robcat2075

For this scene the global illumination/AO is the biggest cost of the render but in multi-pass that is distributed among the passes so more passes doesn't exactly equate to more render time 9 passes, 18 minutes 16 passes, 25 minutes 36 passes, 32 minutes

I really like the simplicity in that. The hints to the scene being part of a much larger world makes us believers that there really is a larger world there. My first thought was to use a dome with a 360° panorama on it but it's quite difficult to create such an image of high enough resolution so that you don't see pixels when you peer at just a small portion of it in the window reflections.

Here is a case where Multipass is potentially better The materials for the wood grain and paint chips make many fine lines and edges that are challenging for anti-aliasing. (click to see the full-res images) Regular render took about 76 minutes and has many dark spots... A 5 pass render took 19 minutes and gets a better appearance...

The reflections in the windows are photographs I took in my front yard and placed on some low-density grids that I positioned in back of the camera

Google has released a "Machine Learning Crash Course" https://developers.google.com/machine-learning/crash-course/ Someone learn it and tell me if it's useful.

If I rebuild the model I get sprites. Make sure you have Color Method>Additive Color>OFF

I'm not getting any sprites. What am I doing wrong?

Only the $80 subscription plan will keep you up to date. The $300 edition never expires but it only includes updates to the end of the version it was sold for. Both are locked to the computer you install it on. I recommend the subscription version.

Steffen has put a lot of time in to A:M and made a lot of dramatic improvements. I'm glad we have him.

I'm not trying to ruin your enthusiasm. I just don't want you putting your film on hold for this feature.

A new rendering feature like that is very unlikely to happen. Even if the old glow remains the same it still means writing a lot of new stuff. A two-pass composite will get you what you are trying to do long before that feature will ever get written. I can show you how to do that if you want.

Although it's not face-to-face you are certainly welcome to drop in on Live Answer Time where we discuss anything A:M and other things as well!

I think the most likely way to make it work with A:M's use of decals is to make it a grayscale map, like other non-color maps. White = full glow. Whatever is the surface color here will glow in that color. Black = zero glow Reach and Intensity are currently set in the Chor because Glow is really a post effect. It's done once to the entire rendered frame. The glow effect would have to be rewritten to get it to treat different decals differently.

You can certainly submit that as a feature request although currently Steffen is focused on bugs rather than features. You can reduce the render time of Volumetrics by lowering the "quality" parameter

I'll note that for 3D painter you can load a model in it directly without having to invoke it from 32-bit A:M

I think that helps add some panic to the scene

Also... might this have anything to do with Windows Control Panel>Personalization>Windows Color and Appearance settings? Is there a reason to not use 64 bit windows since that looks better?

Just to try... - What happens if you do Tools>Customize>Toolbars>Large Buttons? In either version? - Have you tried Help>Reset Toolbars? Help?Reset Settings?

My point about the big time work flow is... it's faster and easier. You'd be done by now and you don't have to re render if you want to change the settings. Can you give a sample PRJ where the volumetric doesn't work?

There is no purely decal-defined glow, unfortunately. Using the transparency on a shell slightly above the regular patches is the only work-around I have. In a big-time production flow they would not do the glow in the render at all. They would do a separate pass with everything black except the part intended to glow in white. That could be defined by a decal on the model. That pass would be blurred and colored as desired in post and composited back onto the regular render. Do you prefer the volumetric effect but just don't want the render time?

This model is two flat grids, with a blue one just slightly in front of a gray one. The blue one has a transparency decal on it so only part of it shows and its group is set to glow. The gray group is not set to glow but is part of the same model.

If you need a partial patch portion to glow you can hide part of it with a transparency map.

Glow doesn't have to be on a whole model. It can be on a Group in the model. Is that what you are wondering?

Try this... clip4158AmbianceIntensityMap.mp4 Flaming Pear Plugins can be found here http://www.flamingpear.com/freebies.html

You want an "Ambiance Intensity" Map