4k

A sphere to make earth surface, and a sphere around to place cloud with transparency.
I render that with 1 distant light and a ramp texture to have a little backlight or fresnel.
In the animation, the camera approach the Earth to see countries.

Questions :

1 - Is there any custom presets to optimise the scene (display and render) ?
2 - Is there a prefered image format ? (tiff / tga / iff / jpg) ?
3 - on the attribute editor, in the “file” page, filter type, pre filter, prefilter radius, use BOT, disable file load… What do they mean ?

Thank you :slight_smile:

#2

Hi Shiver,

For such a high-res map if you’re rendering it with mentalray you may need to convert your files to a map format.

Open a command prompt and type:
imf_copy -pvr “path/…/sourceimages/file.jpg” “path/…/sourceimages/file.map”
This way the map doesn’t eat your memory anymore.

In general my favourite file format is iff. ( maya’s native )

mipmap filter
elliptical filter
You might need a better filtering than the standarts as you fly close to the surface looking at the skyline. So please try the elliptical and follow the advice of FLOZE+ at this link

#3

thanks a lot rollmops,
i tried this night the .tga >.map files with imf_copy.
so i replaced tga textures with .map and rendered.
But… i have little pb with my textures when i render them.

Else there is the good picture:
8k x 4k TGA Textures / Render OK
Mental Ray / Render time : 3’50"

Take a look :
http://www.rayfresh.com/earth
The render time of this image is about 3’50", I think it’s not too bad.
Production Quality / Raytracing / 720 x 576 px / sampling 0>2 / Mitchell

Else, i saw your elliptical sampling, it’s very interesting !
I search it in MR renderglobals and file texture properties, how can i use this sampling ?
PS : I use Mac G5 and OSX

Thanks

#4

Yes, I just had a look at this picture http://www.rayfresh.com/CG-images/pb-terre-map.jpg

There is a 2dplacement bug.
It happens quiet often! It’s like some nodes are corrupted.
If you can reproduce, please refere it to alias!
http://www.alias.com/eng/support/maya/log_a_bug/index.jhtml

Is your earth object still a nurbs surface?
Did you modify 2dplacement settings?

I suppose you didn’t and you’re right!
For a stupid bug I can only give you a stupid solution:
Delete the shader of earth and rebuild it with fresh new nodes.

#5

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.