
Each ray which must be traced throughout the scene has to be checked against each texture pixel that it touches, so reducing this calculation is fast and simple. Use the lowest resolution you can for each texture that will still look good. Usually we can go much smaller than we think, even down to 128 or 256 pixel images. While it's tempting to go big, you are killing your render time.


A lot of models available for download have ridiculous enormous textures. If only camera is animated (it's a fly through animation), make sure your Animation method is set to Only View and that 'Reuse Lighting Information" is checked.

If this is not possible, please try these tips: Or render parts of the animation on multiple machines. To reduce render times, first would be to get a much faster machine.
