Hi,
I've tried most of the "tips" I could find on this forum.
Even turned the GI samples, AA settings, up.
Also turned the Receive Shadows from surfaces on but nothing seems to make this go away.
Please check the attached "Test.mp4" file.
Check the dark side of the canyon wall, (left side of the image) lots of flashing.
On the right side, there are also a lot of flickering on some areas.
The render settings (you can download the attached scene and check):
Detail 7.5
AA - 4
GI - Write / read cache file (to test render you must turn GI settings to "NO GI Cache file" since I can't send the GI cached files - too big)
GI cache detail - 4
GI sample quality - 4
Any ideas?
I uploaded the small Test.mp4 and the scene for the ones interested on make some tests.
One test you can do right away if, go to frame 25 and do a render, all seems nice (on the left canyon rocky wall), now, step to frame 27 and render, the bright areas appear right away.
Cheers.
Hi Ben. I'll run some tests, but we're missing the "output.ter" file.
Matt
Oh, you are absolutely right.
Sorry for that.
Here you have it. Many thanks for bothering testing this.
Anyway it looks cool!!
Tkx Hannes,
It is nothing great, really... it is only an animation integration test for Lightwave.
My friend uses Terragen 3 with Maya and MAX and I love what he is able to get out of it.
I'm a Lightwave user and for landscapes I use Vue since version 4 Professional.
I was a beta tester for Vue xStream till version 7.
I like some things on Vue but I'm really starting to dislike the "plastic look" on the renders.
There is something on Vue renders that "gives it", right away.
I really can't explain what it is and I tried alot of different rendering and atmosphere settings but that weird "visual feeling" remains.
So, I grew tired of Vue xStream on my works.
I'm really interested about Terragen 3.
Most of all I need to understand how can I benefit from animations via FBX integration (light source, camera animation and geometry sync with Lightwave to composite) .
All tests I have been doing were great, till I tried this animation scene and crashed into this render issues.
I truly hope that this is something I'm doing wrong, else, I'll have to stick with Vue xStream for a little longer. :-(
Hi Ben.
It is probably related to something like the "Ray detail region padding" and-or "GI prepass padding".
Not sure without testing.But Matt will give you the precise answer for certain.
I use Terragen and Lightwave too because of some of the reason you mentioned above.
Nice scene by the way.
Tkx Kadri.
I hope so, because how more I learn Terragen, more I start to realize how fantastic this software really is.
Like Lightwave, it seems to be a little "wrong" understood.
Cheers.
I agree with Kadri, looks like shadow popping due to off-camera geometry being calculated at a lower detail. Try enabling 360 detail in ray detail region padding (in the renderer node) and render some test frames. It'll take a good deal longer, but that will tell you conclusively if it's a ray detail region issue. There are settings that will take less time to render than 360 degree but it's worth identifying for sure whether that will even fix it before you spend time with smaller adjustments of padding to find the right balance of render time and output quality.
- Oshyan
Will do the test.
Many tkx for the tip. ;)
I'll report the results.
Ok, here we have the new render version with "Ray detail region padding" set to 360.
I notice less fireflies/flickering, but it stills present.
Now, I notice something else, the shadows are changing like if the terrain geometry appears and disappears form certain spots.
Could the problem be related with the fact that the terrain was generated and imported by a ".ter" file exported from "World Machine 2"?
Cheers
To use 360 degree mode, change the "ray detail region", not "ray detail region padding". As in this screenshot.
I am currently rendering some tests with a few different settings, including those later frames where the shadow on the ground is changing.
Matt
Ahhhh... ::) ok, will try that 8)
In my render, "360 degree detail (highest)" stabilised the large shadow on the ground. You might be able to use "360 degree detail (optimal)", which will be faster, but I haven't tested it on this scene.
For another test I also went into the Render Subdiv Settings node (in the internal network of the render node), and turned "Fully adaptive" OFF, as well as "Microvertex jittering" OFF in the render node. This was able to stop the flickering details in the shadows on the cliffs on the right hand side.
The Animation Check button doesn't automatically turn these off because they can have other side effects, but in your scene it seems to be good with them turned off, and definitely worth it to remove the flicker.
Matt
Here we have it.
Another test but this time with the 360 degree mode, change the "ray detail region" only.
It is much better indeed.
The shadows are stabilized and most of the flicker is not so problematic.
The next test is rendering again but setting the "Fully adaptive" OFF, as well as "Microvertex jittering" OFF.
I'll let you know the result after the render is done but for now this render (360 degree mode, change the "ray detail region" only) looks much better.
Many thanks for helping me finding the best render settings for this test.
Your help may very well, be the most important step on my tests to go from Vue to Terragen. ;-)
Well, I'll keep using Vue to export some plants and also on other specific scenes, but for larger landscapes, Terregen is going to be the tool of choice.
Cheers
Perfect! There's one little bright spot after about one quarter of the animation. I guess it's only on one frame, so this could easily be fixed manually.
Finally, The best settings for a balanced speed/quality render.
The changes from the default render settings are:
360 degree detail (optimal)
Fully adaptive OFF
Now, I need to read and learn more about these render settings, and figure out what they do.
The result, was a very solid render (final test render attached).
Again, many thanks to all that bothered on taking a look at this.
Nice that you got it.
The flicker on the left walls is from encoding i suppose as you are pleased with the result Ben?
Perfect!!
Kadri,
Not only the Encoding but also the render detail was kept at 0.5 :)
My friend told me that any decent render (for production) should be rendered at 0.75 minimum best at 0.8.
So, there is a lot for me to test and learn about Terragen. 8)
I'm happy with this latest render test, only in the sense that I got rid of the nasty fireflies and most of the noticeable flicker but it is far from standard production levels.
This result is not what I expect to deliver in a decent production. I do need more control and quality thus more render time per frame ::)
Thanks for comment, Hannes. ;)
Cheers.
Quote from: Ben Martin on July 19, 2015, 01:49:58 PM
...
I do need more control and quality thus more render time per frame ::)
...
In that aspect Terragen is kinda rendering in Lightwave with high Monte Carlo settings.
Probably not apples to apples but i think you know what i mean.
Pretty nice video. Thanks for posting it.
Quote from: Kadri on July 19, 2015, 02:04:22 PM
In that aspect Terragen is kinda rendering in Lightwave with high Monte Carlo settings.
Probably not apples to apples but i think you know what i mean.
Yes, I do. ;)
In fact, for landscapes (outside scenes), Lightwave does a great job using "Backdrop Only" Radiosity settings.
At lower settings, the render is very fast and much more accurate than "Monte Carlo".
Of course for "indoor" scenes, Monte Carlo is the only valid option.
As an example, this next attached clip was rendered in Lightwave with "Backdrop Only Radiosity.
Not the best but is delivers very well.
Cheers.
Quote from: TheBadger on July 19, 2015, 07:01:11 PM
Pretty nice video. Thanks for posting it.
Thanks for watching. ;)
Quote from: Ben Martin on July 20, 2015, 07:17:47 AM
...
Yes, I do. ;)
In fact, for landscapes (outside scenes), Lightwave does a great job using "Backdrop Only" Radiosity settings.
At lower settings, the render is very fast and much more accurate than "Monte Carlo".
Of course for "indoor" scenes, Monte Carlo is the only valid option.
...
:)
O man! I love sci-fy...especially wrecks,spaceships etc. I love that scene.
The colors and composition is very nice.
Is this a standalone scene or for anything more big like a short movie etc.?
"Backdrop Only" Radiosity is very fast but haven't used it for a long time.
Was it less then 5-10 minutes for 1 frame ?
Quote from: Kadri on July 20, 2015, 07:31:57 AM
O man! I love sci-fy...especially wrecks,spaceships etc. I love that scene.
The colors and composition is very nice.
Is this a standalone scene or for anything more big like a short movie etc.?
Yup. It is for a sci-fi movie. :)
The Terragen tests I've been doing are to "design" a workflow to use Terragen in that movie as well.
Cheers.
Nice. Curious to see more :)
Cheers.