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Do instances INCREASE render times?
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:01 pm
by brodie_geers
Very confused. I've been setting up some trees in maxwell studio because of export options. I was previously using clones of my trees and positioning them about my scene because working w/ instances within Maxwell studio seemed convoluted. However, now my file size is about 1.8 Gb so I decided to try and go back and use instances after all. I was just running a test and came up with odd results.
Test 1: Render 1 tree
File size 6,777KB
SL 10 = 2m02s
Test 2: Render 1 tree with the Leaves object Cloned
File size 7,246
SL 10 = 2m22s
Test 3: Render 1 tree with the Leaves object Instanced
File size 6,778
SL 10 = 29m55s
The file sizes make sense to me but the render times don't make sense at all. I was running the test because I wasn't sure if instances made things faster or had zero effect. I never expected 1 instance to increase render time by 15x!
Am I missing something?
-Brodie
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:07 pm
by DrMerman
Hey Brodie,
Are you rendering Mat/Obj ID layers? I've found that turning those on when using instances can increase render time by up to 2hrs. If you are, try a test with just the col/alpha channels activated.
Cheers,
Dr Merman
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:14 pm
by polynurb
Hello Brodie,
please read through this thread :
http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum/view ... hp?t=30869
it could be due to intersection of leaves / material settings (clipmapping/ghostlayer weighting)
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:32 pm
by brodie_geers
DrMerman,
No, I was just rendering color, nothing else.
polynurb,
Interesting, I ran through some more tests after reading that. I think my situation is either similar or the same. My understanding from the thread was that nothing can intersect with your instance. Maybe I read it wrong but the problem actually seems less troublesome than that - at least for my purposes.
What I've found is that render times went way up in 2 scenarios. 1) if any object intersected with an instance. 2) if any object intersected with the original object from which instances are made (thought that seemed odd).
However, it looks like instances can intersect with themselves just fine which is good for what I'm doing. I'm making a dense wooded area so I'll just move my original objects off to the side and the I can place my instances all over my scene, just making sure they don't intersect objects.
-Brodie
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 7:05 pm
by Leonardo
I have the same problem... My benchmarks are as low as 3.01
when using instances. I use a lot of intersecting clipped planes
Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 10:14 pm
by Leonardo
brodie_geers wrote:DrMerman,
No, I was just rendering color, nothing else.
polynurb,
Interesting, I ran through some more tests after reading that. I think my situation is either similar or the same. My understanding from the thread was that nothing can intersect with your instance. Maybe I read it wrong but the problem actually seems less troublesome than that - at least for my purposes.
What I've found is that render times went way up in 2 scenarios. 1) if any object intersected with an instance. 2) if any object intersected with the original object from which instances are made (thought that seemed odd).
However, it looks like instances can intersect with themselves just fine which is good for what I'm doing. I'm making a dense wooded area so I'll just move my original objects off to the side and the I can place my instances all over my scene, just making sure they don't intersect objects.
-Brodie
I'm arriving to the same conclusion (I'll be posting my test soon)