Grainy shadows, Rendering Questions

[Absolute Madman✨]

So, the grainy shadows persist even after messing the AO, changing the number of samples, camera fiddling. Will it all work out in the render? I've been reading that turning it off helps, but then you lose shadowing all together. If I change the number of samples, and allow it to keep the grain, will it smooth out after I render it? Stressful, but I need help.

Also, I have sony vegas, and I need to export my video. Since the last four I tried to export became horribly disfigured and broken due to the rendering process (SFM vinilla rendering needs to be destroyed) anyone have pointers on how to export properly?

[Marco Skoll]

The progressive refinement only takes effect in the clip editor. Samples should be set to at least 32, but ideally 64. (Some people will tell you more, but while I might do that for a high resolution image, I really struggle to see an improvement above this for videos).

If that doesn't work, then you'll need to check your computer spec. Intel integrated graphics will not successfully render AO.

[Zappy]

Please note that progressive refinement (or "sampling", which is required to "smooth" the ambient occlusion out) only occurs if you're exporting or if you go to the Clip Editor, select the scene (non-"work") camera, and stay still on the same frame (which will then show which sample it's currently at in the bottom-right corner).

As for exporting a video, AVI exports are pretty much broken as you may know, and MP4/MOV exports not only require QuickTime (which has security holes, so do not install it), but don't even have the right colours, either being too dark and saturated or too bright and de-saturated depending on the compression codec used.
But be aware that most video editors can export AVIs, MP4s, and MOVs without any issues, and often without QuickTime, it's just Source FilmMaker's implementations that are odd!

What you should do instead is an image sequence render. Set the export type to "image sequence", then export it to a folder of its own (as this will create lots of images) so you can easily delete it when you're done with it. Then use almost any video editor besides Windows (Live) Movie Maker to import the images and sound file, set the frame-rate correctly, then export it as a video. Here's a guide on doing so using Blender, but Sony Vegas is probably fine too:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=375229570

[Absolute Madman✨]

"The progressive refinement only takes effect in the clip editor." So it should be smooth during editing if my computer meets specs?

https://gyazo.com/1afaa4101eaeb644d2eeab1777c7ccab

[Zappy]

Originally posted by Robbie Rotten ✨:

So it should be smooth during editing if my computer meets specs?

No, that is exactly the opposite of what what we said means. :P

[Absolute Madman✨]

Right, ok. Gotcha. And I assume with the exporting, I would just mend the audio and images together in vegas yea?

[Zappy]

Yes. Also, in the image you linked to, as you can see, the ambient occlusion has been smoothed out from staying still on the same frame. Though apparently sampling only occurs in the primary viewport, it seems, judging by the big left secondary viewport not being sampled.

[Absolute Madman✨]

By the will of an unholy vessel does it chose times to give me false hope. Thanks for the help guys. If I run into any more issues I'll post em' here in hopes of getting your advice. Cheers!