Suggestions on how to optimize the performance of a VIZ model

[Brian Myers]

Any suggestions on how to optimize the performance of a VIZ model beyond "don't model everything in great detail"? Any basic rules of thumb or good readings on this subject?

[Steve_Bennett]

Keep that polygon count as low as possible. There are also a couple of modifiers (I think it is called optimize) you can apply to objects that wil reduce the polygons on the object, but you need to be careful as it can also make the geometry dissapear. I typically use that on imported geometry from revit or ADT or from models bought such as cars.

For creating geometry from scratch, kiss. Start with the box method for basic shapes and try not to convert objects to editable poly's or meshes if you can avoid it. If you must, then convert to editable poly's, not meshes.

Great reading on imported geometry from ADT/revit:
http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=44446

[.chad]

like steve said, keeping the face count down will help immensely. while you model, keep in mind your final output format. if you are only getting rendered images of one or two views, there is no need to model anything that wont be seen. using good image maps helps out alot also. the more you can "model" with a good bump / opacity map, the fewer faces you will actually have in the model, which will speed up rendering times as well as model performance.

look around on sites like cgarchitect - there are loads of tutorials, threads and general information on how to model efficiently.

[Steve_Bennett]

For objects with finer details such as wrought iron fences, look into texture baking to help further reduce the poly count in your scene.

[dellis]

I would highly recommend staying with polys. Limit the amount of triangles if you can. Model the detail closest to the camera views and fake everything else with textures or low rez geometry. Large numbers of groups will slow the renderer down. Collapse the modifer stack whenever you can...if you don;t need the modifers. Optimize your render settings....most of the time wasted rendering is the unnecessary calculations that we force the renderer to make. More geometry then is needed, larger texture maps then are needed....more light samples....stuff like that. I hate to sound like a salesman but on top of all the good stuff about the VRay renering engine....Vray also has its own proxy object that only gets loaded at render time which makes it possible to have a tonne of geometry in your scene. Yous just gotta figure out what you need for the shot and then figure out the easiest, fastest way to make the best looking result. Easy!