Hi Guys,

I have been using Keyshot 6.3 for a long time. I wasn't able to upgrade to version 7, because the new gui wouldn't work on my laptop. They are up to version 9 now but I have not tried anything past 7. Keyshot has a few things I like; ease of use, toon materials, simple animation, runs on a laptop cpu. I don't want something that only runs on a gpu. Especially an nVidia gpu. I can't seem to find anything with all those features. I know there is Simlab Composer, but the last time I tried it, it didn't have the toon material. Does anyone know of something that has these features. I hate to be stuck with software from the stone age. The best I have found might be Alibre. But it's not clear how the animation function works. It show dragging a part, in a video I saw online. But didn't really get into details. I'm not sure if you can export images or a gif out of it.

Edit; I looked around some more and it seems like SimLab Composer is the closest. However, does anyone know if they have materials that render fast. I can't do the animations when each frame takes an hour to render. The toon material in Keyshot renders almost instantaneously. It doesn't have to be a toon. But something that renders quickly.

Thanks,

Anthony

If don't know maybe this can be your main render engine https://indigorenderer.com/features/technical

CPU and multi-GPU rendering

Fast, unbiased CPU rendering.
Achieve blistering rendering performance with any OpenCL supporting GPUs.
Supported on Windows, macOS and Linux, on Nvidia, AMD and Intel units.

Or
https://www.thearender.com/

But there is a free one https://luxcorerender.org/

I see you need even an animation process in render engine features.. maybe you can consider https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/twinmotion

You have a free version of SimLab Composer : Maxi 1920 *1080 and no animation! ;)

The more easy one! :)
https://www.simlab-soft.com/3d-products/simlab-composer-lite.aspx

Maybe this new last one
...not sure that is very easy learning curve but... :)

hi guys, thanks for the suggestions. there was one i hadn't seen before. they all look great. however, there were a few problems with some. they seemed to only work in certain apps. so i should have said i also need a standalone gui. the other was i didn't see animation. i'm just talking simple rotations. so i have some where the part rotates 360 about it's axis and then the camera rotates about the object in 360 as well. not complicated animations like for movies. anyways, simlab composer pro seems to fit the bill. but when i tried it out a few years ago it could only do 'realistic' renderings. those take a long time to solve on my laptop per frame. so it wasn't possible to do the animations i needed. i don't know if they have any materials that will render fast. even simple clay like or color like stuff. with no reflections, shadows, etc. the main thing is just a few seconds per frame on a 400x400 pixel image. ideally if it output gif that would be fantastic. with keyshot 6.3 i have been outputting png files and using a website to take those and make the gif.

to give an idea of the type of simple renderings i'm talking about. you can find them on my website https://propdesign.jimdofree.com there are various toons when i just want a fast render. a few actual renderings. and a few small toon gifs. i want to switch from rhino v5 to moi v4. so i don't want something that is a rhino plugin. i want to uninstall rhino. i literally can't stand it.

O well it's seem very basic render and I think you don't need such an expansive software, maybe is time for you to get familiarity with the free open source software that can do these kind and more for free in on Blender.. and with it you can make video or png..


below a list of video tutor that can help in the learning basics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF1qEhBSfq4&list=PLa1F2ddGya_-UvuAqHAksYnB0qL9yWDO6

thanks. i had tried blender a long time ago. trying to switch from keyshot to blender was impossible for me. the blender gui is super complex. i was able to switch from keyshot to simlab. they were similar enough. i have been reading the simlab documentation and forum posts. it still seems like smilab refuses to add any non-realistic rendering options. i have been seeing people complain of the same issues. you can't do simple things fast. everything takes forever. i did see they have a new ability to utilized the free amd rendering engine. that's not bad. it would have been nicer if they integrated some kind of gpu support though. i appreciate all the suggestions.

frenchy. i saw someone complain about your posts regarding new software to try. i love them. i have been checking them out for years. that's how i knew about simlab composer. so i appreciate your posts in these regards. one reason i enjoy the moi forum so much.

update; i tried the latest version of simlab composer. i definitely prefer keyshot 6.3 a lot better. i guess i'll have to stick with that. maybe down the line i'll try the latest version of keyshot and see if it will run on a laptop. i know v7 wouldn't. i haven't seen that they changed anything much since then. so never bothered to try. i was hoping for an alternative. but keyshot seems to be pretty unique.

You can make animation with Simlab Composer too ! ;) (not with the free)
Will be more easy than Blender! ;) (but more cost of course)


Else take a look to Marmoset tool Bag : not very expensive...

https://marmoset.co/toolbag/

I made a little search, and all these software below can make animation and export them to a file (FBX) to used and rendered with few editing (Camera lighting etc.) in other application more complicated such as Blender for final result.

https://clara.io/
Model. Animate. Render. Online.
Start creating, rendering and sharing 3D with Clara.io right now, for free!

https://www.daz3d.com/daz_studio
Daz Studio is a 3D art creation software platform that enables you to make dynamic renders, animations and creations with the help of a huge library of content that’s always growing. Powerful, functional, and free, Daz Studio is used by beginners and professionals alike to create stunning, rich, and high-definition 3D art.

these two below are a bit old school software.

http://www.k-3d.org/#download

http://www.wings3d.com/
But I no tried no one of these and are all free and you dint waste money on trying.

thanks,

i'll take a look at them. some i haven't heard of and some i have. but i'll check them all out.

anthony

wings3D don't make animation! ;) Made by on person like Michael! ;)

Anim8Or yes! :) (rendering + animation but a little old school! Made by on person like Michael! ;)

https://www.anim8or.com

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.



i appreciate all the help guys.

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.

a new one reamade now

for make gif animation from images no need a gaz engine like GIMP :)

These 2 free online are sufficient...
of course you must have a Net connection
https://gifmaker.me
https://ezgif.com

hi frency,

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.

anthony

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.

this is an extension for FreeCAD
https://wiki.freecadweb.org/Animation_Workbench

some video examples http://freecadbuch.de/doku.php?id=animation:videos