Tree optimization

I am getting pretty good at optimizing my scenes for fast quality renders; Everything except trees. I have things rendering in real time, as I drag my mouse over something, but things drag to a stop when I hit my trees. I think I have tried everything, but I can’t get my vegetation to render out faster. Does anybody have any tips? I primarily use the iCube iTrees.

Interpolation for reflections.
2side mtl
1 reflection bounce
umhhh no filtering on textures
and… thats it I guess.

yep, tried it all. I also tried turning off GI.[quote=“Dariusz Makowski (Dadal), username:Dariusz_Makowski_Dadal”]
Interpolation for reflections.
2side mtl
1 reflection bounce
umhhh no filtering on textures
and… thats it I guess.
[/quote]

Then I’m pretty sure that it :frowning: U could lover anti aliasing for that pass and so on but tress do are expensive to render…

Can you get me a sample scene to vlado@chaosgroup.com ? I’m looking into this type of scenario right now and would like to see what are the options to optimize that.

Best regards,
Vlado

I am emailing you a link shortly. Does anybody else want to take a peak? If so, PM me.

Okay, Vlad, I just sent it. I bundled everything up, including all the assets, so it is about a Gb file.

I have not a fix, really, but also I notice the iCube trees tend to add to my render times…not to a crippling amount, but usually at least a noticeable bit.
I would love to have my buckets pass the trees in “realtime.” What do you mean by that, actually?

I could take a peak, and i might have the same trees in case it helps…

Real time - as I drag my mouse across the VFB. I’ll DM you the file. I wouldn’t think twice about purchasing a new library, if they were well optimized

Oh, I get you :wink: Yeah that’s nice when it goes that quickly.
Mentor just released a nice looking new huge set of trees I really want to get eventually.
Those usually perform awesome, but are not the best up close. From the previews, the new set looks better.

the trial ones are MRay :rage:

Too bad…but maybe it’s still okay just to get an idea of the overall quality?

If your leaves are using opacity maps, change the bitmap filtering to ‘none’. I’ve found it helps me greatly when rendering trees. Not sure if iTrees use opacity mapping for the leaves or if they are modeled since I mostly use Evermotion collections.

Ues. I have all my bitmap filters turned off - thanks![quote=“timmatron, username:timmatron”]
If your leaves are using opacity maps, change the bitmap filtering to ‘none’. I’ve found it helps me greatly when rendering trees. Not sure if iTrees use opacity mapping for the leaves or if they are modeled since I mostly use Evermotion collections.
[/quote]

No, the scene doesn’t have opacity maps; however, even if it did, it makes sense to turn filtering off for the opacity map only. For Bobby’s scene, the disabled filtering actually increases render times a little, as more AA rays need to be shot.

Still looking around the scene though…

Best regards,
Vlado

Yes.. those global scripts will get you in trouble almost every time :slight_smile: - should I turn filtering back on for everything? How do I know what should, and what shouldn’t have filtering on?[quote=“vlado, username:vlado”]
No, the scene doesn’t have opacity maps; however, even if it did, it makes sense to turn filtering off for the opacity map only. For Bobby’s scene, the disabled filtering actually increases render times, as more AA rays need to be shot.

Still looking around the scene though…

Best regards,
Vlado
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I only turn it way down if the texture looks too blurry. Turning off 100% seems to often give me bad results.

For the trees specifically, it is the 180 GI subdivs that are killing them; those are good for the relatively flat surfaces of the building, the road and cars, but not for the trees as they need significantly more AA. One easy way to reduce the render times without touching the rest of the settings is to decrease the GI subdivs multiplier in the V-Ray object properties of the trees to something like 0.05 or similar (you’ll have to play with the number for a good value).

However as I’ve said many times before, a more balanced approach closer to the universal settings might work better. Still trying a few things out; will let you know how it goes.

Best regards,
Vlado

So far, I have found that trace reflections was enabled on the leaf material.
I made some tests on your general scene optimization and got rendering time to about 30-40 minutes for that frame. (No motion blur.)
When I opened your scene and rendered, it was saying something like 12 or 22 hours…the buckets did not go.
Also, the trees are now rendering as quickly as the rest…maybe the windows are a tad slower.

edit: Okay, the grass is now the “slowest” but still about real time.

Also motion blur had 100 samples but I don’t know squat about M-blur.

is there a script to reverse the damage? I tried one, but it failed.[quote=“voltron7, username:voltron7”]
I only turn it way down if the texture looks too blurry. Turning off 100% seems to often give me bad results.
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