Daz Tips to speed up renders in Daz?

[JamesBean]

Hey again!

So I've gotten pretty used to Daz to the point that I can create the scenes I need pretty easily (big thanks to Saki_Sliz and Boogie for their input in my last thread). My figures, props, backgrounds, lights, and poses are working exactly as I want them to. My only problem is these rendering times. Without them I'd have all the scenes needed finished in a couple days, but with them I don't know if making a game would be worth it if a single picture takes hours to render, and slows down my laptop to the point doing anything else at the same time is a headache.

I have an Intel Core i7 8th gen laptop with NVIDIA GeForce MX130.

What I need to know are what are the best render settings to put out quality scenes for a simple renpy game in a reasonable time, and any tips, tricks or outside processes to make the process faster. I want to release a quality product, not something compromised by grains.

Tips I know so far:
-Use some light because dark images come out too grainy, but not too much lights because they'll make rendering longer.
-Hide or delete all parts on the scene that aren't visible on the camera
-Be careful with what assets I use because some make rendering longer

I even tried turning the background of the scene into a HDR, deleting it from the scene, and then re-adding it as an environment map in the render settings as instructed in this youtube video

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. But when I re-add it the model and the prop she's on are in a total different place on the map.

Or maybe there's a way to fix up renders afterwards in photoshop?

Thanks for your help!

 

[HopesGaming]

single picture takes hours to render, and slows down my laptop to the point doing anything else at the same time is a headache.

Hehe, this was basically my situation the first few releases.
Have to sacrifice stuff to be able to get where you want.

Now to some help;

1) Go to render settings - filtering - turn on denoiser

Many devs are in a split if they like the quality of it or not. But for you, it can be a lifesaver as it will reduce the time by a lot. (personally use it a lot and don't get too much slack for my renders)

2) Click character/object - general - lower subDiversion level. This is the detail on the character. But if the shot is not a really close to the face shot- it is not needed that much.

3) Download the script 'scene optimizer'. It can reduce the texture for characters/objects (all the way down to even removing it) this is mostly to avoid crashes and being able to add more stuff to the scene.
It also can reduce the subDiversion level here.

4) Get a better gpu. But that is probably easiere said than done. Nonetheless- best solution.

 

[fenelia]

One thing I do (especially if I think I'll do a lot of post-render work in GIMP) is to use the Intel FOSS denoiser. Grainy is just fine with the denoiser because the AI will interpolate and figure out the best way to fix the grains for your image. (This isn't really "speed", but it allows you to stop a render before it is resolved and still get good results.) If you do a lot of things post-render, then the details that you "lose" by denoising tend to go away or become less important, anyway.

This thread talks about the Intel denoiser:

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You can try it with a grainy render you already have.

Using a scene optimizing tool can also help strip down elements and make them less heavy on memory. Do you need 4K textures for a background object? Probably not, so you can downscale those and probably strip out some of the other maps. An automated scene optimizer does this quickly.

Edit: Exactly things that have been said, but also to reinforce what has been said.

 

[JamesBean]

Thanks. Been trying for the last 2 hours to get the intel denoiser to work and can't for the life of me figure it out. I even got the denoise option as a right-click option but whenever I click it says "This file does not have an app associated with it for performing this action."

Are there other denoisers I can find somewhere that's a little simpler to operate?

 

[HopesGaming]

Thanks. Been trying for the last 2 hours to get the intel denoiser to work and can't for the life of me figure it out. I even got the denoise option as a right-click option but whenever I click it says "This file does not have an app associated with it for performing this action."

Are there other denoisers I can find somewhere that's a little simpler to operate?

Why not use the denoiser in Daz?

 

[JamesBean]

Have to sacrifice stuff to be able to get where you want.

No doubt about that. Thanks a lot. Will try the denoise option in render settings, download a scene optimizer, and let you know how much time it took off.

 

[JamesBean]

Going to try it now. Tried to download the intel one first.

 

[fenelia]

I use a batch file to process the images for the denoisers. I forget where I got the file, but the it's an automated way to point an image file at the denoiser directory. Just drag an image and drop it on top of the .BAT file.

The contents of the batch file (named "denoiser.bat"):

SET FILE_EXTENSION=png
SET PATH_TO_DENOISER=D:\Programs\Denoise

SET OUTPUT_PREFIX=denoised_

FOR %%v in (*.%FILE_EXTENSION%) DO (%PATH_TO_DENOISER%\Denoiser.exe -i "%%~nv.%FILE_EXTENSION%" -o "%OUTPUT_PREFIX%%%~nv.%FILE_EXTENSION%")

cmd /k

Why use the Intel version? I never used the Daz one. The Intel one works with CPU only and works on any image file, so anything post-render (or mid-render if you pause and go into the Temp directory). So even if you didn't denoise through Daz, you can go back and denoise anything you like.

 

[JamesBean]

Why not use the denoiser in Daz?

I turned it on and rendered a pic with barely any difference. But then I realized I didn't touch the noise degrain filtering bar or the post denoiser iteration bar. What number should I set those to? And do I turn on post denoiser denoise alpha too?

 

[JamesBean]

I use a batch file to process the images for the denoisers.

I wanted to denoise some already grainy but good pics so I really wanted this work, but can't seem to figure out the batch file thing either lol will keep looking into it tho

 

[HopesGaming]

I turned it on and rendered a pic with barely any difference. But then I realized I didn't touch the noise degrain filtering bar or the post denoiser iteration bar. What number should I set those to? And do I turn on post denoiser denoise alpha too?

 

[deepandsilent3dx]

My only problem is these rendering times. Without them I'd have all the scenes needed finished in a couple days, but with them I don't know if making a game would be worth it if a single picture takes hours to render, and slows down my laptop to the point doing anything else at the same time is a headache.

I have an Intel Core i7 8th gen laptop with NVIDIA GeForce MX130.

The only solution to reduce the rendering times essentially while maintaining the same image quality is a strong graphics card with many shader cores.

Everything else is almost placebo or halfway compromises, and will not make you happy in the long run.

 

[JamesBean]

View attachment 598712

Hey with the combination of the scene optimizer and the degrain I shaved off at least 30 minutes from my render time, so thanks a lot! Curious though, how many iterations do you personally usually let run per scene?

 

[HopesGaming]

Hey with the combination of the scene optimizer and the degrain I shaved off at least 30 minutes from my render time, so thanks a lot! Curious though, how many iterations do you personally usually let run per scene?

Around 1000-2000. Depending on the scene

 

[fenelia]

I can show you what the Intel denoiser will do with a sample image in case you're not sure how much you should try the denoiser.

Oh... looks like another user wrote a GUI.
https://f95zone.to/threads/denoisergui-graphical-interface-for-nvidiaai-inteloi-denoisers.37825/

 

[JamesBean]

Around 1000-2000. Depending on the scene

Thanks again for your input, really appreciate. Hope my game comes out half as good as yours!

 

[JamesBean]

I can show you what the Intel denoiser will do with a sample image in case you're not sure how much you should try the denoiser.

Oh... looks like another user wrote a GUI.
https://f95zone.to/threads/denoisergui-graphical-interface-for-nvidiaai-inteloi-denoisers.37825/

Wow! You weren’t kidding. This makes a huge difference. Needed to download java 1.8 as well, but other than that this app is super simple and useful! Thanks man, glad I didn’t give up on it lol

 

[recreation]

There's a little trick I'm using to speed up rendering times: lower Film ISO. This essentially reduces the light that enters the "camera", so the scene get's darker and you'll have to increase the intensity of the light sources, which in the end lowers the rendering time quite noticably.
If you want to test that: Use some HDRI, set environment intensity to 10 or 15 and lower the Film ISO to ~15-20 (depending on the hdri). It should look the same as with standard settings, but it will render faster.

 

[Deleted member 1121028]

Drastic measure only

1. Select all surfaces in a scene outside models and reflective/transparent surfaces (metal, glass, water, ceramic...)
2. Change Iray Shader to Daz default Shader (Shader presets>DS Default>dzDefault), may have to adjust gloss.