Scene rending for iRay

[Wolfschadowe]

So, here's a simple question for everyone.

Now that we've met the iRay milestone on Patreon, what is the consensus on the scene that is about 1/4 done rendering in the old 3dlight format? Currently there are 109 images rendered in the old format, with about 400-500 more to go for that scene, which will incorporate two episodes, each focused on a different love interest.

The question is, would it be preferable to finish rendering that scene in the old method, or to re-render those 100 images in iRay? Changing to iRay to rerender those scenes could add about a month to a future episode. What is the consensus? Vote in the poll above, and/or give your opinion below.

[ExLibris]

Is it possible to get a comparison between iRay and the current format?

[Wolfschadowe]

Here are some comparisons and samples of iRay rendering. All are taken from in-game sets and assets, although the exact images may not appear in the game, it's representative of the quality. Pay attention to things like sharpness and detail of things in the background, how glass and reflections and other shiny surfaces are handled

Both of these below are examples of the current method and iRay render method. In both cases, I am only using environmental lighting, I haven't created a spotlight to highlight the figure like I normally would.
[spoiler="Original top and iRay bottom"]
[/spoiler]

[spoiler="Original top and iRay bottom"]

I don't have the skin quite right on this one, but it was also one of my first test conversions.[/spoiler]

An iRay specific example. Note how the keyboard glow illuminates the bottom of the hands. The only lighting in this shot is from the keyboards, indicator lights, and computer monitors that are just out of view.
[spoiler="Video Processing Room"][/spoiler]

And finally, here are the random images I created from in-game sets, but shot for Patreon level images:
[spoiler]




[/spoiler]

[NickNKVD]

I voted Neither for two reasons:
1) It would be a shame to waste at least a month's work.
2) The difference between images will be always seen, it doesn't change much if it happens a little before or after. And anyway you can already see the difference between the first episode and the others, even if it is small.

So everybody vote Neither

[benedict]

In the first example I actually prefer the original image. The second one suffers from too little lighting and Emily's body and face becomes too dark to my liking.

In the second example the iRay pic makes the waitress looks like she's made of plastic.

The pics made for Parteon are quite good though.

I think you're putting too much focus on the pictures. I'm quite certain that if you keep doing things the way you've been doing them so far everyone would be perfectly happy. It's the story that makes a good game, the graphics are just an extension.

My take: if you can make a switch to iRay at a point where there's a transition of some kind it would feel natural. Otherwise, finish the scene the old way. Wasting a month's work is not an option, the timeline is stretched enough as it is.

[Wolfschadowe]

Good points, although the overall iRay rendering quality will improve as I get more familiar. The First two bar images were my first attempts to do an iRay conversion. For the second one, I didn't have the skin converted properly. You can see later, in the image with Jasmine at the computer, the skin looks much better. In the first set with Emily, I didn't put a portrait light or backlight on her like I normally would, so it's just the environmental lighting like the lamps on the wall, and ceiling lights that's illuminating her meaning that she appears darker than usual.

The patron images were made after a little more practice, and you can even see how the overall bar set improved a little.

[NickNKVD]

Slightly off topic
Wolfschadowe do you think you will redo the first scenes with iRay? Because some looks great like Jasmine in video processing room and the Patreon images.
But only after the end of the three seasons.

spoiler for who didn't get the day 1 bonus[spoiler]that's a unicorn or we will meet a prince charming with his white horse?[/spoiler]

[Wolfschadowe]

Slightly off topic
Wolfschadowe do you think you will redo the first scenes with iRay? Because some looks great like Jasmine in video processing room and the Patreon images.
But only after the end of the three seasons.

I doubt any of the early scenes will be redone in iRay. This is mainly because I was an idiot, and didn't keep the original files for any of the Wednesday content, or even a lot of the Thursday morning/afternoon content, so I'd have to rebuild every page from scratch....and I'd prefer to use that time and effort on a new game, or expansions, or whatever. We'll see with the time comes

Spoiler for who didn't get the day 1 bonus[spoiler]that's a unicorn or we will meet a prince charming with his white horse?[/spoiler]

We'll have to wait until Saturday (in game) to find out what that particular image is all about. The people have been removed from the scenes in the Patron images.

[Regardie]

So I have been following along at Shark's but I am not a member there and I have a question. You were looking for some rendering help to speed things along in Daz 3D, but the information is not posted on your site here. Is there a way you can get that information here as well?

If you need you can take it to PM.

Thanks for a great game.

[Wolfschadowe]

Looks like I don't have anything posted on that here. Maybe it's time that I thought about a help wanted thread.

Basically, I"m looking for someone with a lot of time on their hands who can help out with rendering scenes. They need to have the Ability to match the overall quality and style of BEW. That's pretty much it. PM me if you are interested in more information before I get a notice up.

[Fenrir Darkwolf]

Hi Wolfschadowe. I had not seen this post... So, if you want my opinion, I think it would be preferable to finish this game like you started it. It's true that the pictures with IRAY are amazing but I think too that your charge of work is more than enough. So iRAY I say: YES! BUT for a futur game or for a remastered version of this one after it will be finish and after you taken a bit of a rest.

[JFR]

... So iRAY I say: YES! BUT for a futur game or for a remastered version of this one after it will be finish and after you taken a bit of a rest.

Unfortunately, you came a bit late to this conversation and the i-Ray question seems to have been settled. Note that the thread you answered took place over 6 months ago. There has been more in another, more recent thread in the first Patron forum which you might find interesting. I'll post a link below. If you are not a Patron you can't post there but you can read that Coffee/Beer sub-forum. Wolf is crazy busy right now and may take a little time to respond here.

http://bradseroticweek.rocks/bewbb/view ... f=16&t=181

[Fenrir Darkwolf]

Oups sorry. Thanks for you reply JFR, I will return to take a nap for the next 6 months...

[JFR]

No reason to be embarrassed or apologize. It is good to see somebody keeping the conversation going.

[Wolfschadowe]

Fenrir Darkwolf, Feedback and opinions are always welcome! Apologies aren't necessary. Thank you for sharing your view!

One of the biggest benefits to iRay for me is the distribution of time. Each image takes about 45 minutes to create, both with the old 3DLight renderer, and the iRay renderer. The main difference is that the 3dLight renderer takes me about 30 minutes to set up the scene for the render, including lighting, and about 15 minutes to render on my current render system. Usually, while the render is working, I will spend those 15 minutes writing pages, storyboards, or working on gameplay models on my laptop. With iRay, I can set up the scene in about 15 minutes, and it takes 30 minutes to render. These are approximate averages. That actually speeds me up a bit because I get double the time for other tasks during a render before I move my attention back to setting up the next image.

So the time to create an image is still about 45 minutes, but my time drops from 30 minutes to 15 minutes. So either way, in my daily allocation of three hours I can make 4 images if I'm really cruising. But with 3dLight, that 3 hours contains 2 hours of creating the images, and 1 hour of multi-tasking other game tasks. With iRay, that 3 hours contains 1 hour of my time creating images, and 2 hours of multi-tasking other game tasks during the render period. This is the primary driver for the changeover to iRay. Better image quality is a great bonus.

Another factor is that I probably won't make another game, also, we are on day 2, out of 7 days, so a majority of the game is still to come.