Quick render preview and lights

[masloo]

Hi, I would like you to ask if there is somhere option how to have a quick preview of a final render. I mean if i have some render settings that i know they work fine I would like to lower the quality and speed up render time with just one or two easy steps. Is this possible? I want to do this just to check the correct materials, basic geometry...etc.
Another thing i would like to know which kind of light is better and/or faster rendered for interior renderings Rectangular or omni light or should I use emmisive materials...? Interiors with or without windows.
And last thing: Is there some way to use lights as components? if you have more same lights in scene and you want to easily adjust them.
Thanks a lot for answers.

[thomthom]

Re: Quick render preview and lights

You can save your final and draft render settings and load them as needed from the Options Window. That's the method I use when I set up a scene. I often have a really really low quality setting config when I need to make many quick renders to fine tune. Though they are usually tweaked for the task.

As for omni or rectangular lights: http://asgvis.com/index.php?option=c...0&topic=5208.0

Emmissive material should not be used to main light source. Merely an effect.

After Service Release 1.0 you can place lights inside components. With the original you can't. Follow the link in my profile for links to SR1.5.

[dalomar_cg]

Re: Quick render preview and lights

If you have settings that work well for a higher quality, and would like a easy way to "switch" to a lower quality, there is a setting that you can change that will help. In the DMC Sampler there's a setting called SubDivision Multiplier, which should be 1. Change this to .5 or .25 and that will decrease the quality on several aspects of the rendering and make it take less time. Keep in mind that this doesn't affect everything, with one of the main things being AA subdivisions and LC subdivisions. So if either of your subdivision numbers are pretty high on those, you might want to change those too. Give the subdivision multiplier a shot and see how that works for you.

Using Rec lights or Omni lights is really your choice as there are advantages and disadvantages to each. Its not recommended to use Emissive materials to light your scene since emissive materials aren't sampled the same way as lights and can cause artifacts in your scene.

Most people leave the windows out. This can make renderings go faster and you won't have to worry about light going through the window

You can use lights within components and make adjustments to 1 and have the rest update.