> 1.8 GHz here...actually what I really want is a Beowulf cluster...
> need to do some figuring on how to go about constructing one, and
> price it out...

If you're using a 1.8 ghz machine, and doing a render at less than 1pps,
then you're most likely leaving something unoptimized. I'm on a 700mhz
machine, and I've never had to deal with a render under 5pps, if I spent
some time optimizing it. "Real Water"
(http://www.slimeland.com/images/pictures/realwater.jpg) was about 5pps, and
that uses media photons in scattering media, sphere sweeps, and some
isosurfaces.

For instance, the area lights are really nice for shadows on regular
surfaces, but do you really need them for the wax media? Probably not.
Solution: put the wax in a light_group with point lights in the positions of
the area lights. Then turn media_interaction for the area lights off. There
you go - the media is lit by point lights, while the shadows from the candle
(if that's what you're making) are calculated with area lights.

While you're at it, you might consider making the candle have no_shadow, and
duplicating its container, giving it no_image no_reflection, so that shadows
rays testing the candle don't have to travel through the actual media; they
just test against the candle shape. The difference will likely be
unnoticeable.

See, try things like that. You can speed it up.

 - Slime
[ http://www.slimeland.com/ ]

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