lots of noise rendering hair

[jonlo84]

here is a render i made of a character ive been working on.  i need to use many kinds of colors that aren't natural for the hair and fur.  before i was having a problem with the fur coming out too dark, almost dirty looking.  i played around with the sittings and now it looks closer to what i expect it to be.  the issue now is that when i start rendering there is a lot of noise and corona takes a bit to clear it up.  the head hair and tail highlights dont look right to me(or do they?).  So does this render look right?  i have 4 lights in the scene and they're quite close to the model.  Could that be why the highlights are very bright?  another thing ive noticed, when i apply the color map to the Tint for head hair and tail, the thumbnail preview the highlight gets brighter.

im using max 2016, corona 1.7, and ornatrix. 

here are the sittings that im using for all the hair.  i have Melanin and Pheomelanin set to 0 since im using non natural colors.  i have a map for Tint that brightens up the colors. without it the colors are very dark.  everything else is default. in the color for diffuse is the same map for Tint. 



this is where the lights are

[maru]

There is a lot of stuff to consider here, so I am not sure where to start, but my first guess would be that it has something to do with lighting. Do you have completely black enviro color like in your screenshots, and just 4 lights floating somewhere? If yes, that this could be an explanation, as in real life you hardly ever deal with situations where there is no enviro lighting at all. What might help is using some kind of HDRI or a more complex studio setup instead of just the black background and some lights.

[jonlo84]

the scene is encased in a dome shape with a black color applied to it.  yes, there is 4 lights floating in the scene.  this setup i have is meant to be an indoor type of scene.  would i still need environmental lighting for that, like HDR?   

[maru]

the scene is encased in a dome shape with a black color applied to it

Why? :)

yes, there is 4 lights floating in the scene.  this setup i have is meant to be an indoor type of scene.  would i still need environmental lighting for that, like HDR?

Depends on the specific kind of indoor scene you are aiming to reproduce. If that's a room with no windows, with walls, floor, and ceiling painted with pure black, and with 4 strong lights floating in the air, then it's fine. If not, then I would advise either to model the interior, or to use some kind of interior HDRI.