Messages

16

[Max] Resolved Feature Requests / Re: Gpu rendering

« on: 2017-10-12, 15:45:46 »

yep, just doing a rendering time test instead.  I may have been doing fstorm an injustice.  Apparently I should have been using the latest nvidia drivers for a 20% boost in render times.

17

[Max] Resolved Feature Requests / Re: Gpu rendering

« on: 2017-10-12, 15:01:38 »

Hi guys, i'll re-render to times instead of noise.  I'm pretty new to fstorm so i'm not yet sure how to optimise the render settings for that engine yet.  Corona looks pretty well optimised though.  Settings are are all default more or less, portals in place, albedo all good.

No doubt, eventually they will steer you to the settings where Fstorm will start rendering slower than Corona :]]]

I can't believe that.  Maru has been very helpful.  He even just private messaged me to let me know that an older geforce fx series graphics card may help me clear up the noise faster in fstorm :p  Just kidding Maru :)

18

[Max] Resolved Feature Requests / Re: Gpu rendering

« on: 2017-10-12, 14:45:21 »

O_o shit! 2 housr vs 25 minutes ?! what a very interesting comparison.
Can anyone here provide the most fair scene for renderEngine comparison purpose? honestly, I'm doubting the current scene somehow.
does fStorm support Radeon GPU? and where can I download the Fstorm demo version (stupidly I cant find the download link)? :D

Hi Christa, it's nvidia only I beleive.  For any questions regarding the engine though, such as availability etc then your probably best messaging the page admin over on their facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/FStormGroup/

19

[Max] Resolved Feature Requests / Re: Gpu rendering

« on: 2017-10-12, 14:41:18 »

Hi guys, i'll re-render to times instead of noise.  I'm pretty new to fstorm so i'm not yet sure how to optimise the render settings for that engine yet.  Corona looks pretty well optimised though.  Settings are are all default more or less, portals in place, albedo all good.

@Maru.  Do you fancy checking the scene to see if anything can be optimised?  I'd be interested to see if we can speed corona up any.  I might even learn something! :)  The link is above in cecofuli's post.

20

[Max] Resolved Feature Requests / Re: Gpu rendering

« on: 2017-10-12, 02:56:42 »

You can do by yourself!
I'm my original thread, you can download the FStom .max file and the Corona .max file.

--- LINK---

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_i7C0g1XqRMN1lodFNUb1d5REk

I'm not FStom user, sorry. I used the FStom DEMO version, one year ago.

If you will do the test, please, post the result ;-)

Ahh, I had hoped you were.  Neither are we, and we don't have access to the newest version of it. Maybe someday, once it's available, I can take a whack at it.

I've downloaded the scene provided by cecofuli, and rendered in corona 1.6.3 and also fstorm 1.1.10.  I didnt change any settings in the corona version apart from changing it from a 15 minute render to a 1.5% noise level instead.  In corona I rendered it on one i7-7700k running at stock speeds, 32 gb ddr4 ram.  In Fstorm I used a gtx1070 gpu (also shared by windows). To get it rendering in Fstorm I just changed the renderer, hit convert from the render tools panel, pumped up the lights considerably and then tweaked the tone mapping so the images roughly matched.  Results attached.

Corona 2 hours and 10 minutes rendered to 1.5% noise.
Fstorm 25 minutes also rendered to 1.5% noise.

21

[Max] Resolved Feature Requests / Re: Gpu rendering

« on: 2017-10-11, 05:07:29 »

flipped the enironment of the fstorm version to match the Corona version, and it made quite a big difference to fstorm render times.  Around 3 times slower than before.

22

[Max] Resolved Feature Requests / Re: Gpu rendering

« on: 2017-10-10, 20:17:24 »

Hi Cecofuli, your quite right.  I hadnt noticed but the hdri, although the same one, it was automatically flipped 180 degrees during the conversion process so the light is streaming into the room from a different direction.  I'll retry and see how the result varies.  I'm using 1.1.10v by the way.

23

[Max] Resolved Feature Requests / Re: Gpu rendering

« on: 2017-10-10, 17:01:54 »

I don't normally do interiors so the quality isn't the best, just an old scene I downloaded from a free site ages ago and slightly modified/set up for corona.  It has a forest pack rug, and mainly transluscent materials for shades/curtains with a bit of scattering if I remember correctly.

I've set it to render at 1920x1080p with a noise level limit of 1.5% and rendered in corona on 4 machines (dr), then i've changed the renderer to Fstorm, hit the convert scene button, changed the hdri bitmap gamma to 2.2 and enabled direct lighting and then hit "run rt mode" using 1x gtx1070.....oh I also tweaked the lamp shade material a little as it was too see through in Fstorm initially (I may have gone a little too far though as i've robbed the fstorm render of quite a bit of the yellow light.

On corona, I waited until the time remaining had stabilised and was ticking down consistently, but on Fstorm I let it run all the way through to 1.5% noise due to it's time remaining not being as accurate as corona's as it constantly decreases as it renders.

Results attached.  Fstorm was still suprisingly favourable still coming in not quite as quick as the outdoor scenes, but still approx 8 times faster.  So I definitely think corona should seriously consider having a change of heart on their cpu only stance...with their expertise and team size i'm sure they could match what one guy has been able to do on his own with fstorm.

24

[Max] Resolved Feature Requests / Re: Gpu rendering

« on: 2017-10-10, 14:26:55 »

Damn it, I'm going to have to pause my box set binge now to go and compare interior scenes :)

25

[Max] Resolved Feature Requests / Re: Gpu rendering

« on: 2017-10-10, 14:08:02 »

Yeah, and with nvlink hopefully coming to GeForce cards next year 2 x 8gb cards will equal 16gb video ram instead of 8gb.   AMD vega 64 cards can also treat system ram or ssd as gpu ram at the moment too thanks to their new infinite fabric technology.

I must admit I haven't tested with an interior scene yet, but heavy refraction and outdoor scenes were MASSIVELY faster.  When I let that bad boy rip it was a similar feeling to  watching a game load almost instantly from a sega  master system cartridge after years of watching the ocean loading screen on the trusty c64 :)

26

[Max] Resolved Feature Requests / Re: Gpu rendering

« on: 2017-10-10, 03:53:31 »

Yeah I hope so, I'd hate to leave corona behind after using it for so long.  Can't argue with a £5500 saving in hardware though.....and that's if I only want to match one 1070!

27

[Max] Resolved Feature Requests / Re: Gpu rendering

« on: 2017-10-10, 03:32:13 »

:) i7-7700k 32 gb ddr4 , i7930 overclocked to 4ghz 24 gb ddr3, and two quad core xeons 16gb ddr3 and 8gb ddr3.  Can't share the animation unfortunately, it's an old job still under NDA.

Not the most amazing setup, but I'd probably have to spend around 6k to match the £400 1070.

28

[Max] Resolved Feature Requests / Gpu rendering

« on: 2017-10-10, 02:51:01 »

I've just rendered 350 frames at 1080p using fstorm in 3 hours on one gtx1070.  The same animation rendered on 4 computers took 40 hours with corona :(  corona's like a wife I adore, and fstorm the busty  seductress I'm trying to look away from.  Come on corona, get that boob job!

29

Gallery / Re: Tent House

« on: 2017-09-09, 04:19:22 »

Really nice job on the atmosphere fog and ground/plants.

I think the only thing that lets it down is the rope which holds the wooden posts together and the wood textures.

30

[Max] General Discussion / Re: Render Legion and Corona Join Forces with Chaos Group

« on: 2017-09-08, 02:47:50 »

It was sounding like great news until I saw the word acquired :(  If render legion had kept a 51% share, leaving them in full control of their own future/development, then it would have been perfect.   

Fingers crossed the product will get better as a result of the new ownership, and not the opposite.   I think it's safe to say though that if Corona is to remain cheaper than Vray...(and probably even if it doesn't), then it will never be allowed to become a better, faster, easier to use, and a more feature rich renderer than Vray (which it was on its way to accomplishing)....which makes me wonder, if I don't make the switch to Vray, am I always going to be using Chaos's second best renderer.

I hope it all works out well for Ondra and his team, but it seems risky if they're hoping to remain the masters of Corona's destiny.