(Bjur)
(- Were 82 atmo samples really needed if all is raytraced? If yes, why or because of what reasons?)
No Bjur It is not Ray traced. I did not check the Ray trace atmosphere button in Full Render option.
Kindly see the image below In which I marked the area in red which was flat on 42 atmosphere.
I don't have comparison images now as I deleted lots of test images for archive purpose.
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(- Max bucket size: )?
Max bucket size = 128 128
Reason why I did was When I went to 1920x1080 resolution I saw Anti-aliasing issues in trees area marked in black in image below. And at that time Anti-aliasing was to high and Anti-aliasing issue was not getting resolved.
So I Seattle to AA at 16 and decrease the bucket size to 128 from 256 and it start giving me the result I want.
I think it was because lots small details which Terragen have to go throw.
I think 128 bucket size can handle GI renders better but unfortunately not faster.
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(- Quality Detail:)?
My Quality Detail was 0.75 and I reached there by per 5 frame render bases method test, and stop on 0.75 until what I want. And I also went to this post lots of time for quality renders and Oshyan recommendations.
http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=6442.0-----------------------------------
(- May i ask you: What was your reason or benefit to go over ~AA 6 for motion blurred animations at high resolutions?)
For tress having flickers in frames.
My Render Camera Motion blur length = 0.2 and I think it is below than default and 0.2 gives faster to render but also keeping the animation looking more real and close to film footage look.
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(- Ray detail region padding and even more additional render time: Does it help in "fuzzy" landscapes or animations if the value is higher than the standart at max. 1?)
My setting for Ray detail region padding 2 which stops pop ups in terrain and shadows.
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I hope that helps you.