[Josephus Holt]

I absolutely love what Maxwell does for others, JD has given us a most beautiful plugin interface for Rhino...it's really a pleasure to work with it (my wife is not too happy about it since I'm always at the computer now...fortunately I'm working at home though ), the multilight feature is THE most incredible feature IMO...but the noise is just killing me. The image below is at SL 23.31...however, it is calculating through AGS glass (which you can't even see...I forgot to turn it off ). Will I EVER see a clear image? I need to get a clean image to be able to go on.
[URL=http://img18.imageshack.us/my.php? ... .jpg[/img]
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[Cadhorn]

I don't think this one will ever clear up. At a guess I'd say you're using just physical sun as a light source coming through the windows to light the interior? For some reason, these always take forever to get "clear". You might try (I hate to say this...) faking the sunlight using large flat emitters outside your windows (turn off the physical sun). Or adding lights to the interior. I see cans in the ceiling and hanging lights over work surfaces, turn them on... they might not even have to be very bright.

Hope this helps.

We've all asked the same question at one time or another... I really wish Maxwell had a good Wiki page called "why is my rendering so noisy?". The many answers on that imaginary page would cut the posts on these forums in half.

[Josephus Holt]

Thanks Cadhorn...you're absolutely right...using physical sun/sky. So the ONLY time to use physical sun/sky would be for exterior renders then?

Not a problem "faking" it for this....I'm just about at SL24 now with no noticeable improvement, so will stop it and see how it goes as you suggest. Will post the result tomorrow.

[ivox3]

Cadhorn is right.

You can also try altering the geometry (wall) that the camera doesn't see (daylight entering side) and blast a giant picture window (open/no geometry at all) in the side and let a lot more light into the scene.

You have to think that in this type of scene is mostly being lit by indirect calculations -- which are brutal to the render times.

Doing this and Cadhorn's suggestion of adding lights will get you a clear render.

ps. Check your RGB's on that ceiling material too...

[ivox3]

I just thought of this, but never tried it ....

Creating/using an hdr/mxi for that entire left wall might not be a bad idea. I'd be curious to see the result.

[Josephus Holt]

The left wall actually is almost completely open. It's running now with 2 large area lights in lieu of phys sun, so will see how it goes.

Ceiling rgb is at the limit...maybe a tad over at 220.

Ivox...will try the illuminated left wall if this doesn't work.

[Josephus Holt]

eliminating the phys sun/sky definitely made a huge difference. This is not quite SL22 after 18 hrs. Phys sun/sky turned off, using 2 large area lights.

Looks like I'll need "fake" outside light coming in from the far window too

??question (this will show my ignorance, again), does the phys sky emit light also...in other words, can I leave the phys sky on but turn sun off, using the "fake" sun emitters?

Imageshack seems slow today
[URL=http://img19.imageshack.us/my.php? ... .jpg[/img]
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[Bubbaloo]

I can't answer your question about the sky without sun (I've never tried it). But if I can offer a critique... The floor could use a little slight variation in the roughness using a weight map. It's looking too perfectly sparkly clean right now. It will do wonders for the floor-to-base cabinets area in terms of realism. (Same with the flat parts of the ceiling).

[Josephus Holt]

Brian, thx for the tip....can you point me to an example of what that weight map would look like...I'm thinking of the pattern...I'm sure it's a grayscale image. I really have a lot to learn for making good textures...understand the basic principles...wish there were some really good tuts for making archviz materials. I have gone through the 2 that Mike Verta did.

Joe

[Bubbaloo]

For a floor like that, I would use a mostly white layer weight map with some small smudges in a light grey. Nothing too drastic, just subtle to vary the reflective quality of the floor. Just make sure you make it tileable if your tile floor map is tiled in your scene.

Maybe something like this?

[ricardo]

A plain skydome could resolve your lightning. Sort of a cloudy day.

[Josephus Holt]

Brian, thx. Sorry to be so stupid, but what slot should that go in. You called it a "weight map", so in the "Weight" slot, or in Reflectance 90 since it's purpose is to vary the relectance?

Ricardo...I will try the skydome...I like cloudy days for lighting

[Bubbaloo]

Does your material have 2 layers? Have a look at this material:
http://mxmgallery.maxwellrender.com/dow ... hp?id=4377

[Josephus Holt]

yes, it has two materials, but the second (shiny) layer is just set to a very low numeric value for the roughness (high shine).

nice material, so the weight map you're talking about is the one that goes in the roughness slot of the second bsdf?

[Bubbaloo]

Yeah, well I gave you the wrong mat to look at...
That's one way to do it. The way I was talking about was having a diffuse layer high roughness, and a reflect layer with low roughness. The reflect layer will have your weight map applied.
But really, either way will work. Just remember that when a map is used in the roughness slot, black = specular, white = rough (number you set), and when used in the layer weight slot, 255 (white) = 100% and 0 (black) = 0% layer weight. Clear as mud, right?