heya
to add to the earlier list of problems;
- The lack of a network rendering utility is a major problem
in a production environment. All the renderers i have used have
shipped with, or had written into them, some form of distribution & queue
managment utility.
This has proved invaluable for maximising processors and minimising
human error. A|W needs to supply a stable, scalable, CROSS-PLATFORM
utility which can intelligently manage rendering, rather than leaving their
customers to find (and spend even more $ on) decent third party software.
It really comes down to providing a complete solution, software that is end to end.
I find that providing "free" rendering licenses but no practical way of managing
them shortsighted and unhelpful.
Displacement needs further optimization.
Memory usage during rendering and between frames needs optimization
Motion Blur (2d and 3d) implementation is poor.
No .rpf file format. (rich pixel format - multiple matte/information channels)
Better documentation of known problems. Ship more examples of
workarounds and how to get the best performance out of the renderer generally.
GUI feed back is minimal - "current process" (shadow calculation etc)
"estimated time to completion" bar ?
Lack of good built in preset shaders and particle types.
like in good ol' Alias,
-and no I don't want to search the net for them, they should
be written into the gui.
General robustness.
I know that one's vague and unspecific, but at the end of the day, all I ever
want to do is set the scene off and go home. The number of times i've
come in the next day to find incomplete frames, unpredictable and often
unrepeatable errors is numerous. I have produced good looking images
with the renderer, but only after too many hours and much tweaking.
I don't mind errors, (they're to be expected) but the maya renderer has
left me scratching my head more often than not. Often I have resorted to
a compete rebuild of scenes out of sheer frustration and not being able
to fathom the cause of an artifact or error.
Generally, I enjoy using maya, it certainly leads the field in
some areas and I'm sure A|W will continue to make improvements to
the parts that don't. Unfortunately the one part that hasn't moved ahead
as much as it should have is the renderer, which in turn lets down the
rest of the package.
This lag may be because of the impending release of the
mental ray plugin, or the fact that some of the issues with the renderer
are fundamental, core issues that require a full redesign and rewrite.
I for one, would rather have maya's renderer fully debugged, optimized
and thoroughly tested before any new features are added.
What makes a great renderer is the abitity to deliver beautiful images
fast, consistently and predictably.
Either way, until the issues being mentioned in this thread are addressed,
large studios are unlikely to use it for A-level film work instead of PRman and
tv commercial post houses will continue to pull their hair out.
thanks for reading a rather long post
Roger
Edited by sauron on 03/17/01 09:35:22 PM.
