Title says it all...........:cool:

http://www.fryrender.com/


.....it includes plugins for Skp 5 and 6 (Pro obviously).


Download away.....

cool...I'm on my way...

Bricklyne...you beat me to it. I was just about to post the announcement ;) :)

Some difficulties I am experiencing:

1. No way to match the rendering exactly to the SU screen.(besides using film and stage plugin, which I find tedious to use).
2. Sketchup sun+sky location and settings are not automatically transferred to Fry.
3. Not so intuitive GUI = not possible to open the different Fry panels (settings, environment, etc...) simultaneously.
4. No seperate UV-mapping settings (=planar/cubic/spherical:etc...)
5. Crashes (bug splats) on 'big' files on export.
6. Textures on objects often get scrambled (while they do render properly in Maxwell and Vray).
7. No fullscreen render screen (as in maxwell and Vray).
8. Large time between hitting render and the first refresh of the render screen.
9. etc....

I need more time to experiment before judging the software, but I am not so impressed at first look.
I bought the software when it was 'hyped' some months ago.....hopefully a good choice :wondering....not sure

Some difficulties I am experiencing:

1. No way to match the rendering exactly to the SU screen.(besides using film and stage plugin, which I find tedious to use).
2. Sketchup sun+sky location and settings are not automatically transferred to Fry.
3. Not so intuitive GUI = not possible to open the different Fry panels (settings, environment, etc...) simultaneously.
4. 'Black' renders randomly (sometimes it works, sometimes not. lottery?)
5. No seperate UV-mapping settings (=planar/cubic/spherical:etc...)
6. Crashes (bug splats) on 'big' files on export.
7. Textures on objects often get scrambled (while they do render properly in Maxwell and Vray).
8. No fullscreen render screen (as in maxwell and Vray).
9. Large time between hitting render and the first refresh of the render screen.
10. etc....

I need more time to experiment before judging the software, but I am not so pleased at first look.
I bought the software when it was 'hyped' some months ago.....hopefully a good choice :wondering....not sure


...........yeah, you have to remember that you're comparing a BETA version of software to final release versions (i.e. Maxwell, and Vray). Where were those 2 software, in terms of stability, performance and features available, during their own beta stages of development? Vray didn't even have a Sketchup ( or any other software platform outside MAX) plugin prior to their final version 1.0 release, and sill didn't release one until long after. As for Maxwell, I'm going to assume that you never used it or its plugins during the RC's 1-5 (post Beta 1.22)fiasco, long before they ever released their final version. And oh yeah, let's alsot not forget that the Sketchup plugin is one of the more recent ones they released and even by their own admission, it's not up to the level of performance and stability of the other available plugins - there was still a lot of work to be done on it to get it to the same level as the other available plugins.

A lot of people tend to forget and think they're dealing with a complete software when criticizing Fry, forgetting that it is still a Beta; which is probably a credit to all the work that its developers have done on it to bring it to such a level of usability at this stage of its development along with the extensive list of features it currently offers........as a Beta. Maxwell final version 1.5 still has no displacement or instancing to talk of (both available in Fry) and I'm not sure if Vray supports those 2 features neither with it's Sketchup plugin.

Lastly, don't also forget that the Fry creator (Chema) was for the longest time reluctant to release a public demo until they felt it was stable or ready enough to be used outside the pre-order beta-testers group of people. Even though it seems that they've now reached that point, my personal feeling is that they felt some level of pressure from potential customers who wanted to try it out ( and certain very vocal ones from this Forum, who will for now remain unnamed; I'm not looking right at you), to change their plans and release it long before they had initially planned to. Obviously there were other factors involved in the decision to release it early, such as leaked cracked versions and the such, as Chema explained when he released it, but I largely think it was a marketing and decision based on the aforementioned public pressure.

To continuously complain about a lack of a public demo for the longest time and then to take the opportunity to basically trash it, or dump on its shortcomings, once it is (prematurely, IMO) released, is IMHO in bad taste.

.......but that's just me.

Oops...I didn't mean to step on toes with my comments Bricklyne.
I mentioned those points as 'difficulties' I experience and not so much as downsides, but I can easily understand my comments can be interpreted as critique.

Some months ago, a hype was created on Fry as being the 'Maxwell killer' and I was expecting too much too soon at the moment of my purchase I guess. The SU plugin was finished already some months ago but was only released today, so yes, the excitement and expectations were high (and in a way generated by Fry developers themselves on their forum).

Indeed, it is a beta product (I forgot that while posting the earlier comments) and should be looked at likewise.

I will take your reply in to consideration next time I dive into testing new ('pay for beta') software.
Thanks for pointing that out.


Some things you mention in your reply can not apply to me however (FYI: I never asked for a demo, I've been using Maxwell since alpha, ...), but I guess I picked up on the main point you wanted to communicate and kindly leave the others to your account.

Be cool bro', no need to make faulty assumptions.


Regards,
Kwistenbiebel

By the way,

I purchased the Fry beta (about 400 euro some months ago),

Does this make me a 'customer' or a 'beta tester'?
Should I hold back on commenting because it is beta?...or do I have the right to comment since I paid for the software...?
To what extent can I expect to get a 'working product' as a paying 'whatever' ? Only when v 1.0 arrives?

Think about it....

By the way,

I purchased the Fry beta (about 400 euro some months ago),

Does this make me a 'customer' or a 'beta tester'?
Should I hold back on commenting because it is beta?...or do I have the right to comment since I paid for the software...?
To what extent can I expect to get a 'working product' as a paying 'whatever' ? Only when v 1.0 arrives?

Think about it....


Kwisten, I'm not interested in getting into an argument with you, if you feel the need to complain, criticize or comment, then feel free to knock yourself out. Although it would seem, that the logical place to do that should be at the Fryrender forum.

But like I said before, that's just me.

Anyway, here's my first try with the demo. I just go Calatrava's Torso from the model Forum here at PPB, and did a straight out render. Very basic settings, and let it cook for about an hour and a half, but it had already pretty much cleaned up long before that.

Sketchup screen.......

.....and the Fry output shortly after.

Seemed intuitive enough to me.

I invite you to render a heavily textured scene and try to simply add reflection to one of those textured surfaces (preferably an exact positioned texture) by making it a Fry material....
Not as straightforward to pull off as you might think. (it does not seem to transfer uv settings of the SU material automatically)

let the battle begin :) I'm curious why they are still releasing renderers for Sketchup, I think there are already enough of those already :) just need to speed up maxwell or oversimplify vray ^^

btw is it me or are there a few errors in that render???

Kwisten, I'm not interested in getting into an argument with you, if you feel the need to complain, criticize or comment, then feel free to knock yourself out. Although it would seem, that the logical place to do that should be at the Fryrender forum.

But like I said before, that's just me.

Anyway, here's my first try with the demo. I just go Calatrava's Torso from the model Forum here at PPB, and did a straight out render. Very basic settings, and let it cook for about an hour and a half, but it had already pretty much cleaned up long before that.

Sketchup screen.......


So you can make a post about the product, but don't critique or criticise it on this forum? That makes a lot of sense. I think its fair to warn people who want to try it out of the difficulties of actually using it.

So you can make a post about the product, but don't critique or criticise it on this forum? That makes a lot of sense. I think its fair to warn people who want to try it out of the difficulties of actually using it.

I said before, I wasn't looking for an argument, but since you want to quibble on semantics, then you'll probably enlighten me as to how my telling him to "feel free" to critique or comment ( or more precisely to knock himself out doing so), if that was indeed what he fancied doing, equates to me prohibiting or preventing him from critiquing and commenting?
....yeah, makes a lot of sense to me too :rolleyes:

As opposed to, oh I don't know, the suggestion that as the paid customer that he is, perhaps those critiques and comments would better be served if presented at the Fryrender forum to the developers who are very responsive to issues. To quote one of those same Fryrender developers over at the Feversoft forum:

"if we don't know about the issues you're having, we won't be able to help you. Sitting back and waiting won't solve the problems you're experiencing imho"

But like I said before, he's free to do all the critiquing and commenting here if that's what he wants.

But some people will split hairs on just about anything........

p.s. how's that ignore list thingie working out for you. were you finally able to figure it out yet?

let the battle begin :) I'm curious why they are still releasing renderers for Sketchup, I think there are already enough of those already :) just need to speed up maxwell or oversimplify vray ^^

btw is it me or are there a few errors in that render???

I know what you're referring to and I probably wasn't clear in mentioning that I spent almost no time preparing the model for the render ( as in texturing or material preparation, which is what's causing the bright reflective material that was a result of my playing around with the Fry material editor).

There may also be other issues and errors that are a direct result of my unfamiliarity with the plugin and Fry in general.

Ok Bricklyne...I think you made your point by now.
Feel free to PM anytime if you have further concerns about the subject and are up for a good (friendly) chat about it.

I am very interested to hear peoples opinion about the software so I invite all to try out the demo.

As you know, software developers tend to look at other forums besides their own to see and learn how their baby is doing....and PPB is often such a place that get's bookmarked easily ;)
So some critique and also positive feedback can be picked up and used as actual feedback.

Could I be wrong...is there a bit of cross-border tension happening here? :D (I mean imasayer & Bricklyne)

I'd love to get in on this spirited discussion about the two physical renderers, but I can't even get the fryrender plugin to show up in the plugins pulldown menu. I am almost too embarrassed to ask for help with this but I don't know what else to do! I'm following the plugin instructions from feversoft but nothin' shows up. Anyone have any advice?

I am almost too embarrassed to ask for help with this but I don't know what else to do! I'm following the plugin instructions from feversoft but nothin' shows up. Anyone have any advice?

If someone had, I'm interested too...
The plug doesn't run (I can't see it appearing nowhere in the menus (exporting, tools, save as..., ...). Does we have a particular manipulation to do ?
I tried to ask to the Fryrender forum members but the access to the forum is restricted for me (I'm registered but can't access, 'cause not granted...).

A_Minima,
It's good to know I'm not the only one having this problem.

If someone had, I'm interested too...
The plug doesn't run (I can't see it appearing nowhere in the menus (exporting, tools, save as..., ...). Does we have a particular manipulation to do ?
I tried to ask to the Fryrender forum members but the access to the forum is restricted for me (I'm registered but can't access, 'cause not granted...).
lol it's the same with maxwell forums, if you'd like to say something you have to be vip, while u can ask this by clicking groups and request access, it's never granted, not to me anyways. After clicking 30 times over 3 months, I PM'ed the admin to ask why, I got banned,...

ash, did you purchase maxwell?

No I only tried the trial and wasn't that thrilled about it, I'm thinking about buying Vray though. But it's not because I didn't pay for Maxwell I got banned cause they can't know if I purchased it or not, I simply asked to join. I wrote a pretty detailed tutorial for Sketchup-Maxwell and wanted to share it. To join a usergroup you must follow the correct procedure which I did, they never asked me for my serial or I never had to fill out something like that.

How do I join a Usergroup?
To join a usergroup click the usergroup link on the page header (dependent on template design) and you can then view all usergroups. Not all groups are open access -- some are closed and some may even have hidden memberships. If the board is open then you can request to join it by clicking the appropriate button. The user group moderator will need to approve your request; they may ask why you want to join the group. Please do not pester a group moderator if they turn your request down -- they will have their reasons.

It's ok though I don't want to be a member anymore anyway if they are so closeminded, the fact that they won't let people post that's just their loss...

I'd love to get in on this spirited discussion about the two physical renderers, but I can't even get the fryrender plugin to show up in the plugins pulldown menu. I am almost too embarrassed to ask for help with this but I don't know what else to do! I'm following the plugin instructions from feversoft but nothin' shows up. Anyone have any advice?

Can you see a Fryrender Menu on you menu bar at the top right?

If not, then it means you didn't install it properly. The toolbar doesn't show up until you select it to from the menu. And of course the menu doesn't show up if it is not installed properly. Make sure you read the installation documentation as to the 2 different places that the files are supposed to go into. And also make sure you are installing the right version of plugin for the right version of Sketchup. Obviously version 5 files will not work if you install them as Sketchup version 6 pro files.

I'm currently not at my home computer so I forget which files go into which folders, but I'll try to post up a follow-up email with details when I get back home this evening. In the meantime you can just go through this (the above) little checklist to be sure.

This is a copy paste from the install.txt for the licensed version.
I reckon it will work similar for the demo version:

Installation instructions for FRYRENDER plugin for SketchUp
-----------------------------------------------------------

1. fry_su will only work on the PRO version of SketchUp

2. Copy fry_su.dll file to <SketchUp folder>\Exporters
Copy fry_su_loader_SU#.rbs and Win32API.so files to <SketchUp folder>\plugins

3. Start SketchUp, if everything is ok, you should see a FRYRENDER entry under Plugins menu section

Thanks Bricklyne & Kwistenbiebel,
I checked everything again & I'm putting everything in the appropriate folders. I'm pretty sure they're in the correct folders because there are numerous .dll files in the folder where I'm copying the fry_su.dll file and the same for the other files.
This is my favorite part of the installation instructions; "if everything is ok"
What about if everything isn't ok!!
Thanks anyway guys, Bricklyne I'll be looking for your follow up.
Joe

Jiggy,
Maybe send an e-mail to Fry to explain the problem?
(I'll pm Chema or Joesfer myself tomorrow about it).

Here is the first somewhat decent thing I could get out of the plugin.
There is still room for improvement of the plugin, mostly concerning better and faster workflow but it is already workable (some workarounds though).

Cheers,
Kwistenbiebel

Wow that looks great. I really appreciate the way you guys are willing to help out new members. I have been corresponding with José Esteve of Fryrender & I just sent him the results of a diagnostic I ran earlier at his request.
Anyway, thanks again for all your interest in helping me out. Mercy beaucoup!
P.S. how is it that all you Belgians speak English so well?

hehe nice compliment about the belgians jiggy, or am I not included ^^ it's mercI beaucoup btw otherwise you're asking for a lot of mercy hehe :)

great kwistenbiebel, is that sketchup? that must be one hell of a model... I see a minor flaw in the texture of the sea though, on the left there's some kind of pattern

Ash,
Of course you're included. I'll take all the mercy I can get - it must have been a freudian slip. It's been long time since freshman French class!
Kwistenbiebel, I second Ash's comments. Are the sails from sketchup too?

Truly great work with the model kwistenbiebel! :)

so what's your verdict so far? Is this finally the cream of the crop, maxwell replacement we're all looking for? Is it better than Vray's workflow?

I have also had trouble getting to the Fry forums. Maybe they noticed I already have Maxwell installed on the HD…
So Kwistenbiebel, what is the main difference between Fry and Maxwell, in your expert opinion? The renders look very much like the Maxwell ones, but how about UI/setup and render speed? Does it do something Maxwell doesn’t do yet? Is displacement mapping working ok, and how does that affect speed/ use of memory? Do I want to spend some time playing with this version?
Sheik

@Spadestick and Sheik,

At the risk of getting the head chopped off by bricklyn (just kidding ;)) I must say Fry isn't production ready (yet).

My opinions so far:

-The advantages Fry has over Maxwell are the extra options that Maxwell doesn't have yet: displacement, instancing etc...

-Material editor works almost exactly the same.

- render times are comparable but I have the feeling Maxwell is slightly faster.

-workflow in Fry plugin is still tedious. There is nothing faster than Maxwell's studio for scene setup.

- no Wysiwyg sky/sun set up in Fry.

- texture uv-mapping: Fry has no uv-mapping options. Maxwell does have 'em.

- Fry also has a standalone but it is a naked one which doesn't allow you much to edit. Maxwell Studio is much better to do those things that sketchup is limited at.

In general, both Fry as Maxwell are really comparable but I tend to like Maxwell more at this stage as they have developed a much faster workflow (studio) than Fry currently has.

Fry has the overal advantage of having more features....but I guess those features will find its way soon to Maxwell as well. (displacement is announced)..

wow! that's a great comparison review of the beta! Thanks heaps... After all this time, 2 years into seeing these new renderers coming out, I'm still deciding between a purchase of Vray for Sketchup, and Maxwell.

I'm always having material mapping problems with Artlantis R demo - when it automatically sets all materials to UV mode, transparency of alpha materials always becomes a problem because of the orientation and sizing, very frustrating.

"England expects that every man will do his duty"

@jiggityjizzo

Did you manage to get the Fry demo working? I'm having the same problem. It installed fine on my laptop, but not on my main machine. I went through exactly the same procedure both times...

Any News about the problem of the sketchup plugin for fryrender?
I have the same problem - it shows no fryrender plugin!
please help

Chris

I emailed feversoft about it, eventually I worked out that the frysdk.dll wasnt going to the right place (in my case, on vista x64 it should go into windows/sysWOW64 ). Initially though, we solved it just by re-downloading and installing the demo, I've no idea what went wrong the first time.

Hope this helps.

Peter

Hi,

now my problem is also fixed and i don't no why it is now functioning :-(
I have installed Sketchup and fry new and doing that for about 3 times... know it works :-)
so, lets render...

Chris

Some difficulties I am experiencing:

1. No way to match the rendering exactly to the SU screen.(besides using film and stage plugin, which I find tedious to use).
2. Sketchup sun+sky location and settings are not automatically transferred to Fry.
3. Not so intuitive GUI = not possible to open the different Fry panels (settings, environment, etc...) simultaneously.
4. No seperate UV-mapping settings (=planar/cubic/spherical:etc...)
5. Crashes (bug splats) on 'big' files on export.
6. Textures on objects often get scrambled (while they do render properly in Maxwell and Vray).
7. No fullscreen render screen (as in maxwell and Vray).
8. Large time between hitting render and the first refresh of the render screen.
9. etc....

I need more time to experiment before judging the software, but I am not so impressed at first look.
I bought the software when it was 'hyped' some months ago.....hopefully a good choice :wondering....not sure

It works fine with me when exporting big scene with lights, materials and xfrog plants which we all know it creates big files..
IMO fryrender was just like other render engine in first release..but soon this guys will do something on it...

Jiggy,
Maybe send an e-mail to Fry to explain the problem?
(I'll pm Chema or Joesfer myself tomorrow about it).

Here is the first somewhat decent thing I could get out of the plugin.
There is still room for improvement of the plugin, mostly concerning better and faster workflow but it is already workable (some workarounds though).

Cheers,
Kwistenbiebel

how long does it take you to render this??
PC spec??

does somebody try using kerkythea?

http://www.kerkythea.net/joomla/

by the way... its free

The search tool could have show you the first post dealing with Kerkythea appeared on 2006 (feb. the 2th) and that a section of the forum is dedicated to (http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=96)

As an update to this 1 year old thread, I must say most hickups that are mentioned in this thread are solved by now and Fry runs smoothly in a sketchup combo.

As I received quite some PM questions about the Fry demo on SCF, I decided to open an unofficial fryrender forum so non customers have a voice.
(I have nothing to do with Feversoft as a note).

So if you have questions about learning Fry and the SU plugin feel free to drop by.
There's also a gallery section for posting and discussing your rendered works.

Here's the link to the forum: The Unofficial Fryrender forum (http://frydemo.forumotion.net)

Everybody is welcome!

.

Mate good on you!!!!!!

Yeah just can't understand why they don't allow read only of the official forums!

... :)

same with their precious material libraries...