glmr > you want the moon and never you could find an application like you want for money less.
I'm designer and i've tested a lot of appli before buy one.
The most professional for me is Keyshot. The renders are incomparable and the catch in hand is easy.
Just my two cents...
You want a renderer ? C4D isn't.
I know C4D and use it to modeling project.
It's for that, the C4D designers use VRay, Octane, Indigo or Arnold to render on C4D.
C4D has good enough render. Yes I want render, but not for a price of CAD+rendering. I would be happy to buy also Keyshot, but in this moment I could buy or moi3d+another rendering software and have some money for living or buy Keyshot and die from hunger. For this reason I asked for an alternative and for this reason I explained what I need. Is it clear?
PS: Keyshot HD sucks. I've got no any idea who pays for this toy.
You have pretty good renders engines inside Blender who are entierely free! Blender too!
The only cost is the learning curve who is not so evident for my old brain! :)
So I prefere Fusion 360 (free for enthusiast,hobbyst, student, even StartUp ! http://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/try-buy
who has a render like a sort of an easy Keyshot for mecanical volumes or other crazzy forms! Life is too short! :)
And works very fine with Moi :)
I have gone through the same process of looking for rendering software that will accept non-mesh style formats like STP. I don't like the hassle of exporting to a different format and uploading to the cloud for file storage, but Fusion 360 can be acquired for free if a user earns less that $100k using it commercially. It has a decent enough render engine and a user can get something right out of the box, so to speak.
please, don't offer me Keyshot. I don't have money for Keyshot, Keyshot is too expensive for me, I don't have a job to earn with Keyshot, so, please, don't offer me Keyshot.
