Will pay for rendering help

hellnbak

[offtopic] Steve are you getting anywhere with this?

I'm trying very hard to make a halfway intelligent decision, and right now I'm leaning towards Kerkythea. In a large part this is based on the following numbers --

A program's forums are very important to me. If the forums here were diminished by two-thirds I can't imagine them being nearly as helpful as they are now.

Maybe there's a flaw in my logic, or maybe there are factors that outweigh the importance I place on forums, if so please let me know.

Rich O Brien

With both Twilight and Thea there is an unlimited trial so no need to spend cash while learning both.

When you decide which to go with you'll be making the best investment ever.

As regards post counts.....

If SU was not Free I imagine there'd be 6 people here having a natter and not thousands.

As regards learning this dark art....

Did you get anyone to help you out yet?

derei

@hellnbak said:

@pbacot said:

[offtopic] Steve are you getting anywhere with this?

I'm trying very hard to make a halfway intelligent decision, and right now I'm leaning towards Kerkythea. In a large part this is based on the following numbers --

[attachment=0:vs9xpzk9]a.png[/attachment:vs9xpzk9]

A program's forums are very important to me. If the forums here were diminished by two-thirds I can't imagine them being nearly as helpful as they are now.

Maybe there's a flaw in my logic, or maybe there are factors that outweigh the importance I place on forums, if so please let me know.

As you may probably know, Kerkythea and Twilight share same rendering engine... the main difference is the User Interface and the complexity of settings.
Kerkythea allows you to more complex settings, material properties, but its interface is nothing but friendly and the material editor is even worse, on the other hand it can handle x64 CPU's and last version has a great rendering speed improvement in comparison with Twilight.
Twilight's interface is less complex, but can make competitive materials for common use. The main advantage of twilight is its ease and the speed of use. Also, if you have a paid license, you can export as XML and benefit of Kerkythea's rendering speed.

If you don't need really complex materials, Twilight will serve you well (especially if you make the final render using KT)... but in the end, the decision must be all yours.

Also, statistics don't get always the best results... you will not need answers from 8000 members, but only one... if it's the answer you seek. So, in theory, a forum with one member will be as good as one with 8000

Good Luck!

hellnbak

@rich o brien said:

With both Twilight and Thea there is an unlimited trial so no need to spend cash while learning both.

When you decide which to go with you'll be making the best investment ever.

As regards post counts.....

If SU was not Free I imagine there'd be 6 people here having a natter and not thousands.

As regards learning this dark art....

Did you get anyone to help you out yet?

Thanks Rich,

I have pretty much narrowed it down to either Kerkythea or Twilight. Thea is just a bit too pricey for a program that I'm not even sure I could learn to use properly. Maybe later on.

As far as the posts, yes I agree that there are probably numerous reasons why Twilight has less than a third compared to Kerkythea - the fact that one costs and the other is free, maybe one has been around longer that the other, whatever.
But, the bottom line is that my goal is to use one of these programs to learn rendering, and logic tells me that the one with the greatest number of posts, topics and members is the one more likely to be a good source of information when I have a question. And I am definitely going to have questions. Maybe half a dozen or so

@unknownuser said:

As you may probably know, Kerkythea and Twilight share same rendering engine... the main difference is the User Interface and the complexity of settings.
Kerkythea allows you to more complex settings, material properties, but its interface is nothing but friendly and the material editor is even worse, on the other hand it can handle x64 CPU's and last version has a great rendering speed improvement in comparison with Twilight.
Twilight's interface is less complex, but can make competitive materials for common use. The main advantage of twilight is its ease and the speed of use. Also, if you have a paid license, you can export as XML and benefit of Kerkythea's rendering speed.

If you don't need really complex materials, Twilight will serve you well (especially if you make the final render using KT)... but in the end, the decision must be all yours.

Also, statistics don't get always the best results... you will not need answers from 8000 members, but only one... if it's the answer you seek. So, in theory, a forum with one member will be as good as one with 8000

Good Luck!

Thanks for the input,

I assume when you say "its interface is nothing but friendly and the material editor is even worse", you meant to say "its interface is anything but friendly and the material editor is even worse". Right?

Anyhow, yes, you will only need one answer if it's the right one. But, wouldn't you agree that your chances of finding that right answer increases greatly when you are asking it of 8,830 people vs 2,259 people?

Having said that, I have had Kerkythea installed for quite a while now, and I also just purchased and installed Twilight. This is my last effort at learning this "black art", and I wanted to maximize my chances. Also wanted to maximize my chances of bleeding ulcers.

Again, thanks to everyone for their help, suggestions and input.

And I'll try not to be too much of a royal pain in the arse while I go thru this learning process. (too much )

AquaTarkus999

Hello Hellnbak,

I've just had a quick look through your thread on your Kerkythea offer and your problems.

If you still haven't a clue where to start I am willing to help you. I assume you have downloaded and installed the sketchup to Kerkythea export plugin? Once you have used it a few times you will find it quite easy ... Honest!

Aquatarkus

notareal

@carrozza said:

@unknownuser said:

[...]Kerkythea can handle x64 CPU's and last version has a great rendering speed improvement in comparison with Twilight.[...]

Does it means that the current 1.5 Twilight release is based on Kerkythea 2008 Echo (2.0.19) and NOT 2008 Echo Boost (2.5.2)?

yes, but cannot recall if there where some additional bugfixes.

Carrozza

@unknownuser said:

[...]Kerkythea can handle x64 CPU's and last version has a great rendering speed improvement in comparison with Twilight.[...]

Does it mean that the current 1.5 Twilight release is based on Kerkythea 2008 Echo (2.0.19) and NOT 2008 Echo Boost (2.5.2)?

sonder

I use Kerkythea quite a bit. I'm swamped right now though. Maybe post some specific questions, or are you completely lost on how to start?

It's actually a very simple program.

Carrozza

Thanks, Notareal, I was not aware of this.
Given the average 33% rendering speed increase of Kerkythea 2008 Echo Boost that's enough for me to give up on Twilight and refresh Kerky libraries and my muscle memory.
In the end what was attracting me to Twilight was the handy rendering preset system, but I see that Kerkythea has a very similar approach, if not exactly the same.

notareal

@carrozza said:

Thanks, Notareal, I was not aware of this.
Given the average 33% rendering speed increase of Kerkythea 2008 Echo Boost that's enough for me to give up on Twilight and refresh Kerky libraries and my muscle memory.
In the end what was attracting me to Twilight was the handy rendering preset system, but I see that Kerkythea has a very similar approach, if not exactly the same.

You can always use Twilight as a exporter to Kerkythea, after all TWL has a nice UI. Meny cases the speed difference is not that critical, specially if you let work render over night.

Gaieus

@notareal said:

You can always use Twilight as a exporter to Kerkythea, after all TWL has a nice UI. Meny cases the speed difference is not that critical, specially if you let work render over night.

That's why I also suggested Twilight in the first round.

I do not know what the technical details of Twilight are at the moment (i.e. if it can run as 64 bit app inside SU which is only 32 bit) but since it isinside SU, I would always expect some limitations compared to its "studio mother", Kerkythea.

So the normal workflow (for me if wishing to use the 64 bit power and high poly capacity of Kerkythea) would be to start the project in Twilight, exploit those cool material presets and all - and at a point, when you cannot develop it further inside SU, export it and go on inside Kerkythea.

Also, those Twilight materials are professionally created materials which you can examine after the export - and learn extremely much from them (after all, it is not only that you want to make a nice render as I understand from this topic but also learn Kerkythea).

hellnbak

Been busy for a while around the house. After waiting 17 years they finally installed a gas line along my road! Got a new gas dryer, water heater, converted my furnace, gonna shop for a new gas stove soon. For the past four years I've kept it between 50 and 55 degrees in here in the Winter, trying to stretch the very expensive LP. Frozen fingers make it very difficult to use the keyboard, and I can't wear gloves when I'm typing. Funny thing is, now that I have the much less expensive natural gas I can't seem to bring myself to turn the temp up. Guess I've gotten used to it, and having it warmer makes me feel guilty somehow. Oh well, I'll just save even more.

Anyhow, I've been studying all the videos and tutorials for Kerkythea and Twilight. Haven't done much actual hands-on experimenting yet, want to get as familiar with them as I can so I don't get discouraged and give up on them. I've got high hopes of succeeding this time.

While I was researching the Ambers Texaco Station I came across a number of other interesting old stations along Route 66, and figured I would try my hand at another one. I chose the one in Odell, IL. Build in 1932, it was recently renovated and added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 1997.
The background was just pulled from the Warehouse, and I haven't figured out how to do a decent landscape yet (obviously), but maybe someday.