Renderers: a guide for the perplexed

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ew other parts of the 3D market offer quitethe thrilling – and often bemusing – diversityas rendering software. While most artists

are content to use the tools built into their primaryapplication or one of a small number of specialistpackages for modelling, texturing and animation,rendering solutions multiply like rabbits. In thepreliminary research for this article, we countedover 40 currently in use – and that’s before you getto the CAD industry. Sometimes, you suspect thatdevelopers are writing them just for the fun of it…

So for anyone overwhelmed by the sheer range of

systems available, we’ve put together this guide forthe perplexed. But first, a few basic questions.

Do you need a third-party renderer?The first question to ask when choosing a renderer iswhether you actually need a third-party solution. Formodo and Cinema 4D users, the answer is probably‘no’. Artists we spoke to commented that Cinema’sbase engine is adequate for many jobs, althoughmost professionals also use Maxon’s AdvancedRender 3 module. Similarly, NewTek evangelist WilliamVaughan estimates that “90 per cent of LightWaveusers work with the built-in renderer”.

Over in the 3ds Max and Maya communities,things are rather different, with most mid-to-largeVFX houses opting for a RenderMan-compliantsystem such as RenderMan, 3Delight or AIR;while most visualisation studios opt for one ofthe ‘big three’ 3ds Max renderers, V-Ray, Brazil r/sand finalRender, for their GI capabilities and highraytracing speed. Houdini’s built-in Mantra rendereroffers a hybrid of the two approaches: its “singlebiggest underestimated feature”, according to Black

Mountain VFX’s Abdelkareem Abonamous.

Does VFX have to mean RenderMan?In serious visual effects work, it’s easy to assumethat there is only one renderer in town: Pixar’sRenderMan. But that isn’t necessarily the case.“RenderMan is great… if you have enough of a teamto support it,” says VFX supervisor Allan McKay, aveteran of ILM, Blur Studio and Prime Focus. “A lotof small and mid-sized studios just automaticallyassume their work is going to look as good as thebig boys if they use it. It’s like buying a Flame suitebecause you hear it’s good for compositing.”

For smaller studios, RenderMan-compliant systemslike 3Delight, AIR or even the open-source Aqsis

and Pixie offer many of the benefits without suchheavy technical overheads, while McKay notes thatmental ray is also worth considering. “RenderMan is

much more flexible and open, so it’s very fast whenoptimised. But mental ray is really solid for certainthings like water and glass.”

Do you need a physically based system?Of all of the issues raised here, the pros and consof physically based rendering have probablybeen responsible for the most flame wars overthe past five years. While conventional renderers

use mathematical shortcuts to approximate thebehaviour of light, sacrificing absolute realism forspeed and controllability, newer systems such asMaxwell Render, fryrender and Indigo Renderer usealgorithms that closely replicate the real world. Suchpackages progressively refine the rendered resultover time, resulting in a trade-off between speedand image quality. They offer potentially unparalleledresults, but many artists find them agonisingly slow.

So which is ‘better’? While most visualisationstudios we spoke to used V-Ray for most of theirwork, physically based renderers also had staunchsupporters; while some used both, either on a per-jobbasis, or employing a physically based renderer to getan idea of what overall lighting levels should be.This one really does come down to personal taste.

The right renderer for the jobOver the next six pages, you can find profiles often of the most important renderers currently onthe market – and what their users feel are theirstrengths and weaknesses. For reasons of space,we haven’t included renderers intended primarily

for industrial design tools or SketchUp. Nor havewe covered renderers still awaiting a 1.0 release,such as LuxRender or FurryBall; or those on whichdevelopment has been discontinued, such as Gelatoor BMRT. And, with the exception of mental ray, wefelt that it was unnecessary to review the built-inrender engines of the main 3D packages in detail,since most people are already familiar with them.

The summary table at the end of the article listsother key third-party renderers and built-in renderengines, and you can find a more information on ourwebsite, including an extended version of this article.But for now, happy render hunting!

More information online: tinyurl.com/renderers

The making of 2012

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048 | | February 2010

GLOSSARYKey technical termsused in this article

Biased rendering

> Any rendering system thatdoes not converge on thecorrect solution when manyrenders of the same sceneare averaged. Bias oftenoccurs when an algorithmignores or misrepresents thecontribution of a particularlighting effect – for example,reflected or refracted light –for the sake of computationalspeed. Many standardalgorithms, including mostradiosity methods and photonmapping, are biased.

RenderMan-compliant renderer

> A renderer that conforms toPixar’s RenderMan InterfaceSpecification protocol. Oftenknown as RIB renderersafter RenderMan’s native

RIB file format. The Pixarsoftware commonly knownas ‘RenderMan’ used tobe more strictly known as‘PhotoRealistic RenderMan’or ‘PRMan’, to distinguish itfrom this protocol.

Unbiased rendering

> Any rendering system thatconverges on the correctsolution on average. The termis often used interchangeablywith ‘physically basedrendering’, although this isnot actually accurate: a resultthat is ‘physically correct’is one that matches nature,whereas ‘unbiased’ is purely amathematical concept.

01 V-RayMany 3ds Max artists’ renderer of choice,

and especially ubiquitous in visualisation

> TYPE Biased/unbia sed (depends on settings),non-RenderMan-compliant> PRIMARY USES VFX, visualisation> HOST APPLICATIONS Native support for: 3ds Max, Maya. Via thirdparty: Blender, Cinema 4D, Rhino, SketchUp> PRICE $999> DEVELOPER Chaos Group

At times, the presence of V-Ray in the ‘softwareused’ lists in online galleries seems so ubiquitousthat you’d be forgiven for thinking that it camebuilt in to 3ds Max: just one measure of how muchthe speed and power of this Bulgarian-developedrenderer have endeared it to artists, both forvisualisation and personal work, and to a lesserextent, VFX. Although interviewees noted thatrecent updates to mental ray are encouragingsome studios to switch back, V-Ray’s all-roundstrengths, good forum support and large pool offreelance artists make it difficult to dislodge from

its position of dominance in the industry.

EXPERT OPINIONGus Capote, art director, Neoscape

STRENGTHS

• Great speed-to-render-quality ratio

• Very stable on large scenes

• Multiple calculation options, including brute

force, irradiance maps and light cacheWEAKNESSES

• Limited antialiasing on channel passes

• Distributed rendering can create issues

with 3ds Max’s Backburner system

An industry standard:four of the five previouswinning entries in theArchitectural 3D Awards,including this 2006 imageby Gustavo Capote, listV-Ray as the renderer used

Rendering software Rendering software

T e x t : J i m T h a c k e r

Renderers: a guide

for the perplexedRenderMan or RenderMan-compliant? V-Ray or mental ray?Our guide to today’s expanding rendering software market cutsthrough the confusion to help you find the renderer you really need

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Rendering software

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Rendering software

»

FPrime offers LightWave 3Dusers fast, intuitive interactiverendering on jobs such as thisprint ad from Splashlight

04

HyperShotA ‘little renderer’ from the world of designvisualisation that’s starting to make it big in DCC

> TYPE Biased, non-RenderMan-compliant> PRIMARY USES Visualisation> HOST APPLICATIONS Native support for: Pro/Engineer, Rhino, SketchUp,SolidWorks, SpaceClaim. Supports most DCCpackages via 3DS, Collada, FBX and OBJ formats> PRICE $995 (HD edition: see website for others)> DEVELOPER Bunkspeed

With a development team including technicalAcademy Award winner Henrik Wann Jensen, therewas little doubt that HyperShot would turn out to bea bit special. Marketed as ‘The first digital camerafor your 3D data’, ease of use was a priority fromthe outset, with the renderer quickly finding favourwith industrial designers wanting to visualise theirown models, but put off by the complexities of Mayaor Showcase. Recently, however, DCC professionalshave begun to realise the power concealed beneath

HyperShot’s deceptively simple exterior. “It’s a littlerenderer – but it can kick ass,” says Escape Studiostraining development director Lee Danskin.

EXPERT OPINION Mark Pritchard,design manager, Drive Design

STRENGTHS• Extreme ease of use• Very rapid results• Deceptively flexible material systemWEAKNESSES• Manipulation tools can be awkward

03

finalRenderA fast, versatile raytracing render enginethat performs strongly on complex scenes

> TYPE Biased, non-RenderMan compliant> PRIMARY USES VFX, visualisation> HOST APPLICATIONS 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, Maya> PRICE €695–1,295($1,050-1,950: varies according to edition)> DEVELOPER cebas Visual Technology

Speed and performance on complex scenes werethe key features cited by our interviewees inchoosing finalRender, one of the three ‘big’ 3ds Maxrenderers: both selling points that seem to havebeen amplified in the recent R3 release. While asmaller user base makes it more difficult for studiosto call upon a pool of freelancers while scaling upfor projects than with V-Ray, the product maintainsa strong following – while its visibility in the worldof visual effects has been recently raised by itsuse at Uncharted Territory, lead facility on RolandEmmerich’s 2012. Native versions for Maya and

Cinema 4D further widen finalRender’s appeal.

EXPERT OPINION Ari Sachter-Zeltzer, owner, Shadowplay Studio

STRENGTHS

• Extensive, customisable feature set

• Good render elements system, including option

to include/exclude objects

• Powerful new layered EXR exporter

WEAKNESSES

• Hardcoded defaults not ideal for speed or quality

• Needs a proxy system

02

Brazil r/sA third-party renderer for 3ds Max thatstraddles the worlds of VFX and visualisation

> TYPE Biased, non-RenderMan-compliant> PRIMARY USES VFX, visualisation> HOST APPLICATIONS Native support for: 3ds MaxVia third party: Rhino> PRICE $995 (includes 10 render nodes)> DEVELOPER Caustic Graphics

Of the three main third-party 3ds Max renderers,Brazil r/s has arguably the strongest pedigree in VFX.Scott Kirvan and Steve Blackmon, co-founders oforiginal developer SplutterFish, both worked at BlurStudio in the 1990s: a background borne out byBrazil’s raytracing and antialiasing capabilities. Whileit has not achieved the same ubiquity in visualisationas V-Ray – and lacks a physical sky system and GIcache for animations – it maintains a dedicated userbase, though announcements have slowed sinceBrazil was acquired by hardware rendering firm

Caustic Graphics earlier this year. It will be interestingto see where Caustic takes this much-loved tool.

EXPERT OPINION Michiel Quist, founder, 3idee

STRENGTHS• High stability• Very fast raytracing and 3D motion blur• Quality and speed of image samplingWEAKNESSES

• Small user base

• No SDK

05 FPrimeThe interactive renderer that changedthe way many people work with LightWave 3D

> TYPE Biased, non-RenderMan-compliant> PRIMARY USES General> HOST APPLICATIONS LightWave 3D> PRICE $399> DEVELOPER Worley Laboratories

When Steve Worley first released FPrime backin 2004, some people jokingly suggested thathe should put in an offer to buy LightWave

itself, such was the developer’s standing inthe host app’s user community. While themarket has caught up to some extent, withsome interviewees reporting that they nowuse FPrime mainly for setting up lights andsurfacing, it’s still remarkable how quicklythis ultra-fast interactive renderer made itselfindispensable in so many people’s workflows.Real-time previews make set-up more intuitive,while the progressive rendering engine allowsusers to stop and start renders without havingto wait to the end to see results.

EXPERT OPINION Joe Zeff,Creative director, Splashlight

STRENGTHS• Ultra-fast rendering on complex scenes• Handles area lights and transparency

without significant time penalty• Intuitive, efficient progressive render engineWEAKNESSES

• Lacks ability to use LightWave’s volumetrics• Struggles with some new material nodes

Its origins may lie inVFX, but Brazil r/s alsoremains a workhorse ofvisualisation studios suchas Utrecht’s 3idee

Used in both VFX andvisualisation, recent

high-profile finalRenderprojects include theseshots from Uncharted

Territory’s work onthe movie 2012

While its first audience camefrom automotive visualisation,DCC studios are startingto realise the power andsimplicity of HyperShot

I m a g e © 3 i d e e

I m a g e s © C o l u m b i a P i c t u r e s

I m a g e © D r i v e D e s i g n

I m a g e © S p l a s h l i g h t


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Rendering software

07

MachStudio ProCan this GPU-accelerated production rendererand compositing system live up to its early hype?

> TYPE Biased, non-RenderMan-compliant> PRIMARY USES Animation, visualisation> HOST APPLICATIONS Native support for:ArchiCAD, 3ds Max, Maya, Rhino, SketchUp.Supports most DCC applications via FBX format> PRICE $3,995> DEVELOPER StudioGPU

With the advent of a new generation of tools thatactively harness a workstation’s GPU to calculateresults, the goal of production-quality renders inseconds – rather than minutes or hours – may finallybe approaching. The first of this wave of applicationsto hit the market, GPU-accelerated rendering,compositing and grading system MachStudio Propromises not merely dramatically reduced rendertimes but the potential to open up entirely newproduction workflows. While it’s still too early to tellwhether the software really lives up to the hype,sources tell us that major London VFX houses are indetailed discussions with developer StudioGPU.

EXPERT OPINIONChris Edwards, CEO, The Third Floor

STRENGTHS

• Intuitive interactive workow

• Empowers directors and cinematographers

WEAKNESSES

• Export process from Maya is time-consuming

and not straightforward

• Artists require training in unique workow

10

TurtleRobust global illumination and advanced bakingfeatures make for an indispensable games tool

> TYPE Biased, non-RenderMan-compliant> PRIMARY USES Games> HOST APPLICATIONS Maya> PRICE $1,499> DEVELOPER Illuminate Labs

Initially perceived as a more general-purpose globalillumination renderer, Turtle quickly found its nichein games, where it developed a reputation as afast, flexible system for baking lighting information.Employed on such distinctly different-looking recentproductions as Dragon Age: Origins (pictured above),Killzone 2 and Mirror’s Edge, users praise its featureset, the flexibility offered by Lua scripting, and thetechnical support offered by developer IlluminateLabs. There may be other ways to solve the problemof creating lighting assets for games, but for itspower to enable a studio to quickly iterate the lookand feel of a level, Turtle is largely unchallenged inthis sector of the market at the minute.

EXPERT OPINIONAndreas Papathanasis, seniorgraphics programmer, BioWare

STRENGTHS

• High-quality results

• Extensive render optimisation options

• Large range of map types and output f ormats

WEAKNESSES

• Difcult to integrate into baking pipeli ne if not using Maya for level editing – unlikeTurtle’s sister application, Beast

06 Maxwell RenderThe application that introduced most artiststo the idea of physically based rendering

> TYPE Unbiased, non-RenderMan-compliant> PRIMARY USES VFX, visualisation> HOST APPLICATIONS Native support for: 3ds Max, ArchiCAD, form.Z,Cinema 4D, LightWave 3D, Maya, modo, Rhino,SketchUp, SolidWorks, SoftimageVia third party: Allplan, Houdini, MicroStation,solidThinking> PRICE $995

> DEVELOPER Next Limit Technologies

At the time of its original alpha release in2004, physically based system Maxwell Renderbecame one of the most talked-about productsin the 3D industry. Five years on, it remains thede facto benchmark for other renderers of itstype. Version 2.0, released in late 2009, boasts agreatly improved speed-to-noise ratio and greaterprocessor scalability – one interviewee reportedit performs 4-15 times faster than 1.7, dependingon the scene – and while its core market remainsvisualisation, Maxwell is also being adopted forsome visual effects tasks, including matte workon The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

EXPERT OPINIONTim Ellis, head of unbiasedlighting and texturing,Cityscape Digital

STRENGTHS• Unparalleled render quality

• Intuitive network rendering, including resume render

• Powerful Multilight system

WEAKNESSES• Render times can still

be very long, particularlyfor larger scenes

»

Offering extremerealism, and now withan improved speed-to-noise ratio, Maxwellremains a benchmarkfor unbiased renderers

Early users of GPU-accelerated rendering andcompositing system MachStudio Pro include pre-vizhouse The Third Floor. Will VFX studios follow suit?

Turtle bakes all thecomponents neededfor modern games suchas Dragon Age: Origins,including normal maps,ambient occlusion andpolynomial textures

I n

s e t i m a g e : A k e t o s h i T a d a , a

t a K i k a k u c o ( i n f o @ a t a k i k a k u , c o m )

09

RenderManPixar’s production workhorse retains its positionas the big name in rendering for visual effects

> TYPE Biased, RenderMan-compliant> PRIMARY USES VFX> HOST APPLICATIONS Native support for: MayaVia third party: Blender, Cinema 4D, Softimage> PRICE $3,500 (Pro Server edition)> DEVELOPER Pixar Animation Studios

For large animation houses, RenderMan remainsthe renderer to beat. Developed and used by Pixarsince the late 1980s, our interviewees noted that itrequires a large technical support team to harnessfully, and that reliance on third-party exportersto get files into its RIB format can be an issuefor smaller studios, but that its reputation as aproduction workhorse remains unchallenged. AsILM VFX supervisor John Knoll notes: “RenderMan’swidespread use among facilities whose reputationdepends on creating consistently excellent imagery istelling. Its extreme flexibility, quality, robustness andscalability have made it the standard that it is today.”

EXPERT OPINION John Knoll,VFX supervisor, Industrial Light & Magic

STRENGTHS

• Extremely robust, production-proven renderer

• High-quality output

• Flexible and scalable

WEAKNESSES

• More costly than other RenderMan-compliant rendering solutions

RenderMan remains thetool of choice for largestudios such as ILM andDigital Domain on projectssuch as Transformers:

Revenge of the Fallen

I m a g e © D r e a m W o r k s P i c t u r e s / P a r a m o u n t P i c t u r e s . C o u r t e s y o f I n d u s t r i a l L i g h t & M a g i c

I m a g e © T h e T h i r d F l o o r

I m a g e s c o u r t e s y o f B i o W a r e

08

mental rayThe first port of call for artists working in Max, Mayaor Softimage, enjoying a resurgence in popularity

> TYPE Biased, non-RenderMan-compliant> PRIMARY USES General> HOST APPLICATIONS 3ds Max, AutoCAD,Inventor, Maya, Revit, Softimage> PRICE Integrated into host application> DEVELOPER mental images

Built into 3ds Max, Maya and Softimage, mental rayremains the first port of call for many smaller studios,both in VFX and visualisation, with intervieweesreporting a return to the platform from third-partytools in recent years. As well as the price – or lack ofit – users cite its wide range of physically accuratepreset shaders and ease of set-up as key sellingpoints. Jamie Cardoso, co-author of the bookRealistic Architectural Visualization with 3ds Max andmental ray, notes the “few drawbacks” as the natureof its proxy system, and the fact that the new irayinteractive rendering engine, while more powerfulthan alternatives, is not yet part of Max or Maya.

EXPERT OPINION Jamie Cardoso,senior 3D visualiser and consultant

STRENGTHS

• Free, and fully integrated into host packages

• Wide range of physically accurate preset shaders

• Rapid results on complex scenes

WEAKNESSES

• Proxy system does not enable retrieval of the

original mesh as in V-Ray

• iray not yet part of host applications

A shot rendered in 3ds Max and mentalray at GMJ Design. The renderer offers anattractive mix of power and accessibility

I m a g e © G M J D e s i g n ( w w w . g m j . c o . u

k )

I m a g e

© G l a s s C a n v a s P r o d u c t i o n s ( w w w . g

l a s s - c a n v a s . c o . u

k )

Rendering software

M a i n i m a g e : 7 - t ( w w w . 7 - t . c o . u

k )

A retail unit in Oxford Street, Londonrendered with 3ds Max and mental ray

at Glass Canvas Productions


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Selected built-in render engines Selected third-party renderers

Developer

Current release

Price

Annual maintenance

Other pricing notes

RenderMan-compliant?

Unbiased?

Fully GPU-accelerated?

Includes shader compiler?

Key market sectors

Applications supported

3ds Max

Blender

Cinema 4D

Houdini

Lightwave 3D

Maya

Softimage

Other (selected applications only)

Platforms

Features

64-bit compatible

SDK

Network rendering

InstancesProxy system

Render layers/passes

Interactive render preview

Material system

• Layered materials

• Bump and normal mapping

• Micropoly displacement/MTD

• Subsurface scattering

• BRDF support

Raytracing

Global illumination

• Ambient occlusion

• Colour bleeding

• HDRI

• Caustics

Camera controls

• Depth of eld

• 3D motion blur

• f stop controls

• Bokeh effects

Tonemapping

Hair and fur

Particle rendering

• Points

• Spheres

• Implicit surface/blobbies

Baking tools

• Texture baking

• Vertex baking

• Point cloud baking

• Radiosity normal maps

Physical sky

Photometric lights

EXR support

Other key features

BlenderFoundation

2.5

Free

N/A

Python only

Any

N/A

Win/Mac/Linux

Indevelopment

Indevelopment

Indevelopment

Built-incompositor

Built-invideoeditor

Audioplayback/sync

MaxonComputer

11.5

$3,695

N/A

PriceforStudiobundle

Any

N/A

Win/Mac

Built-intexturepainting

Unlimitedrendernodes

Truemulti-threading

SideEffectsSoftware

10.0

$1,995

$800


Any

N/A

Win/Mac/Linux

Volumerendering

Amazoncloudsupport

Multi-segment blur

NewTek

9.6

$895

N/A


Any

N/A

Win/Mac

Linuxduein CORE

Due in CORE

Anim.radiositycache


EXIFsupport

Luxology

401

$995

N/A

Inc.50render nodes

Any

N/A

Win/Mac

Internal

Volumetriclights

Anisotropiceffects

Fresneleffects

DnAResearch

9.0

$900 - $2,150

$190 - $450

Firsttwothreadsfree

VFX

Viathird-partyplug-in


Native

Native

Native

Rhino

Win/Mac/Linux

Via RSL

Bent normals

Point-basedGI

Stereorendering

Proceduralgeometry

SiTexGraphics

9.0

$450

$150

Priceforfourthreads

VFX



Native


Inprogress

Rhino

Win/Linux

Programmableshading

Instancer shaders

CausticGraphics

2.0

$995

N/A

Inc.10render nodes

VFX, visualisation

Native

Rhino

Win

Quasi-MonteCarlocore

Unlimitednumberof

renderpresets

cebasVisualTech.

3.0 (3dsMaxed.)

$1,050 - 1,950*

See website

*€695-1,295

VFX, visualisation

Native

Native

Native

Win

Unlimitedrenderelems.

Truehybridscanline/

raytracing

WorleyLaboratories

3.0

$399

N/A


Any

Native

Win/Mac

Windows only

Via LightWave

Via LightWave

Hybrid 2D/3D

Via LightWave

Imagezoomsupport

Supportsmultiple

cameras/windows

RandomControl

1.0

€795 ($1,190)

N/A

Inc.2 rendernodes

Visualisation

Native

Native

Native

Native

Native

modo,Rhino,SketchUp

Win

Not public

Lighting only

Present

Bunkspeed

1.9

$995

N/A

PriceforHD edition

Visualisation

Via OBJ, FBX

Rhino,SketchUp

Win/Mac

Turntableanimation

Renderqueue

(BothProeditiononly)

GlareTechnologies

2.2

€295 ($440)

N/A

Inc.2render nodes

Visualisation

Native

Native

Native

Native

Native

SketchUp

Win/Mac/Linux

Bump only

Via other settings

Shadinglanguage

Fullspectralrendering

Cameraaperturediffr.

IoannisPantazopoulos

2008

Free

N/A

Hybrid

Visualisation

Native

Native

SketchUp

Win/Mac/Linux

Instancingbrush

Easyclay/depth/mask

rendermodes

StudioGPU

1.2

$3,995

N/A

In development

Any

Via FBX

Indevelopment

Native

Indevelopment

Rhino,SketchUp

Win

In development

In development

In development

In development

Stereoscopicrendering

Real-timesubpixel

displacement

NextLimitTech.

2.0

$995

N/A

VFX, visualisation

Native

Native


Native

Native

Native

modo,Rhino,SketchUp

Win/Mac/Linux

Lighting only

Multi-lightsystem

3,500+freematerials

NativeRealFlowsupport

mentalimages

3.8

As host app.

N/A

Standalone:$745

Optional

Optional

VFX, visualisation

Native

Supported

Supported

Native

Native

Win/Mac/Linux

Via extension

Via extension

Via extension

Progr.IBLrendering

Fastblurrasterisation

MetaSLlanguage

PixarAnim.Studios

15.0

$3,500

$700

PriceforPro Servered.

Animation, VFX



Native

Native


Win/Mac/Linux

Via custom code

Via image shaders

Viacustomshader

Viacustomshader

Via custom code

Deepshadows

Point-basedcolour

bleedingandSSS

IlluminateLabs

5.0

$1,499

$899

Games

Native

Win/Mac/Linux

Optimisedbaking

ScriptableviaLua

Hardwarevis.ofresults

ChaosGroup

1.5

$999

N/A

Inc.networkrendering

Optional

VFX, visualisation

Native



Native

Indevelopment

Rhino,SketchUp

Win/Mac/Linux

Via V-Ray RT

3ds Max only

Varies with ed.

Via plug-ins

VRayFur

VRayEnvironmentFog

Blender Cinema 4D Houdini Escape LightWave 3D modo 3Delight AIR Brazil r/s finalRender FPrime fryrender HyperShot Indigo Renderer Kerkythea MachStudio Pro Maxwell Render mental ray RenderMan Turtle V-Ray

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S o u r c e s : A l l d a t a w a s s u p p l i e d d i r e c t l y b y t h e r e l e v a n t s o

f t w a r e d e v e l o p e r , w i t h t h e e x c e p t i o n o f F P r i m e

Rendering software Rendering software

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Renderers: a guide for the perplexed

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