Blocky, aliased highlights or specular reflections

[mgibeault]

This still eludes me; I always get some highlights that are showing like blocky white pixels and they are not looking natural.


I went through all the settings that I think could improve this but without success.
I did some testing with the Image Sampling, tried the three methods and various settings, with and without an AA filter (and trying all the filters)
I did some more tests with the DMC Sampler and with the Color Mapping settings. I tried a lot of IR methods and settings too.
The light source in this example is an HDRi domelight that comes with the V-Ray Express tools.


The materials are straightforward but I join the veneer that is used here.
Veneer.zip

Any idea where I should look to improve this?

Thanks|

[Micha]

First, no limited max refl/refr depth can be dangerous for your render time since the developing team decided to automatic set each new material at 5(!) like to see in your material too (I hope once a day we get an option at the ini file tostopthe usage this much to high limit). I try to use max depth 1 all days and save a lot of render time.

Your image sampler is set to 4/4, so Vray can choose between 4 or 4. Better set it 1/4 or ... 1/6. Also a good basic rule could be - never set the global sub div multiplier above 1. You never know what it cause for your render times. The option is good for switching to raw fast previews. Better only use high subdivs where you need it.

For an air plane interior I would use more LC subdivs since the LC pass is quite fast. Maybe the size could be smaller and set to 0.01.

Against your aliased highlights the color mapping option "sub-pixel mapping" could help. Also you could use the "clamp output" option.

[mgibeault]

Thanks Micha,
Good suggestions, I'll try each one. Some settings were strange because I tried a lot of combinations, some extreme, to see how they affected these blown highlights.
I tried a lot of settings in the color mapping section but it did not influenced the result much.
I'll report here when I have some results.