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I just can't justify the amount of work needed for the kind of grany interior images I get (even considering AGS and care for proper lighting etc. In other words, I can't charge my clients the effort it takes to get a good looking interior image with Maxwell.
It is my believe now that for exterior unbiased rendering is good and fast enough for archviz but interior work might be better of with a biased renderer. At least for the time being.

Maybe others here have some thoughts on this. Am I basicly right or is it me ?
Francois

Don't touch my granny's interior.. ! hehe..


Well François...seriously, we're all in the same boat.. have you considered a render farm..? ... but I see you're talking about money.. well sure... a nice clean Maxwell interior has a price... I think it all depend on the budget allowed.. but basically yes.. Maxwell is not for small archi interior budgets.. but when I read you.. it's like saying "I have expensive goods to sell.. but my client can't afford it..

so 2 solutions..

- Try to present the Maxwell solution for something special.. but extra good..
- Use it where the budget is high enough..

If you look for advice for speeding things up.. it all depend on the project.. and this is a rather case by case... I mean if you already have AGS, proper lighting (aka low poly emitter), no 255/255/255 white walls... then you already did all good... the mini things you can then do here and there might even speed things a little more... but to get a clean interior.. Maxwell still needs time... beauty has a price..
If your budgets are too little (and there is nothing bad about..) then maybe use another render engine foe interiors... and Maxwell for exteriors.. that's what I would do..

nothing sarcastic.. just trying to be realist...

voilà.. but I am not architect.. so maybe some users in your branch can have some extra tricks...

h.

Here is an old thread that discusses AGS and general interior scene optimization: http://maxwellrender.com/forum/viewtopi ... &hilit=ags.

Tx JD for that thread. I will certainly take more care in lighting and setup. I already use AGS with dialectic edges and so on. But as it is already an effort just to provide for a nice interior the extra effort it takes to make good looking Maxwell interiors is mostly not paid for.

And Hervé, I am getting into Vray right now for our interior work. I think in time Maxwell will catch up. I hope my investment in Vray has been worth it during this period. My Maxwell experience does come in handy though using Vray since much of the settings have the same characteristics.

Btw, i don't think I have an interest in granny's interior or her bodyguard....

fv wrote:I am getting into Vray right now for our interior work. I think in time Maxwell will catch up. I hope my investment in Vray has been worth it during this period. My Maxwell experience does come in handy though using Vray since much of the settings have the same characteristics.

Francois, just curious what modeling program you are using. I started out with Maxwell and because of the issues you mentioned I purchased VRay. I've seen a lot of VRay interiors that were excellent, albeit always having somewhat that "VRay" flavor. For me VRay was not the solution, it adds more complexity to the rendering process than Maxwell, all of which have to be learned/mastered. Also the Maxwell multilight is invaluable for interiors, it saves a tremendous amount of time doing test renders just to check the lighting. I suppose after constant use one would find the settings that generally bring the desired results so one would not have to constantly be having to run test renders. Overall I found Maxwell much easier to use and decided that my best bet was to get a faster computer and let Maxwell render while I sleep. p.s. I sold my VRay license last year and am just focussing on Maxwell. Just my story.

I work with Sketchup under OSX. My interiors are rather complex, they do not even start up with multilight enabled. So my reasoning is to get going with Vray. But as I understand now Vray is a complex setting of biased variables that need to be finetuned in detail. Maxwell is indeed more simple since all you basicly do is work on the materials. In Vray you also work on the way the render is calculated in as many ways you can imagine to get the desired effects.

I am not sure yet were I will end. Maybe I will also sell my Vray license later on. I see JD is working on a better plugin for SU under OSX. But I must say that the interiors I see done in Vray on the Asian forums are incredible. My own work in Maxwell as far as interiors are concerned are very, very bad compared to that. I am rather sure thats because unbiased rendering is simply not yet as clean for interiors as biased. I do see the slightly lesser quality of biased renders.
Francois

fv wrote:I just can't justify the amount of work needed for the kind of grany interior images I get.....

well... hehe..


François, have you tried Modo.. if you look at their forum.. the interiors are pretty clean... and there are no complicated settings..

ok ok granny's interior. I am happy someone really reads into my posts that well...
we have Modo..

I read very very slowly (I am dumbo), this is why I spotted it... hehe..

Frankly, I have seen some Modo renders that were as good as Vray ones... just my pov..

I think Modo and Vray render equally good.
I might sell my license for Vray, but mine is just the plugin for SU license. I think without Studio you are very limited with Vray or Maxwell.

But for some reason I haven't figured out yet I find my interiors not very crisp, not just because of the graininess. And I often see edges light up while I can't detect any reflective material settings causing this.

Francois

fv wrote:I think without Studio you are very limited with Vray or Maxwell.

One of the many advantages of Maxwell is the wide variety of plugins so you don't have to use Studio. I've used both the plugins for C4D and Rhino, and both are great...no need for Studio.

fv wrote:But for some reason I haven't figured out yet I find my interiors not very crisp, not just because of the graininess. And I often see edges light up while I can't detect any reflective material settings causing this.Francois

You don't by any chance have scattering enabled do you?

I think with any render engine, you get out of it what you are willing to put into it. Maxwell is perfectly capable of producing photo real interiors, remember:
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread. ... 1&t=794664

Bubbaloo wrote:I think with any render engine, you get out of it what you are willing to put into it.

That's very true. If I did not think that Maxwell could render interiors superbly I would have quit a long time ago, although I must admit that I personally feel a fair amount of anxiety about the amount of time needed to create these images (has nothing to do with Maxwell)...just to model the furnishings in the URL you referenced is mind boggling to me, not to mention getting all those materials and lighting right....that's a huge undertaking in ANY modeling/rendering package.

Bubbaloo wrote:I think with any render engine, you get out of it what you are willing to put into it.

a very wise statement sir looney... touché

Interiors in Maxwell take a long time to render, I think Alex Roman who used Vray could not have delivered his movie with Maxwell in equal time. For such work a biased renderer might be a wiser choice.

But its true that interiors are more challenging than exteriors. A building seen at a minimal distance is still a considerate distance and will require less detail and more repetitive elements to model than most interiors.

My approach in the upcoming projects will be to reduce the amount of scenes to render and pick maybe one or two and reserve 24 hours render time for each. Convincing interiors need a lot of lighting and furniture. Also I experienced you need to really have lighting worked out well.
Maybe the balance between the light coming from the phycical sky and the interior lights need to be tuned using multilight before the final renders. Sometimes the balance is off and the adjustments made later on make the images look dull.
Francois