Making of Esherick House

[Kzin]

did some tests yesterday evening. the problem with low sampling is only if you use values which are to high. for example i used a light thats half of sun in intensity in a small room without gi and mat with 0.25 for glossiness. then you need alot samples in the shader to resolve that. but if you use normal lightintensitys like 4400lm (its a high intensity for normal lights) you will get no problems. i think intensitys like 20000lm should work without problems.

[moulder6]

I can make you a scene with my exposure difference problem. If you manage to keep realistic exposure of visible area light, and get smooth glossy reflection without noise and fireflies, i will consider you a god

Count me in for this one

The problem indeed has to do with light intensities, and nothing to do with exposure settings, Unitless or Physical Units mode, not even so much with AA. The thing is that a lot of people tend to "fix" lighting issues - wrong intensities, etc, by only tweaking the exposure, which results in the mentioned fireflies effect being even more apparent.

[JJJenkins]

Thanks a lot for such a detailed break down. I look forward to reading through it and picking up some great tips. You created some gorgeous images.

-Justin

[Zxx]

thanks. great article.
i just wanted to ask about leaf material.
http://cdn.ronenbekerman.com/wp-cont...f_Material.jpg
you are using BRDF reflection control. as i can see you set IOR to 1.65 and no remarks about, so i assume it's a mistake. the question is: result on final renders achieved with IOR or BRDF control? and what you intended, IOR or BRDF?

[rawalanche]

I always use BRDF by IOR, i try to avoid setting facing and perpendicular reflectivity manually. And yet, IOR 1,65 is about right for that leaf material. It was intentional What was not intentional is absence of glossiness map which i would use on leaves in regular scenario.

EDIT: Oh yes, you are right I forgot to switch BRDF to by IOR. Very well spotted and correct. That was unintentional mistake.