X3 Ray Trace

[Keith Jeffery]

Could you tell me what the times were to do both the renders?

I did the first two renders on my quad core i7. If I remember correctly, the POV render took about 18 hours; it was created for a presentation for the 2009 user group meeting.

The X3 ray trace of the same scene took almost exactly an hour.

The i7s are nice, by the way.

Just a little anecdote about the POV ray trace -- I was going to do a higher quality version for my talk. It was almost done, nearing 36 hours of render time, when the power went out.

[Allen Brown]

Chad,

I don't want to speak for Susan, but from my experience with both Pov Ray & the new X3 Raytracer, it would be hard to make an apples to apples time comparison. The reason is, the two programs have completely different input categories. Few of the areas you enter numbers into povray have the same corresponding category names as X3.

In Pov, you have radiosity and anti-aliasing, direct sun & difuse sun.

In X3, you have the number of Samples, Uniform Intensity, Ambient Occlusion, Direct sun, Environmental light, 3 types of Photons, Final gathering, & Depth of Field. (not to mention Image Adjusting post raytrace)

I have used the Pov ray for a long time, I have been running this raytracer for some time now, and I can say with some confidence, that I can get better quality raytraces in shorter times than I ever could with PovRay. Once you get a basic understanding of lighting, it's easy to get a nice raytrace, and possible to get a stunning raytrace.

[Susan Jeffery]

Chad,
I have used the Pov ray for a long time, I have been running this raytracer for some time now, and I can say with some confidence, that I can get better quality raytraces in shorter times than I ever could with PovRay. Once you get a basic understanding of lighting, it's easy to get a nice raytrace, and possible to get a stunning raytrace.

It is hard to make an apples to apples comparison. The X3 ray tracer is much more physically based (i.e. realistic) and time ray tracing can depend a lot on your machine.

My everyday computer has little more than a hamster wheel as its power source. So, ray traces can take a fair amount of time on my machine.

The absolute key, for me, in getting a great ray trace from X3 is to set up your lighting correctly. Take the time to light your scene well and the results are astounding. An ounce of set up here is worth a pound of results. Using the material definition tool is a close second place for me in importance for a great ray trace.

[Chad Cardin]

Allen, I was asking because of just that, I didnt know, I wasnt asking because Im an expert raytracer and wanting exact numbers.

I just figured if Susan said x2 took five hours and x3 took 15 minutes that could give a lot of us who dont know a lot of the render details, you described, some sort of idea of what we could expect as far as differences go.

Keith, sorry ask me about design stuff but computers fuhghettabouuit! I know I7 has to do with computers but is that a processor, new model computer or??

[Allen Brown]

Yeah Chad, I hear you. I was surprised by the times Keith reported, that's pretty cool.

BTW, I-7 is the fastest new quad core CPU. The Chieftans have reported that I-7 is the best proccessor to run X3.

Well, so far...I have heard reports that there are now 6 core proccessors available, and 12 core proccessors being tested.

[Chad Cardin]

Thanks Allen, now Im in the know!

[Dave Pitman]

...BTW, I-7 is the fastest new quad core CPU. The Chieftans have reported that I-7 is the best proccessor to run X3.

Intel 6 core processors will be called i9.

[Allen Brown]

Here's One: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-223-_-Product

I7-980 X Extreme 6 Core

[Dave Pitman]

Yes indeed! The i9 in an i7 box. And only $999.99 and free shipping!
George is probably running that processor already!

[Ron Ravenscroft]

Pat, yes I did use your bump map: "Castel Wheat_Tumbled Marble 2 bump". Not sure why you got those errors.

Total time of this raytrace was 12:25:16. The first attachment is the raw raytrace, the second is after using the "Adjust Image Properties" tool.

Very Bland lighting lacking big time.

[Ron Ravenscroft]

Here's an example. The first image is POV. The second is Chief X3 Ray Tracer. I don't think POV holds a candle to the X3 ray tracer.

The third image is what I did in X3 after a little redecorating.

Not bad, counter needs work to look real. Stainless is not good. But overall looks like improvement over X2

[Allen Brown]

Very Bland lighting lacking big time.

I agree. I haven't got the interior lighting figured out yet.