Daz Studio Guides - Progressive Rendering

Daz Studio Tutorial:
Render Settings (Iray)

Progressive Rendering
This small tutorial will cover the Progressive Rendering sub menu within the Render Settings of
Daz Studio. This guide made using Daz Studio 4.15, some information may be outdated if using a later
version of Daz Studio. If you wish to find a brief overview of the render settings within Daz Studio I
recommend you read the brief guide from renderguide.com.
This guide will cover:
 What is progressive rendering?

 What are update samples?
 What are the completion settings?
 What are the completion settings for?
Daz Studio while a good software for rendering enthusiasts and professionals alike, tends to have
some shortcomings when it comes to documentation. Fortunately for you (and me) the progressive
rendering settings is not one of those things. Apart from the Post SSIM setting which is new to Daz
Studio relative to the other settings available. First let us look at the Render Settings window (tab):
Figure 1: Progressive Rendering within the Render Settings window
The above image is taken from my own settings on a recent project, and I recommend that you
don’t just copy the setting but truly understand what they do. That said, let us break down each sub
section and setting found here.
First, we have the Update sub section, within which you will find “Min Update Samples” and
“Update Interval (secs).” These settings are specifically relating to how the image is updated from the
attempts the software makes at producing the image.
Figure 2: Update Settings
Min Update Samples:

The default setting for this is one, meaning that the software will at minimum converge one of
the attempts into the image. If set to zero, the software can forgo converging any of it’s
attempts. The maximum setting for this by default is one hundred, but I personally recommend
keeping this to at least below fifty for images resulting in a final product.
Update Interval (secs):

“Secs” here stands for seconds as with the other time-oriented settings in this menu. The
Update interval is the time period allotted to the software to converge samples. The default
setting is five seconds. If for any reason updating the converged image were to take longer than
this the software would halt the convergence and move on. Generally speaking, you won’t need
to change this setting unless you’ve changed the Min Update Samples setting to a high number.
Next, we will cover the completion subsection of the Render Settings menu. This section
pertains to telling the software when to stop rendering. Otherwise, it could in theory render forever. If
the software reaches any of the requirements set out by these settings it will stop the render. Though
according to some information, I have dug up, the Render Quality parameter overrides max samples.
Figure 3: Completion settings sub menu
Min Samples:
The minimum samples setting is rarely useful to users of Daz studio, however as it suggests it
sets the minimum number of samples the software must reach to stop a render. This means that the
software cannot stop until the sample number is higher than what is set here.
Max Samples:
The maximum samples setting correlates to the number of converged iterations or “samples”
that the software can reach. The default for this is set to five thousand, with a maximum of fifteen
thousand. If you are not using the render quality settings this will be the major factor in determining if
your image is complete. If you have changed your update samples settings, you may have to increase
this number beyond fifteen thousand in order to get a clear image (depending on the scene).
This setting can be set to zero to turn it off.
Max Time (secs):

This setting is the maximum time in seconds you are allowing the render to run for. If you do
some math, you will see that the default setting for this, 7200 seconds, is two hours. If this time limit is
reached the render will cease and your image considered complete by the software.
This setting can be set to zero to turn it off.
Here is where things start to get interesting, and the level of understanding of the software
settings begins to have a stark fall off. Render Quality and SSIM can work hand in hand, much like the
max samples and minimum samples settings.
Figure 4: Render Quality settings, set to ON
Render Quality Enable:

This is a simple toggle on or off setting. Turns on or off the render quality parameters. When off
the software will rely solely on the max samples and max time settings to complete an image. Otherwise
the software will consider Render Quality as the primary parameter for determining a complete image.
(At least that is my understanding)
Render Quality:
This one is sort of a mixed bag of information so bear with me.
As defined by the Daz documentation render quality is simply that. At a lower value, the
software will render the equivalent of something you would see in a video game (OpenGL). At higher
values, the software emphasizes the image quality over the time it takes to render. OpenGL is a very fast
render type, so anything beyond the first setting of 1, does not use this. The render quality setting has a
maximum value of 4. However, you can change this number to a crazy value such as one thousand. To
my knowledge (and experiences) a value higher than 4 has no bearing on the render quality.
As defined by some general information I have dug up, render quality overrides the max time
and max samples settings (I have not experienced this). The setting increases render time linearly each
time the number is increased. Setting it to two doubles what it would take at one and so on and so forth.
Further defined by information found elsewhere, this setting determines how close any pixel has
to be to its prior sampled value before it is considered “converged.” The higher this value, the closer in
value any pixel must be to its prior value before it is considered “converged.” In other words, if a pixel in
the center was sampled at being “Blood red” (simplifying this by the way), then the next x number of
samples must also come up with “Blood red” to consider that pixel converged.
Personally, I use render quality and set it to 4 for final product images. Results may vary, but I
have seen no issues. In my experience the Render Quality setting will render the image until either the
rendering converged ratio is met, or the maximum samples or max time are met.
Rendering Converged Ratio:

This is a function of the time and sample counts. It is theoretically impossible for the software to
ever reach a 100% convergence. This setting measures the overall image rendering process as a
reference, and not a particular attempt from the software to converge the image.
From what I have dug up this setting is reliant on the quality setting. Assuming the maximum is
4, then this setting says how close to color accurate the convergence must be. In other words, this
setting tells the software that it can end a render when it is (x)% color correct if the quality setting is set
to its maximum of 4.
Personally, I set this value to 99% for a final render, at least 98%. As long as you don’t set it to
100% you should be fine, though values higher than 99% may considerably lengthen your render times.
Figure 5: Post SSIM settings
At this point we will be entering the realm of the somewhat unknown as Post SSIM is new to Daz
Studio. Post SSIM uses AI learning to determine if an image is complete, or when it will complete.
Further I have read that post SSIM uses the same technologies found within the denoiser. And no, Daz
studio isn’t learning from your images per say. Instead it is using profiles which come as part of NVidia
drivers to determine what an image may look like.
Post SSIM Available:

Turns Post SSIM parameters ON or OFF. Will cause Daz Studio to generate data for SSIM use
when rendering. The data related to this must be loaded on to the GPU when rendering.
Post SSIM Enable:

Enables the Post SSIM Predict Target and Rendering Quality SSIM when set to on. Otherwise will
leave Post SSIM parameters off.
Post SSIM Predict Target:

The target amount of convergence for the SSIM prediction. This value works similarly to the
Render Quality convergence setting. Using AI the SSIM setting will predict when the image should be
considered complete. On larger renders the AI will be able to produce estimates for when it thinks the
value set will be met.
Rendering Quality SSIM:

This setting will override the Render Quality settings if set to on. It functions like the Render
Quality settings discussed previously. However as opposed to sampling pixels in an image and comparing
their values, this setting uses AI to determine if the image is finished. This setting directly correlates to
the Post SSIM Predict Target setting. If Post SSIM Predict Target is set to 99%, then the Rendering
Quality SSIM will stop the render when the AI has determined that it is 99% accurate.

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Daz Studio Tutorial:

Render Settings (Iray)

This guide will cover:

 What is progressive rendering?

Figure 1: Progressive Rendering within the Render Settings window

Figure 2: Update Settings

Min Update Samples:

Update Interval (secs):

Max Time (secs):

Render Quality Enable:

Rendering Converged Ratio:

Figure 5: Post SSIM settings

Post SSIM Available:

Post SSIM Enable:

Post SSIM Predict Target:

Rendering Quality SSIM:

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