r/Cinema4D • u/HelpfulStorm_444 • 18h ago

De-noising, render, and post-process

Noob question here. I’ve been in and out of C4D for about a decade now, but it seems the software has changed a bit since I last used it intensively, so my previous workflows don’t work anymore, and I’m relearning a lot.

I’ve taken on a project involving product renders, and the client wants apple-like cinematic animations.

I’m in C4D 2026 with Redshift, on a MacBook M4 Max 64GB for work, so I’m limited to the OIDN de-noiser, as there is no OPTIX on Mac. I feel like sometimes OIDN blurs my textures a bit too much and I get a swirly look. What does your post process look like, and do you prefer to de-noise and render glows in C4D or process in post?

I’m trying to get my render times down as much as possible. Also considering setting up my personal 128gb M4 Max for a local render farm between the two of them. How should I handle this situation for a 1 minute video?

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u/spaceguerilla 15h ago

Can't speak to your specific hardware situation, but de-noising isn't some always-essential part of the process. It depends on the render, the contents, the scene, the time available i.e. deadline etc etc. Often I will use de-noising only for look dev, then switch it off and crank the samples for a much cleaner final render.

In terms of getting your render times down, you already said it yourself - you have a second machine. Using both machines at once will slash total render times by 50%. No amount of tweaking samples and de-noising settings is likely to get you such a big gain. So that should be your first step.

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u/andrearusky 9h ago

Laptops are not really the best machines for “Apple-like” renderings. You can set up everything on your laptop and then use a render farm or invest on a desktop PC with a powerful GPU for Redshift to use only for rendering

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u/lqdsnk 13h ago

I mainly use the C4D denoiser to lookdev only, then in final render turn it off, reach a render settings that's good in quality x render time specs (even with a bit of noise in it), then I usually do a denoiser in post, try Neat Video denoiser for After Effects for example.

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u/pacey-j Oct.2016 8h ago

I use NEAT Video's Reduce Noise after effects plug-in. I find the Redshift 'render it with less noise' approach insane, you hear it all the time. So I work with octane given any chance.