How to optimize render time using SSS

[Mac3DX]

Hey guys,
I did an experiment to practice Multi Shader using a very simple material, SSS and a little displacement. But I noticed a lot of slowness to render this image. Are there some parameters that we can adjust to drastically reduce this render time? My processor is not the worst, I'm using an i9 12900K and honestly a scene like this in 5K would take more than 5 hours letting it clean well. It doesn't make sense to me.
I stopped the render at 8% noise, the noise reduction is undoubtedly very effective, but I still think it takes a lot of time for an image like this.
I would appreciate any help on this.

[davetwo]

Best to share the scene if you want help with something like this...

[maru]

Are you using Windows 11? The Intel Alder Lake CPUs are known to have low performance issues on Windows 10 or older.

I would suggest:
- Lowering Performance > Max Sample Intensity as much as possible (you can use IR to preview its effect - at some point the image will become too dark)
- Lowering Performance > Max Ray Depth (same as above - at some point the image will become too dark/unrealistic)
- Increasing Performance > GIvsAA from the default 16 to 32, maybe even higher. This will make rendering "slower" meaning that one pass will render slower, but it will give you better quality of SSS effects in the end.

[Mac3DX]

hi, thanks for the info.
I'll play with the settings and get back to you. Working on a more complex material.

Cheers!

[Mac3DX]

Are you using Windows 11? The Intel Alder Lake CPUs are known to have low performance issues on Windows 10 or older.

I would suggest:
- Lowering Performance > Max Sample Intensity as much as possible (you can use IR to preview its effect - at some point the image will become too dark)
- Lowering Performance > Max Ray Depth (same as above - at some point the image will become too dark/unrealistic)
- Increasing Performance > GIvsAA from the default 16 to 32, maybe even higher. This will make rendering "slower" meaning that one pass will render slower, but it will give you better quality of SSS effects in the end.

Hey there!
Those parameters seem not to offer too much in render times for this scene. I'm really happy with the volumetric effect, but render times are insane. How long will it take for a 6k image?
Is it normal to take all that long? Honestly, that's a very simple scene with very few objects compared to what Corona can handle like landscape scenes for instance.

[BLADE]

Are you using Windows 11? The Intel Alder Lake CPUs are known to have low performance issues on Windows 10 or older.

Can you explain what exactly you mean? I want to set up a new computer in the near future and favor WIN 10.
https://www.techspot.com/review/2358-intel-alder-lake-windows-11-benchmark/

[Mac3DX]

Are you using Windows 11? The Intel Alder Lake CPUs are known to have low performance issues on Windows 10 or older.

Can you explain what exactly you mean? I want to set up a new computer in the near future and favor WIN 10.
https://www.techspot.com/review/2358-intel-alder-lake-windows-11-benchmark/

Today you won't find a faster single clock speed than the 12900K, from my experience I'll give you my thoughts. Really fast processor which offers support for DDDR4 and 5. Also Pcie 5.0. The only drawback that I found is, it runs hot man.
And yes, Corona in 3DS Max can't handle all the cores. In C4D not an issue at all. I'm pretty happy with Win 11, coming from Mac OS I still think windows pretty bad but I'm learning to live with. Apple prices are hillarious, out of reach.

[Nejc Kilar]

Are you using Windows 11? The Intel Alder Lake CPUs are known to have low performance issues on Windows 10 or older.

Can you explain what exactly you mean? I want to set up a new computer in the near future and favor WIN 10.
https://www.techspot.com/review/2358-intel-alder-lake-windows-11-benchmark/

Today you won't find a faster single clock speed than the 12900K, from my experience I'll give you my thoughts. Really fast processor which offers support for DDDR4 and 5. Also Pcie 5.0. The only drawback that I found is, it runs hot man.
And yes, Corona in 3DS Max can't handle all the cores. In C4D not an issue at all. I'm pretty happy with Win 11, coming from Mac OS I still think windows pretty bad but I'm learning to live with. Apple prices are hillarious, out of reach.

Due to the E-core, P-core design on the Alder Lake gen CPUs the host operating system needs to be adept working with the on-chip thread scheduler that "optimizes" thread allocation. AFAIK (but don't quote me please) Windows 10 eventually got some sort of support for the Alder Lake architecture but I think by and large the safest option for Alder Lake users is to migrate to Windows 11.

If the scheduler is not really working correctly one of the telltale signs is that half of the cores aren't doing squat when in fact they should be utilized at 100%.

This does not apply to Ryzen / Other Intel CPUs as they have the more traditional "all cores are P cores" approach. There's upsides and downsides to both approaches obviously.

If you're really into staying on W10 I'd really suggest taking a day testing whether everything works as it should with Alder Lake CPUs. I'd also consult Intel's official recommendations / manuals.

[Mac3DX]

Honestely Windows 10 offers full core usage and Window 10 is able to handle all of them. Some apps have significant improvements over Windows 11, but also some games are doing much faster in Win 10.
The point is, for working with 3D applications, forget about Windows 10. Also, it is worth remembering that most of the commands executed are single core processing and having high clock speeds also prevents bottle necking your graphics card.
If you can invest in a really good cooling system, you can get even higher clocks over clocking it.