PP2014 SR4 on Win 7 x64, 16GB RAM.

In Nice Places, VIP Pool Area

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/nice-places---vip-pool-area-by-3-d-c/101472/

maybe bad AO or shadow settings on inf lite.

AO is off on all the lights, there are 2 infinite lights, but the shadows are turned off.  I used the lighting setup with the scene.

can you post screenshot of pool coping material?  one directional lite is casting shadows, meaning shadows are on.

Pool coping material?  I'm not sure what you mean.

shadows min bias too low(0.1 or less)?

If that is the mesh poking through there is 2 methods I am aware that might fix it.  Apply a slight displacement to the pool coping or increase your render subdivision to at least one.  We would need to see the wire mesh first, though.

BTW, if you are indeed using DoF, you may need to push your pixel sampling higher to avoid a granular effect in your background.

Quote - shadows min bias too low(0.1 or less)?

 

That might be it.  I checked the manual, and the preferences the units are set in feet, so I bumped it back to the default of .8.  The manual said if in inches not less than .1

I saw some in a draft render.  Medium still takes a while, I'll try that at lower resolution.

Quote - If that is the mesh poking through there is 2 methods I am aware that might fix it.  Apply a slight displacement to the pool coping or increase your render subdivision to at least one.  We would need to see the wire mesh first, though.

BTW, if you are indeed using DoF, you may need to push your pixel sampling higher to avoid a granular effect in your background.

I am.  Thanks!  Recommended setting when using DoF?

BTW, recommendations for Shading Rate?  I thought I knew all my render settings, then read a lighting recommendation thread, and now I don't know what I know anymore.

I was using .1 for finals.  .2 for Medium-high.  Then I got confused when I saw a few using .2 for shading rate, but 10000 and higher for samples under Indirect Light!  Yowza that took a long time to render, even at low res.

Min at .8, still there.  :(

is it possible the pool edge had those dreaded long skinny tri?

drop samples to 700 or less, drop IDL IC to 32 or less, incr. SR to 0.5 or 1.0 until you get rid of those AO/SB artifacts, using area render.  also, delete any IBL to see if they're the ones with the AO.  check mesh of pool coping, as it may be long thin trigons as ment. by RP.

Hi there

This is not yours scene,but here is pool scene and rendered with my usual settings:

2 raytrace bounces,pixel samples 6,shading 0.2,displacement 0,Irradiance cache: 0,Sample size:10,Intensity 1.00,Bounces 6,Samples: 1000,Irradiance Cache: 25,Precalculation scale: 1.0,Gamma Correction OFF

Last thing I would try render with Displacement 0 on yours scene,do you really need to have Displacement set at 0.1?

Thanks,Jura

It looks like that is it.  Even when I set bump to 0 on the material I still had the issue.  Here's a shot with the morph brush open.

Hi there

Can you please post the picture of the material room of the pool?

I know something similar happens to me with one interior scene,not staines,but strange discoloration

Thanks,Jura

As an FYI, Precalculation Scale only determines the size of you IDL calculation window.  Setting it to 0.25 will reduce the scene window to a quarter of it's size for quicker calculations.

Is the problem the same with "smooth polygon" unchecked?

Quote - Is the problem the same with "smooth polygon" unchecked?

Ah, yes, I was going to suggest that also. Some models don't react well to Poser's smoothing.

Quote - Is the problem the same with "smooth polygon" unchecked?

That was it!  Ugh.  Can't believe after all this time I didn't try that.  Thanks to all for your help!  :)