[Josephus Holt]

I feel like I need to make some decisons regarding my workflow (I'm a practicing architect), and really want Maxwell to be a integral part of that. I've started learning MR and love its (comparative) ease of use, the adjustable lights are great, and the output, well...without it I feel like an early retirement would be in order...just go out and work in the garden My stomach turned when I saw a (very good) render in the gallery that took (if I remember) correctly, 7 days on 20 4-core machines Granted, the output size is abnormally large and the time goes up exponentially like a parabolic curve (not a straight line), but still it actually frightens me.

I'm currently working on my first exterior architectural render, so I'm wondering what kind of render time should I expect for a "typical" exterior architectural render, a 3000x2000 image output, on let's say an up-to-date 8 core machine achieving somewhere in the SL18 range ...at least clear enough to clean up in Photoshop?

[Blitzor]

I would say exterior renders don't take as long to render as interior renders. Mainly because you have one light; the sun.

I would expect on a system like the one you have for a render to be acceptable in terms of noise in 1-2 days. This of course depends on the complexity of your scene.

HDR environoments to light, reflect and refract your scenes are I think the best way to go with the most realistic results in less time.

[Josephus Holt]

I would expect on a system like the one you have for a render to be acceptable in terms of noise in 1-2 days.

1 to 2 days is acceptable...would prefer 1 day maxy. Do you mean the Athlon X2 I currently own or a "state of the art" 8 core machine?

[Mihai]

It's very difficult to say, outdoor scenes usually clear very fast and it's not common they need to go to SL18 to be noise free. It depends a lot on your model, if you are using displacement or not....3000x2000 is not a huge resolution either.

[Josephus Holt]

It's very difficult to say, outdoor scenes usually clear very fast and it's not common they need to go to SL18 to be noise free. It depends a lot on your model, if you are using displacement or not....3000x2000 is not a huge resolution either.

Mihai, thx for your reply. I understand what you're saying...what I'm asking is what users' experience has been with an image about that size running on a fairly typical (these days) 8-core machine. I would likely use a fair amount of displacement.

[JTB]

I would say exterior renders don't take as long to render as interior renders. Mainly because you have one light; the sun.

I would expect on a system like the one you have for a render to be acceptable in terms of noise in 1-2 days. This of course depends on the complexity of your scene.

HDR environoments to light, reflect and refract your scenes are I think the best way to go with the most realistic results in less time.

1. Nobody said that exteriors are only daylight pictures.... Try to deal with a nightshot with Maxwell, having 100 lights...Try to make a nightshot with a pool...this is where real problems begin.
2. 1-2 days each rendering is not acceptable for my deadlines, especially when I often have to make some corrections...
3. 3000X2000 is a very big resolution and if you want to use multilight (and displacement ad Mihai wrote) it is almost impossible.

[Josephus Holt]

I would say exterior renders don't take as long to render as interior renders. Mainly because you have one light; the sun.

I would expect on a system like the one you have for a render to be acceptable in terms of noise in 1-2 days. This of course depends on the complexity of your scene.

HDR environoments to light, reflect and refract your scenes are I think the best way to go with the most realistic results in less time.

1. Nobody said that exteriors are only daylight pictures.... Try to deal with a nightshot with Maxwell, having 100 lights...Try to make a nightshot with a pool...this is where real problems begin.
2. 1-2 days each rendering is not acceptable for my deadlines, especially when I often have to make some corrections...
3. 3000X2000 is a very big resolution and if you want to use multilight (and displacement ad Mihai wrote) it is almost impossible.

I would very likely before very long end up doing dim-light exterior renders with emitters, so the time would increase, but for a daylight scene no emitters?

Any input as to what kind of render times you're experiencing with the computer(s) you have or have access to?

[Mattia Sullini]

I can speak for my personal experience, and maybe what is ok for my taste, could not be so for someone's else.
This said, i typically render outdoor scenes in daylight at 3600x1800 (yes, i like wide frames!), and on a similar hardware i can stop the calculation when SL 14 is reached, or even sooner if i do not have too many reflections.
In half a day , then, i usually get the image.
The rendering you talked about is abnormally large and cannot be taken into consideration when you have to figure out how much time you would need for a common resolution...

[wimver]

Josephus,

I am doing architecture for the last 15 years, first with Formz Renderzone, the last 3 years with MW.
I render on an 8 core intel mac, and never take my 4000x3000 renders beyond SL14. never had to.
even rarely have to use neatimage afterwards.
typical rendertimes: 3 to 4 hours. if you take a bit care with the materials, apply the basic rules, then rendering should not cause headaches.

wim

[Josephus Holt]

I can speak for my personal experience, and maybe what is ok for my taste, could not be so for someone's else.
This said, i typically render outdoor scenes in daylight at 3600x1800 (yes, i like wide frames!), and on a similar hardware i can stop the calculation when SL 14 is reached, or even sooner if i do not have too many reflections.
In half a day , then, i usually get the image.
The rendering you talked about is abnormally large and cannot be taken into consideration when you have to figure out how much time you would need for a common resolution...

Having run some time tests I've seen how the time to render goes up exponentially with the size of the ouput. Sounds like my target of 3000x2000 is fairly typical...also sounds like with a "typical" daylight config I should be able to do that overnight pretty easy. Thx for the input.

[Josephus Holt]

Josephus,

I am doing architecture for the last 15 years, first with Formz Renderzone, the last 3 years with MW.
I render on an 8 core intel mac, and never take my 4000x3000 renders beyond SL14. never had to.
even rarely have to use neatimage afterwards.
typical rendertimes: 3 to 4 hours. if you take a bit care with the materials, apply the basic rules, then rendering should not cause headaches.

wim

That's the kind of time I was hoping for...I'm greatly encouraged.

BTW...I also was using FZ/RZ for about 5 yrs, was ok for that time. Using Archicad in our officenow with C4D.

[KurtS]

Displacement does not have to take a lot more time to render. Just make sure that you subdivide the surface (make a dense mesh) then you can decrease the displacement precision and render a lot faster.
I agree with wimver on the render times.

[Bubbaloo]

I have done many exterior renders at that resolution or higher and have never had to render more than overnight. I have an 8-core also.

My best advice to give is to render at the highest resolution your computer can handle. It may not reach a higher S.L. but will look much better when reduced and printed. The exception to this rule is when using SSS. It needs a high S.L. 20+ at any resolution, in my experience.

[Josephus Holt]

Thank you all for your replies....I've decided to go/stay with Maxwell as my rendering engine in C4D (as I don't have time/energy to learn both, I was trying to decide between Maxwell and VRayforC4D which I also own and will try to find a buyer for...can use the $$). Looking forward to putting out my first exterior Maxwell render...will take some time as I only have an hour or so a day to work on that....it's an hour I really look forward to every day.

[JTB]

Displacement does not have to take a lot more time to render. Just make sure that you subdivide the surface (make a dense mesh) then you can decrease the displacement precision and render a lot faster.
I agree with wimver on the render times.

Displacement has to be used with caution.... For example, I would never use displacement for grass, I would prefer instances.
Also, I would never use displacement for objects that will be far away.