too long solidrocks

[themaxxer]

I am using solidrocks all day, but with vray 3.3 I ask myself to make my own setups again. BUT I have forgotten what to change to get more AA or more GI subdivs. vray has changed and which value I have to change to get less noise now? I think the default values are pretty good, but if I have too much noise what to do?
I think this is a question to vlado... HELP!

thanks for suggestions.

ps. I love vray and chaosgroup, thanks for your effort and surprising me even after years of using vray.

bes regards
themaxxer

[vlado]

If you have too much noise there are two things to do:

a) Check the sample rate render element
b) If the noisy areas are red or white, increase the max. subdivs of the image sampler.
c) If the noisy areas are blue or green, decrease the noise threshold of the image sampler.

That's all.

Best regards,
Vlado

[themaxxer]

thanks for reply, vlado.
yeah, of course it's pretty simple, he...

[WilleViz]

If you have too much noise there are two things to do:

a) Check the sample rate render element
b) If the noisy areas are red or white, increase the max. subdivs of the image sampler.
c) If the noisy areas are blue or green, decrease the noise threshold of the image sampler.

That's all.

Best regards,
Vlado

Hehe, the explanation doesn't get more simple as that. Going to use that myself next time somebody ask!

[Lupaz]

If you have too much noise there are two things to do:

a) Check the sample rate render element

I was thinking that it could be useful to have this render element in the frame buffer by default.
Just an idea.

EDIT: Never mind. I just read this: http://forums.chaosgroup.com/showthr...-early-results

[vlado]

I thought about having the element by default, but it does require some memory and CPU cycles to compute, so I wasn't totally convinced. I should probably rethink that.

Best regards,
Vlado

[themaxxer]

@vlado
I have tried with the sample rate element and I got good results, but I have still noise and the color threshold in the image sampler is at 0.002 so I can't get lower anymore... http://c2n.me/3qrUL2m.png could it be these speckles comes from the reflective caustics option thats on at default now?
If I go lower at the image sampler threshold I get a lot of reds in the element and rendertimes gets extremely high... I render with IR/LC because of the speed. I need a good quality vs. speed setup.

thanks
themaxxer

[vlado]

Then it would be best to get me a scene to vlado@chaosgroup.com so that I can check what's going on.

Best regards,
Vlado

[fraggle]

For sure I'm not a coder, so this idea may be very stupid.
If is is so simple, why can't the soft care about it by itself?
pre render with different setting, compare the sample rate and find the best ratio before switching to final render?
We all lost lot of time trying to get the best setting to shorter the render without compromising on quality, so an automatic process will be great!

If you have too much noise there are two things to do:

a) Check the sample rate render element
b) If the noisy areas are red or white, increase the max. subdivs of the image sampler.
c) If the noisy areas are blue or green, decrease the noise threshold of the image sampler.

That's all.

Best regards,
Vlado

[vlado]

pre render with different setting, compare the sample rate and find the best ratio before switching to final render?

I already did that. The resulting optimal settings are now default ones. There is very little to be gained by adjusting them. However, the software doesn't know what kind of noise levels or render times you can tolerate for a particular project, so these are things that you need to figure out for yourself.

Best regards,
Vlado

[tricky]

If you have too much noise there are two things to do:

a) Check the sample rate render element
b) If the noisy areas are red or white, increase the max. subdivs of the image sampler.
c) If the noisy areas are blue or green, decrease the noise threshold of the image sampler.

That's all.

Best regards,
Vlado

Why do we have all the other bloody options/checkboxes/settings then?

[vlado]

Why do we have all the other bloody options/checkboxes/settings then?

Because it is technically possible to achieve slightly better render times if you adjust a lot of things manually (emphasis on "slightly"). This is important for some users. I've tried to hide those options in the "Advanced" and "Expert" views where it makes sense.

Best regards,
Vlado

[themaxxer]

@vlado
I have tried with the sample rate element and I got good results, but I have still noise and the color threshold in the image sampler is at 0.002 so I can't get lower anymore... http://c2n.me/3qrUL2m.png could it be these speckles comes from the reflective caustics option thats on at default now?
If I go lower at the image sampler threshold I get a lot of reds in the element and rendertimes gets extremely high... I render with IR/LC because of the speed. I need a good quality vs. speed setup.

thanks
themaxxer

I have rendered a lot of images now with vray 3.3 and I have found out that enabling "sub-pixel mapping" is causing the noise. if you left it deactivated then it has a lot less noise even with the default 0.01 AA value. if you enable it you have to lower this value to 0.001 and you still get noise...

best regards
themaxxer

[^Lele^]

As said elsewhere, this is entirely normal.
The Variance of values fed to the AA if the colormapping clamps (soft or hard that it is) are much smaller, so there is reason in lowering the noise threshold to match.
If it's five zeroes after the comma you need, it's five zeroes, do not worry one bit.

Nowhere since release there was a mention of a lower limit for noise threshold.
Those are your old habits talking.
In fact, given the new noise threshold expresses variance (a unit-less, % value), and not a float intensity, we did mention changes would have to happen right around that control, if users wanted to match previous noise levels.

So, try and do as the cheat sheet tells you to, even if it means lowering that noise threshold a lot.
I'll be figuratively by your side, with a towel for the sweat, while you'll push that NT into previously uncharted territories.
I put the cheat sheet up as much for seasoned users with well-oiled habits, as i did for newcomers.
These types of scenario were well tested (by me. I failed reporting in on this specific case in the storm that were the days before release, my bad, Vlado.), and i personally found no issue.

Please try what i suggest and let me know if it works as i say it should.
If it doesn't i'd be very grateful if you could send me a scene.

edit: notice that if you follow the cheat sheet by the letter, your SampleRate when noise is present is blue (is it not?), and the cheat sheet only offers lowering noise threshold as a solution.
Perhaps i should edit the cheat sheet and make a mention of the fact that in some cases one may need to lower NT a bit more than one was ever used to.

[vlado]

I have rendered a lot of images now with vray 3.3 and I have found out that enabling "sub-pixel mapping" is causing the noise.

It's a bug. It's fixed now and I can get you a fix if you are interested. We will be releasing a patch in a week or so that fixes this issue. Apologies for the inconvenience!

Best regards,
Vlado