Ok, it's just out of curiosity. And I know it's silly, but... I have Bryce since version2, I have also the beautiful RWB4 book by Susan A. Kitchens and still I ain't got a clue about it...

Could someone explain to me the function of the "timer" numbers I get in the low-left corner after the first pass (and the following ones) when I "push" the big render button?
They doesn't seems to correspond to the total rendering time. Are they a projection? A prediction? A guess of the total rendertime?

Another related question: I'm into a week-long rendering, and of course I'm saving often. When I resume rendering, Bryce resume from the exact line, but the percentage counter resets to zero. Anyone know why it's like this and what's the meaning the percentage it shows after the resume?

I know I could do without knowing (I've done it 'till now), but I'm really getting curious like hell about it :)

Many thanks.
Stefano

I'm joining you in that question... I have no idea how exactly it works either

My guess and also from what ive read the number after the first pass is supposed to be the most accurate render time estimation, im guessing the small number is the time it has just taken to do the last pass. I could be wrong though!

It's suppose to be a time estimation, days, hours, minutes and seconds until the render will be finished,as well as the percentage done below that. The time junk is never correct so I defenitly wouldn't go by that LMAO!!! It's basically a "Guesstimation".

I would have to agree with Zanny and clay on this one about the top number, but with Zanny on the bottom number. I think at the end of each pass it updates this number to how long the total render has taken up to that point. Of course it doesn't keep a running total, just updates it at the end of each pass. And I think it is in hours, minutes and seconds, not percentage. The percentage shows on the top bar if you run your cursor to the top of the screen and leave it there a while. Of course, the top number is not accurate (I find it grossly misjudges the first couple passes, and gains accuracy as it runs (probably keeps factoring in the actual time so far). Of course if you stop to save the render and then hit the Continue render at any point, all bets are off, and none of the numbers have any apparent meaning. And after you suffer a crash or power outage after 6-10 hrs of rendering and lose it all, you'll be stopping the render and saving it every chance you get (like I do-I've been burned like that). :^)

Yep, it's just trying to guess how long it's going to take to finish the render. Most of the time I add 0.5 to the total estimated time and it works out correct for me. Then I know that it'll be finished the next morning when I get up. :)

After you hit the render button, and the very first pass just finishes, the time will come up. That first guesstimation can, lol, SOMETIMES be fairly accurate. BUT, if you are using a good amout of transparent objects, reflections and/or volumetric materials, (which we almost always do) it'll be off, almost always less than what it will actually take. This is just from my experience. And, bottom line, like everyone says, you can't really trust it, lol.

How to know how long your render is going to take: When I REALLY need to know this, this is what I do. This may sound silly, but I have found it works. Simple math. For an example, let's say my render will be 800x600 pixels. I change the Document Setup to 200x150 pixels. My scene is now exactly the same, just smaller. Specifically, 16 times smaller. So, when I render my 200x150 scene and it takes 30 minutes to render, I know that my 16 times bigger render (800x600) will take 16 times longer, which is 8 hours. AgentSmith

Aye, good math, AgentSmith... Bryce doesn't constantly analyze or guesstimate, because it takes a bit away from the processor, I would think. Especially running numbers on a per-ray/per-pixel level...?

Thanks everybody... now it's more clear: don't trust the numbers! :) I think I'll stick with AS math above... Thanx to all. Stefano

By the way, the timer doesn't come up with the AA time in B5. It counts somewhat accurately (at most 50% more depending on what else you are doing while rendering). But when the countdown goes near 0, its time for AA which could take all night.

Or all week depending on the textures. :) My Seadragon's realm took like 5 days to AA, the render itself was done in 17 hours. This was just normal AA, nothing fancy.