NXT Render Settings

[Alex]

Hello NXT experts

I am gathering intelligence on NXT, b4 I commit to render, I am little bit lost
in render setting panel, I read few previous postings and have general idea but
still have few questions.

1-On AR4 you have choice of selections from 1 to 10m setting, 1 million to 10, what shall I set on NXT render panel if I want to render equivalent to AR4 = 9million, this will give me guidence what to work with.

a-Do I set passes, so I could have end to the render session, and what is the
equivalent passes to 9m in AR4.

b-Do I set 9, 000,000 in top window and click render, would this option have end
time or it will render nonstop indefinitely, sorry for my ignorance.

 

More info on the intention for the final image, I am aiming to use the images for my
future web and also for portfolio A3 size printing, therefore I go for maximum
quality, if the image is too large for the web then I know how to reduce the
size in Photoshop.

2-In AR4 I experienced that if I am running say one render for 8million setting,
I could not render another image with a different file name opened separately
etc. Can I render 2 images at sometime in NXT, i,e, in different AutoCAD drawings so I could speedup the waiting time.

My new computer has 12gb triple channel memory 2000mhz, best money can buy, also
Intel i7 990x processor one of top speed available processors also the graphic
card has 2gb memory, so in my opinion there should be no memory or speed
problems, I wait your views on this questions.

Thanks in advance

Alexander

[akinlolu olugboji]

I can see you have found your way to the new forum, welcome. Start here might help too. The help files also.

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

I did just notice that the section that should be labeled Resolution is incorrectly labeled Passes instead.  This needs to be fixed and could be the source of some confusion.

 

Some basic information on rendering with nXt can be found here.

 

I can't recall what the AR4 setting is about.  The nXt Viewport resolution setting does allow you to exactly match the current AutoCAD view while specifying the total number of pixels.  300000, the default, is adequate for some webwork and proofs.  3000000 or more may be required for final work.

 

nXt is set up to render until you tell it to stop.  It's usually not necessary to change this behavior, but you can by using the Passes setting near the bottom of the Render Settings page.  0, the default, means render until I tell you to stop.

 

You cannot render two different drawings simultaneously in the same AutoCAD session.

 

Your computer will be very good for rendering.  It has 6 true cores and a high clock speed.  The amount of memory will allow you to render very complex models.  (It may not match the performance of some of the users who have 12 core (or more) machines.)  There is no such thing, however, as "no memory or speed problems".  You can easily set up a rendering problem that brings any computer on the market today to its knees.  It all depends on what you're trying to do.

 

 

[Alex]

Gents Thanks
Glad to hear definitive answer on the double image render, I got so many mixed messages to this question.

 
Going back to render setting in NXT,, as you said 3-million and more may req for final images, so if I indicate say 9-million and I don’t specify the passes it will never tell me render is done or completed.
Therefore what is the equivalent passes for completed 9-million, I.e. rendering stops.

I attached image showing the render setting panel in AR4 and I use 9x for my CAD view port, what is the equivalent setting in NXT.

Thanks in advance. 

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

What you're specifying here is the resolution-- absolutely nothing at all to do with rendering passes. The # of passes that you might need to be happy with your image will typically be the same, whether you specify 300000 pixels or 90000000.  Each pass of the 9000000 pixel image will take approximately 30X as long as each pass of the 300000 pixel image.

 

There are some guidelines here about how many passes you might need-- see the Additional Notes section.  These are for the Packet Tracer.  The Path Tracer typically requires more passes.

 

 

[Alex]

Thanks Roy

To be honest I am little bit lost, I though the number of passes and quality of the image are interconnected, i.e. higher the number passes the better is the image 'resolution' quality more pixels and better sharper image.

My original query was to find a simple answer to: I have a desired cad viewport I set environment light background etc. the image is ready to be rendered, what setting should I use in order to achieve a top quality image for printing, a render that starts and finishes, 2 days or 5 days no problem, what setting!

Thanks for the link, ‘Exteriors with indirect lighting, 25-50 passes’, maybe will start with 50 passes see how it looks like.

I think will carry a trail based render until I find what parameters to set for single viewport render, it is not easy to police a rendering, stop, start when you are at work away from home.

 

Thanks for the info.

[Chas / Aug Posekany]

I usually use the button "print" and set up the size of output I want and a dpi that makes sense. I use 72dpi for test runs and preliminary work and switch to the highest resolution my printer will support for finish work (usually 300dpi).

 

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

The number of passes does not affect the image resolution, that's strictly determined by how many pixels you render.  The number of passes affects "convergence", how close nXt comes to "solving" the light transport equation.  Both resolution and number of passes affect quality.  You can sometimes get by with fewer passes if your resolution is high-- but that's largely scene and engine dependent.  Most of the time the number of passes required will be the same.

 

You don't have to tell it when to stop.  Use autosave every 50 passes or so in case you're worried about the power going out, etc.. It won't hurt anything if it goes longer.  I recommend the Path Tracer if you're doing exteriors with indirect lighting.

 

I do think 9,000,000 pixels is way too many for an A3 size sheet-- but it's very difficult to convince users of this once they've got this in their heads.