Hi Poly Render problems

[Isdrasil]

Hey guys,

I have a problem. I'm working on a big project, need to model and render an entire neighbourhood (HQ images). My scene has alread got 24,48 million poly's and still counting.... (pc gets slower on the way )

Are there ways to tweak mental ray so my pc can handle this task?? was already searching in the 3dsmax helpfiles and gave a look at the processing tab in the rendersettings window, but didn't get any further.

my specs:
intel Q9300
8Gb DDR2 ram
3ds Max Design 2009 with mental Ray, both have latest hotfixes

[SDA]

Hmm... if you are new to max like Mike I suggest you hide models that you have done. With 24mil pollys my computer would be already dead (actually after 6th mill he would bug up)

Try also working in wire mode, if you can manage in that mode?!

But I think if you work in project with many models (and not one with 24mil polys) then you will have no problem to just hide and unhide later objects that you need for the set...

Cheers :P

[mikeab7925]

in some of the stuff i was tinkering with during modeling i changed object properties for large poly models to show as box. it turns it into wireframe like structure and makes it easier to work with the scene. only thing i can guess for the rendering is multiple pass rendering or render farming.

[shashanks18]

well, Idrasil, actually, dose many polys r really very high to handle.....if ye hv to jus make the viewport work faster, stay on wireframe mode, dat make the viewport very fast......in case ov rendering wid mental ray.....eithr try to decrease the no. ov bounces, or lesser GI or photons, which will ovcourse, eventually decrease the render quality a bit......nw, if ye really hv to get a beautiful neighborhood thru rendering, den i suggest ye'll hv to find yerself a Compositer, who knws sum compositing sftwr........dese movies, games r made wid help ov compositing, else such gr8 gfx wud screw up every computer, as well as all the tym limitations :P

IF ye dnt knw bout compositng, which i hope ye do, but still, i'll tell :P .....in compositing, ye cn render many different things ov a scene seperately, characters doing actions, r renderd seperate, the BG's r renderd seperate, etc, etc. n den all dese files r import in a compositing sftwr, n layerd 1 ovr the othr.......in yer case, ye cn grp a few buildings togethr, n render each grp on its own, n den bring 'em all togethr in compositing....if ye're gettin a good compositer to work, ye cn also get options in compositing, fr changing the lighting system, colors, n all.......

lemme knw, wat ye try...all the best!!! :D

[Isdrasil]

thx guys! as i'm typing this he is busy with a render. I have use 3ds max for a long time now, but never did such a big, versatile scene. i hide thinks i don't use at the moment already and show as box also, cause sometimes i need some reference for where objects are. but my render has quit everytime the last renders.

if you set a bigger amount for memory limit in the processing tab, does that mean the render can you use more memory? default is 650 mb, but i have 8 gb of RAM.

maybe there are some other options to get big scenes done without errors?

[shashanks18]

oh yea.....if ye set the option to much more...it'll definitely render faster....8GB RAM is really good man!!!

[Isdrasil]

thx shashanks! just missed your first reply, but yeah, i use a single viewport most of the time, as much wireframe or bounding box, FG is set to bit lower then draw. i render with memory limit set on 2gb now, see what it does. total use of RAM is 5gb now during rendering. so maybe another 2gb more to raise it to 4gb.
I really want to go into compositing software, but with a deadline next monday it would be a waste of time to get in to that stuff.

(btw, still rendering (approx. 1,5h) and 28,5 million poly's. My nerves are killing me)

[shashanks18]

hehe, okk.....well yea, monday's too less a tym fr goin into compositing.......n 1 more thing...tis thing i've personally experienced, dat if ye do anything else, evn surfing the internet, while a huge render is in progress, it consumes extra time....so bettr, take a break, switch off yer screen(dat too eats RAM, though very less, but still so :P), go out sumwhr, n cm back to c the progress aftr sumtym :P

my RAM's jus 1GB, i renderd a 6 secs. light animation scene wid only a few props around...n the bloody thng took 6 n half hrs to render!!! :( ....by dat time i had advanced loads in ma Call of Duty game on PS2!!! :P hehehe...

[Isdrasil]

frame by frame is ticking by..... i know your frustration :D done such things too, pain in the ass! i let my render rule my pc now, now surfing on my girlfriend's pc. maybe some diggin in after effects stuff. i let y'all know when this render is finished! (30,8% of FG now...)

[shashanks18]

hahahaah.....nice.....yea plz if possible show us the final output ov the monstrous thing ;) ....n let us knw hw much tym did it take actually :D

[Isdrasil]

sry, no update on how it went... it took more than 7 hours to reach 93,4% FG and stayed there very, very long... and then electricity shut down at home! dammit!! I hope my next attempt will take less time.

[iamtravis316]

awwww that sucks
i hope the next time goes better

[Isdrasil]

sooo, back again! I don't know what i was exactly, but i gave it another try. some minor changes in settings and it walks right through the render!!! 6 minutes! damm, thrown away an evening... but yay, it works!!!

it is still a WIP, but you can make something out of it.

[mikeab7925]

looks good. glad to hear you got it fixed. can't wait to see end product.

[shashanks18]

dats a beauty Idrasil, if tis is WIP den m eager to c the final work.....n LOL, 6 MINS from Hours ov time??? :P wat changes did ye do??? sharing wid us will b useful to us man!!!