Rendering won't starts in scene with many render elements

[f2b]

Hello,

I joined an example scene, when i add many render elements, rendering will not starts. It behaves like if it stops instantly (picture viewer pop up and then nothing else happen). If i delete quite enough render elements, this problem dissapears

i use C4D 2024.2.0 / VRay 6.20.00

Regards,

[deyan.hadzhiev]

Hi f2b, there is a known limitation of 100 post effect layers that are supported in the Cinema 4D Picture Viewer and unfortunately we can not do anything to change that. The reason you are hitting this limit with less than 100 render elements, is because each object select render element generates 3 layers (one for RGB, filter and alpha). There are several possible workarounds for this:
1. If you may combine multiple object selects - you may use the range object selection option for multiple object IDs in a single object select render element.
2. If you really need the separate object select render elements - you can render with the V-Ray frame buffer, with disabled multi-pass in the render settings. You can still use the V-Ray output system to save all the separate object selects that you need.

[f2b]

Thank you for the second solution. I didn't know it was possible to render with Multipass/Post Effect off. Multipass needs to be checked only for rendering with Picture viewer? To render with VFB, does the Multipass checkbox can always be turned off?

[deyan.hadzhiev]

Multipass needs to be checked only for rendering with Picture viewer? To render with VFB, does the Multipass checkbox can always be turned off?

Multi-pass needs to be enabled only if you are using the Cinema 4D output system (you can read more about the V-Ray output system here). So you can even render in Picture Viewer and use the V-Ray output system to output all Render Elements - the only downside is they will not be available as Picture Viewer layers.

Just to add that using the V-Ray Frame Buffer will always contain all render elements, but please do note that each render element increases memory usage, so even for the V-Ray Frame Buffer there are limitations due to hardware limits. And even without the limits, render elements should be used carefully, because they affect performance. Generally my advice is to use only the render elements you really need.