5 Blender Tips That Have Saved Me 100+ Hours

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Today, we are learning 5 ways to increase our render speeds with Blender cycles.
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#blender #blendertutorial #smeaf

[@Smeaf]

To try everything Brilliant has to offer-free-for a full 30 days, visit brilliant.org/Smeaf/ . The first 200 of you will get 20% off Brilliant’s annual premium subscription.

[@g_niac]

totally. anyone can make a to the point vid, which def has its purpose. but Smeaf levels up with cut aways that make me lol.

[@DeathxStrike18]

I use Cuda so I use GPU+CPU

[@jonahoskow7476]

I’m now becoming more brilliant

[@shoshanna8475]

Brilliant is actually great for CS and programming tutorials. Tried it today - definitely happy that I did.

[@dubblesnup4457]

1. Noise Threshold 2. Denoise 3. Instancing (alt+d instead of shift+d) 4. Light Paths 5. Imposter (Using planes instead of 3D Meshes for far away objects, such as trees)

[@delights-35]

1. Noise Threshold 2. Denoise 3. Instancing (alt+d instead of shift+d) 4. Light Paths 5. Imposter (Using planes instead of 3D Meshes for far away objects, such as trees)

[@Synthanicmusic]

1. Noise Threshold 2. Denoise 3. Instancing (alt+d instead of shift+d) 4. Light Paths 5. Imposter (Using planes instead of 3D Meshes for far away objects, such as trees)

[@Jaimeal99]

1. Noise Threshold 2. Denoise 3. Instancing (alt+d instead of shift+d) 4. Light Paths 5. Imposter (Using planes instead of 3D Meshes for far away objects, such as trees)

[@AdhiHargo]

1. Noise Threshold 2. Denoise 3. Instancing (alt+d instead of shift+d) 4. Light Paths 5. Imposter (Using planes instead of 3D Meshes for far away objects, such as trees)

[@gunner6849]

1. Noise Threshold 2. Denoise 3. Instancing (alt+d instead of shift+d) 4. Light Paths 5. Imposter (Using planes instead of 3D Meshes for far away objects, such as trees)

[@iAmPyroglyph]

OptiX tends to be faster but has more artifacts, so a general rule of thumb is: - Optix for Viewport Rendering (speed preference) - OIDN for Final Rendering (quality preference)

[@R3DBLAZE]

One more thing I would like to add here, if you’re increasing the noise threshold from 0.01 to 0.1, You gotta increase the sample count too from like 500 to 2000👍

[@H-A-L-O-G-E-N]

May I ask why it is so ? I would really appreciate knowing the reason behind the action.

[@R3DBLAZE]

@@H-A-L-O-G-E-N you can absolutely get a pleasant looking render from increasing noise threshold.. but for the commercial projects that I’ve done( from the eyes of the client) it was flickery.. so I tried increasing the sample count.. it made the render so much more stable

[@R3DBLAZE]

@@H-A-L-O-G-E-N basically the denoiser was only good for static frames.: but for animations, I had to increase the sample count to get a consistent noise

[@H-A-L-O-G-E-N]

@@R3DBLAZE Thank you for the explanation!

[@christopher-]

I'd like to add to this addition just so there's no confusion. The two options don't really work in tandem as far as i know, it's one or the other. It's like having two goal lines, whichever is reached first stops the render. The reason you up the sample count is to make sure the render actually reaches the noise threshold before it reaches the sample limit. So just set the samples to something high like 10,000(something unreachable basically), it doesn't matter because the noise threshold is going to stop the render anyway, but it makes sure you actually reach the threshold you set and not the sample limit. The reason you didn't get consistent noise before was likely because your render reached the sample limit first.

[@DestroyerV]

OMG 2:27 THE MUSIC, all the childhood core memories unlocked!

[@vaeiskii]

Age of War music is core memory unlocker

[@Smeaf]

It's just too good

[@dopplesoddner2899]

Miragine War

[@bigdaddyproduction7266]

Smeaf, even if sometime i'm not intersted of your content, your editing is so satisfying that i can't switch for another video.

[@tofusage]

That doesnt seem to please him lol

[@bigdaddyproduction7266]

@@tofusage it should, not being intersted doesnt mean i find his videos not useful for other pples

[@tofusage]

@@bigdaddyproduction7266 Ah okay, good point!

[@overlordbrandon]

It's the opposite for me, the meme edits are trying too hard to try to be funny and frankly it's more annoying than laughable at this point

[@Achelon]

I'm a 3D-graphics/gaming teacher, and I've been coding a 3D-engine myself for fun. It amazes me how much I learn about 3D-graphics when I've been doing something so low-level stuff that I didn't know before

[@GANONdork123]

To add on to the texture optimization bit, you can get away with fairly low resolutions for the various information maps. In most circumstances, roughness and metallic maps can be 1k or lower, and you won't notice the difference. The key texture maps that should be kept high resolution are the Color/Albedo and Normal maps. Everything else can be downscaled drastically. Also it's a smart idea to combine the various information maps into one. Since they're all grayscale you can put each one into a seperate color channel on the same image. R-Metallic, G-Roughness, B-Ambient Occlusion, A-Displacement. Node Wrangler's automatic PBR setup won't know what to do with it, but it'll cut down greatly on how many textures will need to be loaded and will reduce the clutter in your node tree.

[@thomas7726]

nice. thank u

[@alinsavix]

For lighting optimization, take a look at "Super Fast Render" -- it's a free addon that will go through and test a bunch of different values for your lighting bounces and such, and figure out at what point increasing the bounce count stops making a difference, and leaves your settings configured with the exact number of bounces you need, and no more. Great way to get some performance back without much effort or any real quality loss.

[@Desha_Designs]

thanks for making it actually fun to learn from your videos with your amazing editing . 10/10 ♥

[@Naev_Studio]

Ho thank you so much!!! It comes at the right time, I rendered a scene yesterday which took 4 hours, I applied all the advice from the video (instance, bounce light, no 8k textures, and so on ) and now it only took 1h30 :)

[@Smeaf]

Yo that's sick!

[@ColePatterson-mw2gy]

Oh my gosh! This video will revolutionize the way I use Blender. Thank you so much. 💓

[@TeekayMaxxx]

Smeaf's videos are amazing ❤

[@VictorBosich]

This is awesome. Thank you SO MUCH for this. I'm very new to blender and it helped me A LOT. ❤

[@Smeaf]

That's awesome!

[@GaryParris]

good work! all things i use currently, but it's always good for people to hear these in case we missed something or are new to it :)

[@Smeaf]

Always good to have a refresher!

[@ZaiFoxcoon]

Thank you for all those tips ! 👍

[@Anebarone]

Thank you for sharing! I appreciate the funny editing as well ✌✨

[@rederreder686]

You always motivate me to work in blender. luv u

[@-_-Woopsy-_-]

Thanks, this saved me a LOT of time!

[@Osterprods]

nice video, the instancing can be a radical change as the other tips, thank you for sharing!

[@gugu5285]

the transitions and illustrations being just random videos you saved is honestly pretty fun

[@coder_lpstudios2032]

What in the world did his tips do to my PC?!? It was like 207 samples from 4096 and suddenly it's done??? This video deserves much more attention and likes, thank you Smeaf!

[@SinghalLouis]

Bro, you are amazing 🎉

[@GrumpyWolfman]

Thx, Smeaf! I rendered out an animation and it took over 7 HOURS yesterday, can’t believe how perfectly timed this vid came out!

[@Smeaf]

Oh nice! Hope this helps

[@minox510]

and how long it took to render after optimization? just curious :)

[@GrumpyWolfman]

@@minox510 it took roughly 5 1/2 hours afterward. It might not seem like too big of a difference but every little bit helps

[@minox510]

@@GrumpyWolfman yeah 1 and 1/2 hours less of rendering time is really impressive, i hope to get that good results too. :D

[@mikerusby]

I make sure that the render without the denoiser is only a bit noisy ie fine grain, then the denoiser tidies it up a bit.I also use Fast GI Approximation to lighten the shadows a bit, so there is less noise in the shadows. This really speeds up render times

[@wavetro]

i keep forgetting these basic render optimizations, thanks for putting them all in one video!

[@Smeaf]

Ayyy, thanks man!

[@obsidian295]

in regards to texture optimization for heavy scenes - as a basic guide i take a full size render, then measure the object in pixels and whatever the dimensions are i double or triple them depending how far away the object is and that's my required texture size. You can resize the textures in blender but I use powertoys with windows explorer because it's faster.

[@PowerfullUs]

dude your edit is god like, congrats and keep up the good work!

[@Smeaf]

Thanks!

[@EastElbow]

Really good video. Thank you

[@mega-ub6ef]

Someone get an award to this guy for his music selection.

[@zallesyn4686]

heck yea, the modnation racers soundtrack at the start shows me you truly are a cultured man

[@3dmockingbird]

This video was super helpful.. Thank you so much.🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@Smeaf]

Glad it was helpful!

[@jaimmiranda]

Thank you so much for this!

[@jonahoskow7476]

Killing it! 🎉

[@WW_Studios]

Great vid - and love the merch!!

[@Smeaf]

Thanks!

[@TheBigfootdood]

I strongly suggest experimenting with 1 sample rendering because can be really helpful to highlight things that generate noise that you otherwise wouldn't have thought of! Like area lights can make or break a render if not optimized well.

[@leecaste]

Just AOVs to know exactly where noise is coming from instead of guessing.

[@sarayupalanivel3148]

​@@leecastewhat is aov?

[@leecaste]

@@sarayupalanivel3148 AOV stands for “Arbitrary Output Variables”, just a fancy name for passes. If you make passes for direct or indirect diffuse, direct or indirect specular, etc. when you watch them independently you can see which ones have more noise and adjust render settings accordingly. I’m not sure how it works in Blender, I use Arnold.

[@crunch.dot.73]

All of this is information I already know, but your content is just so entertaining and I can't stop watching! Not to mention your perfect soundtrack choices

[@Smeaf]

Ayyy, thanks!

[@phy6geniuxYTcreations]

You are great, Smeaf!

[@katyusha06]

This video is brilliant. Thank you.

[@Smeaf]

I see you

[@oofie4801]

Thank you smeaf ❤

[@Smeaf]

Thanks! I hope this helps!

[@FOAMfratStudios]

Very helpful!

[@filipemecenas]

Thanks smeaf !!

[@DaniilGavrilenko]

Big thanks💥

[@soirema]

Im in BLender since 2015 so I have bee throught some stuff ;D but i had no idea that instancing also reduces the time of render.... THANK YOU SO MUCH

[@lemekicampbell1226]

WHOOO YEAH BABY, THATS WHAT IVE BEEN WAITING FOR.

[@bayazid314]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH🔥 I LOVE YOUR CONTENTS✨

[@Smeaf]

Thanks! Glad you like it 🔥

[@alvarobcneto]

Wonderful tips,thank you so much friend!!

[@Smeaf]

No problem 🙏

[@KaizenTutorials]

This video is truly.... Brilliant!

[@Smeaf]

To try everything Brilliant has to offer-free-for a full 30 days, visit brilliant.org/Smeaf/ . The first 200 of you will get 20% off Brilliant’s annual premium subscription.

[@olivierklompkes6692]

Thank you so much, thats a new pin in my favs 🙏🙏🙏

[@HarryTheLoser_]

Dawg, i don’t even know how to thank you for this amazing video, like dawg my renders are like 10x times faster, I didn’t know more than half of these options❤

[@miruww]

amazing tips thanks

[@thomas7726]

that is a really useful video.

[@yasaskasun]

Really helpful

[@qbukhari]

Thank you

[@nelyrions1838]

!! Final render -> persistent data. Check this one unless you get memory problems. This solves the issue of Blender reloading every asset into the render each frame. It will save your life if you're rendering a long scene by shaving off anything from 20 seconds to a minute of of the render on each frame depending on complexity.

[@adambernau8991]

This is actually the first time I heard "Foregone Destruction" (at 1:22) while not playing Unreal Tournament or listening to it on purpose. Great track, thanks for making me smile

[@llamamc]

Nice vid!

[@Attucky]

Amazing as always

[@Smeaf]

Thanks Attucky!

[@thatcanadianguy3327]

sneaking in the sound effects from age of war was a nice touch was a fun game to play back in the day with the dino riders leading the charge

[@Danklovic]

so helpful, thanks alot

[@Smeaf]

Thanks for checking it out!

[@matasskudra2909]

The choice of music & stock footage feel like the editing equivalent of jangling keys in front of a baby to keep it interested and im here for it

[@mohammadasheernomankhan919]

Great job thank you so much you saved me 5 days time

[@Denis9ROCKSTAR]

Props for using foregone destruction!!! :D

[@RuffRaider69]

Thanks smeaf

[@user-ou7wd2gx9z]

Bro i don't really like this kind of fast edits but yours is really funny, had a good laugh and difference between your calm voice and fast edit is working good! And ofc thank for tips!

[@Echidna23Gaming]

Fantastic music choices in this video, don't think that Age of War song went unnoticed, great video!

[@QuantayPeoples]

Insightful

[@ombra30]

Really, REALLY usefull, thank you

[@fire-edits]

I'll start with Blender 3d soon and your videos will give me more motivation for blender 🔥

[@Smeaf]

That's awesome!

[@ChillFinity2000]

OH MY GOD INSTANCING IS THE ANSWER TO ALL MY PROBLEMS YYYAAAAAYYY THANK YOU SO MUCH GOD BLESS THE ALT KEY

[@gvardiecky9507]

INSTANCING I FINALLY KNOW WHAT EXACTLY IT MEANS, THANK YOU

[@polynormal4038]

Just want to add that if you are trying to use the optix denoiser with glossy surfaces like smooth counter tops, and those surfaces have some kind of roughness map on them you might have a LOT of denoising artifacts, a way around this is to use the composite denoise node instead. I love the Impostor idea, I hadn't thought of baking in the normals.

[@villandwoodshop]

Thanks for the advice! On instaces - I have a specific use I’m experimenting with. I’m making a zombie movie, so I need HORDES of zombies. The models are super dumbed down, but I’m still running into slowdown issues. I don’t want the entire swarm to be walking in sync, and they don’t always walk on a flat ground-surface, so I can’t copy their animation completely. Here’s my plan- make instances of 3 or 4 with their movements staggered, scatter them evenly, and instead of animating the Root controller in Pose Mode for their position and rotation, animate their position in Object Mode. One advantage I have is that this is a rough animatic- final result will be hand-drawn in Grease Pencil, so no worries about high-res models. If anyone has a better plan for the swarm, I’m all ears.

[@vrj_animation]

Not making an amongus joke in that last tip must have taken immense restraint. Keep up the great work!

[@mythicalhacker5]

This is probably the most useful rendering tutorial I have seen so far, keep up the good work!

[@Smeaf]

That's so good to hear!

[@Jaakeup]

I really appreciate the effort you go through to edit these tutorials with modern style edits of memes and trends. It's the personal touch that makes this go from a single watch for some quick tips into multiple returning viewers just for an enjoyable and relatable video to a niche community.

[@Smeaf]

Thank you! It's a lot of work

[@IchBinRocker]

Your editing kills me 😂 you have my sub 🔥🔥👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@Smeaf]

It’s one of the many things I love about my job 😌

[@Ansett1994]

I've been shifting+D for so many years and I didn't know alt+D doesn't affect polygon count. GOSH DAMN IT!

[@AyushBakshi]

Broooo... I don't even use blender.. but watched for the memes. But the concepts still applies in other popular tools. 👌

[@Smeaf]

Thanks! Yeah exactly

[@sebastianodibusti]

I like your videos Smeaf💪🏻

[@Smeaf]

Thanks!

[@NezertorcheaT]

As for Desimate, I do not recommend using this modifier in any case, if you have a changing heavy mesh, it copes very poorly with the animation of shapes, especially if you use it on a subdividend surface

[@SuperSubCon]

@smeaf how do you deal with the noise issue if/when you are using a material such as pearl paint, my denoise is removing the sparkle any help would be awesome

[@vendorfrostblood5481]

To add-up to the list, Glass-type and SSS-including materials are very fun to compute for Blender, since it adds up a bunch more light paths calculations So adding scattering everywhere probably isn't that good of an option

[@JoeyCarlino]

Smeaf delivers the goods, once again

[@Smeaf]

Baked fresh 🍞

[@mcdogagent8368]

tank you for tips

[@Smeaf]

No worries

[@haroldsdesigns7352]

thankyou smeaf for saving my life again in this 3D world❤

[@Smeaf]

No problem!

[@nielsversporten5988]

best Blender content creator

[@ChaselessTV]

Bro's memes are so good XD

[@ardoos]

Everytime I randomly watch your videos I get reminded howww good this editor is mannn

[@Smeaf]

Thanks for complimenting me

[@MetalAnimeGames]

Is there a way to batch downsample textures in blender? Sometimes, when you download detailed models, they look great and all but having to go at each material, find the texture, change the size is a pain...

[@studiojohnny]

UNREAL TOURNAMENT SONG!

[@Gadderz87]

Do you have any tips on using volumetrics and keeping noise down? Noise threshold is prettu much off the cards due to noise close to the light source.. I'm here rendering an environment with 10k samples just to retain some detail near a light

[@ApocalypticCerberus]

oh my god i was about to flip my table when i learned about the alt d thing, i had been doing it the add object everytime and i had 4 million polygons. i have restarted 4 times and now its the fifth. thank you so much for the tips cause it was crashing my computer a lot. you can add different textures though i hope.

[@pirateshadesproductions]

Thanks u so much on the Alt + D. Cuz 😭😭😭 blender n PC crashes were real

[@ackelhe3882]

How do u bake the normals into the image? Totally confused by that step

[@lakshraghav4273]

that cult of the lamb music got me man

[@MarcelE80]

Suuuper useful tips! Thanks a lot Smeaf! (Btw which song do you usually have for the end of a video?)

[@Smeaf]

Thanks! It's Called Sojourn

[@MarcelE80]

@@Smeaf Yay! Thank you

[@MarcelE80]

It's so good and relaxing, been dying to hear the full song. For other people searching: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jH3FamaBjdGki7c

[@Venous_fx]

multipass+temporal denoising does wonders

[@HalfAsleepSam]

Another good trick is if you have foliage that's too far or too blurry to make out you can use a flat image of the foliage instead of a whole model

[@neqisus]

I love Smeaf