Hey everyone
Does poly count affect render time? I use mainly ZBrush and I have some pretty heavy models and I'm wondering how much that slows down rendering.
Hey Carlos,
While it does, all I can really offer is to try to keep them low if possible. Not sure what you mean by 'pretty heavy'. I see plenty of scenes that have up to 10M triangles and they don't seem to be much of an issue. I'm not sure of at what point poly count creates a noticeable effect. I imagine it's a linear progression though.
It is _not_ a linear progression - much less (closer to logarithmic). It depends heavily on how the triangles are distributed in the scene. There can be certain distributions that may be quite slow but in general render time is just as much affected by the complexity of the materials and lighting you use.
The only way to know it is to try it :).
Søren