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CPU + GPU

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 7:46 am
by MetinSeven
Hi,

I was wondering: would a combined CPU + GPU power mode be possible to implement in Luxcore?

Cycles has it for CUDA, but not for OptiX yet.

It would be great if the CPU + GPU implementation would include smart render power distribution, to avoid the GPU being idle after finishing its tasks while the CPU is still rendering its last task.

Re: CPU + GPU

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 8:07 am
by Sharlybg
MetinSeven wrote: Thu Nov 05, 2020 7:46 am Hi,

I was wondering: would a combined CPU + GPU power mode be possible to implement in Luxcore?

Cycles has it for CUDA, but not for OptiX yet.

It would be great if the CPU + GPU implementation would include smart render power distribution, to avoid the GPU being idle after finishing its tasks while the CPU is still rendering its last task.
It is already the case. you just have to select your cpu when you're in GPU mode like this :
CPU+GPU LUC.jpg

Re: CPU + GPU

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 8:09 am
by Dade
MetinSeven wrote: Thu Nov 05, 2020 7:46 am I was wondering: would a combined CPU + GPU power mode be possible to implement in Luxcore?
It is already available since ever :?:
MetinSeven wrote: Thu Nov 05, 2020 7:46 am It would be great if the CPU + GPU implementation would include smart render power distribution, to avoid the GPU being idle after finishing its tasks while the CPU is still rendering its last task.
LuxCore doesn't suffer of Cycles problems with tile sizes and CPU/GPU load distribution because it is natively a progressive render. Even when when using tile rendering, the problem has been solved by sending multiple tiles to render to the devices (or rendering multiple passes of the same tile).

Re: CPU + GPU

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 8:11 am
by MetinSeven
Aha, nice! :)

I guess indicating it as CPU + GPU in the 'Device' rollout would make that clear.

Re: CPU + GPU

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 8:14 am
by B.Y.O.B.
The tooltip says "Use GPU(s) and optionally the CPU". Granted, nobody has time to read all the tooltips, and it's not obvious behind which tooltip the relevant information is all the time.

Re: CPU + GPU

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 8:17 am
by MetinSeven
:)

I really like your render settings wizard approach to determine which settings are relevant. Maybe that could also be used for material creation, such as effective SSS?

Re: CPU + GPU

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 9:37 am
by MetinSeven
I just discovered that Bidir + Metropolis has a noticeable advantage over Path + Sobol + Light Tracing + Photon GI Cache + Caustic Light Cache.

Would it be possible to accelerate Bidir + Metropolis using the GPU?

Re: CPU + GPU

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 10:09 am
by Sharlybg
MetinSeven wrote: Thu Nov 05, 2020 9:37 am I just discovered that Bidir + Metropolis has a noticeable advantage over Path + Sobol + Light Tracing + Photon GI Cache + Caustic Light Cache.

Would it be possible to accelerate Bidir + Metropolis using the GPU?
There are some interesting example of bidirectional engine running on GPU here :

Bidirvcm

https://youtu.be/ipbtJ64n6Yg

Older 2015

https://youtu.be/jUIOQm4UIuo

So it is possible. but not an easy task.But you can also speed up Bidir engine With online learning wich is far more efficient and use in production renderer Like disney hyperion / corona render and maybe weta Manuka but not sure about the last one.
And with online learning the speed up benefit also regular path tracing and even PGI.

hyperion alita

Image

Paper :

https://jo.dreggn.org/home/2019_sigcourse_guiding.pdf

There is even a new paper wich is more robust fast and easier (still lot of work) to implement but can't find the link.

Re: CPU + GPU

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 10:16 am
by MetinSeven
Nice!

Yeah, I worked with Renderman for a while, which also has a bidirectional VCM engine. The results are quite nice, but once Blender 2.8 was released, Renderman support was left behind in Blender 2.79.

Early 2021 there will be renewed Renderman support for Blender though, so Luxcore devs, just implement a VCM engine or GPU support for Bidir + Mis before that. ;)

Re: CPU + GPU

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 12:21 pm
by CodeHD
B.Y.O.B. wrote: Thu Nov 05, 2020 8:14 am The tooltip says "Use GPU(s) and optionally the CPU". Granted, nobody has time to read all the tooltips, and it's not obvious behind which tooltip the relevant information is all the time.
The info if CPU is used for light tracing could be added to the "pretty" string like in the image below :?:
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