@unknownuser said:
Thanks for the input! I'm still a bit confused, why is kerkythea free, and what makes all other render programs worth what they sell for?
Kerkythea was born from enthusiasm and with active community it did grow in a point when entering into the commercial arena was only feasible option for further development. Even with a new born Thea Render, Kerkythea did stay free and is still been developed (but in slow cycles).
@unknownuser said:
Oh: don't choose a renderer over another because it does displacement. It's a nice feature and all, but it's terribly slow -in any app. And as Gai says, displaced grass doesn't look good.
Indeed! For grass I'd use instancing or/and post pro. I rarely seen good enough grass made with displacement (specially when comparing the added render time). Gravel, pavement, stone walls, water... those are good targets for displacement.
@pbacot said:
And can the same be said of Thea?
Like said before, Thea can import kerkythea xml (be it created by Twilight or Kerkythea). Material systems are different, although some similarities can be find. Thea does a KT material conversion with some heuristics, so little fine-tuning may be in need in case of complex materials. Exporting materials/models from Thea to Kerkythea is not possible.
Before jumping to test Thea, it's good to watch overview tutorials.
