It seems BlenderArtists.org has a problem with the amount of images they are getting posted on the threads, so I'm forced to make this the main location for updates regarding progress on projects. That means, for the most info, check the threads and FB for notifications as to when I post or subscribe using the "Subscribe to this blog" widget on top of the page.

As a first update, I'd like to mention Cycles! The new render engine unique to and built into Blender. What makes it unique to Blender is that is built in. What makes it cool is it's more real looking results than the older Blender Render (mostly known as BI or Blender Internal). The biggest features for me are that it supports a live render view. Which means of your PC is a powerhouse and supported by Cycles, you can have a live preview of your final animation (it'll still be very rough though, even if your PC manages to do 25 samples per image per fps).

A live render at that pase, would be calculated:
25 to 30 fps whichever you prefer.
multiply that by the number of samples your PC can manage at such a frame rate
and that gives you the total amount of render samples your PC should be able to manage for a live preview.

Let's say you want a pristine preview, smooth as silk, you want to use glass and a whole host of other reflective stuff, you need at least 3000-4000 samples (caustics and glass need a lot). That means your computer would be doing an amount unequaled by any PC I know of, even super computers I think can't match that, but let's do the numbers anyway at 25fps for 60 seconds:

25 fps x 4000 samples x 60 seconds = 6,000,000 samples/minute
or
100,000 samples/second

Here's one of my first good renders on Cycles. This is a preview render (that's why there are numbers on it):


So that's it for this post! Will update y'all with more as I continue working!
Thank you for reading!
Thank YOU!!!