Renderers: a guide for the perplexed

Rendering software
The
Rendering
makingsoftware
of 2012
Renderers: a guide
for the perplexed
RenderMan or RenderMan-compliant? V-Ray or mental ray?
Our guide to today’s expanding rendering software market cuts
through the confusion to help you find the renderer you really need
Do you need a third-party renderer?
GLOSSARY
Key technical terms
used in this article
Biased rendering
> Any rendering system that
does not converge on the
correct solution when many
renders of the same scene
are averaged. Bias often
occurs when an algorithm
ignores or misrepresents the
contribution of a particular
lighting effect – for example,
reflected or refracted light –
for the sake of computational
speed. Many standard
algorithms, including most
radiosity methods and photon
mapping, are biased.
RenderMan-compliant renderer
> A renderer that conforms to
Pixar’s RenderMan Interface
Specification protocol. Often
known as RIB renderers
after RenderMan’s native
RIB file format. The Pixar
software commonly known
as ‘RenderMan’ used to
be more strictly known as
‘PhotoRealistic RenderMan’
or ‘PRMan’, to distinguish it
from this protocol.
Does VFX have to mean RenderMan?
Unbiased rendering
> Any rendering system that
converges on the correct
solution on average. The term
is often used interchangeably
with ‘physically based
rendering’, although this is
not actually accurate: a result
that is ‘physically correct’
is one that matches nature,
whereas ‘unbiased’ is purely a
mathematical concept.
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The first question to ask when choosing a renderer is
whether you actually need a third-party solution. For
modo and Cinema 4D users, the answer is probably
‘no’. Artists we spoke to commented that Cinema’s
base engine is adequate for many jobs, although
most professionals also use Maxon’s Advanced
Render 3 module. Similarly, NewTek evangelist William
Vaughan estimates that “90 per cent of LightWave
users work with the built-in renderer”.
Over in the 3ds Max and Maya communities,
things are rather different, with most mid-to-large
VFX houses opting for a RenderMan-compliant
system such as RenderMan, 3Delight or AIR;
while most visualisation studios opt for one of
the ‘big three’ 3ds Max renderers, V-Ray, Brazil r/s
and finalRender, for their GI capabilities and high
raytracing speed. Houdini’s built-in Mantra renderer
offers a hybrid of the two approaches: its “single
biggest underestimated feature”, according to Black
Mountain VFX’s Abdelkareem Abonamous.
In serious visual effects work, it’s easy to assume
that there is only one renderer in town: Pixar’s
RenderMan. But that isn’t necessarily the case.
“RenderMan is great… if you have enough of a team
to support it,” says VFX supervisor Allan McKay, a
veteran of ILM, Blur Studio and Prime Focus. “A lot
of small and mid-sized studios just automatically
assume their work is going to look as good as the
big boys if they use it. It’s like buying a Flame suite
because you hear it’s good for compositing.”
For smaller studios, RenderMan-compliant systems
like 3Delight, AIR or even the open-source Aqsis
| February 2010
and Pixie offer many of the benefits without such
heavy technical overheads, while McKay notes that
mental ray is also worth considering. “RenderMan is
much more flexible and open, so it’s very fast when
optimised. But mental ray is really solid for certain
things like water and glass.”
Do you need a physically based system?
Of all of the issues raised here, the pros and cons
of physically based rendering have probably
been responsible for the most flame wars over
the past five years. While conventional renderers
use mathematical shortcuts to approximate the
behaviour of light, sacrificing absolute realism for
speed and controllability, newer systems such as
Maxwell Render, fryrender and Indigo Renderer use
algorithms that closely replicate the real world. Such
packages progressively refine the rendered result
over time, resulting in a trade-off between speed
and image quality. They offer potentially unparalleled
results, but many artists find them agonisingly slow.
So which is ‘better’? While most visualisation
studios we spoke to used V-Ray for most of their
work, physically based renderers also had staunch
supporters; while some used both, either on a per-job
basis, or employing a physically based renderer to get
an idea of what overall lighting levels should be.
This one really does come down to personal taste.
01 V-Ray
Many 3ds Max artists’ renderer of choice,
and especially ubiquitous in visualisation
> TYPE Biased/unbiased (depends on settings),
non-RenderMan-compliant
> PRIMARY USES VFX, visualisation
> HOST APPLICATIONS
Native support for: 3ds Max, Maya. Via third
party: Blender, Cinema 4D, Rhino, SketchUp
> PRICE $999
> DEVELOPER Chaos Group
At times, the presence of V-Ray in the ‘software
used’ lists in online galleries seems so ubiquitous
that you’d be forgiven for thinking that it came
built in to 3ds Max: just one measure of how much
the speed and power of this Bulgarian-developed
renderer have endeared it to artists, both for
visualisation and personal work, and to a lesser
extent, VFX. Although interviewees noted that
recent updates to mental ray are encouraging
some studios to switch back, V-Ray’s all-round
strengths, good forum support and large pool of
freelance artists make it difficult to dislodge from
its position of dominance in the industry.
The right renderer for the job
Over the next six pages, you can find profiles of
ten of the most important renderers currently on
the market – and what their users feel are their
strengths and weaknesses. For reasons of space,
we haven’t included renderers intended primarily
for industrial design tools or SketchUp. Nor have
we covered renderers still awaiting a 1.0 release,
such as LuxRender or FurryBall; or those on which
development has been discontinued, such as Gelato
or BMRT. And, with the exception of mental ray, we
felt that it was unnecessary to review the built-in
render engines of the main 3D packages in detail,
since most people are already familiar with them.
The summary table at the end of the article lists
other key third-party renderers and built-in render
engines, and you can find a more information on our
website, including an extended version of this article.
But for now, happy render hunting!
More information online: tinyurl.com/renderers
EXPERT OPINION
Text: Jim Thacker
ew other parts of the 3D market offer quite
the thrilling – and often bemusing – diversity
as rendering software. While most artists
are content to use the tools built into their primary
application or one of a small number of specialist
packages for modelling, texturing and animation,
rendering solutions multiply like rabbits. In the
preliminary research for this article, we counted
over 40 currently in use – and that’s before you get
to the CAD industry. Sometimes, you suspect that
developers are writing them just for the fun of it…
So for anyone overwhelmed by the sheer range of
systems available, we’ve put together this guide for
the perplexed. But first, a few basic questions.
F
An industry standard:
four of the five previous
winning entries in the
Architectural 3D Awards,
including this 2006 image
by Gustavo Capote, list
V-Ray as the renderer used
3dworldmag.com
Gus Capote, art director, Neoscape
STRENGTHS
• Great speed-to-render-quality ratio
• Very stable on large scenes
• Multiple calculation options, including brute
force, irradiance maps and light cache
WEAKNESSES
• Limited antialiasing on channel passes
• Distributed rendering can create issues
with 3ds Max’s Backburner system
February 2010 |
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049
Rendering software
Rendering software
Its origins may lie in
VFX, but Brazil r/s also
remains a workhorse of
visualisation studios such
as Utrecht’s 3idee
Used in both VFX and
visualisation, recent
high-profile finalRender
projects include these
shots from Uncharted
Territory’s work on
the movie 2012
While its first audience came
from automotive visualisation,
DCC studios are starting
to realise the power and
simplicity of HyperShot
05 FPrime
The interactive renderer that changed
the way many people work with LightWave 3D
> TYPE Biased, non-RenderMan-compliant
> PRIMARY USES General
> HOST APPLICATIONS LightWave 3D
> PRICE $399
> DEVELOPER Worley Laboratories
Image © Drive Design
EXPERT OPINION Joe Zeff,
02 Brazil r/s
03 finalRender
04 HyperShot
A third-party renderer for 3ds Max that
straddles the worlds of VFX and visualisation
A fast, versatile raytracing render engine
that performs strongly on complex scenes
A ‘little renderer’ from the world of design
visualisation that’s starting to make it big in DCC
> TYPE Biased, non-RenderMan-compliant
> PRIMARY USES VFX, visualisation
> HOST APPLICATIONS
Native support for: 3ds Max
Via third party: Rhino
> PRICE $995 (includes 10 render nodes)
> DEVELOPER Caustic Graphics
> TYPE Biased, non-RenderMan compliant
> PRIMARY USES VFX, visualisation
> HOST APPLICATIONS 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, Maya
> PRICE €695–1,295
($1,050-1,950: varies according to edition)
> DEVELOPER cebas Visual Technology
> TYPE Biased, non-RenderMan-compliant
> PRIMARY USES Visualisation
> HOST APPLICATIONS
Native support for: Pro/Engineer, Rhino, SketchUp,
SolidWorks, SpaceClaim. Supports most DCC
packages via 3DS, Collada, FBX and OBJ formats
> PRICE $995 (HD edition: see website for others)
> DEVELOPER Bunkspeed
Of the three main third-party 3ds Max renderers,
Brazil r/s has arguably the strongest pedigree in VFX.
Scott Kirvan and Steve Blackmon, co-founders of
original developer SplutterFish, both worked at Blur
Studio in the 1990s: a background borne out by
Brazil’s raytracing and antialiasing capabilities. While
it has not achieved the same ubiquity in visualisation
as V-Ray – and lacks a physical sky system and GI
cache for animations – it maintains a dedicated user
base, though announcements have slowed since
Brazil was acquired by hardware rendering firm
Caustic Graphics earlier this year. It will be interesting
to see where Caustic takes this much-loved tool.
EXPERT OPINION
Michiel Quist, founder, 3idee
STRENGTHS
• High stability
• Very fast raytracing and 3D motion blur
• Quality and speed of image sampling
WEAKNESSES
• Small user base
• No SDK
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Speed and performance on complex scenes were
the key features cited by our interviewees in
choosing finalRender, one of the three ‘big’ 3ds Max
renderers: both selling points that seem to have
been amplified in the recent R3 release. While a
smaller user base makes it more difficult for studios
to call upon a pool of freelancers while scaling up
for projects than with V-Ray, the product maintains
a strong following – while its visibility in the world
of visual effects has been recently raised by its
use at Uncharted Territory, lead facility on Roland
Emmerich’s 2012. Native versions for Maya and
Cinema 4D further widen finalRender’s appeal.
Creative director, Splashlight
STRENGTHS
• Ultra-fast rendering on complex scenes
• Handles area lights and transparency
without significant time penalty
• Intuitive, efficient progressive render engine
WEAKNESSES
• Lacks ability to use LightWave’s volumetrics
•S
truggles with some new material nodes
With a development team including technical
Academy Award winner Henrik Wann Jensen, there
was little doubt that HyperShot would turn out to be
a bit special. Marketed as ‘The first digital camera
for your 3D data’, ease of use was a priority from
the outset, with the renderer quickly finding favour
with industrial designers wanting to visualise their
own models, but put off by the complexities of Maya
or Showcase. Recently, however, DCC professionals
have begun to realise the power concealed beneath
HyperShot’s deceptively simple exterior. “It’s a little
renderer – but it can kick ass,” says Escape Studios
training development director Lee Danskin.
EXPERT OPINION Ari SachterZeltzer, owner, Shadowplay Studio
STRENGTHS
• Extensive, customisable feature set
• Good render elements system, including option
to include/exclude objects
• Powerful new layered EXR exporter
WEAKNESSES
• Hardcoded defaults not ideal for speed or quality
• Needs a proxy system
EXPERT OPINION Mark Pritchard,
design manager, Drive Design
STRENGTHS
• Extreme ease of use
• Very rapid results
• Deceptively flexible material system
WEAKNESSES
• Manipulation tools can be awkward
Image © Splashlight
Image © 3idee
Images © Columbia Pictures
When Steve Worley first released FPrime back
in 2004, some people jokingly suggested that
he should put in an offer to buy LightWave
itself, such was the developer’s standing in
the host app’s user community. While the
market has caught up to some extent, with
some interviewees reporting that they now
use FPrime mainly for setting up lights and
surfacing, it’s still remarkable how quickly
this ultra-fast interactive renderer made itself
indispensable in so many people’s workflows.
Real-time previews make set-up more intuitive,
while the progressive rendering engine allows
users to stop and start renders without having
to wait to the end to see results.
FPrime offers LightWave 3D
users fast, intuitive interactive
rendering on jobs such as this
print ad from Splashlight
3dworldmag.com
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February 2010 |
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051
Tim Ellis, head of unbiased
lighting and texturing,
Cityscape Digital
STRENGTHS
• Unparalleled render quality
• Intuitive network rendering,
including resume render
• Powerful Multilight system
WEAKNESSES
• Render times can still
be very long, particularly
for larger scenes
Early users of GPU-accelerated rendering and
compositing system MachStudio Pro include pre-viz
house The Third Floor. Will VFX studios follow suit?
08 mental ray
09 RenderMan
10 Turtle
Can this GPU-accelerated production renderer
and compositing system live up to its early hype?
The first port of call for artists working in Max, Maya
or Softimage, enjoying a resurgence in popularity
Pixar’s production workhorse retains its position
as the big name in rendering for visual effects
Robust global illumination and advanced baking
features make for an indispensable games tool
> TYPE Biased, non-RenderMan-compliant
> PRIMARY USES Animation, visualisation
> HOST APPLICATIONS Native support for:
ArchiCAD, 3ds Max, Maya, Rhino, SketchUp.
Supports most DCC applications via FBX format
> PRICE $3,995
> DEVELOPER StudioGPU
> TYPE Biased, non-RenderMan-compliant
> PRIMARY USES General
> HOST APPLICATIONS 3ds Max, AutoCAD,
Inventor, Maya, Revit, Softimage
> PRICE Integrated into host application
> DEVELOPER mental images
> TYPE Biased, RenderMan-compliant
> PRIMARY USES VFX
> HOST APPLICATIONS Native support for: Maya
Via third party: Blender, Cinema 4D, Softimage
> PRICE $3,500 (Pro Server edition)
> DEVELOPER Pixar Animation Studios
> TYPE Biased, non-RenderMan-compliant
> PRIMARY USES Games
> HOST APPLICATIONS Maya
> PRICE $1,499
> DEVELOPER Illuminate Labs
Built into 3ds Max, Maya and Softimage, mental ray
remains the first port of call for many smaller studios,
both in VFX and visualisation, with interviewees
reporting a return to the platform from third-party
tools in recent years. As well as the price – or lack of
it – users cite its wide range of physically accurate
preset shaders and ease of set-up as key selling
points. Jamie Cardoso, co-author of the book
Realistic Architectural Visualization with 3ds Max and
mental ray, notes the “few drawbacks” as the nature
of its proxy system, and the fact that the new iray
interactive rendering engine, while more powerful
than alternatives, is not yet part of Max or Maya.
For large animation houses, RenderMan remains
the renderer to beat. Developed and used by Pixar
since the late 1980s, our interviewees noted that it
requires a large technical support team to harness
fully, and that reliance on third-party exporters
to get files into its RIB format can be an issue
for smaller studios, but that its reputation as a
production workhorse remains unchallenged. As
ILM VFX supervisor John Knoll notes: “RenderMan’s
widespread use among facilities whose reputation
depends on creating consistently excellent imagery is
telling. Its extreme flexibility, quality, robustness and
scalability have made it the standard that it is today.”
EXPERT OPINION Jamie Cardoso,
EXPERT OPINION
052
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Chris Edwards, CEO, The Third Floor
STRENGTHS
• Intuitive interactive workflow
• Empowers directors and cinematographers
WEAKNESSES
• Export process from Maya is time-consuming
and not straightforward
• Artists require training in unique workflow
| February 2010
A shot rendered in 3ds Max and mental
ray at GMJ Design. The renderer offers an
attractive mix of power and accessibility
07 MachStudio Pro
With the advent of a new generation of tools that
actively harness a workstation’s GPU to calculate
results, the goal of production-quality renders in
seconds – rather than minutes or hours – may finally
be approaching. The first of this wave of applications
to hit the market, GPU-accelerated rendering,
compositing and grading system MachStudio Pro
promises not merely dramatically reduced render
times but the potential to open up entirely new
production workflows. While it’s still too early to tell
whether the software really lives up to the hype,
sources tell us that major London VFX houses are in
detailed discussions with developer StudioGPU.
Offering extreme
realism, and now with
an improved speedto-noise ratio, Maxwell
remains a benchmark
for unbiased renderers
A retail unit in Oxford Street, London
rendered with 3ds Max and mental ray
at Glass Canvas Productions
RenderMan remains the
tool of choice for large
studios such as ILM and
Digital Domain on projects
such as Transformers:
Revenge of the Fallen
Images courtesy of BioWare
EXPERT OPINION
Image © The Third Floor
At the time of its original alpha release in
2004, physically based system Maxwell Render
became one of the most talked-about products
in the 3D industry. Five years on, it remains the
de facto benchmark for other renderers of its
type. Version 2.0, released in late 2009, boasts a
greatly improved speed-to-noise ratio and greater
processor scalability – one interviewee reported
it performs 4-15 times faster than 1.7, depending
on the scene – and while its core market remains
visualisation, Maxwell is also being adopted for
some visual effects tasks, including matte work
on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Turtle bakes all the
components needed
for modern games such
as Dragon Age: Origins,
including normal maps,
ambient occlusion and
polynomial textures
Image © DreamWorks Pictures/Paramount Pictures. Courtesy of Industrial Light & Magic
> TYPE Unbiased, non-RenderMan-compliant
> PRIMARY USES VFX, visualisation
> HOST APPLICATIONS
Native support for: 3ds Max, ArchiCAD, form.Z,
Cinema 4D, LightWave 3D, Maya, modo, Rhino,
SketchUp, SolidWorks, Softimage
Via third party: Allplan, Houdini, MicroStation,
solidThinking
> PRICE $995
> DEVELOPER Next Limit Technologies
Image © Glass Canvas Productions (www.glass-canvas.co.uk)
The application that introduced most artists
to the idea of physically based rendering
Image © GMJ Design (www.gmj.co.uk)
06 Maxwell Render
Rendering software
Inset image: Aketoshi Tada, ataKikaku co (info@atakikaku,com)
Main image: 7-t (www.7-t.co.uk)
Rendering software
3dworldmag.com
senior 3D visualiser and consultant
STRENGTHS
• Free, and fully integrated into host packages
• Wide range of physically accurate preset shaders
• Rapid results on complex scenes
WEAKNESSES
• Proxy system does not enable retrieval of the
original mesh as in V-Ray
• iray not yet part of host applications
3dworldmag.com
EXPERT OPINION John Knoll,
VFX supervisor, Industrial Light & Magic
STRENGTHS
• Extremely robust, production-proven renderer
• High-quality output
• Flexible and scalable
WEAKNESSES
•M
ore costly than other RenderMan-compliant
rendering solutions
Initially perceived as a more general-purpose global
illumination renderer, Turtle quickly found its niche
in games, where it developed a reputation as a
fast, flexible system for baking lighting information.
Employed on such distinctly different-looking recent
productions as Dragon Age: Origins (pictured above),
Killzone 2 and Mirror’s Edge, users praise its feature
set, the flexibility offered by Lua scripting, and the
technical support offered by developer Illuminate
Labs. There may be other ways to solve the problem
of creating lighting assets for games, but for its
power to enable a studio to quickly iterate the look
and feel of a level, Turtle is largely unchallenged in
this sector of the market at the minute.
EXPERT OPINION
Andreas Papathanasis, senior
graphics programmer, BioWare
STRENGTHS
• High-quality results
• Extensive render optimisation options
• Large range of map types and output formats
WEAKNESSES
• Difficult to integrate into baking pipeline
if not using Maya for level editing – unlike
Turtle’s sister application, Beast
February 2010 |
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053
Rendering software
Rendering software
In brief | Key renderers compared
Selected built-in render engines
Blender
Cinema 4D
Houdini Escape
LightWave 3D
Developer
Blender Foundation
Current release
2.5
Maxon Computer
Side Effects Software
11.5
10.0
Price
Annual maintenance
Free
$3,695
N/A
N/A
Price for Studio bundle
Other pricing notes
Selected third-party renderers
modo
3Delight
AIR
Brazil r/s
finalRender
NewTek
Luxology
DnA Research
SiTex Graphics
Caustic Graphics
cebas Visual Tech.
9.6
401
9.0
9.0
2.0
3.0 (3ds Max ed.)
$1,995
$895
$995
$900 - $2,150
$450
$995
$1,050 - 1,950*
$800
N/A
N/A
$190 - $450
$150
N/A
See website
Unlimited render nodes
Unlimited render nodes
Inc. 50 render nodes
First two threads free
Price for four threads
Inc. 10 render nodes
*€695 - 1,295
FPrime
fryrender
HyperShot
Indigo Renderer
Kerkythea
MachStudio Pro
Maxwell Render
mental ray
Worley Laboratories
RandomControl
Bunkspeed
Glare Technologies
Ioannis Pantazopoulos
3.0
1.0
1.9
2.2
2008
$399
€795 ($1,190)
$995
€295 ($440)
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Unlimited render nodes
Inc. 2 render nodes
Price for HD edition
Inc. 2 render nodes
RenderMan
Turtle
StudioGPU
Next Limit Tech.
1.2
2.0
Free
$3,995
N/A
N/A
V-Ray
mental images
Pixar Anim. Studios
Illuminate Labs
Chaos Group
3.8
15.0
5.0
1.5
$995
As host app.
$3,500
$1,499
$999
N/A
N/A
$700
$899
N/A
Standalone: $745
Price for Pro Server ed.
Inc. network rendering
RenderMan-compliant?
Unbiased?
Optional
Hybrid
Fully GPU-accelerated?
Optional
Optional
Includes shader compiler?
Python only
In development
Key market sectors
Any
Any
Any
Any
Any
Applications supported
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
VFX
VFX
VFX, visualisation
VFX, visualisation
Native
Native
Any
Blender
Via third-party plug-in
Via third-party plug-in
Cinema 4D
Via third-party plug-in
Via third-party plug-in
Houdini
Native
Native
Maya
Native
Via third-party plug-in
Softimage
Native
In progress
Other (selected applications only)
Rhino
Rhino
Rhino
Win/Mac/Linux
Win/Linux
Win
Native
Native
Native
Native
Win/Mac
Win/Mac/Linux
Win/Mac
Visualisation
Visualisation
Native
Native
Native
Native
Win/Mac
Any
VFX, visualisation
VFX, visualisation
Native
Native
Native
Win
Win/Mac
Animation, VFX
Games
VFX, visualisation
Via FBX
In development
Supported
Native
Native
Via third-party plug-in
Lightwave 3D
Win/Mac/Linux
Visualisation
Via OBJ, FBX
3ds Max
Platforms
Visualisation
Native
Native
Via third-party plug-in
Via third-party plug-in
Via third-party plug-in
Via third-party plug-in
Supported
Native
Native
Native
Native
Native
In development
Native
Native
Native
Native
Native
Rhino, SketchUp
Native
Native
Via third-party plug-in
Win
modo, Rhino, SketchUp
Win/Mac/Linux
Win/Mac/Linux
modo, Rhino, SketchUp
Rhino, SketchUp
SketchUp
SketchUp
Win
Win/Mac
Win/Mac/Linux
Win/Mac/Linux
Win/Mac/Linux
Native
Native
In development
Rhino, SketchUp
Win/Mac/Linux
Win/Mac/Linux
Linux due in CORE
Features
Windows only
64-bit compatible
Not public
SDK
In development
Network rendering
Due in CORE
Instances
Proxy system
Render layers/passes
Lighting only
Lighting only
Interactive render preview
Via custom code
Via V-Ray RT
Material system
• Layered materials
Bump only
• Bump and normal mapping
• Micropoly displacement/MTD
In development
Via LightWave
• Subsurface scattering
• BRDF support
Internal
In development
Via RSL
In development
Raytracing
Via LightWave
• Ambient occlusion
• Colour bleeding
In development
• HDRI
• Caustics
Camera controls
Via other settings
• Depth of field
• 3D motion blur
Hybrid 2D/3D • f stop controls
Via LightWave
• Bokeh effects
Via image shaders
Tonemapping
3ds Max only
In development
Hair and fur
Present
Particle rendering
Via extension
In development
Varies with ed.
• Points
• Spheres
Via extension
• Implicit surface/blobbies
Via extension
Via plug-ins
Baking tools
• Texture baking
Via custom shader
• Vertex baking
• Point cloud baking
Bent normals
• Radiosity normal maps
Physical sky
Via custom shader
Photometric lights
Via custom code
EXR support
Other key features
Built-in compositor
Built-in texture painting
Volume rendering
Anim. radiosity cache
Volumetric lights
Point-based GI
Programmable shading
Quasi-Monte Carlo core
Unlimited render elems.
Image zoom support
Turntable animation
Shading language
Instancing brush
Stereoscopic rendering
Multi-light system
Progr. IBL rendering
Deep shadows
Optimised baking
VRayFur
Built-in video editor
Unlimited render nodes
Amazon cloud support
Unlimited render nodes
Anisotropic effects
Stereo rendering
Instancer shaders
Unlimited number of
True hybrid scanline/
Supports multiple
Render queue
Full spectral rendering
Easy clay/depth/mask
Real-time subpixel
3,500+ free materials
Fast blur rasterisation
Point-based colour
Scriptable via Lua
VRayEnvironmentFog
Audio playback/sync
True multi-threading
Multi-segment blur
EXIF support
Fresnel effects
Procedural geometry
(Both Pro edition only)
Camera aperture diffr.
Native RealFlow support
MetaSL language
bleeding and SSS
Hardware vis. of results
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render presets
raytracing
3dworldmag.com
cameras/windows
3dworldmag.com
render modes
displacement
February 2010 |
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Sources: All data was supplied directly by the relevant software developer, with the exception of FPrime
Global illumination