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Description
A tougher test (for my computer) on the newest Iray release...

Technical Stuff:
I let it run for over 10 Hours with more than 1800+ iterations. It was 55% rendered which is about double where any similar scenes of mine were at that point. Bear in mind that my computer is 9 years old, has 6 gigs RAM, and a somewhat more recent Nvidia card (GT440) but still too outdated to reliably handle lengthy and/or very involved renders, so I have to render with the CPU.

There are two set pieces here: Eldritch Altar and Palenque Ruins . Lighting is made up of 1 spot light, 1 point light, 2 emission surfaces (torches), and one of my favorite HDR Outdoor Environments .

There are at least two additional figures I'd like to add to this scene. One is a variant of Jurou to represent Ysabel's lover from this time period, the high priest. I own that one, so its doable. The other is Ceridwen , who would be good for the priest's silent partner, a demihuman serpent woman. Unfortunately I don't own that one thanks to my debit card getting jacked before Christmas. Incidentally both character packages are by the same wonderful artist: Saiyaness .

Story Bits & Pieces:
The charismatic high priest who drew Jaguar Girl (Ysabel) back to humanity, named her "Blood Moon," and won her heart was not the "Prince Charming" she deserved. Today we'd call him a sadistic cult leader, a sociopath, and a serial killer or mass murderer... Back then they called him a "Holy Man." The power he had over people was almost supernatural. And Blood Moon, blinded by love and religious devotion, was his favorite victim. This went on for years, her being sacrificed regularly in some horrible way. And at every ceremony, watching with pleasure as Blood Moon suffered, was the strange, quiet, Serpent Woman...

Eventually the high priest made mistakes that opened Blood Moon's eyes to the truth about him and subsequently destroyed her faith. It gave birth to a rage the immortal woman hadn't felt before, that wasn't originally part of her nature. She went on a rampage, killing the priest's acolytes, and finally killing him in front of their followers. She told the people to find new gods or no gods at all; she didn't care. She was done with them all. Then she went looking for Serpent Woman, to make her talk, to get answers, and finish her bloody revenge...

So now you know why Ysabel despises organized religion and regards them all as cults. When Christian missionaries came to Mexico with the Conquistadors they did nothing to change her mind. In fact, they probably made it worse. When she traveled across North Africa and through the Middle East, well... Let's just say that the youngest of the Old World faiths made the worst impression of all.

As a modern law enforcement agent, Ysabel puts people who use religion to take advantage of and manipulate others at the top of her "must investigate" list. She was investigating cult leader Jim Jones in 1977 before getting sidetracked by a serial killer in New England. To this day she regrets not getting back to him afterward.

A real problem for Ysabel is that losing her faith left a hole inside her she's never been able to fill. Part of her is always searching, wants to believe, but is incapable of feeling what she once did. The only way she can appreciate religion now is through art. Art is and always has been one of her great passions. In spite of losing her faith and now holding the opinion that all organized religions are cults, Ysabel is not an atheist. She simply decided that she'll never have the answers she wants and that, for her, it's ultimately irrelevant.

EDIT: Oh! I forgot to add that Serpent Woman is the reason why Ysabel wants nothing to do with the demihuman or inhuman creatures of the world and why she mainly devotes her time to us humans, considering herself one of us.

Additional Notes
I came up with most of this backstory in the 90's from reading about Mesoamerican history and mythology, about religion, crime, etc. At the time I thought it was cool, but when I actually started fleshing it out and writing the story, I realized how dark and twisted and messed up it really was. So, the original version of Ysabel got filed away for a long, long time. What I do with it now is just keep it as backstory, something from her past she might talk about like Quint talking about the Indianapolis in Jaws.

Description
A tougher test (for my computer) on the newest Iray release...

Technical Stuff:
I let it run for over 10 Hours with more than 1800+ iterations. It was 55% rendered which is about double where any similar scenes of mine were at that point. Bear in mind that my computer is 9 years old, has 6 gigs RAM, and a somewhat more recent Nvidia card (GT440) but still too outdated to reliably handle lengthy and/or very involved renders, so I have to render with the CPU.

There are two set pieces here: Eldritch Altar and Palenque Ruins . Lighting is made up of 1 spot light, 1 point light, 2 emission surfaces (torches), and one of my favorite HDR Outdoor Environments .

There are at least two additional figures I'd like to add to this scene. One is a variant of Jurou to represent Ysabel's lover from this time period, the high priest. I own that one, so its doable. The other is Ceridwen , who would be good for the priest's silent partner, a demihuman serpent woman. Unfortunately I don't own that one thanks to my debit card getting jacked before Christmas. Incidentally both character packages are by the same wonderful artist: Saiyaness .

Story Bits & Pieces:
The charismatic high priest who drew Jaguar Girl (Ysabel) back to humanity, named her "Blood Moon," and won her heart was not the "Prince Charming" she deserved. Today we'd call him a sadistic cult leader, a sociopath, and a serial killer or mass murderer... Back then they called him a "Holy Man." The power he had over people was almost supernatural. And Blood Moon, blinded by love and religious devotion, was his favorite victim. This went on for years, her being sacrificed regularly in some horrible way. And at every ceremony, watching with pleasure as Blood Moon suffered, was the strange, quiet, Serpent Woman...

Eventually the high priest made mistakes that opened Blood Moon's eyes to the truth about him and subsequently destroyed her faith. It gave birth to a rage the immortal woman hadn't felt before, that wasn't originally part of her nature. She went on a rampage, killing the priest's acolytes, and finally killing him in front of their followers. She told the people to find new gods or no gods at all; she didn't care. She was done with them all. Then she went looking for Serpent Woman, to make her talk, to get answers, and finish her bloody revenge...

So now you know why Ysabel despises organized religion and regards them all as cults. When Christian missionaries came to Mexico with the Conquistadors they did nothing to change her mind. In fact, they probably made it worse. When she traveled across North Africa and through the Middle East, well... Let's just say that the youngest of the Old World faiths made the worst impression of all.

As a modern law enforcement agent, Ysabel puts people who use religion to take advantage of and manipulate others at the top of her "must investigate" list. She was investigating cult leader Jim Jones in 1977 before getting sidetracked by a serial killer in New England. To this day she regrets not getting back to him afterward.

A real problem for Ysabel is that losing her faith left a hole inside her she's never been able to fill. Part of her is always searching, wants to believe, but is incapable of feeling what she once did. The only way she can appreciate religion now is through art. Art is and always has been one of her great passions. In spite of losing her faith and now holding the opinion that all organized religions are cults, Ysabel is not an atheist. She simply decided that she'll never have the answers she wants and that, for her, it's ultimately irrelevant.

EDIT: Oh! I forgot to add that Serpent Woman is the reason why Ysabel wants nothing to do with the demihuman or inhuman creatures of the world and why she mainly devotes her time to us humans, considering herself one of us.

Additional Notes
I came up with most of this backstory in the 90's from reading about Mesoamerican history and mythology, about religion, crime, etc. At the time I thought it was cool, but when I actually started fleshing it out and writing the story, I realized how dark and twisted and messed up it really was. So, the original version of Ysabel got filed away for a long, long time. What I do with it now is just keep it as backstory, something from her past she might talk about like Quint talking about the Indianapolis in Jaws.