I took Erics' advice, and rendered these huge for maximum quality. I want the absolute best quality, and did this test. Hopfully we can figure out the best way. I can't decide which one gives the best results. Which one do you guys think looks better? let me know, what you think. Thanks for the advice Eric(@Digital Carvers Guild).Hybrid or regular Raytracer? The search goes on. I lookforward to your responses. Thanks Kaom

they look the same to me when you render an image with 1024 pixels horizontally by 768 pixels vertically, that size is fixed. the only thing you can vary is the printed size, by converting it to various dots per inch. varying pixels per inch will matter if you can adjust your screen display to higher resolutions, but most people accessing this site are using something in the range of 60 to 96 dpi for their monitor resolutions.

The model looks good so far, Kaom ... Modelled in Carrara ? I can't find any difference between the two images neither ... But there is some differences between the two renderers in some cases . Basically, the Hybrid Raytracer is fast but makes some mistakes . In general, try to use the standard Raytracer for your final input, with "smart sampling" and "light smart sampling" disabled . It's slower, but you won't have a better quality . An example : i've generated a terrain with the small peaks function . The Hybrid Raytracer couldn't render it as it should be, while the Raytracer had no problem with it, but rendered it slower . litst

miss nancy, I understand about pixel resolutions, and you are correct, most monitors can only display 72dpi. But buy rendering it at 300ppi at 1024 x 768 which give a final actual pixel size of 4267 x 3200 pixels and resampling down in Photoshop to 800 x 600 @72ppi it gave me better results. The lines that make the doors, hood and trunk look much cleaner and defined.The difference for results for me was drastic. litst, No I modeled it Rhino, but I will be making certain parts for in Carrara. I can't really tell a difference either. So I should stay away from the Hybrid?? And I'm not quite clear on Smart Sampling, according to the Carrara Bible Smart Sampling optimizes the render, giving better results. But does turning on Smart Sampling decrease overall quality? I really need to get a grasp of all of this for the best looking results. Thamks , I'm glad you think it looks good, I hope to end up with a grat finished piece, but I'm learning Rhino as I go(I just started with it) so it's taking me longer than normal. Next challenge is making the tires, I just bought Anything Grooves, And contacted Eric for some help on making realistic tires, he sent me a tire tread bump map. So hopefully ti will help get me going. P.S. By the way since you're a texture expert, any ideas on a tire material? I;m going to need to make a good tire rubber texture. You help would be appreciated.

Hi, Just an observation, but maybe you should try to render a scene that has a lot reflection, refraction with glass type surfaces and see the results from that. Supposedly the differneces between these two renderers has a lot to do with light interaction and relflections, shadows etc.. Just my thoughts... PAGZone

I agree with PAGZone, you need more varied objects, lights & textures to really see some difference in the renderers.

You're both probobly right, I know that this scene is very simple in it's geomtery and textures, But as I continue with this there will be glass, rubber, plastic, different lights & textures of metal and so on. Then I'm sure I will be able to see the difference. For 98% of my work in Carrara I've always used the Ray Tracer, but now I'm questioning the different properties of each of them. Time will tell as I go on with this project. I appreciate all of your input and comments.

Just because this thread raised some questions for me, I ran this test. And to my eyes, I can't see the difference between the two images. I did turn smart light sampling off, and set quality to best, and the Hybrid rendered about 160% faster than the RayTracer. Maybe it won't work so well with animations, but for a still, it sure looks pretty good to me.

Azchip- Well, they both look like craps to me! Sorry, couldn't resist that. Just got back from lost wages?

Hmmmm, I can't see a difference either. But with litst's picture I can definately see a difference, mabye for some stuff the Hybrid does bad things. You turned Smart Sampling off? Does it decrease the quality? I know that Light Smart Sampling does, but does the regular Smart Sampling? I'm Dazed and confuzed about this subject. You shot looks good though, nice dice.

Confusing, ain't it ? My guess : if the smart sampling and light smart sampling speed up the rendering, it's because the quality isn't good in some cases . If they were perfect, then how should we be able to turn them off ? Sounds logical to me ... but frankly, i've never seen any difference . Kaom - me, a texture expert ? I doubt it ... I had tried to shade a tire and couldn't even add a text in bump on the sides of the tires . But i don't give up, i'll try a few more things and if i can find a way to do it, i'll keep you updated . Maybe someone already knows how to do that ? litst

Here's my completely unprofessional opinion: These are all JPEGs. As such, they've gone through at least SOME compression to be put on Renderosity. You'd be better off using some sort of loss-less format such as BMP. But I can't tell a difference for these images, and I always use the hybrid renderer, since my computer is slow. :)

hoborg, My images were compressed in Photoshop in jpeg with max quality of 12. They are compressed but the image quality barely went down, I would have put a bmp up but file size was huge. Another vote for the Hybrid it seems. i'm starting to believe the Raytracer is the way to go. For me the speed difference between the two is not enough to make a big difference to me, and if the Raytracer is superior then I'll use that.

Finally i could add some text to my tire ! :) Oops, now i see i've made a mistake ... I wanted to write "good year" instead of "happy christmas" ! ;) I could post the file in the download section of my site, if you want . I think it is interresting to dissect, because i've used a lot of tricks . litst

litst, it would make my day if you could post the .car file in your download section, so I could use it and tweak it to my needs, great job. No wonder your the moderator of the Carrara forum, you rock man. I would really appreciate the .car file for this tire, I hope you put it up or I can give you my email address and you could just send it to me. Hop to hear back from you on this soon. kaom

Nice job litst, I would appreciate looking at that file also, thanks.

Attached Link: http://www.chez.com/litst/index/downloads.htm

It's posted ... Have fun ! I hope i'll find the time to upload all that stuff to the free stuff section here one day . litst

litst- Thanks for that great tire example. Hadn't thought of using the wires for the treds but they make for a good "down 'n dirty" effect. My biggest problem with these shaders is the tree representation on the screen, you can't see the whole thing "at-a-glance" when they are somewhat complicated. Of course if I took the time to ever really study these things it would probably help too.

Thanks litst, I can't wait to get in there and disect this puppy. I hope to learn a lot just from this tire model. Might have to stick a set of em on the roadster when it's done. I'm sure are better than Firestones, and probobly safer too. Thanks I appreciate the download, I'll let you know what I come up with tonight from this. Kaom

Hey litst, I've been playing with this tire file, and I have one question, what did you begin this as in the spline room? A torus? Or a symmetrical translation object? Also how did you get the Happy Christmas logo on the side of the tire, I don't see it in the materials list anywhere. Inquiring minds want to know!!!!!! Thanks kaom

The reason i didn't use the torus extrusion is because it gives a square look for this kind of model . Instead of that, i've begun with a circle cross-section, and draw the profile of the tire as the extrusion path, in symetrical mode . The "Happy Christmas" logos are hidden in a spherical mapping at the end of the shader tree . Just click on the little arrow to extend it ! litst

litst, Aha, I found it hidden in there at the bottom. But I still don't understand how you got it in there, how did you put the text in there, there's no texture map or anyhting, you've got me stumped. I'm curious to knpw, because whatever you did is an invaluble technique, I must know.By the way, I have been modifying the tire to what I need, it's working great, thanks again. But how did you get happy christmas in there??????? Kaom

There is two texture maps in the shader . Extend the tree and you'll find them (click on the lil' arrow)! The Spherical mapping contains two rectangular layers with the bump for happy christmas . The text do appear when you render, right ? I could have forgotten to save internally ... My mother always tells me "you'll forget your head, one day !" ;) litst