Hello folks,

I'm new to Mantra/Houdini, have looked through a bunch of vids and am now just starting to noodle with the software.

Soooooo….for my first question :

The attached image is using the micropolygon physically based rendering engine. it's very noisy as you can see. I've been fiddling with all kinds of sampling and quality settings but can't really seem to put a dent in the quality. Same with just the micropolygon engine (but not this bad)

This is a simple box with polybevel, a simple plane and two area lights for key and fill.

I'd appreciate suggestions on ways to improve quality. Bonus points for those requiring the least render time

Many thanks in advance

Nick

Simple Example scene attached , using the Physically Based Rendering Engine. Pixel samples are what you use to control the amount of noise you see. Likewise if you use the micropolygon physically based rendering engine you should be using the min and max ray samples to control the noise. A good starting value for your max ray samples can be found if you multiply your pixel samples by each other

Rob

Thanks Rob!


Nick

With the micropoly engines, the Shading Quality will also have an effect.

I have a quick question as well since I'm just starting to mess around with Houdini's rendering options; are there standard materials like Phong, Blinn, Lambert available? I can't seem to find them in the material palette, although I know I've seen screenshots of Houdini with these materials available. I'm using Apprentice if that makes a difference.

Phong, Blinn, Lambert are specular shading models. So for instance if you drag a basic surface from the material lib into a shop .Then select the specular tab of the material under specular type you will see a drop down list

Rob

circusmonkey
Phong, Blinn, Lambert are specular shading models. So for instance if you drag a basic surface from the material lib into a shop .Then select the specular tab of the material under specular type you will see a drop down list

Rob

Thanks so much!