Giving Maxwell another shot

Jackson · 23 Jan 2008, 11:40

Jeff,

I'm messing around with the Maxwell demo just now and am pretty impressed with the results. I love the SU plugin and export (except the materials editor which is horribly buggy), but render times are horrendous. At first I thought they were great, but that was only to a grainy quality- when I try to leave them longer (25 SL passes) to get a grainless result like yours above it takes days on my laptop which is a fairly decent spec.

I seem to remember you work on a supercomputer (8 CPUs?) Very Happy , but how long would the above image take to render for example?

HP dv8000
Centrino Core Duo T2400 1.83GHz
1.5Gb RAM
nVidia GeForce Go7400

Jackson

HP dv8000, Centrino Duo T2400 1.83GHz, 1.5Gb RAM,
nVidia GeForce Go7400
SU, AutoCAD, Progecad, MicroGDS, Vue, Maxwell, VRay, Photoshop, Dreamweaver

jeff jacobs · 23 Jan 2008, 11:41

Jackson,

The last image ran for 4 hours on my 8-core. A bunch of processors is the only thing that makes Maxwell a real option. I'm going to try to network my old G5 and a couple of dual G4's together to and see if I can't get the network render going. Processors, and lot's of them, are Maxwell's only hope.

Also, little grain is good in my opinion. If an image is too clean then it doesn't look any better that one with a lot of grain. Try duplicating the main image into another layer. Do a high-pass filter at about 4 percent on the copy and set it to overlay. This will sharpen up the details nicely. Then switch back to he original layer and use a plugin like Noise Ninja. This will help kill some of the noise but the high-pass will help the image stay sharp. I've also used Noise Ninja on the high-pass layer, but at a real low setting. This will help with the noise too. I always render my images to at least 3000-3200 on the long side, then reduce after all the above.

Jackson · 23 Jan 2008, 11:42

Jeff,

Thanks for the info. Sadly without Deep Blue Rolling Eyes or access to a network I'll have to restrict my Maxwell work to hobby only- the render times are unworkable for me. Although I've complained for ages about Vue's artefacts and quality of radiosity, it's render times means it actually compares pretty well with Maxwell and other unbiased renderers.

Jackson

p.s. was that render time for a 3000px wide original or for the 800px attachment?

Jackson

HP dv8000, Centrino Duo T2400 1.83GHz, 1.5Gb RAM,
nVidia GeForce Go7400
SU, AutoCAD, Progecad, MicroGDS, Vue, Maxwell, VRay, Photoshop, Dreamweaver

jeff jacobs · 23 Jan 2008, 11:43

3000

juju · 23 Jan 2008, 11:44

@unknownuser said:

Jeff Jacobs wrote:
3000

SPARTAAAA!! (x10)

Sorry for the OT, but the whole 300 / Sparta thing with macros still gets me laughing.

Save the Earth, it's the only planet with chocolate.

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Jackson · 23 Jan 2008, 11:45

Jeff,

Just 4 hours for a 3000 px wide image in Maxwell?!!! How many teraflops does your machine do?
Let me know when you're upgrading- I'll start saving up for your old machine now!

Jackson

HP dv8000, Centrino Duo T2400 1.83GHz, 1.5Gb RAM,
nVidia GeForce Go7400
SU, AutoCAD, Progecad, MicroGDS, Vue, Maxwell, VRay, Photoshop, Dreamweaver

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Sheik · 23 Jan 2008, 11:47

Hi to everyone, just found my way here now. Cool
Great renderings Jeff, like always. That is the Saarinen table from FormFonts you have in the first render right? I had trouble with those faceted edges on that one myself. It is true that with the added realism of Maxwell those sharp and faceted edges become more apparent than with some other products. The low poly models seem to work better with a more CG:ish look. The problem is often that low-poly geometry that looks fine in SU just doesn’t render well. I have noticed this also when rendering curved surfaces with a shiny surface.
Here is a quick example of three Panton chairs. One is a low-poly FormFonts chair with a messy mesh. One is s rather high poly Evermotion chair with a clean mesh. The third one, found on the SU forum, is something in between. Can you tell which one is the low-poly one?
Image
When I use high-poly models in SketchUp I always try keeping them on separate layers, so you can turn them of when working on different parts of the model. I think SU can handle a big file, but displaying everything in a high-poly model is where the problems start.

Nondestructive bevelled edges is definitely on my SU wishlist.

Sheik

mateo soletic · 23 Jan 2008, 11:51

Sheik
Really glad to see You back. Your Su-Maxwell
expertise was missing here.

architectboy · 23 Jan 2008, 11:52

Middle one is low-poly, left one is high-poly, and right one is the mix.

Sheik · 23 Jan 2008, 11:54

Bingo! ArchitectBoy gets 3/3 points. Notice how the middle one, the low-poly version, has strange uneven shadows and reflections.

jeff jacobs · 23 Jan 2008, 11:59

Greetings from Vancouver. It's BC Day! Woo Hoo!

The one on the right is the only one close to the original shape–low poly, high poly, no poly. Very Happy

tinanne · 23 Jan 2008, 12:00

Who is this "poly" everyone keeps talking about? I've never seen her post her before....

Great work guys! Enjoying the thread.

...still waters, run deep....

Tina Anne Stiles, ASAI
Quality Digital Watercolor Architectural Illustrations