irradiance map for a whole animation sequenz

[metroberlin]

hi vlado,

will it ever be possible to create an irradiance map for a whole animation ?

f.e. i have an animation (300frames) with a flickering light. so i have to create a map for every single frame. okay ! i now can calculate the maps (irradiance and photones) for one frame in a lower resolution and store them. then i can reuse them an render this frame in a larger resolution. but i have to that by hand for every single frame and in the end i will have 300 different maps (600 with photons map). is it technical possible to store these single maps automatically in one big map and this big map knows which pre-calculated irradiance solution must be used im frame x or y ?

i hope my english was clear enough, ähem... it was just an idea in my head, because without it i have to calculate the maps in the higher end-resolution which cost much time or i have to do it by hand and that really frightens me

[egz]

You don't have to do it this way.

Irradiance map min/max settings are relative to the image size, so rendering at 400x300 using -3/-1, saving, and rerendering at 800x600 with the saved map would be the exact same thing as rendering at 800x600 using -4/-2 from the start. Only it would be a lot faster since you save time. There is no need to do the extra steps of saving, resolution changes etc.

[metroberlin]

yes, its true ....i have forgoten that

[GoncaloP]

And also photon map is not resolution dependent, neither image dependent, its scene dependent... So you can calculate the photon map only once and then use it from file for all the images.

Gonçalo

[metroberlin]

but not when the lights change nearly every frame

[GoncaloP]

Off course

[vlado]

The next build allows you to load and save the irradiance/photon maps from MaxScript, so you can automate this task...

Best regards,
Vlado

[metroberlin]

vlado always posts good news

[Daniele]

I'd like a renderer that is able to 'see' when it need new photons, according to accelerations and decelerations of the camera (sometimes, in the same sequence, the irr map should be every 5 frames, and sometimes every 20 frames...)

[RErender]

There are some callbacks (that I can't remember right now) that allow a script to run inbetween sequential frames it would be possible to measure the rate of the camera ....