[SOLVED] Preparing different render layers (noob)

[Mael_P]

Hi everyone,

 

I've been working on a scene for a while and I'm almost done. This is the first time I'm wrapping up such a big project so I don't really know how to get the renders I need.

This is the project I'm working on : https://streamable.com/6hax5 Any comment about the project itself is more than welcome, I'm hoping this could get me a job so if you have anything to say that could help please share.

And this is what I need to go to the next step which is compositing, and later on be able to make a breakdown like this one : https://vimeo.com/65050470

 

What I'm asking here is : how do I render all these different layers ?

I've tried putting one object at a time in the "candidate object" of a mantra ROP and "all but [that one object]" (* ^object_name) in the "forced matte". That was the logical thing to do in my mind because it would render only one object and if something is in front of it the alpha would mask it. It kinda works but does some weird artifacts on some renders.

Side note : I'm limited by computer power. The render of my project shown above was done in 15 hours and minimal quality (is that fine to send to studios ? do they care ?). I don't mind letting it run a few days but I have to make sure everything is set up perfectly.

I say that because I have a side question : does multiplying the number of "render layers" (mantra ROPs) also multiply the time it'll take compared to if I grouped stuff together ?

Should I check out renderfarms ?

Thanks for reading,
Peace !

Edited February 5, 2019 by Mael_P
solved

[davpe]

hi, it's really hard to say what's going on with that artifact without inspecting the scene. but my guess would be it's likely something in your objects patterns in mantra. try removing individual objects from Matte/Phantom objects and when it disappears you've found it no guarantees there thou.

more Mantra ROPs may or may not add total render time required to render the whole thing. it may actually reduce it - it really depends what are you doing and how are you planning to split your renders. rendering volumes separately is a good idea as it will likely require a different ROP settings than the building. so you can optimize better.

in terms of rendering quality, it really depends what deal you have with the studio and what do they expect. there is no answer to that.

cheers.

[Mael_P]

Thanks a lot for your answer !

9 hours ago, davpe said:

hi, it's really hard to say what's going on with that artifact without inspecting the scene. but my guess would be it's likely something in your objects patterns in mantra. try removing individual objects from Matte/Phantom objects and when it disappears you've found it no guarantees there thou.

Alright I'll try to see if something specific is causing these artifacts.
My overall question was more : is the method correct ? I have absolutely no idea how pros handle this specific part of the work (preparing different renders to sent in comp).

9 hours ago, davpe said:

in terms of rendering quality, it really depends what deal you have with the studio and what do they expect. there is no answer to that.

Sorry I meant applying for studios. I don't have a job yet and this project is (I hope) my key to enter the market.

Edited January 30, 2019 by Mael_P

[davpe]

hi,

regarding the method, for rendering/compositing volumes separately create two ROPs, one of which will render all volumes as phantom objects and the other one will render everything else as phantom object. so you'll end up with one render having only the building visible and the other one having only the volume visible. phantom objects are still casting shadows and affecting nearby surfaces so you should still see the volumes shadowing your building, etc. that should work well enough in this case. in comp you just put volumes on top of the building layer and you're done.

for applying (or pretty much anything) do the best quality you can. if you see that some parts are grainy or not looking great, try to improve it if possible. your render looks quite good (render quality wise), only the beginning with colored particles seems to be pretty noisy (but hard to see due to compression). volumes at the end are a bit noisy too, and i'd render them cleaner if i could afford it, it's not a big deal thou. anyways, my opinion is that for getting a job you'll need more things to show than this... it's a good start thou.

good luck.

[Mael_P]

Thanks for your advices !
I've been working on removing the artefacts and I finally found that they exist because I was writing "* ^object_name", if I manually put all the names, the render is clean.
However there is a problem with using phantom, the smoke that's being generated inside the building is shadowed by the building, meaning a part of it is rendered black...

 

[davpe]

well you should be able to figure out the layering with phantom and matte objects on your Mantra ROP... not sure what are you seeing so hard to give an advice. did you try to comp it together? was it looking wrong? 

[Mael_P]

It's solved sorry for bothering you.
Low disk space was messing up my renders but now everythings fits together nicely.