Find the best too for the task at hand

So, with this Translight method, you get the best parts of the Spinning-light-ball, with the rich, photographic-induced colorations of an HDRI/Radiosity rendering... quality, options, and speed!

Using the Translight method on the project on which I'm currently working, the difference in render-times from full-on HDRI/Radiosity was taking ~11 hours per frame. Moving over to the Translight method, render-times dropped to ~23 minutes, (roughly 2,000% increase in speed).

Both the full-on HDRI/Radiosity and Translight methods have their strong and weak points. The important thing to do is, before production starts, evaluate both methods in a variety of situations and decide what will best suit your needs, (on a shot-by-shot basis if necessary,) bearing in mind not just render-time, but re-render time as well.

Good journeys!

Timothy

About Timothy Albee:
Timothy Albee is author of "The Foundations of Digital Character Animation" DVD, and seven best selling books on 3D CGI, Animation and Filmmaking. His most recent fully CG animated short film, "Kaze, Ghost Warrior" (2004) is still receiving praise at ongoing film festivals throughout the world. He is co-founder of Northern Lights Animation, and is currently lending his skills to "Battlestar Galactica" as their character animation department.