These settings can reduce animation export times at the cost of some visual quality
Detail reduction
3D engine optimization which could reduce animation export times and make the 3D view more responsive.
Known issues and workarounds:
In version 6.5.8 3D view freezes after dismissing the animation export dialog. Cancelling out of the Export Animation dialog (without exporting) while Detail Reduction is enabled in the Content tab can freeze the 3D view. Workarounds:
- Re-open the Export Animation dialog and disable Detail Reduction in the Content tab. The 3D views will unfreeze, and won't freeze again when the dialog is closed.
- Instead of dismissing the dialog, click OK to start the export, then cancel it using the cancel button.
- Enable the global Detail Reduction setting which can be found in options.
How to enable:
- Version 6.5.7 and earlier: Enable in
Options > 3D View > Advanced > Detail Reduction. This applies to both the 3D view and animation export. - Version 6.5.8 and later: There's a separate override for animation export at
Export Animation > Content > Rendering Options > Detail Reduction, enabled by default. The project-wide setting still exists for the 3D view.
Impact:
- Enabling detail reduction can improve export times by 1.5-3x depending on project size and animation length. Larger projects and longer animations see bigger gains.
- The target framerate setting controls how quickly the 3D view tries to render. On smaller projects this has no visible effect. On larger projects, meeting the target framerate may cause objects to gradually appear as the view prioritizes speed over loading all geometry at once. However, this has no effect on animation export.
Side effects:
- When enabled for the 3D view, objects may gradually appear as you navigate. This is more noticeable on larger projects.
- Important: the 3D view will freeze during animation export when detail reduction is enabled. This is normal - the export is running in the background. The 3D views will unfreeze when animation export is cancelled or finished. The final animation remains unchanged. This helps to render the animations quicker. A visual comparison between having the setting enabled and disabled:
Supersampling Anti-Aliasing
Renders animation at a higher resolution then downscales for smoother edges. Disabling it saves considerable time. Consider using other anti-aliasing options.
How to disable:
Export Animation > Content > Rendering Options > Supersampling Anti-Aliasing.
Shadows
Disabling shadows on a complex project should decrease the animation export times, but the output might look more flat.
How to disable:
- Found in the same animation export window:
Export Animation > Content > Rendering Options > Shadows
Threshold Culling
This setting helps to improve animation performance by hiding small objects that are not essential to the overall scene.
Previously, this setting was reset to a default value of 1 during animation exports. Now, from version 6.5.9, the value you have set in your project settings will be used, giving you more control over performance and visual quality.
How It Works
The "Threshold Culling" value determines the size (in pixels) at which an object should be hidden from the 3D view. For example, if you set the threshold to 5 pixels, any object that appears smaller than 5 pixels on your screen will be temporarily hidden from the view.
Performance Gains
The biggest gains are seen in projects with a high density of small details. We have observed this can reduce animation export times by 10% to 75%. For a good balance between quality and performance, the recommended value is 5 pixels. This provides most of the benefits with the least noticeable impact. Increasing this to 10 pixels could reduce animation export times even further up to another 10%, but this is project-dependent and may hide more noticeable objects.
How to change
You can adjust this setting by navigating to:Options > 3D View > Advanced > Detail Reduction > Threshold Culling
Example of Threshold Culling impact