Animation Questions - denoising EXR composite elements

[busseynova]

I'm currently setting up an animation of mixed internal an exterior scenes.

I've successfully got a multi channel composite working in AE whereby I can control individual elements and lights in AE, which is great.

The problem I have is some frames are currently running close to 2hrs on default bucket image sampler with BF/Light cache (Intel i9 7900Mhz). I need to speed these times up, so will my best bet be pre-computed IR on camera path and light cache?

2nd question is whether it would be wise to raise the noise threshold to something like 0.3 and then use the standalone denoiser? Does this work ok on all the elements of a multi-channel EXR?

Lastly is there a good way of incorporating lens effects like bloom and glare into the multi-channel comp? As I understand it these aren't 'real' effects, mathematically speaking, so I've left them out for now. Previously I tried VraySelfIllumination element (all my light fittings have a Vray light material in them) and blurring it in After Effects with Gausian Blur, but it's not looking quite as good as frame buffer. I'm going to experiment with bloom and glare effects on elements now, but they appear to be added to the RGB, rather than in isolation like in Corona, which would simplify things a lot.

Lastly (but relating to the first question) does anyone have any experience of using Google Cloud services or similar to render a project like this in place of a traditional dedicated render-farm? I read something about that in the docs for Resumable rendering but can't find any more info on the setup.

Thanks in advance

[Kristina.Georgieva]

I need to speed these times up, so will my best bet be pre-computed IR on camera path and light cache?

The recommended method for animations is BF + LC but you can still use Irradiance map if you think it works better for your project.

2nd question is whether it would be wise to raise the noise threshold to something like 0.3 and then use the standalone denoiser? Does this work ok on all the elements of a multi-channel EXR?

-Have in mind that the denoiser still needs some minimum quality in order to produce decent results, if the image is too noisy the denoiser most probably won't produce clean result. It is recommended to make tests on several frames with different settings in order to understand which values will produce the result you are after.
In the V-Ray Next's Vdenoise tool, you will be able to denoise also the render elements of the multi-channel EXR and also test different denoiser settings. The Vdenoise tool is recommended for animations as it looks at several frames when denoising.

I'm going to experiment with bloom and glare effects on elements now, but they appear to be added to the RGB, rather than in isolation like in Corona, which would simplify things a lot.

The Mode of the Lens effects determines if the Bloom/Glare effect will be applied to the final image (in the effectsResult channel), stored into a separate render element, or both.
You can try the Mode Render element only, this way you will get a separate render element with Lens effects.

Lastly (but relating to the first question) does anyone have any experience of using Google Cloud services or similar to render a project like this in place of a traditional dedicated render-farm? I read something about that in the docs for Resumable rendering but can't find any more info on the setup.

You can try the Chaos Cloud, the free credits you will receive once you subscribe should be enough to make some tests:
cloud.chaos.com
In case you decide to use it, there is no need to set Resumable rendering, it is automatically enabled once you submit the scene for rendering.

[busseynova]

Thanks for your answers.

-Have in mind that the denoiser still needs some minimum quality in order to produce decent results, if the image is too noisy the denoiser most probably won't produce clean result. It is recommended to make tests on several frames with different settings in order to understand which values will produce the result you are after.
In the V-Ray Next's Vdenoise tool, you will be able to denoise also the render elements of the multi-channel EXR and also test different denoiser settings. The Vdenoise tool is recommended for animations as it looks at several frames when denoising.

I'm on 3.6, should have mentioned that. Do you mean to say that the Vray 3 standalone denoiser will not work on the various render elements within the EXR?
Is buying a Vray Next licence the only way of getting hold of the Vdenoise tool?

The Mode of the Lens effects determines if the Bloom/Glare effect will be applied to the final image (in the effectsResult channel), stored into a separate render element, or both.
You can try the Mode Render element only, this way you will get a separate render element with Lens effects.

I'm rendering to element only, but the element looks like a beauty pass with additional bloom/glare effect. The Corona one was purely the lens effect on a black background. I found this slightly easier for comping, but the same thing can be achieved with different blending modes in after effects.

[busseynova]

Just to update: I've been experimenting with the denoiser and I can't get it to output a multi-pass EXR, the output only has the RGB channel.

I'm trying vdenoise -elements=1 but it just comes up the generic help text

[Kristina.Georgieva]

I'm rendering to element only, but the element looks like a beauty pass with additional bloom/glare effect.

Similar behavior is expected in V-Ray 3 as the compositing pipeline was different. Lens effects were changed in Next and they work in a different way now, so you can get the isolated lens effects when using the mode Render Element only.

I'm trying vdenoise -elements=1 but it just comes up the generic help text

You're not typing just "vdenoise -elements=1", right? Can you show me the full command you're using in the Command prompt?
Have in mind that the -elements command will only specify the method of denoising, in V-Ray 3 you will get the denoised RGB pass only.
Denoising render elements is a new feature in V-Ray Next. The Vdenoise tool doesn't require license, feel free to install a trial and try it.

[busseynova]

Thanks for your answers, good to hear it's changed, for this project it's fine as it's working. I've now managed to download the NEXT denoiser which is much better.