PyroCluster Tips and Tricks

Ever since computers have been used to create images and animations, artists and animators have been on the hunt for more computing power.

It can be easy to bring a renderer to its knees, especially when using particle systems. In the following we will give you a few tips on how to more efficiently calculate PyroCluster effects.

Reduce the number of particles!

PyroCluster works best with a particle count of 200 to 600. Instead of increasing the number of particles, increase the size of the puffs and their density. In most cases, this should do the trick. You only need to increase the number of particles when animating fast movement or diverse particle systems.

I need to see results faster!

If you want to fine-tune your particle system, go to the Volume Tracer settings. Here you can adjust your particle system to optimize rendering speed. Changing just a single setting can save loads of time. This magical setting is the use distance setting. Increase its value as much as possible without causing render quality to suffer. Rendering can be increased by up to 100 times (or more)!

We suggest manual splitting in order to be able to ascertain the most effective value. Start with what you think is the highest acceptable value (e.g., 10). The image will probably look terrible - no detail at all. Now reduce the value to 5 and take a look at the result. Depending on the result, increase or decrease the value to get the best result.

You can achieve even faster render results by increasing the ray depth limit.