Hidden geometry and render times

[Streetwise]

Does it make a difference as to how much geometry is in a scene if most of it is not visible to render? For instance, a gizmo with tons of internal parts to it - would it render quicker if the internal parts were deleted from the scene? I say no.

[thablanch]

If you take into account the loading time of the scene, so it is yes. Even if hidden, the scene still has to be loaded. So a network render, as example, would be longer if more geometry is in the scene. On a local render, already, I do not think it would make much of a difference.