large resolution renderings

[sony_rojo]

Hello:

I´ve been reading the tutorial about "Large Resolution rendering" that we can find in this web.

First of all, it´s very well explained, but as I understand it, we can only make large resolution renderings with Irradiance Map as Primary Engine(Indirect Ilumination). Then, we can´t use QMC as primary engine for the render, although it works very well and it´s very easy to configure.

Is this right? I wonder if I´m wrong or I haven´t understand the tutorial well.

Thanks a lot.

[dalomar_cg]

Re: large resolution renderings

You can use any engine you want, but QMC for large resolution is asking for things to take a VERY long time. QMC works on a per pixel basis, so in the simplest sense, more pixels for a hi res image means more render time (4 times more pixels for every time you double the resolution). This means that an image that took 5 minutes at 800x600 will take about 20 min at 1600x1200 and about 1hr 20min at 3200x2400. One one hand, this is the nature of hi res images (we can't get out of calculating these pixels), but on the other, we want to minimize the increase in render time if at all possible. Since QMC will always work on individual pixels, we're stuck, but once an IR map is calculated it is resolution independent. So GI (which is one of the most significant parts of the render) will not have that jump in render time due to increases in resolution. That leaves us with only direct lighting, material properties, and anti-aliasing to work out on a per pixel basis (and we're never going to get out of those 3).

There's much more behind hi res then this, but I would really suggest that you see if you can get IR to work. As I said, you can use QMC, but your rendering will take significantly longer than IR with the correct settings.