3D Renderers - Bullet Points Overview

Overview on the most commonly used renderers in visual effects and 3D modeling /animation:

>>>>> KeyShot:
Simple Interface Rendering Speed Powerful Animation Advanced Features Easy Fast Accurate CPU-Powered, it takes full advantage of all cores and threads inside a computer Tight Integration: When you import 3D geometry, KeyShot maintains the entire model structure including part and assembly names Large Data Handling: Since KeyShot is CPU-based, any imported data is stored in RAM – not the video card. This allows KeyShot to handle extremely large data sets. There are no restrictions on the size of the data set as long as the computer has enough memory available.

>>>> V-RAY:

Progressive Rendering: Instead of creating the image bucket by bucket, it renders the whole output at once and quickly clears the noise in it. Probabilistic Light Sampling Integrated Embree

Great for architectural renders VRayClipper Object Render Mask/Render Subset Deep Image Output (OpenEXR 2) Open Shading Language Support VRayMetaballs Object Lens Effects in V-Ray VFB OpenColorIO Support in V-Ray VFB Support for object-based custom tags in file names in VRayHDRI Support for Mari-style <UDIM> and Mudbox-style <UVTILE> tags in VRayHDRI Reflection/Refraction trace sets in the V-Ray Object settings dialogue

>>>> Physical Renderer

Built into the core of Cinema 4D
Ton’s of tutorials
Good representation of materials in the viewport
Great for stills
Reflectance is quite robust
Excellent noise maps
Slow
No IPR
Lacks strong pass (AOV) system
No node material editor
No curvature map (though inverse AO is close)
No tri-planar map
Not longer being developed
Lights are in need of a serious upgrade
No dome light
IBL workflow is cumbersomePhysical Renderer

>>> Arnold by Solid Angle / Autodesk

Killer development team
Deep feature set
Uses all of C4D’s Noises Natively
Custom AOV’s (Arbitrary Output Variables aka passes)
Light Groups
LPE (light path expressions)
frequent C4D plugin updates
simple settings
x-particle support
supports both Mac/PC
same engine in multiple host applications
scalability, stability
Many speed enhancing short-cuts and workflows
NEW: Rounded Corners
NEW: Toon Shading / NPR Rendering
NEW: Texture Baking
NEW: Cryptomatte Support
NEW: Support LUTs in the IPR
Expensive (compared to competitors)
Confusing license system (dealing with Autodesk is far from fun in this regard)
CPU only
Slow compared to most GPU renderers
owned by Autodesk (bad track record of acquisitions)
poor choice for interior rendering
caustics are weak

>>> Cycles4D by Insydium

Works both on CPU and GPU
tons of features for rendering X-Particles
affordable
great node material editor
plenty of learning resources.
Cycles is developed by the Blender Foundation and not Insydium. The open source nature can scare large studios who are looking for deep customer support and accountability. I’ve found that it also a bit cumbersome on seemingly simple shading/lighting tasks. AOV’s are also a bit lacking.

>>>> Arnold

Killer development team
Deep feature set
Uses all of C4D’s Noises Natively
Custom AOV’s (Arbitrary Output Variables aka passes)
Light Groups
LPE (light path expressions)
frequent C4D plugin updates
simple settings
x-particle support
supports both Mac/PC
same engine in multiple host applications
scalability, stability
Many speed enhancing short-cuts and workflows
NEW: Rounded Corners
NEW: Toon Shading / NPR Rendering
NEW: Texture Baking
NEW: Cryptomatte Support
NEW: Support LUTs in the IPR
Expensive (compared to competitors)
Confusing license system (dealing with Autodesk is far from fun in this regard)
CPU only
Slow compared to most GPU renderers
owned by Autodesk (bad track record of acquisitions)
poor choice for interior rendering
caustics are weak

>>>>> Octane by Otoy

Easy photorealism
IPR Speed
IPR window features
speed of rendering (up to a certain level of complexity)
simple settings
custom material node interface
Octane Scatter Utility
tri-planar mapping
NEW: Post FX
Limited by GPU memory
Stability
scalability
no custom AOVs
no light group AOV
no light linking
inconsistent/delayed updates
limited maps/materials
layering multiple materials is cumbersome
Poor C4D Noise support (requires on the fly baking)
Poor cloud rendering support/options
“Octane Effect” (see GSG Podcast)

>>>>> Redshift

Balances load between CPU and GPU
Very Fast (when tuned properly)
production focused features
Fully featured AOV system (including custom AOVs)
textured lights
biased engine
unified sampling
versatile uber shader
tons of map types
a responsive development team
Redshift Proxies/Instances
Supported by several cloud-render farms (including Pixel Plow)
X-Particles support
NEW: Light Groups
NEW: Custom AOVs
NEW: Cryptomatte Support
NEW: Curve rendering overhauled
NEW: Supports LUTs in Render View
Requires knowledge of settings to reach “photorealism”
Becomes slow and unresponsive with scenes that have many dense objects
Quirky issues still plague the plugin (random IPR refreshes, crashes) Though the dev team is quick to respond to issues.
Higher learning curve



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#3d, #renderer, #arnold, #vray, #keyshot, #cycles4d, #octane, #redshift, #3dmax, #cinema3d, #maya, #nuke, #houdini, #blender