Render engine comparisons

[santiago]

I'm sure this question has been posted before, so perhaps someone can point me to a thread where Vray and Maxwell are compared.

I realize Vray costs $800 and Maxwell costs $1000. My main concern is speed, both render engines offer enough "realism" for my needs, at least that is what I think after seeing work created with them. I'd just like to know what their rendering time difference is, if one is only 10% faster than the other, then I'll go with the one that offers more realism from a photgraphic point of view. But if the speed difference is greater than 10%, I think I'll go with the faster render engine.

Any help is appreciated.

[kippu]

IMO , you can render out 3-4 high res renders in vray by the time you get done by one in maxwell

[lambros]

we use vray in production, and do some renders with maxwell as well, but when deadlines are looming, maxwell is out of the question. Yet, the best renders we have done in the past are with maxwell.

[Christopher Nichols]

I'm sure this question has been posted before, so perhaps someone can point me to a thread where Vray and Maxwell are compared.

I realize Vray costs $800 and Maxwell costs $1000. My main concern is speed, both render engines offer enough "realism" for my needs, at least that is what I think after seeing work created with them. I'd just like to know what their rendering time difference is, if one is only 10% faster than the other, then I'll go with the one that offers more realism from a photgraphic point of view. But if the speed difference is greater than 10%, I think I'll go with the faster render engine.

Any help is appreciated.

 

It is more like 60X faster. and I am not kidding... 1 min vs 60 mins. People have complained that they think Vray is complicated to set up, and that Maxwell is much easier. But IMHO, if you are willing to put in a little time to learn, the pay off is much larger.

[Fran]

Chris, in the instance you are referring to, the difference for a comparable image was really only 10-15X faster.

 

Vray is a valuable production work horse. I'd put my money on that if speed is your concern.

[Clifton Santiago]

For architectural visualization, Max and Vray are quickly becoming (if not already) industry standard. I refuse to outsource viz stuff to anyone not using Vray.

[Ernest Burden III]

they think Vray is complicated to set up, and that Maxwell is much easier. But IMHO, if you are willing to put in a little time to learn, the pay off is much larger.

 

When I went to Lightscape in the mid 90's I swore I would never have to mess with crap like a shadow bias again. I just want rendering software to work the way the world works.

 

But there are many things I want but aren't going to have...

 

Maxwell worked much better when it worked simply and simply worked.

 

Almost, almost.

 

 

For architectural visualization, Max and Vray are quickly becoming (if not already) industry standard.

 

I'm not happy about the Max part, but I have to agree. Right now I use neither but know I must learn both, and soon. I'm tired of waiting for 'solutions' that never quite arrive.

[John Dollus]

When you are looking at pure rendering speed vs. cost, vray would be your best bet but you need to really immerse yourself in the registered users forum to get up to speed quickly.

[santiago]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I've gotten more replies from the Maxwell section of the forum, but interestingly the replies are quite similar. We will probably be purchasing Vray very soon. The main reason being the issue of speed, and Maxwell's enormous harddrive requirements when it comes to rendering animations. But I still like how Maxwell works, and will continually keep an eye on it. I also hope prices go down, I think both plugins are too expensive in comparison to other CG applications, I would prefer a price somewhere in the $400 to $500 range.