Ray Trace and Exporting image in X17

[Hoff_Design]

Testing out the new X17. I set up a scene using textures that I recently created in Materialize, and now am attempting to acquire a ray traced image of the scene. I attempted to use the screen shot in the file drop down menu and I am not sure where those went, if they were even created.  My first attempt at using the export image function, I abandoned and searched for a better way...because I got a pop-up that reads, "please wait while your picture is being created..Resolving sample x of 10,000" and while this is happening I cannot continue working in the program till it finishes. I calculate the time and it will be approximately 2.7 hours while GPU is running at 99%. Maybe I am overlooking something and there is a better way? I decided to go ahead and run the export photo function and wait it out in order to see what kind of quality image it will produce, but will not be able to use the program until it resolves the 10,000 samples....I will upload the image when done.

 

I have not tried sending to layout, so I will try to see if a raytraced image moves faster in that pipeline. The standard render generates reasonably fast as an exported image.

 

When I am able to use the program after this process is done, I will try using an external screen capture to grab the ray traced camera view.  In leu of that is there a way for the camera to go full screen?

 

What has your experience been so far with producing ray traced images in X17?  What solutions have you found?

[robdyck]

Change the # of sample to something like 20-50 for very good quality and high speed. Use a higher value for better quality...like 200.

Bottom right side of the screen is a counter wihch shows progress and speed in samples per second.

[Hoff_Design]

The samples at the bottom of the screen read "45 (2sec) currently, but the Picture Export Progress pop up is 10,000.  Where can that value be be changed when exporting an image?

[DBCooper]

You can set the maximum samples for the current camera view or in your defaults for new cameras.  You should probably check both just to make sure they are less than 500.

 

When I tried using the file export picture, it seems to always use the same setting as what's in my current camera and not what is in my defaults.  I think it only uses the defaults for when you make new camera views.

 

When you use the export picture, you can specify the resolution you want so you can make it "full screen" or whatever you want.  The bigger you make it, the longer it will take to generate it though.

 

[Hoff_Design]

Thank you!

Found the location to change the samples.  I went ahead and let the 10,000 sample image render, it took 2.5 hours (first image).  The standard camera rendered in about 30 seconds (third image). I changed the ray trace camera to 500 samples and it took about 5 minutes (second image). The images are below. There is very little difference between the 10K and 500 quality, but a huge difference in time. I appreciate the help guys.

Eric

[Hoff_Design]

Exported to image the following ray trace at 375 samples and it only took about 3.5 minutes. Testing textures using normal maps to create their depth, (not bump maps). Hoff is happy with the result. (all textures created from pictures I shot with my phone on my walks this last week)

[Hoff_Design]

For those wondering where to find the samples...here is a screenshot.

[Hoff_Design]

5 hours ago, robdyck said:

Change the # of sample to something like 20-50 for very good quality and high speed. Use a higher value for better quality...like 200.

Bottom right side of the screen is a counter wihch shows progress and speed in samples per second.

I understand what you are saying here... While working in raytrace mode, if I drop the samples down to 20-50 things runs much faster, then when it is time to export an image, I can bump up the samples to 350-500 to get great image quality. Thank you for the information Rob.

[robdyck]

Another thing to consider is the image size that you use for export. For the best combination of quality and speed, make the image as large as possible that can be rendered in a single picture. For me that is about 3500 pixels wide. Once I go larger, the image is tiled which obviously takes longer to process.