Home Forums General Discussion Render: 6 hours elapsed………24 hrs remaining

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    • #3640
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Any fellow 3D artists out there who want to divulge their longest render time?

      I am currently rendering a very simple animation for my reel and its so far taken 6 hours with another 24 hrs estimated left. Although that has been going up moreso than down….! :eek:
      The reason the current one is taking so long is down to a combination of factors.
      1. The model(Centurian Helmet) is semi-high poly
      2. It uses HDRI as an enviroment map and Skylight
      3. Its is using high quality render settings
      4. There is a hair simulator to create the plume.

      Its only a simple 150 frame camera rotation but its taking aaaaaagggggeeeeessss, but it should look really cool! I will post a single frame later on tonight(will pause the rendering, upload the image and then resume…..*sigh*)

      So whats the longest time your computer has been left rendering?

    • #16366
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Hehe, Nice one Noopti, last year when we did the Rocket project in Ludo my final(dire) animation was 400 frames long and took 17 hrs to render. Can’t recall why but I have a sneaking suspicion that my Poly count was Ludicrious and the lightning effects were rather generous.:rolleyes:

    • #16369
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Like you said I think one of the big problems with that was that a lot of people in the class were lashing up the subdivisions on many of the primitives to crazy numbers when it wasn’t even necessary! Also adding loads of unnecessary lights with ray traced shadow on all of them……….

      Here is a still from the scene I’m rendering, just another 19 hours to go, wohoo! ;) But I just previewed the first 70 frames and it looks great, the reflective metal looks fantastique when the camera is panning around it!

    • #16370
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Forgot the image…..here it is

    • #16374
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Dude!
      Thats the most impressive render I’ve seen on this site to date.

    • #16375
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Cheers Omen, it looks even better with the camera moving around it. I couldn’t quite get the plume right, it looks like its made of rigid straws rather than horse hair, but hey, its not too bad!

    • #16376
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Serious stuff Noopt! Well done!!!!

    • #16377
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Fantastic stuff! Be sure to post up the finished file.

      I’d have to see the full movie to be sure but I think the wood is reflecting the helmet slightly too much. About the only fault I can find! Keep it up. :)

      What renderer are you using, Dave?

    • #16378
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Fantastic stuff! Be sure to post up the finished file.

      I’d have to see the full movie to be sure but I think the wood is reflecting the helmet slightly too much. About the only fault I can find! Keep it up. :)

      What renderer are you using, Dave? [/quote:ab75f323e8]

      I thought that was just a scratch texture?

    • #16379
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Nice render Nooptical. Longest ever render was about 52 hours for one frame, it was for an A3 poster and was like 4,000 pixels wide or something. Used about 17 lights, some with raytraced shadows, no GI. Took all weekend and into Monday, the bastid!

    • #16380
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      BTW what hair plugin are you using?

    • #16384
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Thats some really nice work nooptical.
      Looks very convincing.

      Hmm, longest render, i would say about 3 full days. Thats about 72 hours. But a friend of mine beats it hands down! It took his poject 8 full days to render!!! Thats a grand total of 192 hours (give or take)
      The avi lasted all of 30 seconds mind you! It ended up blowing one of his fans andhis computer now makes a strange buzzing noise.. HHmm, more RAM me thinks!

    • #16388
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I noticed that reflection too Ronny, but it had already rendered 70 frames at that stage and I couldn’t bring myself to start again! I will probably change it at some point in the future! ;)

      Thats a hell of long time Pete, I hate having to give up my computer for so long, I always have so much other stuff to do on it! The hair is done with Shag:Hair………I’m actually quite disappointed with it so far, can’t get realistic looking hair with it yet. I will have to look for some good net tutorials because the ones that come with the plugin are complete pants…..

      I don’t think I could ever let my comp render for 8 days Paul, thats 8 days where I can’t do anything else! Maybe a seperate computer for rendering is the answer………..hmmmmm…..

      *Wishes he had a render farm*

    • #16394
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Yeah, wish there was a “make good hair” button!

    • #16419
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      To go along with the “Make Good Fire” and “Make Good Water” buttons……. ;)

    • #16423
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Have you heard about the “Make Good Art” button in max? No messing….

    • #16424
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Pretty darn impressive dave. Your stuff just gets better and better. (Xero tries to hold in all the jealousy). My longest render is nowhere near any of these. A single high poly robotic arm with HDRI maps with skylight and that took about 5 hours to render out one frame. Actually, come to think of it, my computer may be on the fritz.

    • #16440
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      You mean this one?

    • #16447
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Is that the one that generates the Cornell box and sets up red and blue lights, 2 spheres and fakes GI, all at the press of a button? Couldn’t find the script last night when I went looking for it.

    • #16459
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Nope this(ver1.5) goes one step better:
      This one creates chrome spheres on a reflective chequered surface like this:

    • #16461
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      this will sound weird but i had a dream about you Helmet, i just looked at this topic again to day and i got a flash back! (but to was from a different angle, from the top right, not bottom left like the pic shows)…..

      btw it looks so good, it sickens me… but in a good way ;)

    • #16465
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I have another render on my computer from the top right!!

      You must have used some sort of psychic remote vision to see the other render! :p

    • #16467
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      This is the 3d max 7 version! lol

    • #16479
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      There has got to be a chrome sphere in there somewhere…….its like “Where’s Wally”*

      * – “Where’s Waldo” for any United States of Americans out there

    • #16628
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I have just beaten my record from the above render. I am rendering my AT-ST model walking for 150 frames(but using 2 camera angles so its really 300 frames), at 640×480 res using Brazil render with some GI applied. Its taking an average of 8:35 per frame and it has been rendering for 13 hours so far and there is an estimated 28 hours left!

      On a side note, its a bitch trying to animate an AT-ST……I couldn’t quite get the contact between the feet and ground quite right so I have had to use some clever camera angles to get over it.

    • #16633
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Have you tried a History Independant IK rig? Those legs look perfect for it (The AT-ST’s, not yours!!) it would make it fairly easy to get a cycle going

    • #16656
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Hi Pete,
      I’m using a HI solver alright and the rig is working fine, but I had no referance for the animation(still haven’t got the DVD set yet!) so I was going on memory and it just didn’t really look right.
      This evening I found an old video of Return of the Jedi and I watched the AT-ST’s closely and I know now what I have been doing wrong, I wasn’t bending the “shin” part up enough on each stride and also it wasn’t “jerky” enough in its motion. They have a real jerky motion(due to the stop motion) and mine was just too smooth.
      I will try and rectify it before I start rendering the next 150 frames as its not really noticeable from the camera angle for the first 150 frames.

      The frame render time is now up to 12 mins so it will take another 6 hrs+ to render the final 30 or so frames. Its been going for 26 hours already…..

    • #16722
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Try rendering without motion blur too, might add a stop motion feel to your animation

    • #16729
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I have turned off motion blur. Its up to 19 mins per frame now, it will probably turn out to be around a total of 72 hours render for about 12 secs of animation(once I lower the fps to 24)!

    • #16731
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      If I tried that, I imagine my machine would just give up and die! :p

    • #16736
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Here are a couple of vids, they aren’t the highest quality because I’m stuck with 56k and can’t be uploading large files……
      They both use the Xvid codec

      Helmet (780kb):
      http://noopti.topcities.com/helmet.avi

      (Ignore the crappy enviroment its in)

      AT-ST (320kb):
      http://noopti.topcities.com/atst_test.avi

    • #16744
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Really nice animation dude, very cool. Gotta love the at-st.

    • #16755
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Cheers Xero. Here is a sneak glimpse at the Chopper I’m working on at the moment.
      Its based off one of the bikes on the OCC website….

      (Ignore the multi-colored cabling….)

    • #16756
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Engine close-up. (Still have to work on the carborator. And also chain drive, or whatever its called, the bits behind the engine….)

    • #16757
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Mother of God!, now I’m convinced. You do work in a sweatshop, don’t you Nooptical.

      Ace work… ^_^

    • #16775
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Here is the final bike if anyone wants to see it!

    • #16776
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Another

    • #16777
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      One more

    • #16779
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I thought I was watching Countdown there.. vowel… one more…. and another ;)

      Very cool bike, your work is definitely up there with the best CG work I’ve seen on most other boards!

      Mal

    • #16788
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      thats amazing!!!!
      How long did it take you to create the bike Nooptical??

    • #16789
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      It took about 12-15 hours altogether I would estimate. Its just one of a few half finished projects I’m trying to finish at the moment as they are really bugging me just sitting on my harddrive half done!

    • #16790
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      More great work, Dave.

      How many years have you been modelling for now?

      Purely top notch.

    • #16792
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Thanks! :)
      I think about 4 years Ronny, I started with a free version of Truespace I got with a magazine!

    • #16793
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I enjoyed the Bike Noopti, maybe you can do the ‘Nam’ one next.

    • #16794
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Nooptical, if you plan on working on some low-poly stuff for your portfolio, it would be interesting to see what you could do with the car app I’m working on.

      The new version ( http://www.candointeractive.com/gamedesign/car/EditCarLevel.ZIP includes a basic Max scene to get you going… it now enables you to take an existing scene ( eg a plane, with some of your low-poly models placed around like a 3D portfolio ), drop a red cube in there the size that you want the van to be, and export directly ( you can then stick it online etc ).

      Regards…
      Mal

    • #16795
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Hi Mal,
      I have tinkered with the car level already, just for a few minutes though. I will be working on low poly models in a couple of weeks and I will drop a few of them in and see what happens.

      Omega, I have had enough of bikes for now! My next big personal project is probably going to be a Fell Beast from Lord of the Rings. You know, the winged creatures the Nazgul ride about on in Two Towers and Return of the King. It will be a tough one, but interesting all the same!

    • #16796
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Dave, in all honesty, why anyone would NOT hire u is beyond me. U should be up there with the best of em. Keep it up.

    • #16809
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I started on the Fell Beast this evening and have got about 80% of the head done. Its going well so far, with no problems in the modeling process(touch wood!). I’m pretty happy with how its going so far, especially seeing as that I would deem the head as probably the most difficult part of the modeling for this project. Anyway, I would really appreciate it if any 3d artists or anyone else would take a look at it and see if they can spot anything wrong with it, both in the modeling and/or the accuracy. Thanks!

    • #16811
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Looks pretty good so far dave, the only thing i can say is that the eues look like they could protrude a bit more. The beasts in the movies seem to have very bulgy eyes. Although it may be just the angle im lookin from.

    • #16820
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I think your right Xero, although they do bulge a bit more than is noticeable in the above render I think a bit more bulgeness is in order! ;)
      I have also re-done the teeth, and added some more musculature around the face. I will buldge up the eyes later tonight.

    • #16823
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Yeah i think it was just the view that made them not seem as bulgy as they are. Look forward to more updates.:D:D

    • #16958
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Haven’t had time to work on this for the past few days but here is a quick update, just for you Xero! ;)

      Bulged the eyes a bit more, added neck and spikey fin things. There are a few dodgy verts in there that I will fix in due course.

    • #16962
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      You shouldn’t do things for that Xero bloke, he’s a dodgy character. yup, seen him lurking the other night. Lurking, crafty I reckon.

      Oh, and nice Anaconda Dave, Jeff Goldbloom would be proud :P

    • #16978
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Lookin really cool dave. Just keep it up and dont listen to that Omega’s fella. He was just released from the loony bin. Too early if u ask me.

    • #16991
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Lovely renders of the OCC bike, keep up the good work, and that fell beast is looking great. Looking forward to seeing the final model

    • #16999
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      What technique are u usin for the fell beast? Nurms?

    • #17004
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Thanks! :)
      I think about 4 years Ronny, I started with a free version of Truespace I got with a magazine! [/quote:bcebe369bf]

      Liar. By my reckoning you started about 12ish years ago with the starship enterprise on my old 486 in 3ds max v3. Although that was pretty brief (about a week) before it was deleted cause no-one else could understand it. 8 years later and along comes truespace.

    • #17006
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Haha, your right Brian. I forgot about that Enterprise model!! :D

      Oz,
      I started the head using spline modeling, now I’m just using poly edit, cutting and extruding etc….

    • #17017
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I have made a start on the body, here is a quick update. :)

    • #17019
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Sweet lord, the Fell Beast looks menacing!
      Nice :)

    • #17020
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      pretty sweet dave keep up the good work lad
      when the textures are on it it will be sweet

    • #17056
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Another quick update, I have added more detail to torso, also added the tail and thickened up the neck where it meets the body(noticed it was a bit thin in the last render).

    • #17061
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Savage lookin dave, now u do realise that u will have to do the witch king aswell dont u. :D

    • #17062
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Yup, but he is just a black bit of cloth with a crown, so he shouldn’t be too difficult. Although its usually the ones that sound simple in theory that prove the most difficult in practice! ;)

    • #17096
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Done the legs, although still need to add claws to the toes.

    • #17097
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Another view…
      Next up is a bit more tweaking on the body and then the wings….

    • #17218
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Another update:
      Wing bones added, next I have to added the membranes:

    • #17219
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Top:

    • #17220
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Actually, something that caught my eye there is how good the overhead would suit being a Logo, nice renders though :)

    • #17221
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      There is nothing more i can say apart from, keep it comin dave.
      :D

    • #17249
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Added membranes. Next up is to add some rips to the membranes and add spikes to back. Then tweak a few things here and there and the model is complete.
      Then I have to do the armour and rig it.
      After that is the Witch King.

    • #17280
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Finished Fell Beast Modeling. Next is texturing.

    • #17281
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      2

    • #17282
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Low-Res Wire:

    • #17284
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Thats low res??!!

    • #17285
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Is there a word for being jealous of another mans polygon count?

    • #17286
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Is there a word for being jealous of another mans polygon count? [/quote:a221b27c28]

      I had a sneaky grin over this one, the funiest comment in a long time. nice one Skyclad.

    • #17288
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Low res compared to when its mesh-smoothed! ;)

    • #17292
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Question for you…I have very basic modelling skills, and I mean VERY basic. But I know how to use modelling packages. If I was going to start modelling things in my spare time, what would be the kind of thing that you would advise starting with??

    • #17294
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I suppose there is no real set thing I can say to start modeling. Basically my advice would be to do something simple, but at the same time, something that your really interested in. That way its easier to stick with it when it gets frustrating! For example, I am a big Lord of the Rings fan, and doing the Fell Beast has been tough(its my first proper organic model!), but because I really love the subject matter, I stick with it and try to make it look as good as possible, and I have learned a lot from modeling it.
      Don’t get disheartened if things go wrong with it, it happens all the time! The way to learn 3D modeling is to get stuck in and make mistakes…. ;)

      I would also recommend heading over to 3DBuzz and downloading some of their video tutorials, they are absolutely fantastic and will teach you a LOT. A lot of the videos are free to download to everyone, but some others are only available to download to people who are actively part of the community, ie: post and participate in their forums(which are also great for learning and picking up tips etc).

      So basically:
      1. Create things that interest you
      2. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes
      3. Download as many tutorials as you can, and read as many books\articles as you can.

      If you have any other questions, feel free to ask! :)

    • #17302
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Sound advice Noo, can’t wait to see the fell beast textured and rendered, you’ll have to stick an oul rotation avi uo somewhere for us to have a look at

    • #17305
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Cheers for the advise, don’t know how much time I’ll get to put into it though. Was there a consensus on which is better Max or Maya, or is it just a matter of basically the same but buttons in different places. I’ve got Max at home and use Maya in work so used to both.

    • #17306
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Cheers for the advise, don’t know how much time I’ll get to put into it though. Was there a consensus on which is better Max or Maya, or is it just a matter of basically the same but buttons in different places. I’ve got Max at home and use Maya in work so used to both. [/quote:46e2f17d01]
      Max, I’m quite sure, has sold more copies and is therefore more popular. For the most part they do pretty much the same thing – only with a different interface. They begin to differ when it comes to plug-in support and the more advanced aspects. Many holy wars have been fought over which is better. Just comes down to personal choice. :)

      (In my opinion, anyway)

    • #17308
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I think Ronny is right, personal choice is the main reason people seem to prefer an app.
      I think Maya has more penetration in the film industry and Max in the games industry, although thats not to say that there is a massive differance between the two in each industry.

      I’ll do a rotation when I have it all textured, posed and with the witch king on its back, I’m currently thinking of having it about to land on a ruined building. You know kind of rearing up, with its wings out and the Witch King on its back looking off to one side to the distance…….I’ll try and superimpose it onto a shot from the film which has a nice view of the mountains and Mordor.

    • #17467
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      “I remember when I told my parents that I was quitting my job to build a life-size Millenium Falcon. My parents were pissed and I remember my Dad saying, how are you going to build a falcon. You don’t even know how to use any tools.”

      http://www.mentalwardfilm.com/falcon1.htm

    • #17468
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Traditionally Maya has been the weapon of choice of high end broadcast and film vfx professionals (up there with Softimage), and was priced accordingly until recent times when Alias slashed prices, even releasing their Personal Learning Edition for free. Max had been considerably cheaper until then and had excellent tools for creating lower end and real-time assets. The two platforms have been converging on each other, with max 6 shipping with the MentalRay renderer as standard and Mayas improvements in lower end tools.

      Its very much a pricing and personal preference when it comes to “which is better”, with a lot of artists tending to stick with whatever app they learned in college.

      Its max all the way for me!!:D

    • #17469
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Go team Max! :p

      By the way, haven’t had a chance to look at texturing the beast yet, was too busy preparing stuff for an interview, which I ended up not even using because my printer ran out of ink…..

      Edit:
      I am thinking of giving Cinema 4D a shot though, looks like a nice little package, with a great fire effects plugin, toon shader and particle system built in.

    • #17510
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Yes yes dave. Im tryin to get into Cinema 4D myself. The inetrface and that are all fairly easy to get into, mainly cause i use max, so it should be no problem for you. Its a savage little package. I find it much easier to create cars using cinema, more intuitive.

    • #17513
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Well the company I had the interview for use Cinema 4D so they asked me to take a look at it if I get a chance. They said it is very intuitive and has great features.

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