Lake Object Render Method

Started by LonnieChristopher, August 21, 2018, 04:45:01 PM

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LonnieChristopher

When I choose to render the Lake object with the "Force RayTrace" method option it doesn't seem to render at all. Does anyone have any insight into this render method setting with the lake object?

My goal was to render just the water with RayTracing to help eliminate the noise in the water surface.

Oshyan

No need to do that, just increase the Antialiasing. Most noise on water comes from insufficient antialiasing.

- Oshyan

LonnieChristopher

I tried that and it just didn't compare to raytraced results. I am curious why it doesn't render when I turn this option on, is it broken or not meant to be used in this way?

Oshyan

The Lake object is a Displaceable object. Displaceable objects don't render well with ray tracing currently. It shouldn't disappear, that's probably a bug, but in general you should not try to force Displaceable objects from rendering with Ray Tracing. You'll see the same behavior from any other Displaceable Object (they're in a separate part of the Objects list; the Lake is basically similar to Plane as I understand it).

When you say "it just didn't compare to raytraced results", what are you comparing to if you couldn't get the lake to render that way? In other words what ray traced result are you seeing that makes you expect ray tracing to improve the look of the water? Object ray tracing is enabled by default and ray tracing provides the best quality for *non-displaceable* objects, that's definitely true. But I think what you're seeing with water is likely a result of the reflection aspect of it, which is really about antialiasing the reflection, and not the water surface itself, if that makes sense.

- Oshyan

LonnieChristopher

"The Lake object is a Displaceable object. Displaceable objects don't render well with ray tracing currently. It shouldn't disappear, that's probably a bug, but in general you should not try to force Displaceable objects from rendering with Ray Tracing. You'll see the same behavior from any other Displaceable Object (they're in a separate part of the Objects list; the Lake is basically similar to Plane as I understand it).

When you say "it just didn't compare to raytraced results", what are you comparing to if you couldn't get the lake to render that way? In other words what ray traced result are you seeing that makes you expect ray tracing to improve the look of the water? Object ray tracing is enabled by default and ray tracing provides the best quality for *non-displaceable* objects, that's definitely true. But I think what you're seeing with water is likely a result of the reflection aspect of it, which is really about antialiasing the reflection, and not the water surface itself, if that makes sense.

- shyan"


I used the Advanced Render option "Raytrace Everything" option. I get some decent result with the water using this method, but I didn't want to Raytrace anything else (terrain), which is why I was trying the Raytrace render method within the Lake object itself. Not sure why it is there if it's not usable, but from what you have said it seems that the reason I like raytrace better is that it is eliminating the displacement. I should, in theory, get a similar result just from turning down the displacement using the default render method. Though still curious why there is a raytracing render method in the lake object if it disables the displacement?

Thanks for the input it has at least clarified a few things and sets me off in a better direction to deal with it.

Matt

#5
I noticed recently that this isn't working as expected on displaceable objects. I'm not sure if this was ever working but I'll see if I can fix it, because, as you expected, it should be able to give you a similar quality to "ray trace everything" just for that particular object. It helps because it shades the surface according to anti-aliasing and coverage in image space rather than merely one shade per micropolygon. But the downside is that micropolygon detail is reduced according to "ray detail multiplier" in advanced render settings -> subdiv settings.
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