This is a two part question.
1. This scene seems oddly heavy on my system. I was able to go through the rest of the course with relative ease in version 3.0 without my graphics card (not compatible), just CPU, but even when I isolate to local objects and such it seems like viewport rendering is especially slow in Cycles in this scene. It makes adjusting material settings difficult because I have to wait so long to be able to make out my changes. Finer and more nuanced adjustments aren't really practical at all. It's just too noisy too long even with higher samples. Denoise helps sometimes, but it still obscures finer details. Is there anything I can change or any settings I can adjust as I go to speed up render times for this scene? Or is there a better way to use denoising (I leave it at default)?
2. I tried to switch to version 2.92.0 so I could utilize my graphics card but I get this error when I try to switch to Cycles render: "Split kernel error: failed to load kernel_indirect_background". My graphics card is a Radeon RX 470. There is a work around that kind of works on this thread (https://blenderartists.org/t/blender-failed-to-load-kernel-indirect-background-in-2-9-cycles/1293923). But, it's still unstable and will randomly crash when changing material settings in rendered view. I would really prefer to use 2.93.0 so I can use my graphics card and perfect those finer material qualities, but I have to be so careful with how I navigate between material preview and rendered mode as I adjust settings that it's really impractical and still crashes some anyway. Any ideas for a fix for this error?
I know the feeling, man. It's painful to see the computer crash during the rendering process.
All I do is just lower the samples between 100 and 150 samples when I'm in the progress with learning materials and shaders.
That is terrible. I can confirm, that 3.0 is practically unusable without GPU (rendertimes more than 400% longer than in 2.93) and for the new AMD support in 3.0, you'd need HIP...which boils down to buying a new GPU...( https://code.blender.org/2021/11/next-level-support-for-amd-gpus/ )
Pre-3.0, I have not been using GPU rendering (too old Graphics card ) and that might not be super fast, but at least it is stable. You might give that a try, because AMD and Cycles weren't friends at all back then, when I understand it correctly.
Hey ffearguyq ,
Have you downloaded the Radeon Pro drivers for your GPU?
AMD GPU's will work in 3.0, but you need the Radeon Pro for Enterprise drivers.
Here's the link for your GPU drivers.
Radeon™ RX 470 Drivers & Support | AMD
Once you install the driver, your GPU should be available in Blender.
Hope this helps.