Render Programs

[StaticDOS]

Hi guys quick question, My boss wants more advanced realistic renders, is Vectorworks compatable with programs like Viz and 3DS MAX and what other render programs would you recommend that are compatable with VW?

[bcd]

Cinema 4d

[Tamsin Slatter]

CINEMA 4D gets my vote too,

[Matt Panzer]

Just to elaborate on Cinema 4D:

Renderworks 2011 and later is based on the Cinema 4D render engine and has a command to send/update files directly to Cinema 4D. Because of this, I would imagine Cinema 4D would be the most seamless Renderer (by far) to move VW files to and would keep lighting and textures in tact. However, I do not own Cinema 4D and cannot speak from experience. Perhaps someone with more experience can elaborate further?

[Jeffrey W Ouellette]

Have you tried Vectorworks 2012 with Renderworks, yet? I think you'll find the quality, speed, and ease of setup has progressed tremendously since 2010 and earlier.

[grant_PD]

It's pretty good. Your textures lights and hierarchy will translate over. I had to make an adjustment to the way I grouped things to keep things orderly. Textures that work off of bitmapped images will need to have the bitmaps reassigned.

There are some quirks to the process, and I wish that C4D had a reciprocal function so that you could get stuff created in c4d back into VW. But the increase in rendering options and quality is well worth it if you're looking for better renders. C4D supports Vray and Maxwell and all sorts of standalone render plugins.

[Dave Donley]

Hi Grant:

I think what you're saying about the bitmap textures is that they are not saved with the project? If you choose File->Save Project in C4D instead of regular save after Send To C4D then the "tex" folder will be saved with your .c4d, in the same location.

[grant_PD]

No,that part works. What doesn't work is that when you send to C4D, it doesn't take the reference bitmap of a texture with it. C4D needs to look in a specific folder for it's textures. You have to locate the bitmap, have C4D save it to the tex folder, then save project.

I think. I'll have to double check it, but I'm pretty sure that's how it works.

[Dave Donley]

After you do the Send to C4D and the model opens in C4D, choose the File->Save Project menu item. Pick where to save, the .c4d and "tex" folder that contains the bitmap files that go with the .c4d file should show up in the same location.

[grant_PD]

Thanks Dave. Is there any way by which one can get stuff back into VW after working with them in C4D? Does the process work the other way?