Optimizing a toon render!

[ShaunDon]

Hey guys!

I need a huge favor -- I'm producing an animation in an absurdly short turnaround and I don't have the time to fiddle with optimizing all my passes. In fact, I need to be rendering in less than six hours. Right now I'm at 5-6 minutes a frame on this, I'd like to cut it down as much as possible.

This pass is just a toon line drawing -- no GI, no shadows, nothing. Considering this there must be settings I can dumb down. If you V-Ray experts could take a look at my test frame and settings and make some recommendations, it'd be a wicked, wicked help!

Here's my test frame:
http://www.shaundon.com/upload/elliot_frame.gif

And here are my render settings:
http://www.shaundon.com/upload/elliot_settings.gif

Thanks bunches and bunches!
Shaun

[vlado]

I'd use the Adaptive Subdivision sampler for this; it might get you faster render times, but be sure to check the Normals and Object outline options.

Best regadrds,
Vlado

[Morbid Angel]

vlado, wouldng adaptive subdivision have harder times on those super detailed trees?
ShaunDon you may want to try fixed with 2-3 samples. 5 min per frame is not a bad time, but if you need faster, I cant suggest much as your settings are pretty low as is.
p.s. how many frames do you have? I can help you render it out.

[jacksc02]

shaun, how come you are using dynamic memory?
Try using static and you should get a speed increase.

If you need some frames rendered let me know our farm is quiet at the moment

[ShaunDon]

Vlado, good call. The lines actually came out a little cleaner with adaptive subd at -2, 2, thresh=.1 and object outline on. I turned off normals and it shaved quite a bit off rendering those tree silohettes -- massive geometry. My time is now at about 3.5 minutes a frame, so it's much improved.

Thanks for the offer, Morbid. That's extremely gracious of you. I'm not much for math (which is why I work with pixels), but my estimates look like we'll finish on time.

Jack, I figured someone would ask that. These trees and cars are wicked high poly proxies and my renders were crashing consistently under the strain unless I capped the memory at 500mb. Sucks too, I definitely saw my render times increase significantly. I think I cried a little. But this is just a pass to be blended with a full-color render, so I couldn't ditch the proxies.

Thanks for the help, guys. It's very much appreciated.

Shaun

[jacksc02]

nice one shaun.
Good luck for the deadline!!!!

just think about the nice cold beer after you finish