Render engine for mac

[sdds]

Hi guys,

 

I am a designer looking for work, I have done 2D & 3D stuff but don't know where to go. I think I want to do 3D maybe architectural renders etc. I have done some freelance work but am frustrated because I want full time employment. I definitely have a lot more to learn. Self taught no 3D qualifications only a HND in graphic design.

 

 

I work in cinema 4d on a mac but I don't like the speed and effect of the radiosity render engine. I find that some of my scenes look quite fake and somehow the lighting looks off; I use manual lighting with ambient occlusion. Does anyone know of maybe a stand alone app or something that will be more suited to interior/exterior renders.

[Devin Johnston]

Vray is the best but I don't know if it's compatible with a Mac, there is also Final Render, Mental Ray, and Maxwell but again I'm not sure about compatibility.

[BrianKitts]

Vray is the best ........

 

I would amend that comment to be Vray is becoming (or already is) the most commonly used and can produce quality professional results (once you learn to use it). but the others are viable options as well. When you say "for mac" are you speaking old school mac, or new intel mac, cause that opens a few more doors for you if it is an intel mac.

 

the "best" is open to opinion, but pick something stick with it and learn it well.

[AJLynn]

I can run Vray on my Mac. In Bootcamp

 

There have been rumors of Vray for Mac for a while, screenshots even, but nothing even a little bit official so who knows.

 

As far as Mac render software that is not C4D, your options seem to be:

 

-Maxwell. The usual Maxwell warnings apply, and it's not Universal Binary yet, so if you have an Intel Mac it will be slow until there's a UB release, which should be... some time in the next 5 years. Maxwell is slow, so right now I wouldn't buy it for MacOS unless you have a G5 Quad.

 

-Maya. Also not Universal Binary - and why the heck not? They just released a new version, months after Mac went Intel. I know a guy who run Maya 7 under Rosetta and it seems to work but it's slow. With Maya you get mental ray, and a very powerful interface to it, though it's got quite a bit of learning curve.

 

-Modo. This is the new kid on the block as far as rendering, but its render engine is quite powerful, runs well on all fairly recent Macs and comes with a pretty liberal floating license policy that basically says "do whatever you want to so long as it's you using the computer." It's got a nice GI engine that does some great looking stuff, an interesting shader tree scheme and bakes like Sarah Lee. It is not for animation, but since it's got good baking and you've already got C4D, you could probably bake lighting and do flythroughs in C4D if you're into that kind of thing.

 

-Blender with Yafray. I've seen people do some very good work with this, and it's free. Interface gives me a headache, but maybe that's just me. See blender.org and yafray.org. There are recent releases of both. Some nice things about this are that Blender's a pretty good animator, and it has the ability to bake your model to a video game fairly painlessly.

[Ernest Burden III]

Vray is the best but I don't know if it's compatible with a Mac, there is also Final Render, Mental Ray, and Maxwell but again I'm not sure about compatibility.

 

vRay 1.5 is supposed to have a Mac version (meaning Mac OS, not a Mac running XP), FinalRender2 for C4D is supposed to have a Mac version. Neither is here yet, promises, promises. Maxwell has a Mac version, and maybe Maxwell is rising above its awful past (read up on this if you don't have money to burn). The engine in Cinema is good, but as you say, not up to what some of us in arch-vis expect from an otherwise exceptional product.

 

Where does that leave you? No clear direction, I'm afraid.

 

I would suggest sticking with C4D for the moment and learning to get the most you can from its current engine, and hopefully fr2 and/or vRay for Mac will open up for you soon, or soonish.

[manta]

And there is always INDIGO which is free...

This guy seems to have gotten the hang of it...

 

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=417258&highlight=indigo

[sdds]

thanks guys,

 

I like the look of indigo, but I think its for PC. I would love to run vray on my G4 powermac if that is poss.

 

The thing is I want to do more realistic interiors because they pack such a punch if done correctly.

[Frosty]

Dont forget LightWave

[sdds]

These are some of the renders I produce without GI/radiosity. They come out better than the ones with radiosity and in a fraction of the time. I want them to look more realistic, maybe I need to learn more about lighting.

[AJLynn]

This is fakeosity plus AO? I like it. Since you're calling it radiosity, do you have a C4D version earlier than 9.5? They made a bunch of changes in 9.5. But either way I'd recommend 3DFluff's video on radiosity for interiors.

[sdds]

Thanks AJLynn,

 

this is fakeosity with AO, correct. No I don't have 9.5 but do consider getting it. Looking at my fake radiosity images, what do you think I can do to improve them?

 

I will look into that tut video.