@magazines said:
- Does anyone know if that old version of Vray can be switched to a new computer and used with SU2014 (or 2013). Old computer is on the way out, I rarely use Vray myself but this would be of value to me to occasionally look at a quick render.
Yes, Some of my friends still have installed older versions of v-ray in 2013 or 2014
@magazines said:
- Should I pay the $ (edu is $140, cheap but not nothing) for Vray2 for SU and deal with the dongle? I only use this several times a year but if it really is miles better than the old version I may start doing a few more class days on it. The dongle is a limitation for us because for the labs, our IT dept prefers not to go this way. Can anyone clearly say what the major improvements are of Vray2 on SU? As far as I can tell it comes from the "RT" - is this a new form of the frame buffer and will it work well on 3 or 4 year old lab machines?
From my very personal point of view, I prefer to use Thea instead of v-ray for many reasons including the dongle.
@magazines said:
- Is Thea an easier rendering platform for introduction - for quick results? Since rendering is far from the focus of the class, a rendering system that was closer to the easy intro quality of sketchup would be very useful. Plus no dongle for labs or my computer. Also the edu is almost half the cost of Vray, meaning if I got excited about using it in class I could pay for a copy for both my laptop and the home computer with Thea. Is the interface an easy transition for people who have experience with Vray?
I make the transition from V-ray to Thea with no problem. The concepts are the same for almost any render engine. Thea can give you fast results, but you need a very good video card for work with GPU render mode. The new version of the plugin SU4Thea it's great and very fast also work inside Sketchup.
@magazines said:
Thanks for your consideration of these questions. Obviously rendering is not my main focus, but it is an area that we are interested in still introducing at beginning level. Institutionally, we are encouraged to only update/upgrade software if the developers are providing serious and beneficial new features. More and more, it seems new or yearly versions are produced more for money than progress.
Thanks again in advance for your thoughts!
Thea developers are great, they offer a excellent support and upgrades that are amazing with no cost.
As I mentioned at the beginning, is my very personal opinion.
Regards.