Best Rendering Software

jeff hammond · 4 Apr 2014, 16:33

The problem with exporting is that I get people looking at a render and then wanting additional changes.
Changes that require going back into Sketchup and then having to re-export.

So a solution whereby I can do it all in SU would be best for me.

maybe look at maxwell for sketchup

301 Moved Permanently

(www.maxwellrender.com)

they offer a free version then the licensed version is $99

pbacot · 4 Apr 2014, 16:35

What renderers do two point perspective and orthagonal views (for Mac --not iRender)?

jeff hammond · 4 Apr 2014, 16:40

@pbacot said:

What renderers do two point perspective and orthagonal views (for Mac --not iRender)?

Indigo

.
[edit- i'm not saying indigo is the only one that will do it on mac.. just the only one i personally know of that will]

Hieru · 4 Apr 2014, 16:40

@jman0war said:

Really?
I did not pick up on that when I browsed their website.
The renders look great.

Check out these videos for an idea of how Thea works inside Sketchup:

Krisidious · 4 Apr 2014, 17:43

One big up for Thea for Sketchup is it does animation and sections.

jman0war · 4 Apr 2014, 18:57

Wow!
It reminds me of Vue in certain ways.

They're placing 3D trees in SU and it's showing the render window in real-time.
What Thea product is that?

solo · 4 Apr 2014, 21:31

@jman0war said:

Wow!
It reminds me of Vue in certain ways.

They're placing 3D trees in SU and it's showing the render window in real-time.
What Thea product is that?

That is Thea4SU fully integrated.

pbacot · 4 Apr 2014, 22:08

@jeff hammond said:

@pbacot said:

What renderers do two point perspective and orthagonal views (for Mac --not iRender)?

Indigo

.
[edit- i'm not saying indigo is the only one that will do it on mac.. just the only one i personally know of that will]

Thanks. I demoed Indigo some. Easy to get good artificial lighting compared to some, but seemed like more work and I guess the engine is slower by its very nature. I'd love to use some rendered elevations AND have 2 point perspectives.

Hieru · 5 Apr 2014, 10:11

@krisidious said:

Yeah, I'm talking about Thea Presto, not Thea standalone.

It's all the same thing.

Thea standalone (studio) is the rendering software you buy, which includes Presto as one of the various render options. You then need the Thea4SU plugin to use Thea inside SU (including the GPU+CPU Presto option).

Krisidious · 5 Apr 2014, 11:12

Yeah that's why I asked aren't they all kinda in and out of SU... I mean even the one's you don't export are still kinda using exterior software and or resources.

Hieru · 5 Apr 2014, 11:26

@krisidious said:

Yeah that's why I asked aren't they all kinda in and out of SU... I mean even the one's you don't export are still kinda using exterior software and or resources.

Sure, but you don't exactly want to be limited by what you can do fully inside SU. The great thing about Thea and Vray is that you can get around SU's limitations and leverage the power of the standalone rendering software. For example, using proxies for high-poly models (especially vegetation) is something I couldn't live without.

notareal · 6 Apr 2014, 11:31

@jman0war said:

Really?
I did not pick up on that when I browsed their website.
The renders look great.

All Thea Render live-plugins do work inside the modelling app; Thea for sketchup . Naturally you can use the studio too if some particular scene needs that.

Krisidious · 6 Apr 2014, 12:47

@hieru said:

@krisidious said:

Yeah that's why I asked aren't they all kinda in and out of SU... I mean even the one's you don't export are still kinda using exterior software and or resources.

Sure, but you don't exactly want to be limited by what you can do fully inside SU. The great thing about Thea and Vray is that you can get around SU's limitations and leverage the power of the standalone rendering software. For example, using proxies for high-poly models (especially vegetation) is something I couldn't live without.

Yeah, best of both worlds... I want it but just can't afford that price tag when I don't even do any renders for people.

Also to the OP Revizto is an external render/walk through program and it recognizes changes made in SU back and forth. Their quality of renderings doesn't really rank with some of those you've been talking about. But for price and speed I really like it.

(revizto.com)

arail1 · 7 Apr 2014, 02:13

@jeff hammond said:

@pbacot said:

What renderers do two point perspective and orthagonal views (for Mac --not iRender)?

Indigo

.
[edit- i'm not saying indigo is the only one that will do it on mac.. just the only one i personally know of that will]

I didn't know that. I have a demo version that I haven't played with much. I don't like the 'Frankenstein' quality of some of my drawing sets - a couple pages of renderings, a couple pages of Layout 3D views with labels and text and a couple pages of 2D drafting for technical details. I'd love to be able to do some orthographic work that corresponded more coherently with the rendering section. I could add labels and text in Illustrator. Unfortunately I've already invested significant $$ in V-Ray SketchUP and V-Ray Rhino but it's something I'd like to know more about.

jeff hammond · 7 Apr 2014, 03:24

^

yep, the orthographic camera was included in the 3.4 release which was just over a year ago.. the same release also added support for section planes which is a good one to have (for me at least) in combination with parallel views.

andybot · 7 Apr 2014, 11:46

@arail1 said:

I'd love to be able to do some orthographic work that corresponded more coherently with the rendering section. I could add labels and text in Illustrator. Unfortunately I've already invested significant $$ in V-Ray SketchUP and V-Ray Rhino but it's something I'd like to know more about.

You can do ortho projection with vray for su. When you turn off the physical camera, it's possible to render ortho.

arail1 · 7 Apr 2014, 12:23

@andybot said:

@arail1 said:

I'd love to be able to do some orthographic work that corresponded more coherently with the rendering section. I could add labels and text in Illustrator. Unfortunately I've already invested significant $$ in V-Ray SketchUP and V-Ray Rhino but it's something I'd like to know more about.

You can do ortho projection with vray for su. When you turn off the physical camera, it's possible to render ortho.

Thanks for that tip

I've tried that in the past with V-Ray but haven't explored the option much because I'm using the physical camera to adjust the brightness of the scene. Turning physical camera off requires resetting other variables to get a similar look and that's not an easy thing for me to do. I just tried this with my demo copy of Indigo and it's exactly the same scene, just in ortho rather than perspective. I'm sure someone with more experience than I have with V-Ray could do this easily but I find that I end up with two very different looking images.

andybot · 7 Apr 2014, 13:10

@arail1 said:

I've tried that in the past with V-Ray but haven't explored the option much because I'm using the physical camera to adjust the brightness of the scene. Turning physical camera off requires resetting other variables to get a similar look and that's not an easy thing for me to do.

If you want to try it, I've set up a vropt for doing a 2D elevation with sunlight. Here's the file, load this with the "import" button (not the "load" button)

_2D-elevations-GI_2014_0305.zip

valerostudio · 11 Apr 2014, 19:43

You can do ortho views with phys cam on in the latest version of V-Ray.

jman0war · 16 Apr 2014, 10:13

@krisidious said:

Also to the OP Revizto is an external render/walk through program and it recognizes changes made in SU back and forth. Their quality of renderings doesn't really rank with some of those you've been talking about. But for price and speed I really like it.

(revizto.com)

I didn't see this until now.
Not as amazing looking as Thea or Vray but if it's quick, simple and clean.. it's worth a look.
I wonder how it compares in rending times with SUPodium.