(Hrontos PM:ed and asked me to tell you guys that he's on vacation for a week, and will answer when he's back)

Well, I can get very small models done in a reasonable amount of time!

I'm using this in a larger size for my desktop. It's quite wonderful! I have an older Vista computer lying around that I may try and use as a singular render farm.

I just have a couple of questions (for hrontos when he comes back from vacation or to anyone else who could offer insights):

1.) Am I right to assume that a higher resolution render takes more time than a low-res one? My previous Tumbler render took almost 17 hours to finish at 1366 x 768, I'd like to render it a higher resolution but I'm not so sure how longer it would take the render to finish (or how much more patience I'd have for that task ).

2.) Since the Performance Tips section in the LDD2POV-Ray website is still under construction, I'd just ask here: Does the number of other open/working programs affect the rendering time in POV-Ray? When I did my first render I had LDD, Firefox (Youtube), Skype, iTunes ongoing while rendering, would it make the rendering faster if I closed down those other applications? I'm really curious on how to enhance the rendering performance/time of POV-Ray.

Thanks!

I just have a couple of questions (for hrontos when he comes back from vacation or to anyone else who could offer insights):

1.) Am I right to assume that a higher resolution render takes more time than a low-res one? My previous Tumbler render took almost 17 hours to finish at 1366 x 768, I'd like to render it a higher resolution but I'm not so sure how longer it would take the render to finish (or how much more patience I'd have for that task ).

2.) Since the Performance Tips section in the LDD2POV-Ray website is still under construction, I'd just ask here: Does the number of other open/working programs affect the rendering time in POV-Ray? When I did my first render I had LDD, Firefox (Youtube), Skype, iTunes ongoing while rendering, would it make the rendering faster if I closed down those other applications? I'm really curious on how to enhance the rendering performance/time of POV-Ray.

Thanks!

1.) Yes, a higher resolution means more patience

2.) Running programs affect the rendering time, because the CPU (and maybe RAM) have to shared with other programs. So, close as much as possible will make it faster. You can also look here for more information (only the first part)

Edited August 20, 201212 yr by legolijntje

Thanks 'legolijntje'!

I do have another question regarding the resulting rendered image I got (re-posted below for easy visual reference): the curved part of the wheels aren't rounded enough and shows as segmented lines, how can I improve this? What should I tweak in the settings? Of course I could just simply do a trial-&-error but that would almost surely take a looong time, so if there are those who knows the technique to solve this I'd greatly appreciate the advice. Thanks!

Tumbler_Render by Kiel.Da.Man (flickr) Click the image for higher resolution image (1287 x 768)

I do have another question regarding the resulting rendered image I got (re-posted below for easy visual reference): the curved part of the wheels aren't rounded enough and shows as segmented lines, how can I improve this? What should I tweak in the settings? Of course I could just simply do a trial-&-error but that would almost surely take a looong time, so if there are those who knows the technique to solve this I'd greatly appreciate the advice. Thanks!

The only solution I know is that the underlying geometries get improved in LDD2PovRay, and that is something I know our good man Hrontos has been thinking about. Basically we're taking about an algorithm to identify segements that make up a full circle/cylinder, and once this is done, replace them with a perfect circle/cylinder (which if I understand correctly will also speed up rendering).

Don't know the time schedule for this though.

The only solution I know is that the underlying geometries get improved in LDD2PovRay, and that is something I know our good man Hrontos has been thinking about. Basically we're taking about an algorithm to identify segments that make up a full circle/cylinder, and once this is done, replace them with a perfect circle/cylinder (which if I understand correctly will also speed up rendering).

Don't know the time schedule for this though.

Oh I see, thanks for the explanation, saved me a lot of time figuring out something that's still 'up for improvement'. I also noticed this in the wheels of the minidigger in the front post, so I guess we'd just have to wait until this issue is resolved.

Oh I see, thanks for the explanation, saved me a lot of time figuring out something that's still 'up for improvement'. I also noticed this in the wheels of the minidigger in the front post, so I guess we'd just have to wait until this issue is resolved.

Yepp, basically Martin is doing wonders with the quite poor level-of-detail in the origianl LDD bricks. Allready the studs have been made perfectly round with logo ontop, bevels added to the bricks and increased level-of-detail on the underside/anti-studs. Then also the addition of a rough surface on roof slopes. And the addition of various materials depending on bricks (rubber, shiny plastic, rough plastic etc - which BTW yours truly helped out with, so blame me if it ain't good)

Actually, all these values, custom materials etc are available to view and edit in the Include directory (check out the inc.-files in a text editor).

And if any of you rendering geeks out there have any input on how to improve the mappings in the inc-files, please share it

Then also the addition of a rough surface on roof slopes. And the addition of various materials depending on bricks (rubber, shiny plastic, rough plastic etc - which BTW yours truly helped out with, so blame me if it ain't good)

Oh no, I'm actually very impressed by the realistic differences of the various surfaces - particularly the rough surfaces of the slopes vs. the smoothness of the curved slopes/tiles and the matte finish of the rubber tires! That's the first thing I noticed during the rendering process and I could really appreciate that high level of detailing especially since I know how it physically looks like in my real model. Really great job on that aspect! (and I'm glad my render was able to show these various surface differences the program could achieve )

So this is probably staring me in the face, but...

How do I put custom (i.e. not in LDD) decals on minifigures, tiles, and the like? I've looked quickly through the many options, but I'm a bit overwhelmed and can't seem to find the right section. I couldn't find a tutorial on the LDD2PovRay web site, either.

So this is probably staring me in the face, but...

How do I put custom (i.e. not in LDD) decals on minifigures, tiles, and the like? I've looked quickly through the many options, but I'm a bit overwhelmed and can't seem to find the right section. I couldn't find a tutorial on the LDD2PovRay web site, either.

Change to LDraw. I don't think it's possible, though obviously not impossible, in LDD.

You can get better results with LDraw anyway.

So this is probably staring me in the face, but...

How do I put custom (i.e. not in LDD) decals on minifigures, tiles, and the like? I've looked quickly through the many options, but I'm a bit overwhelmed and can't seem to find the right section. I couldn't find a tutorial on the LDD2PovRay web site, either.

Change to LDraw. I don't think it's possible, though obviously not impossible, in LDD.

You can get better results with LDraw anyway.

There is a Decorations tab in LDD to POV-Ray where you can change standard applied decorations to your own. I've done it in my Mountie MOC http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=73322

On the decorations tab you need to click on checkbox to make options editable.

It seems that color 47 - which LDD has as Tr.Floure.Redd.Orange, and which peeron and others list as Trans Neon-Orange - is rendering in POV-Ray as opaque. It appears that it was used extensively in the Ice Planet 2002 theme, so I did a super fast stub of a cockpit to show the issue.

LDD:

POV-Ray:

If I remember these sets correctly, there was something milky or otherwise odd about parts in this color, but they were certainly transparent.

Edited August 24, 201212 yr by Judah Nielsen

I have been rendering a model for the last 18 hours, woke up 2 hours ago from a night of good sleep, it was at 74% complete, 2 hours later, still at 74%, is it safe to assume that there is an error and that it will not progress any further?

Is there a way to make povray use all available memory in my computer?

I have 16gb installed, but with povray rendering, only 3566mb are being used. running windows 7 64bit here

I have been rendering a model for the last 18 hours, woke up 2 hours ago from a night of good sleep, it was at 74% complete, 2 hours later, still at 74%, is it safe to assume that there is an error and that it will not progress any further?

Always check what's currently being rendered. Complex translucent elements slow the rendering down a LOT, and if there's several of them in front of each other, this will multiply exponentially. I gave up on a render when I got bored waiting for a 2x2 round brick in trans-clear to finish. I needed my computer for other things, and lost interest.

For instance this render went at a pretty even pace; despite the complex geommetry, there was only one translucent element (the fountain), which is relatively simple (no studs or holes) and pretty much flat-on with the position of the camera.

Throne of Babylon by bobsy26, on Flickr

While the windscreen in this one took forever, as it's got a very complex shape, reflecting and refracting light at all angles with the curved windscreen, and worse, the stud-holders at the base. Still, it did eventually finish.

The Old Republic - Manta Speeder by bobsy26, on Flickr

Bobsy, what settings do you use in the converter and povray when rendering?

Bobsy, what settings do you use in the converter and povray when rendering?

I don't change any settings - they're still on the default. I render at screen resolution (1440x900) and just hit go. Seems to work.

I did once try rendering double resolution with anti-aliasing turned off. It made no noticeable difference so I just went back to normal.

Ok, I will now try this model at a smaller resolution and see how that goes(1280x720 with aa 0.3) instead of 1920x1080 aa 0.3

Here is something I did a few days ago:

Now I am trying to render a larger aircraft with transparent windows and I think the flight deck window is causing me much grief with it being transparent.

Ok, after round 4, I think i figured out my problem, it was with the converter creating an .ini for use with Povray, Round 5 is going much faster now.

I'm a bit late to the party, but just got around using this wonderful rendering program, and all I can say is: Wow, this program is simply amazing!!! And also, the Ultimate Test of Patience! It took me almost 17 hours to finish this render, but oh boy the long wait is definitely worth it! Good things sure do come to those who wait.

... a BIG THANK YOU for sharing this innovative breakthrough program! You have given the ordinary LEGO fan an extremely powerful tool to transform their digital creations into realistic life-like images. What you have done is truly a great service to all of the FOL community.

Thank you very much for your kind words. Rendering is really a test of user's patience, but the results can be very realistic.

1.) Am I right to assume that a higher resolution render takes more time than a low-res one?

Technically POV-Ray "shoots a light ray" for every pixel of the picture and follows it along all reflections until some light source is hit. So higer resolultion means more pixels, more needed rays and more rendering time. High-res image may need less antialiasing so the rendering time may not exactly proportional to the size of the picture. Picture with double width and height contains 4 times more pixels so rendering should take 4 times longer, but it will not be exactly 4 times longer.

2.) Does the number of other open/working programs affect the rendering time in POV-Ray?

As it was mentioned, when POV-Ray is running as foreground task, it gets almost all CPU time, when running in the background, it will get only the time "not wanted" by the other processes. So browsing the i-net will have almost not impact, but if you decide to encode a DVD, POV-Ray in the background will starve.

Also memory issue is important. The whole model has to fit into your physical memory. When you have 2GB and Windows makes 4GB because it creates virtual memory using disk pagging file, it does not make sense to render model, that needs more than 2GB of memory. POV-Ray will parse it, but because of swapping to pagefile it will take forever to render. POV-Ray scene + all other programs has to fit into you physical memory.

... the curved part of the wheels aren't rounded enough and shows as segmented lines, how can I improve this? What should I tweak in the settings? Of course I could just simply do a trial-&-error but that would almost surely take a looong time, so if there are those who knows the technique to solve this I'd greatly appreciate the advice. Thanks!

As it was mentioned, currently no way. I will have to improve the beveling algorithm to be able to detect such circles and semicircles and bevel them using different technique.

It seems that color 47 - which LDD has as Tr.Floure.Redd.Orange, and which peeron and others list as Trans Neon-Orange - is rendering in POV-Ray as opaque. It appears that it was used extensively in the Ice Planet 2002 theme, so I did a super fast stub of a cockpit to show the issue.

If I remember these sets correctly, there was something milky or otherwise odd about parts in this color, but they were certainly transparent.

This is interesting find, I have seen it on your Flickr account. I will take a look at it.

I have been rendering a model for the last 18 hours, woke up 2 hours ago from a night of good sleep, it was at 74% complete, 2 hours later, still at 74%, is it safe to assume that there is an error and that it will not progress any further?

I had similar problem with that winter village scene - the portion with the skate rink took forever. I had to replace the 2 larger transparent 8x8 plates by 128 1x1 plates. Until now it never happend to me, that rendering was really hung-up. But it may happend that the progress in some areas is really slow.

Is there a way to make povray use all available memory in my computer?

I have 16gb installed, but with povray rendering, only 3566mb are being used. running windows 7 64bit here

I am not sure, if I understand the point of your question. Scene in POV-Ray uses only as much memory as needed for the scene. There is now way to force it to use more memory and render faster by using much more memory. When there is not enough memory, it will not parse the scene or it will render very slowly, but much more memory will not make it faster. It will only let you render much more complex models with that much memory.

Hrontos, you pretty much summed it up, thanks for clarifying it for me, But I think i figured out my problem was that in the current version of the converter(1.2.3) is that it creates an .ini which seemed to make up settings for Povray to use and as it did that, it was making the render last all night and then to the point where it seemed to freeze the rendering. I disabled the creating of that .ini and was able to finish the render I have been trying to do for the last 2 days where it was going overnight, It just finished in under 90 minutes just now.

Here is my result:

Hrontos, you pretty much summed it up, thanks for clarifying it for me, But I think i figured out my problem was that in the current version of the converter(1.2.3) is that it creates an .ini which seemed to make up settings for Povray to use and as it did that, it was making the render last all night and then to the point where it seemed to freeze the rendering. I disabled the creating of that .ini and was able to finish the render I have been trying to do for the last 2 days where it was going overnight, It just finished in under 90 minutes just now.

The generated ini file has "higher" priority. Which means, the settings mentioned in that file will be in force and not those you selected in the POV-Ray GUI.

They basically cover only the resolution, antialiasing and output quality. There should not be much difference between using and not using the ini file, only the resolution in the ini file is by default your screen resolution which is probably more than the size of the image. The main purpose of this generated ini file was to simplify the setup of the paths and adding of the new resoultions since it seems to be a problem for the people using the POV-Ray for the first time.

Complex translucent elements slow the rendering down a LOT, and if there's several of them in front of each other, this will multiply exponentially. I gave up on a render when I got bored waiting for a 2x2 round brick in trans-clear to finish. I needed my computer for other things, and lost interest.

I've experienced this recently with my last render attempt. After I thoroughly enjoyed my Batman Tumbler render, I became overly ambitious and tried to render this "nightmare" of POV-Ray:

After more than 30 hours, the rendering stopped at around 35%, the monitor changing to a blue screen with the text "physical memory dumped" (that's what I remember) then the computer shut down. I know the model is composed of A HUGE amount of trans pieces, but I was ready to be patient even if it took days for this to finish, though guess I reached the limit of my computer's capabilities (Intel Core i3-2310M CPU @ 2.10GHz, 2.00GB RAM, 64-bit OS) so the computer just "gave up". [Default LDD2PovRay settings (no changes), 512x384 No AA, 1366 x 768 image resolution]