Global Illumination / high quality renderings

[mr. a]

All fello CG Architects!

Mainly for Architectural renderings...What do you guys think is the more superior global illumination tool (between Brazil, Final Render and Vray)? Outside of cost, which is more user friendly and versatile and of course fastest? Actually, I am more concerned with look than speed... Do you prefer one for interiors and another for exteriors? After research, I have eliminated Mental Ray and Radiosity, but is there something else that I am not considering?

 

Thanks.

[Devin Johnston]

Final Render and Vray are the top two in my opinion; Vray is much friendlier to new users than Final Render. Both of these programs are able to do distributed rendering which is a big plus when using GI. I believe that they are both comparably priced but I think Vray only comes with so many network licenses for network rendering; Final Render has an unlimited license. As to which one will produce the better image that's really up to the person using the program, I've seen great stuff from both programs, it's not a limitation of the program but of the user. If you want to get off to a fast start I would say Vray is probably the way to go, but if you want to have a lot of control over the GI process then Final Render is the one but it will take longer to learn.

[czoog]

Final Render and Vray are the top two in my opinion; Vray is much friendlier to new users than Final Render. Both of these programs are able to do distributed rendering which is a big plus when using GI. I believe that they are both comparably priced but I think Vray only comes with so many network licenses for network rendering; Final Render has an unlimited license. As to which one will produce the better image that's really up to the person using the program, I've seen great stuff from both programs, it's not a limitation of the program but of the user. If you want to get off to a fast start I would say Vray is probably the way to go, but if you want to have a lot of control over the GI process then Final Render is the one but it will take longer to learn.

 

 

just an FYI, Vray allows for 10 computers per license for single image DR, that's "computer" not processor(10 dual xeons would be 40 processors). However you can use Backburner net render with an unlimited number of computers, per license.

[Devin Johnston]

Ok, so it's the same as Final Render. Maybe I was thinking of MR.

[STRAT]

for max? i'd say vray gives a faster more economical solution, whereas Brazil is more realistic. havent used FR, but by the looks of it you cant go wrong there either.

MR is fantastic, but it's a complicated bugger to master and use. oh yeah, it's slow too.

[Brian Cassil]

Does anyone else think that there should be a sticky thread to answer this question? Not that I mind repeat questions mind you, but this question gets asked an awful lot, and it could make it nice for new-comers.

[DennisHolland]

Simply said without getting into technical details:

 

Vray for interior because of the very keen lightsettings and realism, combined with great adjustments in AA and illumination per object (system).

 

Brazil for outdoor rendering, in particular because the Brazil r/s is pretty fine to work with and costeffective for time matters.

 

That's all, good luck.

 

Dennis

[Devin Johnston]

I agree with Brian, I think the forum needs a FAQ in each catagory so that new users can get their most common questions answered. I know I've seen this question many times before and the outcome is always the same.

[mr. a]

Thanks everyone......will see what the manufacuturers have to say about their products capabilities but Vray sounds like it will be my next learning battle. Will post my initial attempts soon.......

 

"Life is a movie - write your own ending".........someone?

[Alex York]

just out of interest, why did you eliminate MR? I've not had any experience using MR in MAX, but I've used it in XSI extensively, and it does actually lend itself very well to archi-vis, especially when using final gathering, which can be saved to a file and re-used. saves a hell of a lot of rendering time, which means you can spend more time making it look better. and it comes as standard with MAX, Maya and XSI, so no extra cost involved.

[mr. a]

I eliminated MR because of the difficulty I had with global illumination. For interiors, I had a hard time determining the numbers to use for the various settings and was very fustrated with the lack of documentation/tutorials. After asking around, I have been given the impression that Vray is much faster and works well with existing scenes using standard materials. Do you agree? Know of any good sources of MR explanations?

 

A

[mbr]

Another reason is cost. MR licenses cost exponentially more than any of the others. $2-3k per license, which only covers two processors. So if you have more than one computer, it's outrageous.

 

So for a if you had, say, 5 duals to render with, you'd have to spend $10 - 15 thousand to use MR.

 

Crazy, huh?

[mr. a]

Excellent point..........one that you always find associated with all other options except MR as the assumption is that it is included and therefore free.