Hi All;

Thank you all for responding. I am a solo practicing architect. I already have The Autodesk Building Premium Suite on subscription which includes 3DS Max, Autocad, Showcase and Revit with its own rendering. Autodesk rendering programs are very complex and takes long time to learn. So I never use them.

For high quality rendering for projects usually I outsource it to outside rendering consultant. The new rendering that I am looking was for getting a quick and decent rendering both for architectural and product design. What I like about Simlab Composer and TheaRender that both can use CPU. Both program works well with MOI via .OBJ file format import. Simlab Composer has great integration with Rhino and Revit. I can link or import Rhino or Revit file into Simlab. After some test that I have done, I think I am leaning towards Simlab. The quality of rendering it might not be as good as others, but it is OK for my purpose. It is a great program with lots of features, easy to use and reasonably priced ($299).

Thanks again
-sharif

Another +1 for Thea (which just got a native Rhino plugin if you should ever go that route).
It is extremely flexible, has the best and easiest networkrendering on the planet (setup takes about 20 seconds and after that it just works), can use CPU and GPU (and both together), you can render biased and unbiased, it works very well with MoI exported objs, the community is as awesome as this one, the main dev is brilliant and they are very friendly when there should be an issue.
They don't lock you into a yearly maintenance either.
It is my favourite renderer for photorealistic work.
For other things I also enjoy using Lightwave 3D since it can do all kinds of stylized and NPR looks.
But you can't go wrong with Thea IMO.

Price is also right with Thea.

Cheers,

Tom

mmm.

Have you try Blender?
Dazstudio?

I have Cinema 4D Prime but doesn't have all the render setting like the broadcast or studio version.

I have Lightwave 3D but this one cost is higher of what you are looking for.

You could try Carrara 8.5 Pro from Daz too.

"Keyshot which is great in the easy to use area but I think is outside your price limit."

Can MOI export to Keyshot? I didn't see a .bip choice under export options. It would be super if it did, as I have Keyshot.

Bob

Hi Bob, there are a number of formats you can export from MoI that will import into KeyShot. In fact KS5 introduced 3DM support for MoI too and you can render MoI surfaces with no need for render meshes, just tell KeyShot to import NURBS data. Otherwise you can also use, OBJ FBX LWO STEP IGES 3DS (if you keep parts below 65536 polygons).

Martin
(TpwUK)

Hi Bob,

> Can MOI export to Keyshot? I didn't see a .bip choice under export options.
> It would be super if it did, as I have Keyshot.

The standard version of Keyshot supports numerous file formats that MoI exports. It's only a specially crippled version of Keyshot that's bundled with Alibre that is limited to only import .bip files, I guess to make it so it only works with Alibre and not other programs in general or something like that. The .bip format is an undocumented private format that's specific only to Keyshot and so isn't really feasible for MoI to export to bip itself.

- Michael

+1 Octane render
Great light, beautiful colors.

Blender Cycles, its free and gives great results.

Plenty of learning tutorials on Youtube

I am an architect as well, and I bought Octane as soon as it came out. I am very pleased with it now. They keep the software updated and have a lot of plans for the future. It's constantly improving.
You can achieve unbiased lighting with ease, which works fine for us who don't have time to spend in tweaking lots of parameters to get a good looking GI. Plus, you only need one powerful GPU instead of changing all the hardware to upgrade your PC.
Another great solution is Corona renderer.
M.

That's actually what I like with Thea: You can render on CPU and GPU at the same time with the Presto engine, so that neither sits idle. But it's especially cool with network rendering: When one client doesn't have enough GPU Ram or no powerful GPU at all, it automatically falls back on CPU (also quite efficiently so). And this also allows you to gradually invest in better GPUs whenever it suits you while Octane is a Yes/No solution.

And: Network render nodes are only 49.- Euro with Thea ;-)

There also is currently an introductory price for the Thea/Rhino Bundle including two network nodes for 320.- Euro
https://www.thearender.com/site/index.php/live-plugins/thea-for-rhino.html

All other engines are great as well of course, I just came to enjoy the flexibility of Thea for my line of work.
Whatever works best for you :-)

Cheers,

Tom

Thanks Michael. It looks like I do indeed have the, "specially crippled version," of Keyshot that came with Geomagic. Dang. And, here I have this nice Star Trek model nearing completion that I'll have printed up (possibly kitted up, too) that I'd love to render. Oh well, at least it came free.

Bob

Toolbag ?

OctaneVR is available now for free for three months. Check it out.

Buy Modo Indie
about £229 on Steam
I did, the renderer is superb, plus you get a virtually full
version of modo
When you get past Modo's quirky flow i.e action Centers/hauling,materials
being created from layers e.t.c
The prebuilt lighting/environment and preset Materials are fabulous.
The render settings compared to Mental ray are so easy
I was going to buy Thea render to work with
my registered 3Ds max 2012
I bought Modo Indie instead and import from Max into Modo Indie

Philip Moyles

Can't wait to see some of your renders!

I'm leaning solidly towards Thea Render because it's got an unbiased engine and it has a "studio" version that doesn't require a completely separate poly app just to render Moi creations. It also is the "next up" from the free Kerkythea renderer I've used for a few years now. It's materials are also easy to deal with.

But there are other rendering apps I find to be adequate.

I've come to find that really it has more to do with the 3D modeling program a designer uses as typically, the rendering is done as a peripheral to their modeling environment.
So with Blender, you can use Cycles, with 3DS Max, Rhino and etc, you can use all kinds of 'third-party' renderers. I really found V-Ray to be appealing.

Aside from UI and ergonomic creature-comforts, and aside from polygon and material handling, I'm hoping that somewhere out there someone has done a thorough comparison of each rendering platform (and method engine.) I'm sure they exist. It would be nice to see with the eye which one blow you away with its realism and which ones look 'fakey'.

Render result quality is also very subjective I know; from interiors to exteriors, differences in the rendering and presentation intent of the scene.
Renders that look superb for stunning interior architectural scenes would not work so well for showing the nuances of a killer product shot. And the same for animation.

I suppose, it would be equally as hard to discriminate between the better modeling platform... to each his own.

stanfordbunny + moi + importobj + distortcurves + vclone + octanerender :)

That's pretty cool, make the timbers pine and it will look a little like glued matchsticks :)

Martin
(TpwUK)

So that's how the kids used up all the glue!!!

Nice one Max!

cycles inside blender for free,

Thea render is great, Octane is awesome ;)

Working as an architectural illustrator requires that I work fast to make it profitable. I avoid using rendering software because the architecture is only half of the image. The landscaping, shading, people, etc are what connects buildings with the real world while conveying ambiance. Those non-designed elements are often very difficult and render without a lot of trial and error and a powerful machine.

So I used a digital/hand hybrid method. During the conceptual phase of a project I would print on paper quick and dirty 3d views fairly light on detail. I would sketch over the printout on tracing paper while adding trees, people, cars, landscaping, clouds, birds, water, and any needed architectural fenestration. I would then scan this and hand color it with a tablet as a layered photoshop file. The linework would be the top locked layer with a multiply transparency and each individual element gets its own layer such as: glass, wood, stucco, roofing, grass, tree trunks, flowers, shading, highlights, etc. I have custom pens for each layer that I use on all of my illustrations which made it a faster process.

My answer is technically hand rendering with software, which doesn't exactly give you what you are asking for.

So I will add my approval for keyshot. Yes it is expensive, but you make up for it fast with hours of time saved. It's so easy to use it should be illegal. The only downside is that you are still left with the need to frame your buildings with the real world, which is not easy to render.

If anyone would like to download my pen libraries let me know and I will post a link. They are large.

-Jason