Would it be possible to view estimated render time in the render window?
It would be nice to have some approximations so we could use them to set timer on programs like "PowerOFF". I usually set PowerOFF on hibernate after few hours but it's hard to estimate rendering time if dealing with 3000 x 2000 pixels render and I believe that calculating it inside the software would be more precise.
Alternatively an option in Terragen to hibernate the PC after render completes (with automatic saving perhaps?).
This has been asked before and it's not possible to estimate accurately.
Quote from: PorcupineFloyd on March 18, 2009, 11:39:43 AM
Would it be possible to view estimated render time in the render window?
I know that it's impossible to estimate it accurately but at last it should be possible to give an approximation which should be more precise than simple guessing.
And if it's a bad idea considering benefits to trouble while programming it, what about automating saving images and shutting down the PC instead?
I think it's possible to create a batch script to shutdown the computer once tg is done rendering a given file. It would be nice to have it also as a feature within the program to choose (after render: save and shutdown/sleep, just save, or do nothing).
Should we get into a discussion about the effect of turning a PC on and off versus leaving it on? :P
You could try to get a rough idea from doing a small (320 x 240) render with the same detail/AA/GI etc settings as your final and multiply up by the number of times your small render fits into your larger final render. So in the above example you would multiply the time by 4 to get to a 640 x 480 sized render. NOT by any means accurate but it might be a start.
richard
Quote from: cyphyr on March 18, 2009, 12:14:10 PM
You could try to get a rough idea from doing a small (320 x 240) render with the same detail/AA/GI etc settings as your final and multiply up by the number of times your small render fits into your larger final render. So in the above example you would multiply the time by 4 to get to a 640 x 480 sized render. NOT by any means accurate but it might be a start.
richard
That should do the trick, together with adding let's say 10% of error.
Just tested using Oshyan's new benchmark, 320 x 240 rendered in 4 min exactly and my benchmark for the default render (640 x 480 same settings) was 16 min 5 sec so not too bad a test. Pretty sure there will be other things effecting total render time but its a usable start :)
richard
i just tried something.
You can get a good idea about the render time if you do lets say 10 renders with images from 10.000 to 100.000 pixel.
With the average of the render time increase (at my test 2.9) i could calculate the bigger image very close (360.000 pixel; my tip was 1.45, it was 1.44).
I gonna test it more this evening. :)
batch file with:
"C:\Program Files\Planetside Software\Terragen 2 Deep Edition (Beta)\tgdcli.exe" -p %1 -hide -exit -r -o %2.bmp
shutdown -s
change the path to the tgdcli depending on version/where installed. other options -r for restart, -l for log off, etc. This might not work depending on version of windows you run.
to run the batch file, it would look like this.
path/to/batch.bat "path/to/project.tgd" outputname
so, if in the batch folder already (my terragen stuff folder) command for me would look like:
shutdownbatch.bat "projects/scene.tgd" myrender
when done, my computer shuts down. when i bring it back up, i navigate to the output which renders to the folder.
One thing to consider is that if Planetside did implement a shutdown on completion they would also have to implement an automatic save and select a format for you, otherwise the whole thing'd be a waste of time.
After hearing PG's observation, I'd say this probably won't happen before release.
Use neuspadrin's instructions :)
(Second time this week I've said that!)
Matt
Hey, thanks :D
I'll test it soon :)
i'm just all knowing ;)
you can get more info on the command line options in the Docs folder where TG2 is installed, gives info on how to use it.
if you need any more help or instructions with the batch feel free to ask.
Yeah I always wondered how renderers estimation times worked...
probably some sort of algorithm that basically just keeps track of how much time it has been rendering to get to that specific point, and how much rendering is left, which is why it can be quite a bit off, and slowly becomes more accurate. Could perhaps use a average of time perpixel, etc etc. Theres little small ways to guestimate the time it'll take, but its never fully accurate.
I am curious to see if you can render all the high settings with a small res picture (like 640x480), and then be able to accurately calculate how long it would at like 1920x1200 or something.
Couple things here. First off, some rendering systems are actually a lot more predictable than others, so in those systems sometimes render time remaining indicators are provided. In TG2 virtually everything is computed at render time, so it's very hard to predict.
The other thing is that the larger the difference between your test render size and your target output size, the less accurate the test/prediction would be. So going from 640x480 to 1600x1200 would be harder to predict than going from 320x240 to 640x480, or 640x480 to 800x600 for that matter.
- Oshyan
What about tacking a known instance say the time it takes to render a square of a known size say 8 X 8 Pixels and you know that will require Time X to render this then is a known quantity, you have an image you wish to render at say a resolution of say 2040 X 1530 and you know that your 8 X 8 pixel square goes Y number of times into that resolution you can then predict since you have a know quantity how long a render should take.
This is a simplistic model I know but shows a way it might be done.
Regards to you.
Cyber-Angel
Like I just said, the larger the difference between your test resolution and your target resolution, the less accurate the prediction. In the case of your suggestion, I'd say it would be pretty inaccurate.
- Oshyan