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The mirror room
3D Render by bisonraviThis picture is a kind of remake of Neo-the-chosen's work with the same title ( https://www.renderhub.com/gallery/31813/the-mirror-room ). I like the concept of this picture but I find the mirroring effect (reflection) too perfect, so I wanted to find how to simulate a more realistic mirroring effect with a light attenuation. I solved this problem with a simple metallic shader and a very low (but non zero) Glossy Roughness.
The picture is grainy because the lighting conditions are very difficult for IRay (closed environment) but I didn't apply the denoiser because it removed too many details.
The picture is grainy because the lighting conditions are very difficult for IRay (closed environment) but I didn't apply the denoiser because it removed too many details.
Scenes like that are where you just set the render settings to the longest, save the scene, check for any PC updates, and have it run for like 2 days in the background while you do minor stuff like light browsing while hoping no interruptions occur to that lengthy render. Been there a couple times.
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bisonravi
Karma: 23,889
Wed, Sep 06, 2023You're right about the means of getting a better quality of render. The problem is that I am VERY cautious about long rendering times (I've killed two laptops with long renders and burned circuits on the motherboards
). So now, I refuse any renders longer that 30-45 mn and I try to find the technical conditions (mainly lighting) to have a good quality in such a period of time. I can't imagine waiting two days to get a render!!! 


MKDAWUSS
Karma: 46,218
Wed, Sep 06, 2023Some renders are best suited for the winter months - just position the PC to where the fans face the room and let it do the rest. LOL
bisonravi
Karma: 23,889
Wed, Sep 06, 2023Great idea! And I don't want to be responsible for the global warming too! LOL 

I have also long searched for an "old mirror" shader, but unfortunately no suitable found, with which one still has enough mirror effect. Then I tried it with a dirt effect, but in the end I liked the simple mirror. That at first you don't know exactly where the mirror starts and where it ends. Then I experimented with DOF and it looked a bit more realistic, but you couldn't admire the lady so well in the mirror. In the end I liked it best that way.
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bisonravi
Karma: 23,889
Wed, Sep 06, 2023Indeed, the mirroring effects are the key point of that kind of pictures. And my intent was the exploration of the same concept but with another goal concerning the mirrorings, especially to be able to locate the real subject (the girl) without the pure symmetry of perfect mirrors. And thanks for your picture which was incentive to experiment and learn new things... 

Do you really think that the denoiser kills that many details? I didn't recognize that myself yet. A render with denoiser enabled simply looks much better to me. And the big advantage is that you can always abort the render earlier if necessary and the render still looks good to very good. But with denoiser disabled it just looks ugly or sometimes like a screenshot from an old VHS tape.
I hate grainy images. I prefer crystal clear ones.
When it comes to laptops, I don't think that a laptop is the correct device to make hours-long renders, because laptops simply doesn't have the proper cooling capacity. It's pretty obvious that this can even scorch or melt some circuits.
Heat is one of the 3 arch enemies of electronic devices. (The other 2 are wetness and magnetism.)

When it comes to laptops, I don't think that a laptop is the correct device to make hours-long renders, because laptops simply doesn't have the proper cooling capacity. It's pretty obvious that this can even scorch or melt some circuits.

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bisonravi
Karma: 23,889
Wed, Sep 06, 2023Concerning the denoiser, it definitely removes the grainy pixels by blurring the parts of the picture where they occur. If the lighting conditions are good enough to avoid creating too much grainy pixels, the effects of the denoiser are barely noticeable. It really makes a difference when lighting conditions are difficult and in that case, the smoothing of the picture is really visible. Have a close look at your own pictures (Nastya (closer), Nastya 2 (Portrait)) on the hair of the characters: on some parts, you can count the hair, on other parts, hair looks blurry... this is typically the effects of the denoiser since the hair mesh and its shaders are the same for all the object's surface, so the rendering should have the same quality. I agree this is a very faint blur but it's really present...
And for grainy images, I think it's a matter of taste and experience. I am a photographer too and I was used to get grainy pictures when I had low lights with very sensitive films (ISO 400+ --- I know now everything is digital and there is no more films
). So it doesn't bother me to get similar results with rendered pictures. But if you are more pleased with denoised pictures, please keep on doing them, it's our priviledge of creators to be free of doing what we like! 
For the laptop, I agree it's not the right equipement but I can't afford using something else... that's why I avoid hours-long renders.
And for grainy images, I think it's a matter of taste and experience. I am a photographer too and I was used to get grainy pictures when I had low lights with very sensitive films (ISO 400+ --- I know now everything is digital and there is no more films


For the laptop, I agree it's not the right equipement but I can't afford using something else... that's why I avoid hours-long renders.
ksmith3620
Karma: 4,026
Thu, Sep 07, 2023Love the image! Mirrors are interesting. I'm a photographer as well, but only shot film, years ago. Been digital for the last 14 years or so.
I used to use denoise, but around 4.15 or so, I think it was, it just ended up doing way too much smoothing. Now I use the pixel filter along with changing the gaussian number or the other one I use, which I just forgot the name, lol.
I used to use denoise, but around 4.15 or so, I think it was, it just ended up doing way too much smoothing. Now I use the pixel filter along with changing the gaussian number or the other one I use, which I just forgot the name, lol.
bisonravi
Karma: 23,889
Fri, Sep 08, 2023Yes, you're right! The pixel filter can be used too. Instead of the Gaussian filter, I use the Mitchell filter with a radius of 0.75 to get the best details, especially when the models have high res textures...
A very interesting shot. the various reflections suggest multiplane complex mirror setup.
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