Sample configuration to speed up POVRAY image creation

Question

Hey all,

We're using POV-Ray to generate some 80 images per run, which we stitch together to form two moving GIF files (two 360 degree views of a scene). We're looking for ways to speed-up this image creation (on a headless linux server) as much as possible, as they'll be displayed on a webpage directly following creation.

Now I know setup might be suboptimal, as POV-Ray is mostly designed for high quality images, but unfortunately this process can't be altered as it's an external tool that generates the POV-Ray files.

Given that we're stitching multiple images together into a moving GIF, I suspect there's a lot of performance to be gained in lowering the image quality, colors, lighting and such, but unfortunately I have no prior experience with POV-Ray or any of these settings.

I was wondering if anyone would be able to provide or guide me to a sample configuration that will speed-up this image creation as much as possible, without a much noticeable loss in image quality.

Best regards, Tim

Answer 1

The colour depth will not make a huge difference. Like most ray tracing programs, the greatest performance improvements are through reducing the rays being traced. You can do this by lowering the size of the picture (resolution) and by decreasing (or removing) anti-aliasing (-A) and lowering quality (+Q0). These will get you your 80% of the 80-20 rule.