Resolution for posters

domdib · March 18, 2009, 05:50:23 PM

Alas, even using overlapping tiles, inconsistencies are still appearing - see the attached file, which combines a 34 percent crop and a 21 per cent crop (I had to reduce the size of the crop because 34 percent was taking too long - about 8 hours, which is the longest I can sequentially use this machine

) The line in the clouds is obvious. Maybe this file is so stressful because of the bright surfaces as Oshyan said (the snow has a reflective shader) and also a lot of light in the clouds - high scattering colour, 0.9 Enviro light, Ambient on. Maybe Planetside could use it as a test file?

I guess if I want to get this file done in one go, I'm probably going to have to consider a render farm. Has anyone had any experience with this company? http://deadline.emecstudios.be It looks my likeliest choice, unless the RenderFarm.ca site featured in this thread http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=5870.0 comes back online.

That is unless there's a kind soul out there with a big machine and some time to spare... any takers? $:-\$

rcallicotte · March 18, 2009, 06:12:50 PM

Maybe you should just use the software to create the higher resolution images?

domdib · March 18, 2009, 06:18:03 PM

I don't quite follow you calico - that's precisely what I have been trying to do, but as the thread should make clear, I don't have access to a sufficiently powerful machine for sufficiently long. And cropping and stitching isn't working because of the scene's lighting - which I want to retain. So my only current option - since I don't have the money to buy a new machine - is to go to a renderfarm. Unless, as I said, someone has spare capacity on their box.

neuspadrin · March 18, 2009, 06:43:05 PM

When crop rendering + stitching don't you need to overlap the renders a slight bit to get proper lighting due to GI and such?

also if you want I don't mind giving it 3 of my 4 cores on my desktop for a while to render.

domdib · March 18, 2009, 06:59:27 PM

Yes neuspadrin, I understand the part about rendering overlaps - the example above has a 10% overlap, but it still didn't work

.

Thanks for offering 3 of your 4 cores. Just to be clear on the request - we're talking about a 4800 x 3600 pixel render that I estimate would take somewhere around 25 hours using both cores of a Pentium dual E2180 @ 2Ghz. If you still think it's doable, then email me and we can sort out file transfer. Thanks!

neuspadrin · March 18, 2009, 07:34:27 PM

yeh thats np, i've left renders for days previously on the computer back when there wasn't multithreading, and I've done overnight renders a lot recently, I generally turn it off at night but its not like i need to.

I'll pm my email.

neuspadrin · March 18, 2009, 08:15:15 PM

I've started render, just double check all the settings on the file you sent just to make sure they are what you want, if you want any changes I can just restart it. Only change I did once picking the renderer is to uncheck crop. If you want you can bump up quality a little probably.

rcallicotte · March 18, 2009, 11:19:58 PM

There's about three major programs on the market that you can demo that do not require the cropping and stitching and supposedly (notice I haven't tried these) can expand an image quite large without very much deficiency in the end result. Are these listed here? I didn't check.

Quote from: domdib on March 18, 2009, 06:18:03 PM
I don't quite follow you calico - that's precisely what I have been trying to do, but as the thread should make clear, I don't have access to a sufficiently powerful machine for sufficiently long. And cropping and stitching isn't working because of the scene's lighting - which I want to retain. So my only current option - since I don't have the money to buy a new machine - is to go to a renderfarm. Unless, as I said, someone has spare capacity on their box.

domdib · March 19, 2009, 06:47:15 AM

It's true that these re-sizing progs exist, but the fact is that they will never do as good a job as simply scaling the image in TG2 - particularly, I would imagine, with clouds, which play a major part in this scene. I just downloaded one (Enlarger Pro) and tried it, and frankly, wasn't impressed. And Genuine Fractals doesn't even work with my version of Photoshop. Fortunately, neuspadrin is lending me his machine for a while, so the problem is hopefully solved.

neuspadrin · March 19, 2009, 07:07:58 AM

Currently looks like the render will be done this afternoon/tonight.

domdib · March 19, 2009, 07:43:09 AM

Thanks - would be interested in how long it takes exactly, and what your exact setup is.

neuspadrin · March 19, 2009, 08:19:07 AM

The important stats for TG2:
2.4ghz core 2 quad
4 gb of ram

Running in 64bit Windows Vista Ultimate.

Probably would've been done by now or much closer had I used all 4 cores. The computer I'm using cost $1700 to make in oct. 2007 buying parts off newegg.

Currently at school, but I'm done with classes at 1:30 or so and render should be done/near done.
------------------------------
Yep it was done when I got back home. 16 hours using 3 cores. Check your email dom. 46 mb exr file

domdib · March 19, 2009, 06:43:57 PM

Thanks to neuspadrin, I finally got the image done. And what's more, it even re-sizes up quite gracefully in PS6 to twice its size. Thanks for everyone's help and advice.