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3D Render Engine/system


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i read somewhere that it isn't very easy to learn . . . i once tryied max and was +- easy to learn but is payed....and expensive ...

What about plugin to external renderers, or external renderers?

i eard something about an indigo renderer, and Kerkythea but i don't think we could render with them ... but i am not sure..

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Blender has more in common with C4D than with a stand alone renderer like Artlantis. There is no direct export/import similar to the C4D/Artlantis plugs.

Blender also has a very different user interface from other 3D programs. One example is that objects are selected with the right mouse button rather than the left.

There are a number of learning resources available.

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:Manual

The section on rendering is here:

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Manual

There are some excellent modeling tutorials at Robert Burke's website:

http://rab3d.com/

Additional info and examples can be found here:

http://blenderartists.org/forum/

Edited by G_Hannigan
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i read somewhere that it isn't very easy to learn

I don't know that it is more difficult, but you must learn how the interface differs before you can test it.

From the Blender Manual:

"Because Blender makes such extensive use of both mouse and keyboard, a golden rule has evolved among Blender users: Keep one hand on the mouse and the other on the keyboard."

I found it similar in difficulty to C4D after working through some tutorials.

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If you're looking for ease of use - why not, for ~$400 upgrade to include Renderworks. It's built in and I imagine the learning curve for Final Quality Renderworks scenes to be extremely short, for rendered scenes including lighting effects would be longer. Allowing the full application of textures will be very useful.

Just a thought.

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G Hannigan:

Have you used Blender for rendering models created in VectorWorks?

If so, do you have examples you would be willing to share?

Thanks for the info on Blender.

I have only recently started to learn Blender. I've had mixed results with VW models exported to Blender via 3ds. I am still using VW 12.5 which does not export in obj format. I don't know if VW 2009 has this as an export option. To test it, I have been exporting to C4D using the Exchange Plug, then exporting from C4D in obj format. Blender seems to handle this format better. Obviously this requires the use of C4D to get from VW to Blender. The problem I had with 3ds export from VW may be due to the particular file. I have been able to import downloaded 3ds files into Blender.

I was drawn to Blender more as a modeling,animating, rendering substitute for C4D, rather than as a renderer for VW. I am in a mixed Mac, Linux, Win XP environment and Blender works on all three. Blender can also link to what appears to be a Maxwell-like renderer called Luxrender, but I haven't gotten to that yet.

http://www.luxrender.net/

As bcd mentioned above, for ease of use with VW, Renderworks would be preferable to Blender at this point. I will continue to experiment with VW to Blender.

Edited by G_Hannigan
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Hello ppl , sorry my late response but could not access internet...

G Hannigan:

Thx for that link tips. i will have to take a look at they with time for absorving the main ideia.

bcd mentioned renderworks :

perhaps its from me but i cant configure it well enought to have good light and realism like i can in max. I am pretty sure the problem is mine (at least 50%/50%) because i cant have enought time for spending on learning . . . every day and every project is very urgent to do ... you probably know what i mean..

meanwhile i tryied to combined exporting :

vectorworks -> sketchup -> luxrender

i liked the results but it tooked me 2 hours to render

the good and amased thing is that i only exported the objects whitout much configuration and it went pretty well ...

try it out you will see.

but still got to try learn more about renderworks.

do you got good tutorials ?

thx in advanced

Edited by orlando Teixeira
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Hi Orlando,

Yes, Renderworks can be slow (SLOW even) when trying to get realism.

I've found the following works well for me.

Set the minimum # of lights.

Turn off the Layer Lighting or on just <10%

Turn on Lighting from Background eg Curvy Dome

Also - changing the Sheet Layer ppi to ~20 can really speed up the Viewport rendering and allow you to tweak the scene until happy. Then bump it up to

150 / 200 or 300 click Update and off to lunch!

Also - The Render Bitmap tool is invaluable to get a quick look at a portion

of the view without having to endure a full scene render.

For urgent projects something like this can get an acceptable result in an acceptable time -

I just took a look at LuxRender - they are beautiful. I wonder how long they take to texture, light & render?

Edited by bcd
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Hello BCD ,

Ok i will try with your settings the soon as possible ;)

I just got to change one thing: My last post i said that i combined "vectorworks -> sketchup -> luxrender"

well perhaps i was too sleepy and my mind was blurry because in fact it was "vectorworks -> sketchup -> indigo"

luxrender i havent tryit yet

does anyone try it ?

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bcd & Orlando

I started to test Luxrender yesterday. As they mention on their site, rendering can take a long time (hours-days?).

I wish the examples in the gallery had given render time. It runs as a stand alone and can be paused and resumed. Haven't figured out how to save as a separate file that can be run on a different computer yet. I was testing on Linux, will try Mac today.

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G_Hannigan :

nice , make sure to extract all the juice of it he!he!he! good luck with rendering.

by the way on your site sugestion there's more of it :

http://www.vimeo.com/tag:luxrender

BCD :

Thx for your settings, by boss was glad to caught me "talking" over the internet after i showed him the testing render :)

Not yet the look i want for (got to play around more).

One strange thing is that some walls (and other objects) apear white but others look grey ... i cant surpass this. anyone as a clue how to "fix" this ?

I used BCD settings above , rendered with custom radiosity and a simple directional light.

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Regardless of the renderer, there is always a trade-off between speed and image quality. Renderworks is probably sufficient in most instance where photo-realism is not needed. I've always been bothered by the fact that RW doesn't work in the background, blocking access to VW until the render is done. The other problem are the limitations in mapping materials/textures to objects compared to other renderers (wood grain, eg). This was modeled in VW & C4D, rendered in C4D.

Edited by G_Hannigan
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That's where I was heading, G. Orlando's rendering could have been done pretty easily in RW (if it was done in Indigo.)

I really like the integration of RW into VW because it eliminates export/translation issues but, as you said, having a separate application allows you to keep working in VW while renders are processing (as long as you have enough memory and processing power.)

RW certainly isn't the fastest thing out there but I've been able to get pretty good results with it. See attached image - modeled in VW, rendered in RW.

I have considered using an external renderer but have had some issues with exporting. It seems to me that the best solution would be to use Artlantis or C4D because they have plugins that allow "seamless" interchange with VW.

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Thanks, Shaun. It's been a while since I did that one. My guess is that it took 30-45 minutes to render (on my little macbook.) There were no lights, only an HDRI background. In most cases, I'm able to do quick test renders to get materials and lighting set up and then I run a final render and go get lunch or work on something else (not VW.)

What did you use for the renderings on your website? How does the speed compare to VW?

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hi all

billtheia :

my render image was made in vectorworks with renderworks (I used BCD settings above , rendered with custom radiosity and a simple directional light.).

Curiously it took less time to render that i expected but the fact that i have an Q9400 may have implied in reducing the rendering time he!he!he!

I tryied with an hdri (free one) and it took twice as much time to render and i didnt noticed much improvements...

By the way G_Hannigan and billtheia , nice images.

How did you put those background images in vectorworks ? i create an background and use it on ambient but it never shows....

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