Hi, i have some questions about render's program, (i know just a little bit of 3dmax and nothing of artlantis or another render programs), i would like to know which is the best, if 3dmax or another render program like artlantis, .... i wonder if artlantis is used for those who not have 3dmax or the render of artlantis is more powerful than the 3dmax?

i read on the forum that the program "cheetah" is the best of all but it is for mac which i don't have, "maxwell render" requires a lot of time for rendering and the new versions are awfull, so the logical program to begin learning seems to be.... artlantis?

what do you think?

hmm...I don't think of Max/Viz as being a renderer, but more as a modeler/animator. I'm not a huge fan of the scanline renderer that comes basic with Max (and now Mental Ray), but it is adequate.

I'm looking at Maxwell (when it finally does become available) and Vray as renderers. Ideally, maxwell is my choice, but that is solely based on potential and hype (as it isn't much more than that, at the moment).

tr

hummmm... so the render inside 3d max is not very powerful?
maxell, vray and artlantis have the same quality? i supose each program is different but ...for example..is not the same learn photopaint than photoshop

hummmm... so the render inside 3d max is not very powerful?
maxell, vray and artlantis have the same quality? i supose each program is different but ...for example..is not the same learn photopaint than photoshop

powerful is such a subjective term...I don't know what you refer to when you say "powerful". It works fine, just not all the bells and whistles that are more refined by other renderers. Just as an example, my renders on the Dust Bowl Commemorative Center (http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=172) are all VIZ scanline and I think they turned out just fine.

As to maxwell vray and artlantis having the same "quality", I'd say no. The educated eye could tell them apart if they know the overall feeling of the renderers...From what I hear, artlantis is surprisingly easy to use. I'll let others chime in...

3ds max/viz is not a renderer per se, but its the platform to use many of them since they come as plugins for it.
To me mental ray is pretty decent. Not the best option but the difficulty/speed/quality relation is good to me.
V-ray I haven't tried but they say it's better than mental ray and even faster.
Brazil I tried long time ago and it was not bad but it has probably changed a lot.
Then you have Maxwell that as for now it's not advisable since it has become a very problematic program
And artlantis produce a rather plastic renders but it's extremely easy to use and to import files from sketchup and it's also quick doing it's job.
Probably there's more option, but those are the most popular ones.

thank's you are very helpfull, now is time to try the renders programs

this picture is a bottle of cocacola that was modeled and rendered in 3d studio max 7 (at that time i did not knew sketchup), the 3dmax i have is only the program itself with no pluggins so..

the question is....if a model is rendered in 3dmax ...that means that it was rendered in mental ray?

the question is....if a model is rendered in 3dmax ...that means that it was rendered in mental ray?

No, actually renderers (and lot's of other stuff) in 3d studio work as plugins. At the moment it brings the default scanline renderer plus Mental ray, you just have to select it as the render engine at the bottom of the general tab in the render window and then configure it as you please. It's not difficult to use at all.

thanks i finally understand...
this pictures are taken from the users help from the 3dmax 7 it shows the difference between a scene rendered with the default 3ds max scanline renderer (first picture) and the same scene rendered with the mental ray renderer pluggin (second picture)

thanks i finally understand...
this pictures are taken from the users help from the 3dmax 7 it shows the difference between a scene rendered with the default 3ds max scanline renderer (first picture) and the same scene rendered with the mental ray renderer pluggin (second picture)
Yep
You can see there are caustic effects on the second, which the scanline renderer can't reproduce...

Generally speaking, I'd say:

Max scanline & Mental ray: good value for money but slow and long learning curve to get decent/realistic results (the photon mapping needs lots of experimenting, for example, to get fast and efficient renders)

Vray/Brasil/Final render: fast and efficient shaders, quite realistic results as promised, but expensive

Maxwell: relatively slow in exteriors (to veeeeery slow for interiors), but almost photorealistic results, very easy to get first decent results but need more experimenting afterwards to get more of it, as the shaders are still in devlopment, expensive too

Piranesi: very nice for nonphotorealistic renders, but quite a long learning curve, not that cheap

Artlantis R: very easy, a bit 'plastic' renders, quite limited for precise works (they had to make compromises to simplify the parameters and the process for anybody, but the result is a product that even a noob can use and produce quite fair renders)

i would like to know which is the best, if 3dmax or another render program like artlantis, ....
This is a question i have been looking to get answered also. Wish I could find a comparison matrix. If you rendered the same image in all programs, would there really be that much of a difference?

If you rendered the same scene (assuming one could play for years to achieve all the same finishes / lighting / atmospheric conditions / camera parameters etc) I'd say yes there would be a remarkable difference.

If you want shear quality no matter what the price - Maxwell will take a long time to beat.

If you want shear simplicity and speed and are happy to forego some quality - Artlantis is your baby!!

If you rendered the same scene (assuming one could play for years to achieve all the same finishes / lighting / atmospheric conditions / camera parameters etc) I'd say yes there would be a remarkable difference.

If you want shear quality no matter what the price - Maxwell will take a long time to beat.

If you want shear simplicity and speed and are happy to forego some quality - Artlantis is your baby!!
What is quality? Personally I prefer rougher looking renderings. Not into the photorealistic. If it's not built and does not exist why should it look like it does in a picture? I don't believe in the smoke and mirrors approach. this is one of the main reasons I like SU so much. Extended lines w/ jitter.

If you rendered the same scene (assuming one could play for years to achieve all the same finishes / lighting / atmospheric conditions / camera parameters etc) I'd say yes there would be a remarkable difference.

If you want shear quality no matter what the price - Maxwell will take a long time to beat.

If you want shear simplicity and speed and are happy to forego some quality - Artlantis is your baby!!
What is quality? Personally I prefer rougher looking renderings. Not into the photorealistic. If it's not built and does not exist why should it look like it does in a picture? I don't believe in the smoke and mirrors approach. this is one of the main reasons I like SU so much. Extended lines w/ jitter.
Thank you by the way for the breakdown. I would like to try Maxwell. They offer a free demo?

Thank you by the way for the breakdown. I would like to try Maxwell. They offer a free demo?

Not Yet. It isn't technically to the actual release version 1.0. Still in final stages of the release candidate...hopefully it won't be too much longer.


tr

first i don't know how to use any render program, but intead i spend a lot of time reading forums beacause i don't want to spend time to learning 5 programs to choose the best, so this is what i found...

it seems vray, brazil, and final render are very good but they are a pluggins for 3d max, and i don't like 3d max at all ,it's very difficult for me to get good results and i don't want use 3dmax anymore , so the logical results it's start with artlantis it seems a good program, is standalone (is not a 3d max pluggin) and easy to use but the renders are not very good, even on the artlantis page the pictures are not so good compare to maxell page.

... so just when i decide learn artlantis over; maxell, mental ray, v ray, brazil, final render and cheeta (sadly only for mac and i have a pc) i found cinema 4d (is not a render per se is a 3d program like 3d max) every person who uses is becoming a fan, it's build thinking one thing: intuitivity, it seems in 3d programs is the most like to sketchup and the render is fast and good beside you can put the lights and render one picture or a video that's much more flexible than rendering one picture , other thing i found, is cinema 4d come whit a program (bodypainter 3d) who can paint directly over the 3d file. Painting whit this tool is very similar to use photoshop... if that works fine it will better than piranesy who works with the renderer picture (jpg) not the 3d file. for that i decide to learn cinema 4d and use like a render program

what do you think? it was a good search? tell me your comments and renember is only what i found in forums, i don't have any experience with these programs and a very poor english as you can see

i forget final render have a pluggin for cinema 4d
and if you want to model something like this and need a program very intuitive and faster to learn chek the zbrush page:

http://209.132.69.82/zbrush/zbrush2/Z2Home.html

again is what i found, i never use zbrush but soon i get some time i will try cinema 4d and zbrush

man, I cannot wait for V-ray standalone for Sketchup...

:D

V-ray to me beats all of these...

...and cheetah 3d for pc!