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3D Tools for architects


archinano
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I would like to know which is for you the best renderer with the best

results in architectural rendering.

its mostly personal preference and artistic talent ;)

 

that said, I prefer vray myself, as I can get a very high iteration of test renders when needed. (IE: it can degrade quality gracefully for tests of either lighting or materials at speed)

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I'd say I prefer Mental Ray, mainly due to the fact that we use Revit, and the new Pro Materials are compatable with both, minimising the amount of re-working required... Mental Ray seems to be getting better all the time, so I'll be trying to improve with it over time..

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i would say there is no Best

 

but the different ones i have experience with and like are:

 

Vray

Fryrender

Accurender nXt

Maxwell

Brazil

Indigo

Penguin

 

 

there are examples of Renderman use in archviz with Rhinoceros and RhinoMan (free) I believe

 

RhinoMan is a rendering plugin for several commercial RenderMan compatible renderers including Pixar's PhotoRealistic Renderman, AIR and RenderDotC, as well as free renderers like BMRT, 3Delight, and Aqsis.

http://www.rhino3d.com/resources/display.asp?language=&listing=9

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  • 4 weeks later...

I work in industrial architecture. Our firm has not had much need for quality graphics. This is changing. I'm charged with evaluating rendering/animation softwares and recommending a direction. Our modeling is done in Autodesk Architecture, Rhino and SketchUp.

 

Over the last few weeks, I've played with trial versions of Maxwell Render, Fryrender, Vray and others and have scoured blogs, forums and tutorials to learn about rendering and people's experiences with the various softwares.

 

I narrowed the choice to Vray and Fryrender and am leaning Vray. Two days ago I discovered Kerkythea. I'm strongly considering it. It seems to have the speed of Vray, does both biased and unbiased renders and accommodates network rendering. It has been easy to use, seems to offer most adjustment features of the other softwares and is stable. But I find very little discussion or evaluation of it when searching forums or google searching references to it. It has some gaps (no displacement mapping) but overall seems very competitive. Has anyone tried Kerkythea? Any thoughts/suggestions are much appreciated?

 

For your reference, here is a preview test render and a standard test render.

 

Preview: 55 seconds - 640x480-PM+SW - 500 photons, 80-rays, AA threshold-1, other settings to course

Standard: 15min. 50 sec - 1600x1200-PM+SW - 1000 photons, 150 rays, AA threshold-.3, other settings to medium

Presentation (not attached): 8hrs - 7200x5400 - PM+SW - 20000000 photons, 5000 rays, AA threshold-.01, other settings to fine

 

SketchUp to Kerkythea using a Vray sketchup tutorial model - Chairs-Original.skp - Lighting = overhead emittance (sunlight & GI equally fast, have not tried HDRI yet)

 

3.0Ghz QX6850, 4GB PC6400, 10K HD, FX3500

 

Thanks,

Joe

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Something to think about is the end user. I've only little experience with both so maybe once I start the idea somebody can jump in to correct, but...

 

I played with the VRay demo a bit and it was a pretty good start up and then things got into the learning curve. Looking at the galleries here though it seems quite plain that VRay is the renderer by far preferred. I recently didn't get a job at a place that uses VRay and one of the guys there was working towards a more non-photorealistic look for his work. What I think is that if you've got somebody who can put the extra time and knowledge into it VRay is the better option.

 

I really like Maxwell for being able to take to a line architect and say "Oh, nice SketchUp. Here, press the Maxwell button" and they get a render they can like. The materials website for Maxwell is a great resource especially for these people who need pretty pictures but don't have any time they can invest in learning how to do things. There's a little bit to learn about emitters, but that shouldn't be too harsh. The renders do take a long time and tend to look the same. These unbiased renderers (maxwell, fry, ...) don't seem to allow as much freedom for the final look.

 

Another consideration might be if you are going to be working with just stills or if you will be making walkthroughs. While people make movies with the unbiased renderers you don't see a lot of them. (Is it Fry promising baking in the future? That could be very nice. (But don't buy vapour.))

 

- g

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My experience so far has been that the learning curve for Kerkythea is on par with the learning curve for Vray. So the time investment will be similar either way. They are both fast at biased rendering. If one is faster, it is not clearly and definitively discernible. They both offer animation rendering that is close to photorealism. They both network render. They both support multithreading and HDRI. Vray has displacement mapping and Kerkythea does not. Though there is a forum discussion that states that the same effects are possible with Kerkythea's Instancing tool. Kerkythea will render unbiased as well. In this, it is not quite as fast as Maxwell but close. Vray, has a far more extensive user forums and support. But as it now stands, this is a close call for me barring other input about the pro's and con's. While the "best standard practice" option is to go with the industry-leader, it is difficult for me to write-off what appears to be a very competent competitor.

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The question that I cannot get an answer to on this forum, in the

sketchup forum or in various other forum searches -- what, if any,

is the downside to Kerkythea? Why is it not more popular?

 

I found it no more difficult than Vray, just as fast, seemingly almost

as powerful, it also renders su animations, it has been around at

least four years, the latest release, as I've read, is much improved

over 2007's version. It seems like it should be of great interest to

many people. Yet I cannot find much about it in the major forums and

I've not found a post by an experienced user of a major production

rendering app that has tried it and can provide a solid critique.

Surely there is an experienced user out there who has given it a

serious look and can comment. Please - any critical insight is much

appreciated.

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I can't say why people don't use Kerkythea, it may be because it's new and just not well known or it may be that it's so similar to Vray that people don't see a need to move over to something new that seems to do the same thing as what they are currently using.

 

As for which engine I prefer it would definitely be Vray, I have used Final Render, Maxwell, Fry, and Vue and out of all of them Vray is the most versatile and powerful. Maxwell and Fry can produce beautiful work but the price is always going to be render time. If you have no deadlines and can take as long as you want to produce work these two programs are great, but if you have deadlines and lots of projects the long render times will kill you. Final Render and Vray are similar but after years of playing with both Vray has shown it's self to be faster and more reliable. Vray also has an extensive user base and as a result there are many more resources available on the forums.

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Like Maxer I really recommend vray, once you have problems (and you will have problems!) you have a huge vray support base, eager helpful developers, great features etc.

 

kraywhatever is unknown really. i have not heard of it until your post. seriously dont do it!

 

the unbiased rendering thing is not that important imo, you can always use progressive path tracing in vray to get that 'grainy' render till you stop it feel (or just add grain in post ;))

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FYI - I'm advocating vray - kerkythea is great product but vray will run natively in both sketchup and rhino and it has a large and active user community

 

thanks for input

 

man - the badger's nadgers - my wife and i have a new favorite saying - it is incredibly versatile! - and funny as all get-out -

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