thanks guys. so many options. so far i ruled out simlab composer. i tried it out again today and not gonna work for me unfortunately.
updates:
i ended up trying a few of the suggestions. however, they didn't work out for various reasons.
i appreciate all the suggestions. i looked on various websites and did searches before i posted. there are a ton of rendering programs but nothing seems to be as close to keyshot as i would like. a lot of them are more for architecture or for animation of movies. not for simple mcad rendering and animation.
i tried keyshot 9.2 demo. it turned out there are still gui problems. some stuff wasn't showing up that was supposed to be. then all kinds of problems with docking enable.
attached is a test animation using keyshot 9.2 demo. ended up outputting to png and using an online gif maker. rather than their built in gif output. i don't see any reason to go from 6.3 to 9.2. which is pretty sad. lots of gui issues still. i had it crash. i had it pop up warnings and errors. just sort of a hot mess. with no real useful feature changes, unless you love nvidia and want to go that route. which i don't.
so it seems to be stuttering because keyshot adds a frame that shouldn't be there. when i remade it in 6.3 i took the extra frame out. when i uninstalled the 9.2 demo, it messed up my installation of 6.3. so i had to uninstall and reinstall 6.3. basically a nightmare. but anyways. here's essentially the same thing. i made a few changes.
certainly some people will want all the advancements in the product. but for what i'm doing, anything past 6.3 seems to be a huge step backwards.
update:
i am trying to make the gifs the way keyshot 9.2 was. it seems like it will ensure the selected fps. i deleted the previous two posts because the forum wouldn't let me edit the attachment and place it inline. the gif attached to this message should be at 25fps. which would be how keyshot 9.2 would make it. so, with this method, to slow down the rotation you have to render more images.
Hi I can only help you with Blender. here a file made now in just under twenty minutes. I hope it will be useful, I hope I have intrigued you in the use but I understand that it may seem complex but it is not
The gif was made with gimp, where you need to import all images as a layer and then optimize those for a gif with option on drop down menù and exporting as gif anim.
yes easygif is the site i have been using. if you render at 25fps that match the delay time of 4 on their site. keyshot seems to add one extra frame at the end. so either don't upload it or skip it on their site. to speed and slow the rotation you can extend the rendering time. this takes a lot longer to do though. the site lets you speed up and slow down the gif but i'm not sure how they go about that. i imagine it changes the fps. so i re-made all the gifs on my site to try and assure 25fps.
hi pafurijaz,
yes blender is no doubt powerful. i need something simple and easy to use though. i'm retired and have no interest in devoting the time to learn blender. any program with an interface i don't like, i immediately discount. it's not a blender specific thing. that's why i like moi so much. keyshot 6.3 still seems the best for me. i have had all kinds of gui problems with keyshot since then. the first time i tried to render to gif it crashed the program. i ran into other errors pop up too. so very disappointing. i didn't really even get to test the render to gif. but it helped me find some things to make them better anyways. so not a total waste. nice job on the prop animation.
i appreciate all the recommendations and time spent trying to help me out. i have done my own searches as well.
I understand you very well since I too had several difficulties the first few times and it took me more than six months to understand just how objects could be moved in the scene, but I'm talking about many years ago. I realize that it may be useless for you, but perhaps this could be a more compliant alternative solution, but this too is not immediately easy to learn.
I would stay away from Strata3D at this time. I love this software, and have been a user for years; but the developer has been stonewalling everyone who asks if the software is going to be updated. It no longer works with the latest Mac OS.
If you have tried Blender years ago, you HAVE to try it again. Just like you, I tried Blender before and discarded it because of its completely unusable interface: Dialogs that are half context-sensitive, many actions that are ONLY available by keyboard shortcuts, etc.
But Blender 2.80 is a completely different software. I'm not kidding. It is now actually usable without taking a year-long course in keyboard shortcuts and weirdness.
Please give it another try.
Slightly related: I recently had a particularly boring video conference, so I built my desk lamp in MoI and rendered it with Blender:
"thanks. i had tried blender a long time ago. trying to switch from keyshot to blender was impossible for me."
The new Blender UI is way WAY better than previous. Rendering in Blender is great for a number of reasons:
1. You can use either EEVEE or Cycles. With EEVEE you can create 4K renders in only seconds (with GPU). It animates extremely well, too.
2. Both work with and without GPU.
3. The new Blender UI is a joy to work with. I used to use KeyShot for everything-- now I'm only using Blender. All EEVEE: https://www.artstation.com/chippwalters.
4. You can both do simple tri-planar mapping (how KeyShot does many) or UV mapping. Decals are also easy to add. My EEVEE materials kit has well over 100 of single-click materials, plus I have lots of tutes on how to add your own decals.
5. Animation capabilities are more powerful.
6. FREE-- and ROBUST (doesn't crash).
7. You can model in it as well (if you like).
8. Lots of good and free courses on both modeling and rendering. My NITROX3D non-destructive modeling course is a good one for parametric modeling. (sorry for the weak voice- going through some health issues).
9. Big gaming now looking at using Blender too, b/c of it's power. I just finished a sci-fi concept design series for a big AAA game company, all rendered in Blender with volumetrics and over 3M polys.
10. And it works great with MoI3D!
i guess it was lost in translation. i tried blender again, after i made this thread. i also tried it in the past. for everyone saying switch from keyshot to blender, that takes a level of skill i don't have or a level of time i'm not willing to put in.
once i get a new laptop, i think the new keyshot will work better. after keyshot 7 the ui will not work with a 1366x768 screen size. at least for me it won't.
i appreciate the suggestions. i'm going to stick with keyshot.
Surfing around web I founded this one a bit old but compatible with CAD software and import IGES STEP and Brep and source available.
and it's Freeware ;)
Anthony_PROP_DESIGN_sample.png
