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Hi

I have been fiddling with maxwell for a while now but all of my images come out looking grainy even after rendering them for a long time. Am I doing something wrong?

Hardware: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz 8gB

Bungalow Alteration
render time 5hrs, sampling level 50,
not sure what the white stuff is on the floor is?




render time 4hrs, sampling level 40,
a bit of snow here ?? dont often get that in an Auckland summer



render time 5hrs, sampling level 50,


any suggestions on how to improve would be appreciated!
Also could someone explain what the term "sampling level" actually means. I have looked in every manual, tutorial, and forum and and cant find any clear defintion.

thanks
rooster

Looks like your whites could be too white! I think the general rule is to keep whites below around 220,220,220 as opposed to 255,255,255!

Render times will GREATLY increase above this value!

If you set the render time to 5hrs, the render will stop after that time, if it doesn't reach the SL you have set. You will almost never reach an SL of more than 25. So if you want to render something until say SL 18, set the render time very high so it has time to reach that SL.

As suggested don't use a refl0° color higher than about 220-225 for white walls, the refl90° can be 255. Also you should keep your emitter geometry as low polygon as possible.

http://think.maxwellrender.com/render_o ... n-112.html

Thanks for your help! your correct, my white material is an accoustic ceiling tile that I downloaded and it has refl of 255 so I will change it. Also will up the render times.
Richard, what do you use for standard white plasterboard walls / ceilings in your models ?

Also I am getting alot of white specs (caustics ??) Is there any simple way to avoid this ?

Mate I stick with the 220 rule and make these surfaces 99% reflective avoiding the completely diffuse rule also to maintain minimum render times!

I'm not sure what is going on with your white specs in the last post - I've only seen this using the RS0 engine (that used in the studio preview). the only other suggestion I could make would be again issues coming from pure white!

BTW mate just as a personal thing I'm not liking the inclusion of people clips in your images - but that's a personal thing! Don't think you need them!

Those white specs could also come from over reflective materials (usually several layers in additive mode).

thanks for the comments

Richard, I am liking your 'rules' The thing I find frustrating about maxwell is there doesnt seem to be any of these. Maybe there was a book in the old days that has been filed in someones draw.

The people in models thing seems to have two definite camps. Renderers probably hate them but as an Architect I find having a human scale provides an important reference for clients.

Looks like there's something strange going on behind the chairs, like a strong caustics effect, perhaps the material on the chairs...Try rendering without the chairs and see what happens.

Fernando Tella wrote:Those white specs could also come from over reflective materials (usually several layers in additive mode).

Of course! I tested a multi layer material recently and by mistake made it additive. The who scene went absolutely crazy like hair coming off all surfaces.

Rooster yeah I shouldn't call them Rules - maybe "advices"!!! All picked up in the forums over time!