Rendering for experts

[VisceralD]

So I feel that like a lot of people out their my art is not truly shown to its full potential unless it is rendered to its maximum quality. Personally as an artist, I want to be an artist in my modeling process I should not spend the most time in the boring technical stuff. Such as retopologizing and setting up UV maps. Rendering is on the same list. I don’t want to spend an entire day tweaking settings and waiting hoping that I got a good render. I want to resolve this once and for all I just want to pop it in and get great quality. So here are all the rendering programs that I have tried and my experience with it.

1. BPR in Zbrush
[LIST=1]

2. Pros: can get some great render using a high poly model.
3. Cons: fancy stuff like transparent surfaces, and emissive surfaces and not always done correctly or of the best quality. Few materials based of real object qualities, offered but you can make them. HDRI projections, not very accurate. Very limited and overly complicated animation function (based on layers).

Marmoset studio

1. Pros: Gives you a great in game engine preview, quick to set up, accurate HDRI functionality, affordable price tag, no rendering here everything is in real time.
2. Cons: Transparency maps still not very glass like, Different materials are placed on separate objects in a model and not separate material subtools, making it difficult to rig and pose a character in 3ds max. Animations often work poorly

Vray in 3ds max or maya

1. Pros: Since it’s a plugin in most popular modeling programs it skips a step of having to export your model. This program also features tons of materials for any kind of surface. It does SSS more accurately than any other program I know.
2. Cons: renders can take a long time to complete, and lighting can take a while to set up since vray features its own lighting tools.

Mental ray in 3ds max or maya

1. Vray is better, don’t waste your time

Keystone

1. Still experimenting with this one

Octane

1. Still experimenting with this one

[/LIST]
So what do you guys think, is the best way to get a good render quickly

[Muddpitt]

I’m not sure how tech savvy you are when it comes to rendering your work, but keyshot is by far the absolute easiest. It does lack features though. Its shaders can only have diffuse, spec, opacity and normal maps plugged into them. But where keyshot shines is in its real time rendering in its viewport which updates as you adjust settings. Speaking of settings unlike other render apps you don’t have to mess around with a billion settings in keyshot to get good results.

[Gordon_Robb]

As an Octane user, I can definitely recommend it.

[BJPentecost]

Octane is fantastic.

I was annoyed with Furryball when I tried it a long while back (it is massively expensive) but as a GPU renderer, it is topnotch.

Believe it or not, I can sometimes get pretty good, VERY fast renders with Blender’s Cycles (then again I’m totally rockin a GTX780 so “very fast” is relative). It’s not the best GPU renderer out there but it works well enough in a pinch, it’s free, and if you have a good Nvidia graphics card, you can have good renders done quickly. I rendered this scene: http://bobbie-the-jean.deviantart.com/art/The-Story-of-Tamacier-378439399 up in a few minutes. Unfortunately, there is no SSS for GPU yet and sometimes Cycles’ lights to odd things in some circumstances.

Recommendations:

1.) If money is not an issue and you need topnotch quality, go Furryball, Keyshot, or Thearender.

2.) If cost is an issue but you still need professional quality, Octane. I’m sure they will catch up with Furryball soon enough anyway, they are awesome.

3.) If you want free, Blender Cycles and Luxrender are good enough though you may find yourself having to fake certain things like SSS and other effects.

4.) If you want easy, Keyshot. It’s one of the most obvious, intuitive 3D programs I’ve ever used.

Hope that helps. It sounds like you and I are in the same boat more or less. One of my biggest concerns is making my art look nice at render without having to backflip through pentagonal flaming hoops for hours on end. XD

[VisceralD]

So how do you guys think these engine handle Emmisive maps. Also Why is nobody a fan of BPR in zbrush im assuming you can get great renders if you really know how to tweak the settings.

[BJPentecost]

So how do you guys think these engine handle Emmisive maps. Also Why is nobody a fan of BPR in zbrush im assuming you can get great renders if you really know how to tweak the settings.

I’ve only ever used emmissive maps with Blender/Cycles GPU and it worked well enough from what I recall.

As to BPR, I like it for certain tasks but generally, I find it tedious, confusing, and restrictive. I tend to use BPR for turnarounds like this: http://bobbie-the-jean.deviantart.com/art/White-Dragon-Anthro-3D-Model-410772950 I rendered up the figure in BPR and it worked out well enough. However, presently, I feel that Blender/Cycles allows for more control over a whole scene with less tedious fiddling.

I also use BPR for pinup paintings on occasion or when I’m just too lazy to leave Zbrush but for the most part, I find getting good results out of BPR to be a nuisance. With Blender/Cycles GPU, I can pretty much plop down my models and have a good render within a few minutes. Basically it just depends on what I’m doing but generally I prefer something that affords me more control and less tedious dial-fiddling.

[VisceralD]

Did my comparative research for this topic

[VisceralD]

It sounds like you and I are in the same boat more or less. One of my biggest concerns is making my art look nice at render without having to backflip through pentagonal flaming hoops for hours on end. XD

I think you understand me as an artist I should be spending the bulk of my time creating great art
, not setting up lights and cameras.

[BJPentecost]

I think you understand me as an artist I should be spending the bulk of my time creating great art
, not setting up lights and cameras.

Amen, brother. That’s the reason I love GPU renderers so much. With some of them, pretty much all you have to do is plop your models down, flip a few switches, and BAM! Nice, quick render. I don’t want to spend all my time fiddling with settings, waiting to see if that looks good, oh it doesn’t, dangit, fiddling with more settings, waiting to see if it looks good, wash-rinse-repeat. That is annoying. Imagine if Zbrush implemented a GPU renderer more like Octane’s? That would be rockin as hell.

[VisceralD]

Ok here are my results After trying all the various renderers, what do you guys think

Any suggestions for better renders would be much appreciated.