[Jim Scott]

Wow, what a coincidence… my first computer was an Amiga too. And I also had a 2008 Mac Pro until I bought the 2012 three years ago. I felt the same way about the “trash cans,” which is why I decided to go with a refurbished and fully loaded 2012. As a hobbyist I try to get as much use out of each one as I can. I’m certainly not going to be buying a new Mac Pro, so who knows what I’ll end up with next.

[Jim Scott]

Thanks for the input Brian. You obviously have a much faster computer than I do.

[Jim Scott]

Concerning your boole problem, without at least a screenshot of your Objects list I would only be guessing at what issue you are having. If you could provide one, or just a simple project file of that rectangle and text set-up, it would be much easier to diagnose your issue.

In regards to the long render, while I may have your original project, several materials are missing including the fire movie. And as I said, I am not a rendering expert so I’m not the best one to ask for advice. There are others on this forum with more experience in diagnosing rendering issues, which is why I suggested starting a new post. That being said, I did run several test renders of one frame and found that my old Mac Pro (a 2012 model with the fastest processors available at that time and 64 GB of ram) was considerably slower than your computer. After approximately matching the camera angle of your sample image I got a single frame render time of over 27 minutes, so I guess you should be happy with your results. ????

In just watching the render progress it was obvious that the “Metal – Iron Cast” material was the slowest to render. Removing the Bump channel cut the render time nearly in half but caused a noticeable difference in the look of the texture. Removing AO reduced the time by about 10%. I replaced your material with a procedural material from Greyscalegorilla’s Texture Kit Pro (“Rusty Procedural”) and got a render time of just over 5 minutes for a single frame. (see image below – dbl. click on it to get an image which can be enlarged for better viewing) With this brief analysis my best suggestion would be to replace the “Metal – Iron Cast” material. Hopefully someone else will have some other suggestions, and again they will be most likely to see your question if you start a new post. And as you are probably aware, hiring a render farm is also a possibility for projects such as yours with excessively long render times.

[Jim Scott]

Are you applying the dynamics tag to the boole or to the rectangle object that is being cut out? If you apply it to the boole you should get proper dynamics. If you can’t get it working please show me a screenshot of your objects list.

Edit: In re-reading your post I noticed that you used two booles. Rather than doing that put the two text objects into a null and use that as your cut out in one boole. And I think you meant to say that the rectangle was a rigid body, not static.

[Jim Scott]

Without having the actual project in hand to test, including all materials, this is a tough question. 7 hours for 33 frames certainly does sound excessive. I am no rendering expert, so I would suggest starting a new post, and include a screenshot of your render settings and perhaps a project file with a short section of the animation. That way more people will see your question and hopefully be able to help. In the meantime, have you tried removing all textures and then adding them back in one by one to see if you can find a culprit? Perhaps start with the QT movie texture.

Good luck.

[Jim Scott]

With your original lights set to exclude the walls and ceiling everything works fine. (Textures were disabled for faster rendering)

[Jim Scott]

I see what the issue is now. Your lights are outside the walls and ceiling. You need to move them inside or create windows.

Edit: or you could work with the Light Object > Project > Exclude or Include lists.

[Jim Scott]

I see what you are reporting. When I copy the first three lights in your scene and paste them into a new one they work fine, but don’t in your original scene. Why? I don’t know. When I get a chance to play around with it more I’ll see if I can find something, but nothing jumps out at me at first overview.

[Jim Scott]

If you are getting inconsistent results — some lights working and others not — I have no idea what is happening. Have you rebooted your computer and then gotten the same results?

What happens if you copy all of the elements into a new project? And what renderer are you using (standard, physical…)? Again, it would be helpful if you could post the project file and I could see if I get normal behavior on my system.

Good luck.

[Jim Scott]

You’re welcome. And I forgot to point out that if you search for “Keyboard Shortcuts and Hotkeys” in C4D’s help you’ll find a list of all of them. In the “View” list you’ll see Shift + Ctrl (or Cmd) + Z for “Undo View,” which means undoing a view or camera change.