---
title: How can I improve KeyShot Studio's Rendering Speed?
description: Your computer's CPU is what powers KeyShot's render engine. Computers with higher core counts allow KeyShot to render more tiles per second. This leads to shorter render times. Besides CPU cores, the
---

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# How can I improve KeyShot Studio's Rendering Speed?

Your computer's CPU is what powers KeyShot's render engine. Computers with higher core counts allow KeyShot to render more tiles per second. This leads to shorter render times.

Besides CPU cores, the only other thing that affects render speed is image quality. Image quality, in turn depends on the image's resolution and the output settings used to render the image.

**How to Improve KeyShot's Render Speed:**

**1.** Reduce your output resolution.  
To change your output resolution go to *Render -\> Render -\> Output*.

**2.** Use the *Basic* preset for real-time lighting.  
In KeyShot 6 and later, you may find this lighting preset under *Project -\> Lighting*. This preset provides simple, direct lighting with shadows, which is best for basic scenes and fast performance. Use basic lighting when rendering simple models illuminated by the environment.

For more information about the real-time lighting settings, click [here](https://luxion.atlassian.net/wiki/display/K6M/Render+Options).

**3.** Use a different render quality setting: *Maximum Samples*, *Maximum Time, or Advanced Control*

**Maximum Samples**  
Maximum Samples is one of the easiest rendering methods as it uses a single Samples setting to determine image quality. To find the right number of samples, you can perform the following steps:

1\. Open your scene and press the H key to reveal the heads-up display (HUD).  
2\. Go to **Project  \> Image** tab and enable **Region**(Pro only)*.*  
3\. Adjust the region marquee to focus on a small area on your model.   
4\. Let your image res up without disturbing the realtime window.  
5\. Once your region looks as desired, make a note of the **Samples** count in the HUD.

Use the HUD setting in your final output (for Maximum Samples only). If your version of KeyShot does not include Region rendering, you may instead zoom into an area of your model and reduce your real-time resolution.

These quick tip videos walk you trough the process outlined above:

**[Quick Tip: Using Region Rendering](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK7gEeB6PlE)  
[Quick Tip: Output Render Samples](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvvJGCOmzQY)**

**Maximum Time**  
You can always render with *Maximum Time*.  *Maximum Time* will provide you with the best possible image in the amount of time that you specify.  The beauty of using *Maximum Time* is that you can always click *Stop and Save* (the image) before time is up if all looks as expected.

**Advanced Control**  
This is a custom render mode that allows you to control all quality settings. Advanced Control will sometimes resolve grainy materials at a lower **Sample** count. Use Advanced Control if Maximum Samples is not giving you the desired results after 500 samples.

Advanced Control does not use the same progressive sampling render method as the real-time view and maximum time & samples.  It still renders samples, but the image is divided up into smaller render buckets.   Be aware, this can result is some slight difference in appearance of some materials.

For best result, you may leave all settings at their default values and just modify the Samples count. Settings like **Shadow** and **Ray Bounces** are only relevant in certain situations.

How to find the right number of Samples:

1\. The rule of thumb is to start with 32 Samples.  
2\. Render a test image at lower resolution (say, 800x800).  
3\. If your low-resolution image looks good, then you can render at the desired resolution with 32 Samples.  
4\. Otherwise, double the number of samples (64 Samples) and test again.

Repeat this process until you achieve the desired output.

**4.** Increase your CPU power with KeyShot Network Rendering.  
For more information about KeyShot Network Rendering, please go to our [Network Rendering Manual](https://manual.keyshot.com/manual/network-rendering/).  You may also contact our sales department at [sales@keyshot.com](mailto:sales@luxion.com).

**5.** Third Party Render Farms.  
If you are unable to modify your scene or your hardware setup, you have the option to send your scene to a third party for rendering. Companies such as [3D Off the Page](http://www.3dotp.com/) and [RevUp Render](https://www.revuprender.com/) have their own KeyShot Network Rendering farm and offer such services.

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