Samples Needed Optimization Tool (Cycles)
It would be great if there were a way to determine where the number of samples stopped adding value to the final render. Every re-render or animation would benefit. I would propose the following.
User defined variables: Set max number of samples. Example: 2000 Set step size. Example: 100
Blender will render out at 100 samples, save an image, continue to 200 samples, save an image... until 2000 samples. On the next screen the user can adjust a slider to preview the effect of excess samples and determine where the falloff point is for the entire image. Denoising should also be toggleable.
3 Comments
What would be the advantage of this over adaptive sampling?
It could be used to help determine the min samples and noise threshold etc. I personally tend to only turn on adaptive sampling and denoising after I can actually see what's going on with the raw image and then go from there.
* @ryanjbadeau * min samples, sure. But I don't think this can be used to determine noise threshold. Threshold here, AFAICT, is the deviation between samples that comprise a single pixel. The noise we see in the image is practically something else. (of course it's relevant, but not the same)
BTW what you are proposing can be achieved with scripting I think.