The IBL Master Appreciation Thread..

135

Comments

  • 3Diva3Diva Posts: 11,535
    Crescent said:

    I render only in Iray, as even with the best 3DL renders I've seen, the skin never quite looks as good -they always look kind of "fuzzy" or like felt or something. Does this product offer a lot to Iray users too? Or does it mainly benefit those who render in 3DL?

    I haven't done extensive testing with it, but it feels like the iRay renders are a bit quicker and better lit than before.  One of the skins that kept coming out way too dark in iRay finally came out looking like the PA renders when using this product.  Other skins, which had always rendered properly for me in the past, kept their correct tones.  I'm more into NPR (Non-Photo Real) so truly accurate lighting isn't as crucial for me, but even just being able to see what the sky dome is going to look like when the scene is rendered is a big plus.  The light helpers on the dome look useful as well but I haven't tried those out yet.

    Thank you, Crescent! That's the kind of info I was hoping for. :) I'm already pretty happy with the lighting I already get with Iray, so I'm not sure it would be so helpful to me. However the dome rotation stuff sounds helpful and if it does speed up renders - that would be great. I'll have to seriously consider it. :)

  • 3Diva3Diva Posts: 11,535

    Does anyone have a test or two of Iray render times before and after IBL Master? I'd love conformation on if it does, indeed, speed up Iray renders. :)

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 41,058
    edited January 2018

    ...even if you just use "sky" HDRs it is a big help for setting the dome where you want it without having to go into Iray view (which without a lot of CUDA cores can be painfully slow and taxing on system resources) or perform a lot of time consuming test renders if you are stuck using CPU mode. 

    Post edited by kyoto kid on
  • Does anyone have a test or two of Iray render times before and after IBL Master? I'd love conformation on if it does, indeed, speed up Iray renders. :)

    Before IBL Master I couldn't use IRAY.  Now I can render faster in IRAY than I can in 3Delight.  Even the 3Delight is faster.  I made both IRAY and 3Delight in 6 minutes or less where the same size and scene before in 3Delight would have taken me 15 to 20 minutes.  IRAY would not have even been close to being done in even 30 mintues with the same lights (iRadiance)   

    For me the fact that I can now use IRAY skies that I don't remember buying is a plus as well as having a chance to render in IRAY.  Plus, I can go to that one site now and get those free HDRIs :)     

    I think it offers a boost for both the IRAY and the 3Delight user.  This is one of the best things I've bought in a long time :)  

  • bluejauntebluejaunte Posts: 1,902

    Why would it make Iray faster though? I don't understand. surprise

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,245

    Why would it make Iray faster though? I don't understand. surprise

    The only thing I can think of that might make it faster is the addition of the extra ghost light. Would more light in the scene offset the penalty of an emissive light?

  • ParrisParris Posts: 392
    barbult said:

    Why would it make Iray faster though? I don't understand. surprise

    The only thing I can think of that might make it faster is the addition of the extra ghost light. Would more light in the scene offset the penalty of an emissive light?

    That's a good guess - If folks who are claiming IBL Master makes Iray renders faster are changing the light setup of their old scenes by adding Boost Lights, then it might be the old "lighter scenes render faster in Iray than dark ones" rule. But to be clear, I make absolutely no claim that IBL Master speeds up Iray renders. In fact, unless you are turning on some boost lights, I don't see how it would be possible. The IBLM Light (3DL) is completely invisible to Iray. Time improvements on the Iray side can be quite significant, but only in terms of workflow - saving time figuring out which way the light will shine.

     

  • bluejauntebluejaunte Posts: 1,902

    Been meaning to ask about that actually. If I'm in Iray preview and rotate the dome I can see that update in real time. Right? I don't know about other people but when I do lighting I'm pretty much 100% in Iray preview because I need to see how stuff interacts with light. So I'm not sure about significant time improvements but maybe I just don't understand enough about this product?

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,245
    edited January 2018

    Been meaning to ask about that actually. If I'm in Iray preview and rotate the dome I can see that update in real time. Right? I don't know about other people but when I do lighting I'm pretty much 100% in Iray preview because I need to see how stuff interacts with light. So I'm not sure about significant time improvements but maybe I just don't understand enough about this product?

    You can see the dome in Texture Shaded view and rotate it at lightning speed with IBL Master. Granted, the Texture Shaded preview of the HDRI background is dark/light, because there is no tone mapping to compress the 32 bit HDR to 8 bit for display. But you can generally tell where you are in the scene. It is sometimes difficult to make out a dark ground to be sure you are not placing your character where they could not really stand (like half way up a tree trunk or something). The small sphere lets you see where the light is coming from. To get a preview of the way the light will look and how the shadows will look, you will still need Iray preview.

    Take a look at my post in the commercial thread for a screenshot that shows the difference between the appearance of the Texture Shaded viewport with IBL Master and the Iray preview in the Aux Viewport at the same time. I wouldn't want the Aux Viewport rendering an Iray preview while I am rotating the IBL Master dome. It slows it down. That post also shows the discrepancy between the two viewports when unsynchronized render parameters are used, like Ground Texture Scale used by DimensionTheory in his HDRI package. To keep the IBL Master viewport showing what will really render, it is necessary to reset any unsynchronized parameters to default values.

    Post edited by barbult on
  • ParrisParris Posts: 392
    edited January 2018

    Been meaning to ask about that actually. If I'm in Iray preview and rotate the dome I can see that update in real time. Right? I don't know about other people but when I do lighting I'm pretty much 100% in Iray preview because I need to see how stuff interacts with light. So I'm not sure about significant time improvements but maybe I just don't understand enough about this product?

    Have you watched the video? That might be the quickest and best way to explain it.

    Post edited by Parris on
  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 41,058

    ...actually in the two 3DL tests I did. the IBL one took about 23 min while the straight 3DL one about 14 min.  However the lighting in the IBL one looks much more accurate. Part of what helps is having Gamma correction turned on and the Gamma rate set to 2.2.  The straight 3DL version has it turned off with the rate at the default of 1.0.  The light settings in that one also used the preset values for a bright sunny day using the AoA Ambient and Distant lights only.

  • ChadCryptoChadCrypto Posts: 596
    edited January 2018

    I don't think this makes Iray faster. I did a test just doing a basic setup. and both took exactly 1 min 48 seconds.  One with and one without IBL Master.

    I'm using a Nvidia GTX 1060 6gig.

    I need to work on the 3dl images. it's confusing I have a I5 Intel and it's taking almost an hour to even render the image. I don't have that kinda time at the moment to render an image. it hogs my cpu too much.

     

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    Post edited by ChadCrypto on
  • bluejauntebluejaunte Posts: 1,902
    Parris said:

    Been meaning to ask about that actually. If I'm in Iray preview and rotate the dome I can see that update in real time. Right? I don't know about other people but when I do lighting I'm pretty much 100% in Iray preview because I need to see how stuff interacts with light. So I'm not sure about significant time improvements but maybe I just don't understand enough about this product?

    Have you watched the video? That might be the quickest and best way to explain it.

    I did. I think it may be down to me using HDR mostly as fill light and not to actually render an environment. If I had to match some scene light with the HDR light often I might appreciate the ability to see the HDR in the normal viewport more. In any case, excellent product that I'm trying to convince myself to buy, it's just that besides what I just mentioned I'm also Iray-only.

  • HavosHavos Posts: 5,362
    kyoto kid said:

    ...actually in the two 3DL tests I did. the IBL one took about 23 min while the straight 3DL one about 14 min.  However the lighting in the IBL one looks much more accurate. Part of what helps is having Gamma correction turned on and the Gamma rate set to 2.2.  The straight 3DL version has it turned off with the rate at the default of 1.0.  The light settings in that one also used the preset values for a bright sunny day using the AoA Ambient and Distant lights only.

    That was pretty much exactly the same as my experience (for 3DL). The IBL light took roughly an extra 50% timewise, but definitely looked better. 

    As others have said, I don't see how this could speed up Iray (other than using the boost lights).

  • GoneGone Posts: 833

    An old squirrel pic redone with IBL Master.

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  • BlueIreneBlueIrene Posts: 1,318

    If it does speed up Iray then it's not noticeable, but it does nothing to hold it back, either. What it does do for Iray users is to make putting an image together accurately very much quicker (and even possible at all in the cases that demand you spend time you haven't got doing it). No more guesswork and unnecessary test renders because the HDRI can't be seen in the viewport, and no more messing about trying to get an additional light (when needed) to line up with the source of the light in the HDRI so that you don't create unrealistic extra shadows. Then there's setting up a shadow catcher if you're showing your character's feet - there's one included. It may not make the render time any faster, but you'll still be working on the one after it a lot sooner. I don't do 3DL at all, but this is easily one of the most useful products I've bought here, and as an added bonus I'm getting my full money's worth out of all the HDRIs I've bought in the past now too.

    I'd recommend it in a heartbeat to anyone still on the fence about it because they only use Iray.

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 41,058
    Havos said:
    kyoto kid said:

    ...actually in the two 3DL tests I did. the IBL one took about 23 min while the straight 3DL one about 14 min.  However the lighting in the IBL one looks much more accurate. Part of what helps is having Gamma correction turned on and the Gamma rate set to 2.2.  The straight 3DL version has it turned off with the rate at the default of 1.0.  The light settings in that one also used the preset values for a bright sunny day using the AoA Ambient and Distant lights only.

    That was pretty much exactly the same as my experience (for 3DL). The IBL light took roughly an extra 50% timewise, but definitely looked better. 

    As others have said, I don't see how this could speed up Iray (other than using the boost lights).

    ...still much less than using UE or Iray in CPU mode.

  • LlynaraLlynara Posts: 4,770
    edited January 2018

    I played with this on Sunday and managed to get a nice render in 3Delight. I haven't even used it since I moved to Iray a year and a half ago. Might be time to revisit some old scenes like @Gone is doing (they look great, btw!)

    3delight: No postwork, straight render- took under 5 minutes! That shocked me.

     

    Iray: IBL Master came in handy to get the HDRI positioned right. I used Boost Lights in 2 zones plus some spotlights.

    Before postwork (about a half hour of render time at Render Quality 3, which is pretty normal if the scene fits on my 4GB card): 

    After postwork:

     

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  • GoneGone Posts: 833

    Thanks for the comment.

    Another oldie. laugh

    Aside from a couple having to have gamma switched to 2.2, there has been very little rework needed. Just clean out the old lights and add IBL Master. So far, everything posted has only used IBL-M, some with boost lighting.

    FYI, the boost light doesn't have to be moved to the hot spot. I've used the boost light as a "reflector" a few times. wink

    Back when iray was first introduced (I think - memory is kind of fuzzy) there was a thread about free HDRI's from Averis. Sign up and every month you get an email for a free HDRI. Even though I wasn't using iray, I signed up and downloaded the HDRI each month. Now, they are being used with IBL-M. Most of these renders I've posted have used them.

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  • If it does speed up Iray then it's not noticeable, but it does nothing to hold it back, either. What it does do for Iray users is to make putting an image together accurately very much quicker (and even possible at all in the cases that demand you spend time you haven't got doing it). No more guesswork and unnecessary test renders because the HDRI can't be seen in the viewport, and no more messing about trying to get an additional light (when needed) to line up with the source of the light in the HDRI so that you don't create unrealistic extra shadows. Then there's setting up a shadow catcher if you're showing your character's feet - there's one included. It may not make the render time any faster, but you'll still be working on the one after it a lot sooner. I don't do 3DL at all, but this is easily one of the most useful products I've bought here, and as an added bonus I'm getting my full money's worth out of all the HDRIs I've bought in the past now too.

    I'd recommend it in a heartbeat to anyone still on the fence about it because they only use Iray.

    I was never"on the fence" about this one; it was more a matter of "it isn't out yet?". ;)
  • Sven DullahSven Dullah Posts: 7,621

    If it does speed up Iray then it's not noticeable, but it does nothing to hold it back, either. What it does do for Iray users is to make putting an image together accurately very much quicker (and even possible at all in the cases that demand you spend time you haven't got doing it). No more guesswork and unnecessary test renders because the HDRI can't be seen in the viewport, and no more messing about trying to get an additional light (when needed) to line up with the source of the light in the HDRI so that you don't create unrealistic extra shadows. Then there's setting up a shadow catcher if you're showing your character's feet - there's one included. It may not make the render time any faster, but you'll still be working on the one after it a lot sooner. I don't do 3DL at all, but this is easily one of the most useful products I've bought here, and as an added bonus I'm getting my full money's worth out of all the HDRIs I've bought in the past now too.

    I'd recommend it in a heartbeat to anyone still on the fence about it because they only use Iray.

     

    I was never"on the fence" about this one; it was more a matter of "it isn't out yet?". ;)

    laughyesOk had some minor problems with the 4.10 beta, had to reinstall some stuff before I got it to work but having so much fun right nowlaugh

     

  • GoneGone Posts: 833

    Something new for a change.

    Naturally, I had to make sure there were lots of nice shiny surfaces. laugh

    3dl, 5 minutes, IBL-M only lighting.

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  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,245
    Gone said:

    Something new for a change.

    Naturally, I had to make sure there were lots of nice shiny surfaces. laugh

    3dl, 5 minutes, IBL-M only lighting.

    Nice. I sure like all the shiny surfaces.
  • GoneGone Posts: 833

    Another old scene updated.

    G1 character with a (really) old M4 skin.

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  • ParrisParris Posts: 392
    Gone said:

    Another old scene updated.

    G1 character with a (really) old M4 skin.

    Great reflections in the eyes!

  •  

     

     

    Gone said:

    Another old scene updated.

    G1 character with a (really) old M4 skin.

    Very cool image. good to see old textures looking good.

  • GoneGone Posts: 833

    Thanks guys.

    I use Dimension Theory's Eyeris for the eyes. The default reflection is set to 160%. This seems to work well under normal lights but is way too strong for IBL-M. I turn the reflection down to 40% so the eyes aren't burned out.

  • Sven DullahSven Dullah Posts: 7,621
    edited January 2018

    Ok, first render with IBLM, originally made using the RR3 which rendered in 2 h with occlusion turned off for the fur, this one rendered in 55 min with occlusion enabled so I'm pretty impressed:)

    (3DL render)

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    Post edited by Sven Dullah on
  • Ok, first render with IBLM, originally made using the RR3 which rendered in 2 h with occlusion turned off for the fur, this one rendered in 55 min with occlusion enabled so I'm pretty impressed:)

    (3DL render)

    image

    Great Render! What shader did you use for the water? It looks gorgeous. 

  • Sven DullahSven Dullah Posts: 7,621

    Ok, first render with IBLM, originally made using the RR3 which rendered in 2 h with occlusion turned off for the fur, this one rendered in 55 min with occlusion enabled so I'm pretty impressed:)

    (3DL render)

    Great Render! What shader did you use for the water? It looks gorgeous. 

    Thanks:) It's actually the vanilla default shader with an opacity map for the foam;)

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