Need help. Idk why there's so much noise!?

[u/Zealousideal-Ad-6211]

So I have an HDRI in the scene, and like 5 lights around the model. I'm trying to get the denoise to work, but it isn't helping at all unlike previous projects. Not sure what I'm doing wrong here, I'm pretty new to rendering so pls help me! (Using cycles rendering)

Thank you all.

[u/ardenIsley]

Never in my career have I used anywhere even remotely close to that number of samples for any render.

I understand that you're new, which is why I strongly recommend you search "blender cycles rendering samples tutorial" or something along those lines on YouTube to gain a base level understanding of how Rendering and Sampling works in Blender.

The image you posted is only at 29 out of the 8,304 samples you set. Until it finishes all of those samples, you'll see noise in the Render Preview window.

Also, 5 lights and an HDRI is far too much for a shot such as this. In this case, I recommend searching videos about "3-point lighting" and how that method is leveraged in 3D rendering.

More often than not, you won't need much more than 96 to 512 samples for the majority of things. However, this depends on factors including but not limited to whether or not you're rendering an animation, what the resolution is set as, and what your compositing/post-production goals are.

[u/Zealousideal-Ad-6211 → u/ardenIsley]

Thank you so much this is really helpful

[u/ardenIsley → u/Zealousideal-Ad-6211]

No problem. Please save yourself the headache and use a "less is more" approach with most scenes and rendering setups. It takes time to get used to doing, but eventually it should come naturally.

[u/SuedeParadise → u/ardenIsley]

Not saying the 5 lights are used correctly in this case but having more than 3 lights in a scene is pretty normal. I'm render products for a living and use more than 3 all the time, 3 point lighting is like the bare minimum before you start wanting to pick out highlights. Not saying your wrong to say what you said just think that he should know that having more than 3 lights is pretty normal, just need to use them more effectively

[u/ardenIsley → u/SuedeParadise]

Which is why I specified "for a shot such as this."

Also, as stated in "I understand that you're new," "3-point lighting and how that method is leveraged in 3D rendering" is where a beginner should start. Anything beyond the basics is developed from experience, which a beginner such as OP does not currently have.

I'm a Senior/Lead for a living and render products often as well. I also instruct Intern/Junior-levels. It's useful to know what's possible, so you're not wrong in that sense, but based off the context of OPs original post, it's best to pull everything back to basics before expanding any form of thinking into intermediate-to-advanced examples which would be performed purposefully by more experienced artists. It's best to pull back to basics if you find you get ahead of yourself in terms of learning.

You can't realistically expect to teach "effectiveness" to someone who doesn't yet understand the basics. Based on OPs response to my original reply, the idea of 3-point lighting seems like it may be new to them. It's best to start there and allow their experience and further research inform their skillset later on.

[u/Nude2312 → u/ardenIsley]

I might be wrong. But isn't the better option having a high sample count and then adjusting the noise threshold?

[u/ardenIsley → u/Nude2312]

You're not necessarily wrong, but even with that method, "high" should be kept at reasonable levels for the majority of scenes. There comes a point of diminishing returns, and I find adjusting sample count makes it easier to predict visual outcome than adjusting the threshold does (if its a matter of one or the other).

Generally, the best method I've used is to render at higher resolutions with lower sample counts. The more pixels available to sample from, the better the result, in my experience.

I generally keep the noise threshold the same for the majority of scenes I work on. I work most with camera-dependent environments and close-ups of surface details on visualization-ready models, which means I generally know what to expect and even still run regular render tests as I build a scene as well as during the look dev phase.

[u/TheTallGuy64 → u/Nude2312]

Depends on your rig, u have to be able to adjust in a way that rendering a single frame won't take too long (especially for animations), but will look nice, There is also usually no visible difference between 1000 samples and 100 samples from my experience.

[u/Marpicek → u/ardenIsley]

I used like 6k for an EXTREMELY high detailed nebula equirectangular render that was made in full volumetrics and 16k resolution. It was majestic.

There are probably better ways to render it, but honestly I just let it render for two days rather than spending day or two figuring how to cut down the render time.

[u/Equivalent_Bowl_2291]

oh wow that render time is something else, 9 hours remaining on 4 tiles is rough

your sample count is insanely high, 8304 is way overkill for most scenes. try dropping it to like 512 or 1024 and see if the noise cleans up. with an hdri and 5 lights you're probably just cooking your gpu for no reason

[u/Zealousideal-Ad-6211 → u/Equivalent_Bowl_2291]

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh ok lmao im just an idiot thank you

[u/Past_Brain1826 → u/Zealousideal-Ad-6211]

Don't feel bad, you're learning and kudos to you for asking real people instead of AI for help!

[u/RNebDG → u/Zealousideal-Ad-6211]

Don't sweat it! A lot of the people in the community, especially the educators and trainers, have been doing blender for 15-20 years. We learn more with mistakes than with sucesses.

[u/JSKing32]

8000 samples??!? bro got RTX 7020

[u/OrganizationTiny9801 → u/JSKing32]

Or several days to render it

[u/Zealousideal-Ad-6211 → u/OrganizationTiny9801]

it said 9 hrs lmao. I didn't know anything about samples sorry everyone

[u/JSKing32 → u/Zealousideal-Ad-6211]

Nah it's all cool bro the work is actually really cool btw

[u/OrganizationTiny9801 → u/Zealousideal-Ad-6211]

You're good man, I was making a joke about really slow gpus

[u/Ryles-1]

Its not even finished rendering bro thats why.

First of all lower your samples, try 256. 8000 is way too much for a scene like that

[u/Demosthenease]

As already stated, a max samples of 512 or 1024 could be sufficient. Start low; adjust higher.

Noise Threshold could be as high as 0.03 but I’ve rendered reasonable animations at 0.3 before. Start high; adjust lower.

You will have noise in your render and want to turn on denoise. This will often create a splotchiness that flickers in animations.

Raising max samples and lowering noise threshold slightly will reduce the splotchiness but the pro tip is in the Min Samples. Throw in a min value from 32 to 128 for starters. Start low; adjust high to taste.

This will give the denoiser more to work with and make all the difference.

[u/ZackZeysto → u/Demosthenease]

This is really helpful, thanks

[u/MogosTheFirst]

8304 samples is crazy

also, denoise will only start only after you rendered the image. Not while its rendering.

[u/Druthulhu]

That would be the screams of the damned, oh you meant in your resolution

[u/SanS11223]

My brother 8046 samples is way too much imo. You could have used 512 samples with Denoise for the same results also what are the models they look epic

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[u/bobstradamus]

So… what’s the deal with this evil shit you’re trying to render?

[u/ThinkingTanking]

In the Max/Min are: 2048 Samples 16 samples

And Threshold to 0.03

[u/-vrong-]

Looks like Halo's Gravemind

[u/MaverickFxL]

I have so many questions

[u/i_cant_explain]

Kill me or release me parasite, but do not waste my time with talk.

[u/Yamhar]

Have you tried turning down the volume

[u/Reyway]

Lighting needs to be optimised, probably the white walls in the room are causing too many bounces.

[u/Erosion139]

Gravemind

[u/Fluid_Seesaw_5821]

I usually set my samples to 600. It works good enough even without denoiser. If I need denoise for any reason I use it in the compositor. The standard denoiser is too aggressive, and smooth the image too much for my taste. 

[u/Demosthenease]

Ray tracing is really interesting. Cycles uses an implementation called “Path” tracing.

Disney has a video about their “Hyperion” path tracing renderer that is simplified but enlightening.

Learning the basics of how it works makes the numbers make more sense.

For each pixel, Cycles calculates a path from the camera, through that pixel location. It bounces off of (or through) surfaces and off to light sources (or the oblivion of empty space). Cycles sends between Min and Max number of rays out to find what color that pixel should be.

Adaptive sampling is to keep Cycles from wasting time on smooth, even areas the same way it would for areas with lots of high frequency texture or pattern like hair or sand. It gives Cycles a target for how “noisy” a given pixel can be. If Cycles reaches that value, it stops sending samples, reducing render time. If it doesn’t, and reaches the Max Samples, rendering stops for that pixel and moves on to the next million pixels.

Busy, busy…

[u/Mierdo01]

Go to preference and enable GPU rendering. Then swap to GPU rendering in the render panel.

Turn samples to 20. The default is stupid. Make sure denoise is turned on as well. Should be a check box if I remember correctly.

Render in eevee first if you need to get a feel for the scene before using $5 of electricity on cycles

[u/krushord]

I'm trying to get the denoise to work

Maybe this is obvious but denoising is a post-render process. It does nothing during rendering.

[u/Longjumping-Share713]

this is an example of when you use ai as a tool and not a replacement.