Beeple Zero Day Render Speeds?

[bendingpixels]

Hi guys! I've downloaded some of Beeples files to test my system and learn from a super bad ass.

I"m on a win7 box with a single GTX 670

I've got the "measure one" project file and the settings that Mike left in the scene don't quite make sense, right out of the box it rendered for a couple hours on a single frame... so I scrubbed them out to a new scene and started over testing combinations of Samples, diffuse depth, and spec depth.

I'm parked on frame 280 of that project file rendering a single frame, and the most "usable" frame I've gotten has been about 49 minutes. it's still pretty crunchy in the some bright reflective spots, but upping the spec depth didn't fix that. I've gotten renders as low as 13 minutes but there's way too much noise even with Noise reduction.

Here's the ssettings I used all default numbers except the list below...
Max Samples = 2048
Diffues = 3
Spec = 4
Filter = 2
Hotpixel = .7

I've attached the image from this combo. it mostly looks good except for some really crunchy hi-lited reflections that are visible reflecting in the floor in the background.below the big light arm things that are swinging in the center of the camera.

Does anyone know what Mikes render times were, and what his setup is? I"ve reached out to him on Twitter but no love yet on a response. LOL, maybe he'll see it here and chime in?

Thanks!!

[jayroth]

I noticed the same thing. Beeple had Direct Lighting set with no specified samples, and it took about 15 minutes each for the random test frames I chose with my rig (specs in my sig). That seems excessive to me, but I have to admit, I liked his look better than any of my attempts at settings (and I was using path). Hopefully he will chime in with some info...

[philmaron]

49 minutes per frame sounds a bit like "hey why not use the physical renderer" to me

[aoktar]

49 minutes per frame sounds a bit like "hey why not use the physical renderer" to me

Imagine that he doesn't use like that. Try to learn how to optimise. More exercise is best way to understand pros and cons.

[bendingpixels]

I guess my real question is: What else is there to optimize in the settings? What other parameters can be changed to affect render time without adding flicker?

I'm assuming that Mike just collected his project file, zipped it and then put it up for us. so in theory, we should be seeing the same thing he did.

[bendingpixels]

OK, so I found out from a friend (Brandon Parvini at Ghost Town) that Mike has a multi GPU setup and what he does is crank the settings BUT he puts a 15 minute time limit on each frame. That explains A LOT about what he had in the file. others have reported that no matter what they did, the render only took 15 minutes.

A multi CPU setup would have gotten a lot farther into the refinement at 15 min. making that frame usable by the 15 minute mark!!

If anyone out there has a multiple CPU system that can report on their render times with the file right out of the .zip that would be very cool!

[jayroth]

Check out my earlier post. 15 minutes; my sig has my info.

[bendingpixels]

Jay, I didn't fully understand what was going on when you posted, so I kinda glossed over it. Now that I have a window into Beeple's madness, your post makes a lot more sense.

Man, that is a serious beast you have!!! So did the frames you rendered from the file look good at the 15 minute mark?

[jayroth]

Yes, they looked great overall. A little speckling on certain surfaces, but otherwise, fine. I think an additional card would easily deal with the remnants. I have another one, but I have to install the water cooling system into the rig first. Actually, I was disappointed with the render times, as I tend to prefer 2-5 minutes per frame at that resolution overall. Even so, you cannot argue how beautiful this stuff looks!

[bendingpixels]

Dayum Jay, I just looked up your Case! that is HUGE!! What power supply are you running in there? I've only got room maybe for 2 more cards, but I'm not sure about my powersupply. How do you go about figuring out how much power the card draws?