3DS Max 2013 - Weird colorful lights?

[CaptainEllipsis]

I was setting up final gather maps for some renders tomorrow, and I noticed there are these weird colorful lights everywhere. I'm attaching my render settings, because I'm completely stumped at this point. I assumed it was caustics, but I don't have them on. I've tried raising my FG settings, raising photons (which I ended up liking), speckling; nothing works. Can anyone help me out here? Thanks!

[rocneasta]

Perhaps it's a modeling issue, when objects are close to each other and not interpenetrating light may "bleed" through...

[CaptainEllipsis]

Originally Posted by rocneasta

Perhaps it's a modeling issue, when objects are close to each other and not interpenetrating light may "bleed" through...

I made sure they were all overlapping, and even went through the trouble of applying Shell Modifiers to them, and still nothing

[rocneasta]

Don't believe it to be due to FG, is your model set to scale? Sorry if I'm asking an obvious question

[CaptainEllipsis]

Originally Posted by rocneasta

Don't believe it to be due to FG, is your model set to scale? Sorry if I'm asking an obvious question

I don't think so; I pretty much eyeballed everything in this one.

[rocneasta]

Ok, well then let's get cracking at scaling via edit poly mode or how ever you want to scale your model. Thing is that lighting needs the model set to scale. Your room needs to be same dimensions as in real life in order for the lights to work

I usually say to my students that it's impossible to place a regular light in a matches box. It wouldn't fit. In max it fits but it goes through objects and you get bad lighting or strange artefacts.

[rocneasta]

Any progress, did it work?

[CaptainEllipsis]

Yup, fixed everything. I had to scale everything down, and adjust the exposure settings a little afterwards. Thanks! I'll post some shots after it finishes.

I'll try to start modeling to-scale from now on, I've run into that problem a few times, and it seems like a good habit to get into too.

I have two (somewhat unrelated) questions as well:

1. Are pro materials better than the A&D presets?
2. Is there an easier way to cut down on render times? My current renders take ~12 hours (FG itself takes around 4 hours), and I'm going to drop the Photometric lights for the standard ones and play with the settings. Other than that, is there anything else I can do to shave some time off?

[rocneasta]

Well in a nutshell Photometric lights take longer to render, as does A&D materials when compared to Standard. Haven't really tested pro materials as opposed to A&D presents.

Cutting down render time, well if the above settings match your own, then just verify it, and I'll take a look into what can be lowered without loosing detail and/or quality.

Caching FG map is always a good thing

[CaptainEllipsis]

Thanks!
Here's the new FG map with the scaling fixed. There are a few small parts (like the upper left corner) that I can fix in post. I have one more FGM to make, then I can spend the next few days rendering =D

Render time: 4:06:05

[rocneasta]

Looking better