Which Rendering Software to Use

Mr. Bill · 16 Jul 2010, 16:49

Sketchupers,

I am beginning a search for rendering software to use in conjunction with sketchup. I have toyed with vray a little bit, but it appears that trial is up. I'm looking for any advice or pearls of wisdom you are willing to offer. It would probably be helpful to add that I am a landscape arch, so almost all of my models will include plants, building facades, and the great outdoors. I'm also cheap.... errr i mean "budget conscious", so that will play a role as well.

Rich O Brien · 16 Jul 2010, 17:00

Hi,

Read this discussion as it is related to your query.

But everyone has opinions on what's best, easiest, value for money etc!

At the end of it all time invested in any software yields the biggest rewards.

Rich

IdahoJ · 16 Jul 2010, 17:27

FWIW, I've been using Didier Bur's POVray plugin, of which he has announced a new version here: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=29589 along with POVray: http://www.povray.org/

But, as rclub24 points out, individual tastes and needs really come into play. I've been a POVray user for over 10 years so I know the application and it's syntax inside and out. That influences me a great deal and it's very comfortable to use.

Didier's plugin works very well, but I find it's still necessary to "hand tweak" the final .pov files a bit to get the best out of them for final renders.

The Twilight Render system: http://www.twilightrender.com/ is my second favorite, well integrated into SU, fairly simple to get good results and inexpensive to purchase.

Another consideration is that I use SU7 under WinXP and Ubuntu Linux with WINE. Both render programs work very well in WINE with SU so that's another plus in my book.

Cheers.

notareal · 16 Jul 2010, 17:43

If you in tight budged, then there are two free renderer that I would look on; Kerkythea and LuxRender. Kerkythea has a commercial sister Twilight (same engine, but streamlined UI. Limited to 32-bit memory space and SU polygon handling capabilities). LuxRender has a fairly new exporter so may need some maturity, but worth look on (sorry no deeper experience with it).
In landscaping one may often need displacement or instanced high poly threes or other entourage. Thea Render can do both, with near unlimited resolution (up to available ram, with Thea 64bit), in reasonable cost. Vue Infinite may be hard to beat with it's EcoSystem, but it may be out of budget.
There are quite many topics on rendering programs, many has a favorite one, but best to test those that look interesting. Also, different tasks may give a need to have multiple renderers available.