Author Topic: Not a Bug - Just Need Help w/ General Settings  (Read 5131 times)

2013-07-15, 00:10:40

KBeneventi

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Hello Corona world!   This is my first post and I've only spent about a day trying out Corona.  I really like it so far - but would like some guidance on general settings. 
When I am rendering day scenes, the default settings get rid of pretty much all the noise in the image.  However, when I render out night scenes with less illumination, even after 4 hours the image still has a ton of noise.  Can you guys offer any direction? Thanks! 
A real quick disclaimer about the image - I put no thought into design direction and all of the items in the scene were pre-modeled with very rough materials so that I could spend my time on learning the lighting and settings. 

woops, let me attach my settings to give you a starting point!
« Last Edit: 2013-07-15, 00:14:41 by KBeneventi »

2013-07-15, 17:20:26
Reply #1

maru

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My thoughts:

-There's no need to set PT samples to 40. You shouldn't probably use more than 25 and usually the default value is enough (right click to reset to default). With such high amounts of PT samples it will take much longer to produce nice clean anti-aliased edges.

So it goes like this:
[more PT samples] = better GI, less GI noise, noisy textures and geometry edges
[less PT samples] = worse GI, more GI noise, smooth textures and anti-aliased geometry edges

-Lights samples multiplier set to 24 is just pointless. I think in most cases there is no need to set it higher than 4. Actually setting it to a very low value like 0,1 sometimes helps to clean secondary GI faster.

So:
[more LSM] = clean edges on shadows from direct light (like sun or Corona lights), more noise on GI
[less LSM] = noisy direct light (from sun or corona lights), faster and less noisy GI
Setting LSM to 0 makes it almost equally noisy in direct light and GI parts.

-You can decrease max sample intensity, but to no lower than about 20. It will always reduce noise at the cost of tonal range.

-In your materials (especially on walls and other big, flat surfaces) never set albedo (diffuse amount) to more than 0,75. 0,5 should be enough. Making materials too bright always adds noise.

-In HD cache settings increase PT samples to 1024 or more. It will take longer to compute but should remove some noise.

Something that is still missing in Corona is some kind of physical scale for lights and camera exposure. You have to guess how bright your lights should be but never make them too bright. It's better to make lights and materials darker and adjust brightness in "post processing" tab. You can also make your scene with low contrast (brighter night sky, darker indoor lights) and increase contrast in post processing (for example in Photoshop).

I'm still not sure if this will work but I hope so. I'd suggest you reset all the render settings to default and check if it won't be faster like this.
Marcin Miodek | chaos-corona.com
3D Support Team Lead - Corona | contact us

2013-07-15, 17:36:46
Reply #2

lacilaci

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Well I don't know, with this amount of light sources as shown in that picture... I'd actually try to increase light sample multiplier to something like 32.

I would try 64PT and 32 for lightsamples and use PT+PT and wait...

2013-07-15, 17:39:15
Reply #3

Polymax

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Can you share the your broblem in the 3dsmax format? ;)
Corona - the best rendering solution!

2013-07-15, 18:48:16
Reply #4

maru

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Well I don't know, with this amount of light sources as shown in that picture... I'd actually try to increase light sample multiplier to something like 32.

I would try 64PT and 32 for lightsamples and use PT+PT and wait...

Hah, so he's getting contradictory information here. :)
Yes, it would be best to see that max file.

It can be also noisy because of:
-solid glass in lamps
-caustics from a badly made floor material (too much reflection?)
-solid glass in window

Also there is missing material (red) in the bottom of the shelf.
« Last Edit: 2013-07-15, 18:56:35 by maru »
Marcin Miodek | chaos-corona.com
3D Support Team Lead - Corona | contact us

2013-07-15, 18:58:15
Reply #5

lacilaci

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Well I don't know, with this amount of light sources as shown in that picture... I'd actually try to increase light sample multiplier to something like 32.

I would try 64PT and 32 for lightsamples and use PT+PT and wait...

Hah, so he's getting contradictory information here. :)
Yes, it would be best to see that max file.

Yes, that's a clear message that he should basicaly try everything :D
But really, corona doesn't have that much settings. It's not like setting up Vray or mental ray.

In cases like this, I'd be more worried about scene setup, than render settings. Things like, if you're using complex meshes as lightsources and what sort of obstruction certain lights have before they actually light up the scene....

2013-07-16, 14:49:50
Reply #6

KBeneventi

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thanks for the guidance!  I will post the .max file as soon as I get home and hopefully we can get to the bottom of this. 

2013-07-17, 02:35:32
Reply #7

Stan_But

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Guys, Maru gave you the complete information. Well, you may be read it though a little? You're asking the questions but you aren't following advice.)))

2013-08-01, 03:24:38
Reply #8

Ondra

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you have extreme value of rays/sample. You should:
1) check the biggest objects in your scene for excessive albedos (walls, ceiling, floor)
2) decrease light sample multiplier to something reasonable (1-5)
Rendering is magic.How to get minidumps for crashed/frozen 3ds Max | Sorry for short replies, brief responses = more time to develop Corona ;)