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3D RENDERING PREFERENCES 2005

barbaric

As far as 3D rendering goes, I'm most familiar with 3D Studio Max/Viz programs

Autocad 3d feature is great for axons, but that's it

Maya sometimes feels counter-intuitive,and has a high learning curve but great potential

New software:
Rhino (firms in europe are using it for irregular shapes/nurbs)
Lightwave (quick rendering program)
Cinema 4D (err, animations?)

Anyone use them?

 
Apr 7, 05 4:59 am
trace™

Those aren't new.

Apr 7, 05 8:43 am  · 
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pasha

maxwell renderer..

Apr 7, 05 9:17 am  · 
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ovalle

pasha, is that renderer even out yet.. i just went to the website and its on pre order.

Apr 7, 05 9:40 am  · 
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pasha

not the final version.. but its looking great at its alpha stage.. takes long time to render, but time is saved with minimum setup..

Apr 7, 05 9:58 am  · 
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FOG Lite

Pasha-
So are you playing around with the beta of Maxwell? I was interested in getting a copy and seeing what it can do.

To answer the question of the thread...
I use (and love) Rhino but I'm still looking for a good rendering program and wishing there was a better way to produce 2d drawings from it.

Apr 7, 05 3:30 pm  · 
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barbaric

FOG Lite- good point, I still haven't come across a good 3D and 2D package........it's one or the other unfortunately.......how is rhino with nurbs compared to say, 3d studio max?

Apr 7, 05 3:38 pm  · 
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pasha

i did play with maxwell.. it took a loong time to get a result..
but, the best thing about it is its ease of use.
plus for architects it has physical sky that can be setup for a specific location in the world and date and time..

but it gives a result and if you don't like it.. there isn't much you can do.. so, its not for illustrations but great for photorealistic rendering..

Apr 7, 05 3:41 pm  · 
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Medit

my 2005 preferences are the still the same of.. er 1999..:
AutoCAD x + 3DStudio (Max) x.0 + Photoshop x.0

and I'm still quite satisfied of what that 3-software recipe can produce.. as they say, if its working don't fix it... the regular new versions of those programs still offer everything I need to do a decent rendering, plus most firms also use them and that counts too...

and since I stopped looking for CAD blocks, .3ds trees and texture maps, i've learned a lot of useful and unuseful architectural jargon ...

Apr 7, 05 4:05 pm  · 
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FOG Lite

barbaric-
Rhino is built for nurbs, so it's pretty damn good. currnetly the developers at Rhino are working on getting a rendering program called Brazil to work within Rhino. So far the results I've seen has been very promising. The Flamingo renderer standard with Rhino has always had sun settings by location and it's photometric engine does a pretty good job, but is slow.

As Medit points out knowing the "standard" programs never hurts. One of the problems with Rhino/Flamingo is there's not a lot of blocks, texture maps, etc., readily available for it.

Apr 7, 05 7:01 pm  · 
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trace™

Brazil was released for Rhino a while ago, unless it didn't work, but it was announced.

"plus for architects it has physical sky that can be setup for a specific location in the world and date and time" Maxwell.

3D Studio can do this with any rendering package. For me, Maxwell looks interesting but I could never wait 24 hours for a med res image. I am used to 4-15 min test renders with GI, then more when you start adding tons of details (like flowers and hi poly objects, blurry reflections, area shadows, etc.), but about 2-6 hours for a 3000-4000px wide image is about all that is reasonable, imo, at least most of the time. I use Final Render, which is close to one of the fastest.
Time is money, as they say.

We'll see, though. fR should have new stuff very soon, VRay and Brazil should, too, and once Maxwell is released we can see for sure. Ease of use is great, but if I can't whip something in a few hours, it's useless.

Apr 8, 05 8:56 am  · 
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chupacabra

Studio Max / Viz with Vectorworks

Apr 8, 05 11:18 am  · 
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architecturegeek

Though I don't think the software you use is as important as how you use it.........

I use..
Rhino
Max
CAD
I use a little MAYA here and there.

I'm more interested lately in tools like VirTools or Processing instead of just making pretty pictures.

Rhino4 will have Brazil built into it.
one of the testers has a few renderings from the WIP here.

Apr 8, 05 11:30 pm  · 
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Saturn

The age old question... This is like asking an artisit what kind of paint t he uses in hopes of creating great works. Sorry to say it, but it is all in the user. I have seen incredible things done with all kinds of software, and some not so great things. My advice, which ever you choose stick with it and master it.

Maxwell is a great rendere, but as mentioned earlier the time it takes to produce a medium quality image, you could build the damn thing yourself. Until the non-beta version comes out it is still too long of a wait.

Vray is a wonderful renderer. You can download a free trial from www.vrayrender.com

Just my 2 cents.

Apr 9, 05 7:21 pm  · 
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