Originally Posted by SgWRX

so i'm only on page 35, but i'm really happy to have been recommended (recommended reading on cgarchitect) the book "rendering with mental ray & 3ds max"!

my question is about the final gather map. i calculated a solution for 320x240 render and then checked the "read only" option. if i change the "initial FG point density", "rays per FG point", "interpolate over num FG points", "diffuse bounces" or "multiplier", do i have to recalculate? it seems like i have to recalculate on any change _except_ for the "interpolate over num FG points". is this correct?

Yes, if a fg sample exists then it will be skiped the next time you recalculate. This becomes important in two situations, 1) when you are testing different settings and 2) when you are rendering an animation.

actually, another question. if i leave all the FG settings the same, but render at 640x480, do i have to recalculate the FG map? or is it output size independant? it seems like i would have to recalculate because FG is a per-pixel deal?

This is a good worflow to follow to help speed up the FG calculation and rendering. As a rule of thumb I dont like to go less than half the full resolution to calculate the FG, for high res renders. For animations I stay with the same resolutions as you are dealing with reletivly small images.


thanks.

ps here's a quick render based on the settings from the book - i'm fairly excited!