Universal Settings questions

[peterguthrie]

Hi Vlado,

couple of questions/ideas:

1. Should we always use adaptive amount 0.9 rather than 1.0 these days?
2. Could there ever be scenes where raising the max subdivs past 100 be useful?
3. Is raising the min shading rate just a case of testing it per scene and seeing what works best? generally I have found that for scenes with big flat surfaces something like 6 works well, whereas scenes with lots of fine detail like trees and grass, leaving at 2 is better.
4. With the potential new feature that Grant requested (per object subdivs multiplier in the vrayproperties of each object) how would that work with universal settings? Would it mean I could for example set the multiplier to 3 for all flat surfaces (like white walls) and leave it at 1 for everything else and that would be a bit like the best of both worlds in the above question 3?

I find that my vray scenes get more and more complex these days, with huge amounts of proxies, DOF, fog, motion blur, etc. Trying to optimise this all would take too long so I invariably end up using good old universal settings. Having said that, would love to be able to squeeze a little bit more speed out of vray

thanks for any help or ideas.

Peter

[glorybound]

I was surprised to see that the V-Ray Quick Settings didn't have a universal setting.

[vlado]

1. Should we always use adaptive amount 0.9 rather than 1.0 these days?

Yes, using 0.9 is a better idea.

2. Could there ever be scenes where raising the max subdivs past 100 be useful?

I don't think so. I've done experiments with sharp caustics that needed more sampling, but these were extreme cases.

3. Is raising the min shading rate just a case of testing it per scene and seeing what works best? generally I have found that for scenes with big flat surfaces something like 6 works well, whereas scenes with lots of fine detail like trees and grass, leaving at 2 is better.

It's a per-scene thing, yes. There might be some way to estimate the geometric complexity based on normals or z-depth buffer or texture complexity and try to figure out a suitable shading rate based on that, but it's still an idea only.

4. With the potential new feature that Grant requested (per object subdivs multiplier in the vrayproperties of each object) how would that work with universal settings? Would it mean I could for example set the multiplier to 3 for all flat surfaces (like white walls) and leave it at 1 for everything else and that would be a bit like the best of both worlds in the above question 3?

The way some people used it (quite successfully), is to lower it for trees and other complicated fine geometry, while leaving it to 1 for everything else. But I suppose it works either way.

If you feel like it, and if it is possible, it might be good to get me a scene that renders slowly. We can profile it here and see if there are any potential bottlenecks. Sometimes there are pieces of code that can be optimized.

Best regards,
Vlado

[peterguthrie]

If you feel like it, and if it is possible, it might be good to get me a scene that renders slowly. We can profile it here and see if there are any potential bottlenecks. Sometimes there are pieces of code that can be optimized.

Best regards,
Vlado

I could do, provided it is treated as confidential (which I'm sure it would be). Will try to package something together for you and email you a link.

thanks

[peterguthrie]

sent you an email Vlado

[vlado]

Thanks! Will run it through VTune when I get back to the office; hopefully there's a way to speed things up.

Best regards,
Vlado

[peterguthrie]

Is VTune a special mode you put yourself into when optimizing scenes?

[alexyork]

Thanks! Will run it through VTune when I get back to the office; hopefully there's a way to speed things up.

Best regards,
Vlado

Now, what's this then?!

[joconnell]

It comes with the vray 4 beta.

[m_hinks]

Now, what's this then?!

Ha ha, I had the same reaction!

It comes with the vray 4 beta.

Oh no, you cant say that, what a tease!

[peterguthrie]

actually i think i may have found a gremlin in my scene vlado - will email you details. Suspect it could be do do with jumping back and forward between nightly builds and the official one?

[joconnell]

Oh no, you cant say that, what a tease!

I'm lying and being a complete troll

[Vizioen]

Now, what's this then?!

Exactly Enlighten us Vlado.

[vlado]

VTune is Intel's profiler. It can tell me which parts of the code V-Ray spends most time on.

Best regards,
Vlado

[Syclone1]

VTune is Intel's profiler. It can tell me which parts of the code V-Ray spends most time on.

Best regards,
Vlado

I was hoping it was something more exciting like NOS (Nitrous Oxide) for V-Ray