Compatible GPU Rendering Options with AMD Cards for 3ds Max

[CADLAB22]

Currently, I use Corona to render scenes, which is CPU based rendering and it takes +10 hours to render a scene with <3% noise, so I need GPU rendering softwares. V-Ray and 3ds Max's built-in Arnold support GPU rendering, but only with NVIDIA cards, whereas I have 2xAMD cards. The only software compatible with 3ds Max that supports AMD GPU rendering is Radeon ProRender (and Lumion, but I'm unable to aquire). ProRender is only compatible with 3ds Max versions 2018, 2019, and 2020. If I had one of these versions, or another rendering software compatible with 3ds Max 2024 while also supporting AMD GPU rendering, I could reduce rendering time from +10 hours to less than 10 minutes... so you can see why this is an important issue.

Is there a way to aquire 3ds Max versions 2018, 2019, or 2020 as of Jan 11, 2024 so that I may render using Radeon ProRender?

Are there other rendering softwares I've not mentioned that are both compatible with 3ds Max 2024 AND support AMD GPUs?

Or is Autodesk simply trying to make themselves compatible NVIDIA only?

I currently have a trial of 3ds Max, and the lack of rendering options for AMD cards is very concerning.

[darawork]

Hi,

From my acount and products page, 11th Jan 2024, I am only able to download 3DSMax 2024,2023,2022 and 2021.
You might be able to ask support directly specifically if they can let you have 2020, can't hurt to ask.

Regarding your current scene in Corona taking 10+ hours for 3% noise. I feel that there may be some optomisation of your scene file that can dramatically reduce this. One common mistake is to set lights above 1.0 in the lightmixer. Lights should always be maximum value of 1.0 in the lightmixer, or else if you go above this you are actually multiplying the noise in the scene. Bake light values above 1.0 to the scene with the [>Scene] button at the bottom of lightmix. This is just one tip, there may be many others depending on your scene.
Very informative video, in case you have not already watched it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CC5Gn431wA

I currently have a scene in 3DSMax 2022.3 with 160million plus polygons (5m when everything is proxied) and it renders to 3% noise in 00:14:51. Fourteen minutes, fifty one seconds. Corona version 10.1

Another thing to possibly look into is Corona Distributed Rendering if you have access to a second or subsequent workstation. Unfortunately until Corona uses GPU (not likely ever), and Max deprioritises Nvidia (not likely ever), it falls to the user to work out the optimal CPU scene configuration.

Regards,

[CADLAB22]

Everything is correct in my render setup according to your attached video.

Forgive me for this next question, but I'm not the Architect here (that
would be my wife), I'm the computer guy... Next question is about what you
meant by lightmix. If you refered to the Light Samples Multiplier in the
Performance tab of the Render Setup window as mentioned in the video, it is
set to default. If you referred to the Setup LightMix button in the Scene
tab of the Render Setup window for Corona 11, I don't see any options to
adjust values.

Note: I'm only using an i5-12600K 3.7Ghz boosted to 4.25Ghz and the pixel
dimensions of the rendered image have to be 6000x4000. Being said, there
are only about 7.6m pollies in the whole scene and I'm only making a render
of a relatively small portion of that scene.

Note II: I've rendered on Blender using Radeon ProRender using the same
render specifications using just my CPU and got the same ETA of +10 hours
for <3% noise, but rendered in 24 minutes using the same settings, but just
using only 1 of my 2 GPUs (I used the RX 6700 XT, but I also have a PRO
W5500)

[darawork]

Hi,

This is the Lightmix section I was referencing:

The final tab in the Virtual Frame Buffer.
All my values are set to 1.0 or less.

You can set up a lightmix by choosing the button in the Render Settings -> Scene Tab;

What I do is set up the Lightmix, then while Realtime Rendering I change the lightmix spinner values to what I want, this might be 50.0 or more sometimes. Once I like how the scene lighting is looking I then press the [>Scene] button (as seen in the 1st image above). This bakes the values into the lights in the scene, and returns the Lightmix multipliers to 1.0.

If I wasn't to press the [>scene] button, and leave one or more lightmix spinner values above 1.0, then what happens is the VFB Lightmix spinner multiplies the light (and the noise from that light) rather than the actual light multiplying itself inside the scene (from 1.0 intensity to 50.0 or whatever). The render engine then has to work 50 times as hard to get rid of the noise down to your chosen percentage. A lot of people fall for this, and it ends up taking hours to render a scene, when it should be minutes.

The same thing happens if anything is too unnaturally bright in the scene (which can be checked with the Albedo Element pass). Something unnaturally white (255) will reflect rays nearly like it is emitting them, and they will bounce all around the scene slowing stuff down. Same with using a light emitting material to illuminate the scene, this should not happen. Always use designated lightsources. You might have seen these tips in the video.

Regards,

[CADLAB22]

Same here...

 

How many light-emitting perimatives do you have in your +160m polly scene (though I'm not entirely sure what that is, it seems important)? Her's is +2400 with 26 groups

And what CPU are you renderring with? The i5 I mentioned is a 10 core

[darawork]

Hi,

I have 123 lights in my scene. These are designated Corona point lights and one sun. I don't have any light emitting primatives, as in objects of solid geometry that are adding to the scene illumination. Using scene objects with light emmitting materials (e.g. CoronaLightMTL materials) to illuminate the scene will add tonnes of noise. For the sky I am using a Corona Sky (much faster than a HDR image). 

I have no groups in my scene (these can massively slow down the pre-compute stage of the rendering process).
I have all items of the same material attached together into one object. I have all my scene assets/proxies located in one folder on a fast local network drive. All items in scene file are located close to 0,0,0 origin.

Cpu I'm currently using is a Intel Xeon W-2245 @3.90GHz (8core / 16 Logical processors) with 64gb Ram.

If you're allowed to share the scene file, you can upload it to sendspace or wetransfer and message me the link, I'll take a look and see if I see anything not optimal.

Regards,

[CADLAB22]

In order to do that, will I have to supply all  the pathways for materials, users, etc.... or ONLY the drawing?

[darawork]

Hi,

It would be best to zip everything;

I use this script inside 3dsmax to collect all the assets into one folder.
Afterwards it becomes easy to zip the entire scene including all external
elements. Very handy. I don't use the inbuilt Archive routine in 3dsmax as
this can lead to complex folder structures being recreated on the receiving
workstation.

https://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/collect-asset

If you can save back to 2022 I can check the file here, rather than at home where I have 2024.
I also only have Corona 10 here, I have 11 at home. But that shouldn't be too much of a problem, I hope.

Regards,

[CADLAB22]

I hownoaded the latest from Collect Assets, but I have no idea how to run the script in 3ds

[darawork]

Hi,

As on the description: "for installing select menu Scripting -> Run script... and select downloaded file. Find it in Customize -> Customize user interface -> Toolbars. Category: Xiruim."

So go to Menu -> Scripting -> Run Script

Afterwards If you want to drag it to a new button on the main toolbar area:
Menu Customise -> Customise User Interface -> Toolbars Tab -> Category scroll down to Xiruim. You should see collect assets. Click and drag these words to a free space on the toolbar. You can now launch the script from the button.

Also I found some more links about scene optimisation:
https://vizacademy.co.uk/3d-tips-and-tricks-on-how-to-speed-up-the-rendering-process-in-3ds-max/
https://cgaward.com.ua/blog/tutorials/speed-up-rendering-with-corona-renderer-in-3ds-max.html
https://forum.corona-renderer.com/index.php?topic=18394.0

Regards,

[Anonymous]

Sorry for the delayed response, I'm about 8 hours ahead of Eastern time.

Link:
https://we.tl/t-shtyfAaGNm
Expiration: January 19, 2024


Only notes I can think to make:
- Try any of the interior cameras.

- The pixel resolution has to be 6,000x4,000

- Final render in High Quality

- <3% noise

[CADLAB22]

Sorry, I was signed into my wife's account and not my own. Yes, that reply was from me.

Link:
https://we.tl/t-shtyfAaGNm
Expiration: January 19, 2024

[darawork]

https://w-si.link/r8oKFaWqiODwbA8NL

Here you go;

Reset Corona Rendering Setting to Default (the default settings are good for 99% of cases).

Removed environment lighting, and replaced with Corona Sun and Sky.
Ran 'Corona Converter' process on entire scene, so as to convert any non-corona materials.
Deleted Arnold Lights, have no idea why they were there in first place.
Removed falloff maps from several materials IOR slots (Not supported under Corona).
Changed displacement to real world.
Object10424819 has Corona Light Material on it, with Caustics turned on, turned off Caustics, and self illumination in favor of creating a new Cylindrical Corona Light source.
Made a new Corona Lightmix by pressing the create Lightmix button. It is important to do this after adding or deleting any light sources.
Moved floor up slightly to remove gaps of sunlight coming through (this was causing loads of light leaking into the scene from outside).
Removed Glass Mirror material from doors and window panes, and applied Chrome instead. Glass Mirror did not seem necessary in these locations and will greatly add to the raytrace resolving by causing lots of light bounces.

I didn't check all the materials, but it is a good thing to always check the materials that come with premade objects and scenes. Sometimes they can be overly complex, and it can be a good idea to maybe even apply all your own materials instead. This way you can be sure that they are simple enough, and render quickly.

Seems to be rendering fast now.
Also remember that in favor of trying to reduce the noise to 3%, with modern versions of Corona the denoising is so good that even reducing the scene noise down to about 8% is acceptable and then letting the denoiser pass clean up the rest. I use the Corona High Quality denoiser setting in Rendering Setup -> Scene Tab -> Denoiser. Make sure to set Noise Level Limit in the Render Setup -> Scene Tab. This was at 0.0% which means it will render indefinitely. 

There are also a couple of very high-polygon objects outside of the interior scene that you might want to delete if they are not contributing to the overall scene.

Hopefully it will render a lot quicker now.
Regards,

[CADLAB22]

I'll download it, but I'll have to test it later.... BOTH of my graphics cards stopped being recognized by my PC today, aaaaaall the way down to the BIOS.

[darawork]

Ouch,

I wonder if they both crashed and moved the Motherboards 'On-Chip Graphics' back to top slot?
I've had to disable 'On-chip' graphics before. And PCI IRQ switching used to take place inside Windows vista, yuk.

I hope you can sort it out, and I won't mention how solid nVidias cards work with Max.

:edit: that scene file is rendering on my home pc i5/ 32gb ram, 3dsmax 2024.2, nVidia GTX 760, 
It's a bit ropey because of the scene quality. But seems to be zipping along.

Regards,

[CADLAB22]

Nah... I have another card on my server that's old and only relies on PCI
power and not PCI-E, so I tested it and it works fine. Something happened
with my PCI-E cables, which is quite unfortunate. Hopefully I don't have to
replace the power supply (though it beats replacing the GPUs. Also, I could
use some cable management 😅).

It wasn't an over/underload, either. I had +200W of wiggle room.

Anyway, I'll probably test rendering tomorrow since my GPUs are now
inoperable. I've been tinkering and troubleshooting my PC for the better
part of 8 hours straight at this point 🫡

[darawork]

The hidden beauty of 3DSMax is that it can run 'sans GPU'.
You can load the scene file on Render Nodes, without dedicated graphics cards, from the command line.
Backburner does it, or Pulze Scene.

Good luck with the AMDs. AMD Threadrippers are lovely though, I will give them that.

Regards,

[darawork]

Just pm'd you the screenshot. 35mins, to 3%

Regards 🙂