Rendering problems - AC9 vs. AC12 - White textures etc.

[Anonymous]

Hi people,
I used to do a lot of renders in AC9 and I think I had a good work flow going. I used to turn off the fixed light sources in the rendering box, the set up a Sky Object @ 70% white light, a Sun Object @ 30% yellowish light. This, together with some windowlights and regular spotlights used to deliver pretty ok renders.

Now I'm back with AC12 and everything seems to have changed. These settings render really weird results.

Anyways, I've set up a file with the internal sun at 120% (default for Swedish ArchiCAD) and a sky object @ 75% with a 512 samples. As you can see, the renders get really grainy and look kind of strange.

What am I missing? Does anyone have some simple general tips on how to set up a "general" rendering "box" that produces good results?

Does anyone know how to set up a simple white texture that behaves realistically?

[Anonymous]

Old AC9 render.

[Dwight]

Add roughness to the white surface to avoid that glary look.

In the Displacement Class, Rough Shader : .01, .01.1,1

Increase the number of samples for a smoother render.

Wonderful book available that covers the entire topic. See below.

[Anonymous]

Dwight,

Thanks for the tips.
Do you still use the Sun Object or should I set the internal sun?
What is the optimal percentage ratio for the main light sources (SkyObj, Internal sun, camera, ambient?)


And on your book:
Have you got a web page with info on the book?
Is it completely updated to cover AC12 weirdnesses etc?
Can I order it and download (I'm in a hurry for a competition entry?)

[Dwight]

There's no recipe for settings.

I will private message you about courier.

[Djordje]

It looks like the 12 material has bump or texture, while the 9 material does not.

If you are doing a competition, then the sleep is probably out? Note things down ...

[Mats_Knutsson]

sepulveda wrote:
Hi people,
I used to do a lot of renders in AC9 and I think I had a good work flow going. I used to turn off the fixed light sources in the rendering box, the set up a Sky Object @ 70% white light, a Sun Object @ 30% yellowish light. This, together with some windowlights and regular spotlights used to deliver pretty ok renders.

Now I'm back with AC12 and everything seems to have changed. These settings render really weird results.

Anyways, I've set up a file with the internal sun at 120% (default for Swedish ArchiCAD) and a sky object @ 75% with a 512 samples. As you can see, the renders get really grainy and look kind of strange.

What am I missing? Does anyone have some simple general tips on how to set up a "general" rendering "box" that produces good results?

Does anyone know how to set up a simple white texture that behaves realistically?

Hi,
Looks to me like you have used realistic method on the skylight in AC12. If so, you do you need to increase number of samples (with of course longer rendering time) to get rid of the graininess...200 is usually OK for me. Try using the quick method for the skylight (in parameters). Together with Dwights advice about the white surface you should be fine.
Call us otherwise.
Cheers,
Mats