max high res render

Tips & Tricks Software: 3DS Max Level: Intermediate Date: 30th Apr 2008

3DS MAX : Rendering for HIGH Resolutions

First of all, before we start, it should be mentioned that this tutorial is based on a real life issue of one of the clients. The issue was “very simple”. That is to say the scene file was not rendering and giving a fatal error. Hence, the below mentioned tips and workflow will be very useful for most users.

First of all a bit of book keeping

1) Avoid saving files on desktop. If you need an immediate access to file create a shortcut instead. Files saved on desktop is in reality saving on C: drive thereby cramping up the virtual memory, which primarily uses the C: drive.

2) The virtual temp can be around two times the amount of RAM. Please remember to keep that much space free on your drive as well.

3) Remember: Windows XP has a cap of 2GB. Hence, if the scene is crashing often, keep a close watch on the task manager>>performance tabset to see whether this cap is being reached.

P a g e | 1


Now to the rendering aspect of 3ds Max 2008

Please change setting only when needed, more often the default settings are pretty fine.

One of first things that can be done is to change the memory limit as desired. This needed to be done with a bit of caution and knowledge of system resources. The simpler option is to select conserve memory. More often, this should resolve most issue.

This however, is a simple and basic step. For the long run, it is more important to also touch on some “advance features” within 3ds Max.

P a g e | 2


One of the “Advanced” method of rendering is to use the “correct” acceleration method.

Normally the reason for most renders not getting completed is due to the inappropriate way the file is rendered. Rendering the files is passes is one of the good options for flexibility. This we’ll take in a separate exercise by itself. Another is the way the scene is calculated. More often the reason for “heavy cpu and RAM usage” is raytracing. Hence, if one adjusts the Acceleration Methods of the raytracing, it will speed up the render without visible loss of quality.

The three types of Raytrace Acceleration Method are

1) BSP a. BSP (Binary Space Partitioning) is the default method and performs best in most of the

cases/scenes 2) Large BSP

a. This method can perform better with large scenes and with distributed bucket rendering.

3) Grid a. This method can perform better on multiprocessor systems.

P a g e | 3


There are still more alternatives like distributed rendering and “strip rendering”. Both these alternatives are done by using networked computers for rendering. For very high resolution rendering the “strip rendering” alternative, is perhaps the best.

After one has setup all the render parameters including file resolution.

1. In the Render Output group, specify an output file name and location, and turn on Net Render.

2. Click the Render button.

The Network Job Assignment dialog appears.

P a g e | 4


3. In the Options group, turn on Split Scan Lines, and then click Define.

The Strips Setup dialog appears. The dialog displays the output resolution, and lets you determine how to split up the rendering job by specifying the number of horizontal strips into which the image will be subdivided.

4. Specify the vertical size of each strip in pixels or as a percentage of the total image height, or set the number of strips. Changing one also changes the other.

5. Set the overlap if you notice anomalies where the strips meet.

6. Connect to the manager, specify a job name, choose one or more servers on which to render, and then click Submit.

The job is sent to the network rendering manager, which supervises the network rendering job. The job consists of first rendering each slice, and then combining, or “stitching,” the slices into the final image.

7. Monitor the job via the Backburner Monitor. Rendering and stitching passes are designated “Slice Pass” and “Stitch Pass,” respectively. When all slices are finished, the job status will be Complete.

P a g e | 5


P a g e | 6

Note: Though the above works perfectly, we have to remember that the key features of Mental Ray viz Final Gathering, caustics, global illumination..etc, use physical “real life” values. These features need light rays, which need to be emitted into the scene every frame, unless specified otherwise. Hence if the frame is “broken up” further, the rays would not know how to be “broken up”. Therefore when the “stripped image” or the “tiled image” is put together for the final frame, once can notice the tiles.

Hence it is very important that we pre‐render the Final Gathering before doing a Strip Render.

max high res render

Documents