When we started out, we were rendering low-pass multi-pass for renders, ~5 passes. That seemed fairly adequate, and fairly fast. Besides, I had this odd love affair with multi-pass. (I like seeing the image progressively improve)

Now however, the latest images we've been working with have been done with the A-buffer. The main reason is DOF. Multi-pass DOF requires so many passes, and the faked DOF is so much smoother. (Also, my Heinz Ketchup animation from last summer (a side project) was done with the A-buffer, and I liked it.)

Also, I upped the render time per frame budget. My new motto comes from a vintage cooking pamphlet I framed above my work area : "There's always time to serve Meat."

This sentiment applies to animated films as well.

A-buffer, Jesse?

Have I missed yet another feature of A:M that everyone else knows about?

No, the A-buffer rendering is the algorithm that the non-multi-pass renderer uses. It's done this since ~v5?
Don't worry!

Okay, after a thoroughly hedonistic (yes VERY HEDONISTIC) weekend, I've done some evaluation of this project's timeline, and it DOES seem that January will be our scheduled completion.

Good news!

I'm animating/cleaning up existing keyframes like no tomorrow.

That's really exciting to have an actual date, that's not so far away. Maybe add a couple of months for a hedonistic season of cheer?

Maybe.

Lost a hard-drive today. Damn old drive crashed with very little warning. Fortunately all was backed up...except the work I did TODAY.

[insert obscenity here]

Added new hard drive + more ram. Rendering continues merrily, and a bit more zippy.

Interesting bit of info, nothing more, nothing less.

My computers are divided into two...one is my main machine, the other is a stripped down (service-wise) pure render-beast.

My render-time file is converted to an embed-all v15 project file, and then saved to the production directory. Then, I use Remote Desktop to open the file on the render-beast thru my main machine, and then start the render. The frames are saved temporarily on render-beast. (This frees up main machine for other work, like school homework.) This is partially why the render is taking so long - the render-beast is a bit less RAM-full and is a little slower. But, the advantage of not tying up my main machine is worth the extra render-time.

As we pack up to move to the new apartment, I came across this old sketch. This is the Old Man, from back in 2005, the first official sketch when Dushan and I began our collaboration on this long, long project. I sketched this in a Caribou Coffee in LaGrange, IL back in November of 2005..
Click to view attachment