Animation

[vladimir.nedev]

When you run the vdenoise command, it should print some information in the Terminal.
What does it print ?

You should be able to figure out what's wrong by reading that information.

To make it simpler, don't define the output directory, in this case the result is stored in the input directory.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[Danielhruby]

Here is the full text from the Terminal session

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ougwutkjc5...%20Output?dl=0

[vladimir.nedev]

You are using some strange quotation marks in the command that starts vdenoise.
They look like Unicode ones, not normal ASCII quotation marks.
Are you using an international keyboard while typing them ?
Or maybe you copy pasted them from some application that works in Unicode.

Also there shouldn't be a space between -mode=1 and default, it should be -mode=default
Edit: actually the space is fine in this case, just tried it to make sure, so it must be the quotation symbol that's throwing it off.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[Danielhruby]

Yeah, this is crazy. I dont know what applications are using Unicode or not. But, somehow figured it out. I was writing out the code lines in Notes because Terminal would not let me type and correct very easily. Apparently, notes was using Rich Text format. I then tried TextEdit and converted to plain text, but the quotes were not fixed by that. I had to manually re-type the two quotes. The original looked a little like italics and the new quotes were vertical. Not sure why they didn't change when I removed Rich Text, but the changed lines of code now work and the Denoiser is running. Whew.

I will now forge onward and hope that the results are better than the raw files. Thanks for working through that with me. I would have never known my quotes were bad. LOL.

BTW, I take it that if I set the GPU to help out, I then need to run this not on my mac, but on the PC with the GTX 1080? IOW, the D700s in my Mac will not work with Denoiser, correct?

EDIT: Actually, I do see one of my d700's ramping up and down as this is running. Anyway to get both cards helping?

[vladimir.nedev]

I am glad that it finally worked.

I don't know if it's possible to get both cards running, maybe -useGpu=2 will do it ( 2 means use all OpenCL devices, I think).

And yes, the denoiser runs on OpenCL and since it's a far less complex piece of code compared to our GPU renderer, the macOS OpenCL implementation is able to run it.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[Danielhruby]

FYI- Testing -useGpu=2 and it looks like only one D700 is being used. I will try this denoising step on the PC next and see how the GTX1080ti works . What is the preferred app (similar to terminal) to run the commands on PC? Is it all the same syntax or is that a Terminal specific workflow?

[vladimir.nedev]

It's the Command Prompt under Windows.
The main difference is that you must not add ./ in front of vdenoise and it doesn't have the .bin extension.
Also it's located in a different directory.

However, the D700 should be fast enough, I think, at least for this task.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[Danielhruby]

Vlad,

So, using the Brute Force + LC and Standalone Denoiser looks great. But can I improve my render times with the settings I am using for generating GI?? I did single frame and use camera path, but maybe that is not right. Am I still supposed to do a dry render to build the light cache and then save it to be reloaded it with each frame using he ? Or is the "Use camera Path setting going to do something different? I am at about 7 min. per frame at 1280x720.

Also, is there a time penalty for rendering DOF in VRay? In modo, it is heavily dependent on AA samples. Is that the case with VRay too?

[Danielhruby]

For the light cache, you can follow these tips when rendering an animation : https://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/...nginanimations
Note that Use Camera Path option doesn't work correctly in V-Ray for Modo (most likely, I have an issue to check it), so don't use that.

These tips will help you avoid flickering in the secondary GI due to the light cache.
For the primary GI, just use the external denoiser on the whole sequence.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

Vlad, here is a segment from my first draft pass of animation. I have rendered out every other frame to get the full size and a 50% time reduction in producing the draft as it is just to get a sense of the flow and final quality. I have run the Vdenoising via Terminal and that seems to be good, however, I may have had the GI settings wrong because I see some pretty bad flickering where the walls seem to oscillate in brightness. I think I had enabled Use Camera path (since I was rendering out to VRay Standalone on PC), but I may also had the Mode set to Fly-Though. Should this be set to Single frame?



EDIT:

After re-rendering some frames with Single Frame mode turned on and Use Camera path, I still see the same walls flickering. So, I am not sure what I am doing wrong to cause the flickering. I think I had GI subdivs set to 1000 retrace to 4.0. I guess I will try 3000. Any ideas? Maybe I have to do this with precalculated LC rather than using Brute force?

[vladimir.nedev]

I did single frame and use camera path, but maybe that is not right. Am I still supposed to do a dry render to build the light cache and then save it to be reloaded it with each frame using he

No, you don't need to do that. It makes sense to reuse a light cache map, if you are going to be doing a lot of renders where nothing changes but the resolution or primary GI engine.

Also, is there a time penalty for rendering DOF in VRay? In modo, it is heavily dependent on AA samples. Is that the case with VRay too?

It depends on whether your current render is reaching the max subdivs or the noise threshold.
In one case, enabling DOF may result in a more noisy image, in the other it may result in longer render times.
However, the denoiser should be very good at denoising DOF from what I've heard.

I think I had enabled Use Camera path (since I was rendering out to VRay Standalone on PC), but I may also had the Mode set to Fly-Though. Should this be set to Single frame?

Yes, set it to Single frame.

Use Camera path and Fly-Through are buggy when rendering inside Modo, and are most likely the reason for this extreme flickering.

You can safely use them only when rendering the whole animation with V-Ray Standalone ( V-Ray menu -> Render with V-Ray Standalone).
If you have an animated camera and the Fly-Through mode is working correctly, the light cache pre-pass should be a big smudge of all the frames in the animation on top of each other.
Light cache subdivs should also be increased in this case, as they now span the whole animation.

If you want to avoid any kind of flickering, you will have to render with Standalone and have Fly-Through enabled, but using Single frame might be good enough.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[Danielhruby]

Hi Vlad,

Yes, this was all rendered using Standalone and done on the PC Version of Standalone. Just to make sure, I am going to re-render some frames via standalone as Use Camera Path and FlyThrough. It is quite possible I had a different setting. I definitely had lower subdivs and retrace. so those will be set to 3000 and 8.0 for this go around. I''ll share results shortly.

[Danielhruby]

I have now had some experience using both methods of animation production and while I like the ease of BF+LC, I still can't get rid of large walls and ceilings flickering with each frame in one of my sequences. It goes away when I use the more tedious Pre-Calculated GI methods. And several experts at the rendering farm I am using (garage farm) say that in their experience dealing with lots of VRay animations, the pre-calc approach is the only way to ensure clean results. I am hopeful that there might just be a setting int he BF+LC Approach that will eliminate the flickering. I have checked to ensure there is not overlapping duplicate geometry.

Vlad or Lele can you check into this? I feel like I am almost through this process, but it is terribly documented and there seems to be way too many irrelevant settings. Why is the animation preps and aniamtion render modes and I am not to use them? Why is there follow camera path, but everyone says stay away from that? Too confusing.

Here is the Precalulated LC/IM with Follow Camera Off.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lez8mqqmf0...%2BLC.mov?dl=0

And a much shorter clip using BF+LC also, with Follow camera off.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/stttnacrz9...%2BLC.mov?dl=0



Also attached are the settings used to generate GI and the final render of the Precalc approach. And a third snapshot of settings used that cause flickering with BF+LC.

Let me know if you would like access to my scene file.

[Danielhruby]

Could it be as simple as I should have changed mode from FlyThrough to Single Frame? I guess I'll try that now.


EDIT: No Still flickering.

[vladimir.nedev]

Yes, can you send me the scene and maybe the original rendered images, the videos are very blurry and it's hard to see what's going on.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[Danielhruby]

Thank you, Vlad, I sent to your private email.