Thought it might be an idea to have a thread where we can post/discuss the best render options for Vue 7
I've got the PDF from Peggy but I've no doubt that Vue7 has different ways to accomplish the same thing. 
Tips for Radiosity would be rather welcome too :biggrin: (hint to Chipp and others there :) )

I like the idea, because I am testing various render settings too :-)

Obviously the new render engine does not need high values. As an example have a look at the render (anti-Aliasing) settings the "PeakingThrough" scene. Although the scene uses low settings the render looks great for me.

For outdoor scenes I usually follow Peggys advice and don't use higher settings than 46%  for the overall quality. For indoor radiosity scenes I sometimes leave this advice and use higher values.
Texture anti-aliasing is always turned off - except in very rare cases.

Object anti-aliasing is usually at optimized/crisp.

One absolutly subjective point: The "Final" preset in Vue7 produces imho better results than the one frome Vue6.

Another subjective one - because I don't have done exactly compared this:

The  Vue7.1 update has decreased the render speed a little bit.

Cheers
Ralf

Good idea!  Vue 7 has really changed the render settings and atmospheres too - so what worked in 6 may need some tweaking...

Quote - Thought it might be an idea to have a thread where we can post/discuss the best render options for Vue 7 ...I've no doubt that Vue7 has different ways to accomplish the same thing.

Astounding idea!! I have loaded some scenes, atmospheres, etc. in Vue 7, the behaviours of which were familiar to me in Vue 6 -- wondering,  "WTF???"

But then I remembered reading about Vue7's new radiosity engine, etc.
As in most things, improvements = change, and I simply have to learn what to change! :P

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Quote - Good idea!  Vue 7 has really changed the render settings and atmospheres too - so what worked in 6 may need some tweaking...

Absolutely!! It's only a matter of finding how to produce X result with Y version... : )
I'm in for all tips!

Whiners and lazy folk need not apply! lmfao

Really great idea.  I am looking forward to seeing the results

Vue7 renders are brighter than Vue6, you can use negative sky lighting gain ( -20% max, otherwise it can get ugly)
Shadow smoothing is set to 33% by default, you can set it to zero if you're not using radiosity, this will save some render time,  without compromising quality.

If E-on ever get round to letting me know what's happening with my order, I'll join in ;,)

 Where is Shadow Smoothing?  Is it a render setting or a lighting preference?

Shadow smoothing is in the light tab of the atmosphere editor. It has nothing to do with soft shadows of direct lights (sun, spots...), but it reduces noise produced by indirect shadows (in advanced lighting modes, such as AO, GI and GR) It is highly important when using GR, which by default always produces noise, but not so much for other lighting models that are pretty clean in Vue with default settings ( a good point for Vue, in C4D, you need to push the quality pretty high to get smooth AO shadows)

Preliminary testing in Vue7 Complete - Radiosity appears to be too agressive with the standard settings - try changing the Gain in the atmosphere editor to something like -0.50