Vray Lights, multiplier 0 still effecting scenes

[m_hinks]

Hi All

I have a scene with 200 lights, 4 groups of 50ish instanced. The render time is 1 hourish.

First, I turn off 3 groups, ie 150 lights and the render time drops to 20 mins.

Secondly, I leave all lights on, but make the same 3 groups multipliers set to 0. The render time is back to 1 hour.

Why do lights that are effectively, and have no visible effect on the scene still course the render time to stay the same?

This is a massive problem for me as I have a walk though a tunnel where I could turn off lights behind the camera as I go to reduce render time, but not if the multiplier doesn't turn off correctly.

Cheers

[MoonDoggie]

What happens when you turn the group of lights to off (instead of changing the multiplier to 0)?

[^Lele^]

Also, may i suggest you to try the vrayLightMonkey present in my scriptpack?
That will insure you'll forget no light, be it instanced or not.

EDIT:I just tested it here, by the way, and under max9-64 and 1.5 final, setting the multiplier to EXACTLY 0 turns off the light(s).
Rendertimes show that quite clearly.
I tried to up to 72 lights (360/5) and it works as expected.
Maybe you indeed have some singular light not as instance of the others...

EDIT #2: There IS a slight difference between a 0 multiplier and a light entirely off. On a 640x480, it's between 2.8 seconds and 1.6 seconds respectively (40% faster?), versus, of course, over one minuter for the lights properly on.
Still seems your scene is way off the mark, to me.

[m_hinks]

Thanks for the replys.

I have a test scene at work where I have a plane and a box, 2 lights, renders in 1min. I then make a massive box to one side and put a group of 50 instanced lights (the box means the rendered image is the same) and the render time is up to 1:20ish.

The fact is that with your tests lele, u did have a different in render time between the lights being off and the multiplier being 0, 40%. My render times are prob slightly different because of the materials etc. Still This must be a bug?

Thanks for your efforts. (Im testing on Max8-32, 1.5 final)

[vlado]

What kind of lights are you using?

Best regards,
Vlado

[m_hinks]

Im using mainly all Vray lights, there are some max spots but not many. In my test scene I have only used Vray lights. I have not tested to see if all the lights were max then the problem goes away. I will try now!

Thanks

EDIT: Ive re-made my test scene with only max pots, shadow map, and the outcome is better! The scene renders in 1.17 with 2 lights lighting the box and plane, with 200 spots behind a wall. with them off it renders in .44, and multiplier at 0, in .52. So with max lights the multiplier does have a render time effect of turning them off.

Strange why Vray lights dont do the same thing?

[m_hinks]

Vlado, is there any news on whether this is a vray only problem, and can be fixed?

Thanks

[^Lele^]

Strange why Vray lights dont do the same thing?

Well, maybe 0.0 intensity is treated like any other intensity value, instead of an "off" state...

[vlado]

Yeah, I've added a special check for this; now if the multiplier is 0.0, the light is assumed to be off.

Best regards,
Vlado

[m_hinks]

yeah, I think that might be the case. So, can it be changed so it acts as off?

EDIT: Vlado you got in as I was typing!! So its fixed!! wicked. And now for the big question, is it in the SP1? And when can we have it!!

Big thanks

[MoonDoggie]

Yeah, I've added a special check for this; now if the multiplier is 0.0, the light is assumed to be off.

Best regards,
Vlado

Excellent!