User manual

Maxwell Render 2.5 User Manual

Chapter 13 Miscellaneous | 123

13.02 Optimization methods and Tips

There are several things you can do to optimize a scene, mostly related to emitters:

• Make sure your emitting surfaces are as low-polygon as possible. Usually, a single-

sided polygon will be sufcient.

• If possible, do not completely enclose your emitters inside a dielectric object. All light

that is emitted through the dielectric object is considered caustic light and will take

longer to render.

• Make sure your emitter is not intersecting other geometry. In most cases this will not

be a problem but it may add to the render time and produce strange results in the

lighting. Regular geometry can intersect other geometry.

Very important: Do not use very white or fully saturated materials in your scene. For

example, a completely white (255, 255, 255) material will take a very long time to clear and

will also make the contrast in the image disappear. Also avoid completely saturated colors

such as pure red (255, 0, 0). Pure white or pure saturated materials do not exist in real life

so it is better to decrease the saturation a bit. For a white wall, around RGB 220, 220, 220,

which is the albedo of white paper, is sufcient.

• For interior renders where window glass reections are necessary, use the AGS glass

material for the windows instead of real glass. This will create the reections but will

not produce caustics, thus speeding up the rendering.

• Perhaps you simply need more time for rendering, depending on your machine specs.

Check www.benchwell.com to know how fast your machine is.

13.03 SDK

The Maxwell Render Software Development Kit is included in the Maxwell Render software.

The SDK is available for Mac OSX, Win 32, Win 64 and Linux 64. If you are a developer

and are interested in the Maxwell Render SDK then please download (the demo version

of) Maxwell Render: the SDK is included in the installer. Please make sure to read the SDK

Agreement before starting to work with the SDK. We would of course be happy to hear

about your work and developments, and we are available to answer any queries you may

have. Please contact us at http://www.nextlimit.com/contact_sales.php