What do you do while everything renders?

deohboeh

I find too much time being spent surfing was wondering if there's a better way to use my time while everything renders.
Edit: Oh and listening to audiobooks.

Joopson

There's literally everything to do; other than the computer.

But also, we're game artists, so... no render time, if we can avoid it.

Reading, is probably what I'd opt for.

Dave Jr

Ctrl&Alt&Delete -> Task Manager -> Processes -> Right Click set affinity and lower the processors being used...

that way I can still work whilst rendering takes place

Xoliul

With AO and normal bakers being able to do things in less than a minute these days, I fail to see how you'd be waiting around a lot as a game artist.

Ruz

well there is texture baking like ao which can take a while. I tend to watch the renders, sad case that i am

tynew

Ruz I think you should invest in something like knald :)That way you only have to watch a minute of baking.

iniside

Xoliul wrote: »

With AO and normal bakers being able to do things in less than a minute these days, I fail to see how you'd be waiting around a lot as a game artist.

Coz, rendering static lightmaps for levels is whole different story.
I know, lightmaps in 2014... WHAT THE HELL, you think .. Me too, everytime I move light and click rebuild lighting to see how it looks ;/

ExcessiveZero

iniside wrote: »

Coz, rendering static lightmaps for levels is whole different story.
I know, lightmaps in 2014... WHAT THE HELL, you think .. Me too, everytime I move light and click rebuild lighting to see how it looks ;/

even still with I7s 32gigs + of ram and cuda drivers I can't go and do the weight set I used to do could barely have time to go to the bathroom and back before its done

Downtime is important though.

Mark Dygert

If you're using Max or Maya set up backburner, it comes included and is autodesks out of the box render farm software. Launch manager, then server and then monitor and set your renders to "network render".

That way you can render in the background while you still work in max/maya. Or if you have another machine install Max/Maya on it (you don't have to authorize it for it to render as a node), launch server and let it do all of the work while you go back to working on important stuff.

If background rendering is too intensive for your machine then you can queue up renders in manager and then turn server on (or set a schedule in monitor) so the jobs process when you're not around.

Also make sure you aren't needlessly cranking up settings, sometimes you can render at double resolution with lower settings, and resize the image back to normal and get better results than cranking up the settings on a smaller map size. Pay attention to the resize settings in photoshop.

Torch

You could set a render going before you go for lunch which is what a lot of people do, cleaning the house (if you're working remotely) is another thing to keep productive, sorting out chores while rendering basically

I guess keeping the desktop tidy is also something to pass time during renders, I know that doesn't sound like a big deal but getting files/folders cleaned up is good way to stay organised, that includes keeping your workspace at home organised too as I think it can effect your focus.

If you use Xnormal you could check out Airborn Studios tools, its actually pretty good for setting a bunch of bakes going instead of painstakingly rendering one chunk at a time: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=125244

Farfarer

I do programming/scripting, generally. It's not to stressful on the system to use a text editor while it's busy crunching big stuff.

Lazerus Reborn

Mark Dygert wrote: »

Also make sure you aren't needlessly cranking up settings, sometimes you can render at double resolution with lower settings, and resize the image back to normal and get better results than cranking up the settings on a smaller map size. Pay attention to the resize settings in photoshop.

Sigh...

This is something i forgot a while back after a PC reinstall. I was desperately trying to remember how i did it and couldn't. Nice one!

EarthQuake

Usually I will set up PSDs, set up meshes for export etc while waiting for maps to bake... Or get lunch or do something else.

Alphavader

stressing my colleges - For what bought i a nerfgun ?
Also scripting or just cleaning up

.Wiki

Alphavader wrote: »

stressing my colleges

Same here, but only when I want a quick testrender. Normal renders are sent to the farm.

monster

Browse polycount...

I used to search for a solution to distributed lightmapping in Unity. I never found anything. These days while lightmapping I've been reading over our game design docs, and doing some light scheduling and planning.

I typically start and cancel a lightmapping session 3 or 4 times while I remember last minute settings I forgot to adjust.

StephenVyas

deohboeh wrote: »

I find too much time being spent surfing was wondering if there's a better way to use my time while everything renders.
Edit: Oh and listening to audiobooks.

Nerf wars :shifty:

sprunghunt

I find xNormal runs in the background quite well - so I can easily multitask while doing AO and normalmap bakes.

Bek

Really though, either browse polycount or setting up stuff. Baking usually doesn't take long and if it does there's always something simple you can do in the meantime. I'll sometimes google ideas I've had, search for reference or just browse through some relevant tutorials... the vertex books are great for this.

ErichWK

I have my 3DS...I've been playing Bravely Default while baking lightmaps or when I use XNormals. How the hell are you baking AO maps in under a minute?!

wenglish

rendering is just to fast these days. i used to be able to go for a walk, but ever since i built a modern rig it just chews through everything in minutes (unless its a several milion polygon zbrush sculpt)

cman2k

I've been doing a lot of rendering lately because of reasons. I'm usually either on polycount or sketching up ideas...or sometimes I go talk to people about my crazy ideas, hehe.

unit187

Lawless Flogic wrote: »

rendering is just to fast these days. i used to be able to go for a walk, but ever since i built a modern rig it just chews through everything in minutes (unless its a several milion polygon zbrush sculpt)

Try baking quality lightmaps or some simulations Last time I was rendering some kickass smoke it took roughly 8 hours, though I did it at night hehe.

LMP

Back when I had duty as a lighting artist, I would move on to the next scene, and the next scene, and the next scene, and the next scene, and the next scene... then once all of those were off to the render farm, I would, go home and have some sleep.