finalRender

[gsscott50@hotmail.com]

I didn't post this thread in the finalrender forum as I wanted to obtain a balanced response to my predicament. Basically, I have a new job where I am working as part of a small team producing architectural/engineering/design visualisations for a wide range of clients. Their is a definite focus on animation and output for real-time VR applications. My superior is a massive fan of finalRender and won't really consider any other render engine solutions. I come from a Mental Ray/ Vray background and am finding it difficult to see why he has so much faith in finalRender. It seems to me that the render engine is capable of high quality output but it seems like the peer based support is pretty thin on the ground. Additionally I can't find many tutorials etc on the web. I guess I need convincing that taking on another (esoteric) render engine is going to be an enjoyable and worth-while experience. Or conversely give me some fodder for ditching finalRender and going with something else!

 

Thanks!

Edited January 9, 2009 by gsscott50@hotmail.com
spelling

[tecton3d]

http://www.cebas.de/forums/smf/index.php

...a good place to start;)

 

though it doesn't bring the number of users that Vray does, I've never had problems getting the help I needed from the kind folks on the forums.

[mattclinch]

finalRender is an exceptional render engine, and one i would consider it well worth knowing, especially with stage 1, release 3 rumoured to be around the corner for MAX.

 

if you want to learn i can think of no better resource than the manual/help that ships with it. i know that is a common no-brainer response, but with fR it is so thorough and explains the processes and overviews in simple to understand ways.

[gsscott50@hotmail.com]

Cheers Matt! Do you guys use fR at hayes davidson?

[mattclinch]

not exclusively, but we have done on a number of jobs. if its the right tool for the job...

[gsscott50@hotmail.com]

thats a shining endorsement!

what would you say are its particular strengths matt?

[Devin Johnston]

I used FR Stage 1 for several years before I moved over to Vray, although I produced several high end images one of which made it into Elemental 2 I always found it difficult to use. One of the main problems is that there forum is relatively small, Matt does what he can to answer questions but sometimes there's just no help. The other disadvantage is the lack of tutorials which is a result of a small user base. The program is also buggy at times and updates don't come very often, it also seems to be slower that Vray but I have no hard data on that. After switching to Vray I've been much happier and wouldn’t recommend FR unless you've got a lot of time to learn it on your own; there’s a reason why so many people use Vray.