Path Tracing vs. MLT

[Coen Naninck]

I have seen the submarine image on the Indigo website and notice it's better with MLT. But I have two questions about this:

• What is the difference between these two?
• I do not see a difference when rendering simple objects such as my XBOX, so in which scenarios do you see a difference?

[Headroom]

Caustics would be one of the areas where you see a significant difference.

[CTZn]

Absolutely.

MLT performs better where light rays are confronted to complex paths. It is more active in that sense that it uses successfull samples to explore around them instead of just waiting for the next hit (figuratively said, Indigo is smarter than that in all cases).

Using MLT is overkill in a directly lit scene, you rather want it for cluttered interiors and non-flat glassery (glass, fog, water at their best with the shipping caustics. For glass panes, bidir with glass acceleration does wonders). The more you expect light to bounce around, the more you may need MLT.

Disclaimer: I'm only an exporter developer packing some curiosity, I am not taking part to Indigo's core development. I would not be able to.

[Coen Naninck]

Thanks, works for good answers!

[CTZn]

My pleasure, Coen Naninck !