What is the best way to cut down render times? (Without cutting the quality down.)
Just get the fastest CPU I can pay for? And how about memory? 4-8Gb or more?
Hi,
I would say the fastest CPU with the most cores with the most RAM you can afford. I don't know what sort of tradeoff would be best in terms of CPU speed vs number of cores. I would probably go for a slightly lower speed if it meant more cores.
I think 8 GB RAM is quite low, depending on the scenes you're intending to create. RAM is pretty cheap (depending on how many RAM slots you have, larger RAM cards are still expensive), I'd get lots. Probably 16 GB at the minimum. Earlier this year I upgraded from 6 GB to 20 GB and that made a big difference. I'm considering going to 32 GB, would like to go more but that's all I could afford at the moment.
Regards,
Jo
Hi Jo,
Wow, okay...but the specs you mentioning is for the pros right?
I mean I just starting with TG so my pix are not very complicated yet... ::)
And the ram for my workstation cost much more than the usual ones as it uses server memory :o
I have 4Gb now with a Dual Xeon 3.33Ghz and I was thinking to get 4 more gig and a quad cpu.
Guess that will give a nice boost too :D
Hi,
There's plenty of non-pros who make some demanding scenes, in fact most of the ones which prompted me to get more RAM were from non-pros. 8 GB would be a reasonable amount to have though. I'd recommend 12-16 GB to anyone who was planning to really get into TG.
My computer also uses server RAM (by which I take it you mean RAM with ECC). I got 16 GB for $150 US at the beginning of the year.
Regards,
Jo
Okay thanks....I will look around in the US also as an 8Gb server ram module here(I live in Denmark right now) is almost 400 bucks :o :o :o
Those large memory modules are always pretty expensive. I bought 4 x 4 GB. 4 GB seems to be the best value. I have a dual CPU Xeon machine with 8 memory slots.
I live in New Zealand and buying RAM here was quite a bit more expensive too, so I got it from the US and had it sent by the cheapest shipping method :-).
There are lots of other specific recommendations that could be made. The simplest, to start, is just to focus on the development of your scene for as long as possible, and assume that a lack of quality is likely down to needing more work on scene details, lighting, clouds, atmosphere, etc. rather than lack of render quality. Leave render settings at the default for as long as you can, especially while working; in fact you may even want to reduce detail and/or AA during scene development, for quicker feedback. The rendering "degrades" in quality fairly gracefully and accurately in most respects, so if you see something you like in low detail, it will probably look even better in high detail; trust that and keep tweaking, maybe do a crop render at higher quality to see, but stick to adjusting detail and AA at first, and keep below detail 0.8 and AA 8 until final render.
Those are my simple recommendations to start with. If you have more specific questions or quality-related problems let us know and we can probably give more specific advice.
- Oshyan
Hey,
Thanks for the hints :D....I will use them for sure. I do not have quality issues that comes from the software but most probably my lack of knowledge...but with the help of the forum all my pictures are getting better and better. Actually wondering how some of u guys can achieve such super crisp/sharp pictures? It is just rendered HD plus quality and AA up to sky high?
QuoteEarlier this year I upgraded from 6 GB to 20 GB and that made a big difference.
Just curious, Jo or Oshyan. How does RAM increase rendering speed? Does it have to do with the size of subdiv cache that you can use?
RAM doesn't actually have much effect on render speed, it is very, very minor compared to having more CPU resources. Changes in subdiv cache size can have an effect in some cases, but mostly it's best to leave it at the default. Some people seem to increase it as a matter of principle, presumably because they think a larger cache will equal better performance, but this is not an assumption that is backed up by much real-world evidence. As I say, in *some* cases the subdiv cache size being bigger can help, but mostly it has little impact, and as long as it's not too small (about 100MB per render thread is good), it should be fine. Having more RAM does let you render more complex scenes with higher detail though.
- Oshyan
That's what I was thinking Oshyan, just had to double check.
Quote from: jo on September 04, 2013, 06:38:35 PM
Hi,
There's plenty of non-pros who make some demanding scenes, in fact most of the ones which prompted me to get more RAM were from non-pros. 8 GB would be a reasonable amount to have though. I'd recommend 12-16 GB to anyone who was planning to really get into TG.
My computer also uses server RAM (by which I take it you mean RAM with ECC). I got 16 GB for $150 US at the beginning of the year.
Regards,
Jo
Are you using a Mac Pro, Jo?
Tim O
Hi Tim,
Quote from: Tim O'Donoghue on September 06, 2013, 05:05:39 PM
Are you using a Mac Pro, Jo?
Yes, dual Nehalem Xeon one.
Regards,
Jo
Quote from: jo on September 13, 2013, 07:57:12 PM
Hi Tim,
Quote from: Tim O'Donoghue on September 06, 2013, 05:05:39 PM
Are you using a Mac Pro, Jo?
Yes, dual Nehalem Xeon one.
Regards,
Jo
I'm using an old Mac Pro 1,1, but it still keeps up. Considering one of the new ones if the price isn't too steep.