Render times and 1.2 Support Archived · read-only

Progress:
Update render daemon to run overviewer - done
Update front end to handle overviewer maps - done
Support 1.2 Anvil format and Pre-1.2 MCRegion format - done
Update front end to work with all map render types
-tectonicus done
-overviewer 1.1 mcregion done
-overviewer 1.2 anvil done
Optimize render settings for large maps - done
Finishing touches and migration to live environment - done
Get premium render queue operational - working Need some test worlds, please post your links or re-upload your worlds

Original Message:
Hey everyone,

So the slow render times are annoying for everyone. I hate making people wait as long as they are currently waiting and I know you're annoyed with waiting as long as you are.

I am looking into alternative map rendering which will speed up the process of course this is a major overhaul to the back end system that runs this website.

I have setup a poll on this thred and please make your voice heard to let me know if you are willing to take a hit on the quality of the map to see an increase in speed.

I'm more concerned about having a program that will render my Anvil maps. I just paid for premium, but I can't get a map rendering of a map later than March 1st.

(03-15-2012, 09:15 AM)ScoutX Wrote: I'm more concerned about having a program that will render my Anvil maps. I just paid for premium, but I can't get a map rendering of a map later than March 1st.

Yes, still waiting for a 1.2 update which is another aspect that is driving the need to switch.

I will adjust premium subscribers memberships and send out a premium notification with an update.

That's great. Good to hear. Thanks for the information.

Don't forget to vote in the poll!

As long as my vote gets a light rating. I was more than willing to pay the nominal fee to get my maps to the top of the render list, so I'm not worried about time. However, I'm mostly interested in getting a map for reference. I'm not especially interested in being able to see every little detail.

I think my favorite part about the current rendering program is the google map interface and the 45° tilt. If I got to choose, I'd choose those features over detail or speed.

Just a quick update on this.

I've been looking at two options that are potential replacements for the current use of Tectonicus.

The first is mcmap which is a very speedy map renderer although the maps aren't nearly as high resolution when you start to zoom in. That said this could be a good alternative to a deep zoom for the free maps and people would be waiting minutes for their map renders.

The second is Minecraft Overviewer. This provides the deep zoom maps similar to Tectonicus and has already been updated to 1.2.

Both of these alternatives are currently being explored to determine optimal render settings as well as the disk space required to ensure these are viable in the long term.

i've tried both mcmap and overviewer for our map (~60mb)
overviewer provides great output - awesome lightning and nice deep zoom, but at high price - daymap-only: ~500mb size, ~1:30h to render

mcmap is really fast, maybe 10min and 25mb for all 3 maps (day/night/cave). but it has inferior deep zoom, lightning is awful imo. and standard terain.png is inferior

mcmap render
overviewer render

i haven't used tectonicus (as i got the render from here), but i'm sure, overviewer won't help much in terms of render-time and render-size. on the other hand, mcmap will bring lightspeed render-time but in terms of quality this will be at least 2 steps back. you can't use this for premium for sure...

(03-20-2012, 02:08 PM)mamxan Wrote: i've tried both mcmap and overviewer for our map (~60mb)
overviewer provides great output - awesome lightning and nice deep zoom, but at high price - daymap-only: ~500mb size, ~1:30h to render

mcmap is really fast, maybe 10min and 25mb for all 3 maps (day/night/cave). but it has inferior deep zoom, lightning is awful imo. and standard terain.png is inferior

mcmap render
overviewer render

i haven't used tectonicus (as i got the render from here), but i'm sure, overviewer won't help much in terms of render-time and render-size. on the other hand, mcmap will bring lightspeed render-time but in terms of quality this will be at least 2 steps back. you can't use this for premium for sure...

Yeah I've been playing with both. My initial tests show Overviewer as being faster than Tectonicus by quite a bit and does produce very nice maps. I'm thinking this will be the way to go as mcmap is just a little too ugly even if it means people have to wait a little.

if overviewer is faster than tectonicus, this would be the right joice. and you can exclude some zoomsteps for free maps...