<p> All,</p>
<p> Wow! I am impressed by the number of replies I got so fast. All of them are very useful. I will reply to each of them one by one.</p>
<p> Okay, first of all, many of you suggested improvements to my cooling system. I am going to have to look into them, but as far as I know, my cooling system works fine. I cleaned out the vents recently as well. My computer is actually a Dell Vostro laptop. It originally had Windows XP installed before my family installed Vista. Then I got my hands on it and installed 64-bit Ubuntu. It's such a dinosaur of a laptop that I *have* to overclock it to run Cycles. It doesn't even have a modern GPU. On a mid-sized scene (80,000 verts with 5 textures), it will take 4+ hours to render 2000 samples. I can't use Blender for scenes much much bigger than 150,000 verts because it crashes. It was never designed to run such heavy loads, but unfortunately, I can't afford another computer.</p>
<p> Luke, I will look into the thermal paste. Does it work for laptops?</p>
<p> Robert, if you could send that script, I would be very appreciative. That would help me a lot because I am often running my computer into the ground.</p>
<p> Carsten, that is a very good idea. I'd heard about it before, but I am not sure how to combine the images in the compositor. Could you send me an example node setup?</p>
<p> Brecht, I would be willing to add this feature. Right now, I have a script on my computer that updates from svn, and I am diving through the code, trying to figure out how everything works. I leave on a mission for my church on August 3, but until then, I don't have much to do, and this feature would be useful because sometimes I have other processes, like compiling, that I need to run.</p>
<p> I am assuming that the render API is in the source/blender/render folder. Correct me if I'm wrong. Now, to be honest, I am relatively new to C and C++ (Java/Android is my specialty), but I am willing to work and learn.</p>
<p> I am also assuming that pausing should work similarly to canceling (ie: finish tracing the current sample before pausing), but that it would keep the current state.</p>
<p> Graphics question: I have noticed that Cycles says, "Path Tracing Sample <sample number here>". That would mean that Cycles is a path tracer, not a classic ray tracer, correct? I have read the Rendering Equation paper that introduced path tracing some 20 years ago. What are the advantages of using path tracing instead of ray tracing in Blender?</p>
<p> Anyway, thanks everyone for your answers.</p>
<p> God Bless,</p>
<p> Gavin Howard<br></p>
<p>On Jun 3, 2012 3:48 AM, "Brecht Van Lommel" <<a href="mailto:brechtvanlommel@pandora.be">brechtvanlommel@pandora.be</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
> Hi,<br>
><br>
> There's no support for this at the moment. If it's added, it should<br>
> probably be part of the jobs/renderengine API in Blender, not just a<br>
> cycles feature. It's not really a priority for me, someone else would<br>
> have to implement this.<br>
><br>
> But, this really sounds like either your CPU fans are not working well<br>
> or you need to install more. If you computer shuts down under heavy<br>
> operation that's not because it's not good enough, it's because the<br>
> cooling is broken.<br>
><br>
> Brecht.<br>
><br>
> On Sun, Jun 3, 2012 at 5:32 AM, ZonedCode Media<br>
> <<a href="mailto:zonedcodemedia@gmail.com">zonedcodemedia@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> > All,<br>
> ><br>
> > New user of Blender and especially Cycles. I have a problem. My<br>
> > computer isn't very good. In fact, whenever I am rendering, it overheats and<br>
> > shuts off, even when I am blowing cool air into the room. I can get about<br>
> > 300 samples before it shuts down, but for some things I am doing, I need as<br>
> > many as 5000. However, if I can pause the rendering, my computer should have<br>
> > the chance to cool down.<br>
> ><br>
> > I know that Cycles can pause rendering in the rendered view on the 3D<br>
> > Viewport. However, I have not been able to find out if it can be paused in<br>
> > the final rendering. My question: can it be paused, and if so, what is the<br>
> > python command (I am going to write a script that pauses rendering every 200<br>
> > samples and waiting 10-15 minutes for the computer to cool down).<br>
> ><br>
> > If not, is it on the todo list? I might be willing to dive into the<br>
> > code and put it there if needed.<br>
> ><br>
> > Sorry, it's a really random question, but it can apply other places<br>
> > too.<br>
> ><br>
> > God Bless,<br>
> ><br>
> > Gavin Howard<br>
> ><br>
> > _______________________________________________<br>
> > Bf-cycles mailing list<br>
> > <a href="mailto:Bf-cycles@blender.org">Bf-cycles@blender.org</a><br>
> > <a href="http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-cycles">http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-cycles</a><br>
> ><br>
> _______________________________________________<br>
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> <a href="mailto:Bf-cycles@blender.org">Bf-cycles@blender.org</a><br>
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</p>