Hi Tom, 

I have a question about transparencies.   I know they can take a long time to render with IDL so that explains using AO but I was under the impression that unchecking Light Emitter from the properties of objects that use transparencies cuts down render time with IDL.   Is that the case with AO too?  If not, then maybe it wouldn't take as long to render with IDL and Light Emitter unchecked?  I tend to use IDL, along with BB's skydome and just one light for the sun, and have found that I can significantly reduce render time in this way.

Cathy 

 

Same here. I've done big test renders on scenes where I've unchecked "light emitter" on all transparencies (especially leafy trees and bushes and grass and transmapped hair), and I've seen so little difference that I now do it as a matter of course. It does indeed reduce IDL render time dramatically, and now I render everything in IDL. Most of my images have render settings somewhere between the final settings posted above and a draft render (pix samples: 6 or 7; min shading rate: 0.4, IDL close to default). Most of them have a bunch of point lights (5-20) for candles/torches/lamps; and an image at 4k x 5k pixels generally renders in about 1.5 hours or so. I'm not running a speed demon of a machine. ---

Tom, I'm a big fan of your models! 

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PoserPro 2014, PS CS5.5 Ext, Nikon D300. Win 8, i7-4770 @ 3.4 GHz, AMD Radeon 8570, 12 GB RAM.