Quote - Lol, no I'm not on a Mac. I use a program called Windowblinds that changes the UI in Windows.

Yeah, I didn't let it render for too long, but I've never noticed things get better the further on in a render I get, so I figured letting it get to the same s/p with each version of Lux would illustrate the problem.

Is there any way to increase the s/p, beyond lowering the image size? I've already changed the display interval to 300 from 20 and that doesn't make any difference, nor does changing the write interval.

Well, adding more CPU's will definitely help.

Other than that, its rigorous attention to your material settings. Making sure the specular is just right (84 or lower as advised by the lux folks if you can swing it), distant items can be set to matte or low glossy, and using enough light to get the job done but not going overboard. More lights=longer render time, but not enough is worse. It's a fine balance to get both quality and speed.

Lately, I've been using an IBL and a single mesh light for good speed and excellent quality. Even with a massive scene (my favorite!) it can get to 1K in less than six hours, normally 4hr 30min is my average.

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