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Rendering software


O9B066

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Just wondering what people recommend for making renderings? I paint race bikes, four wheelers and such dirt racing things on the side. I've been using blender but don't care for it what else is good with lots of features? I don't wanna buy something that sucks. 

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blender is the best free software in my opinion. Ive been using it for years now, and if you think its lacking just program your own plugins in python.

I dont think there is a better option for free.

 

Cinema 4D is also nice, but as far as I recall its not cheap. It had some great rendering features. Blender was still weak in that area back then...

Edited by Nana7
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Just so you know, you can get:

  • Autodesk Maya (My personal favorite)
  • Autodesk 3DS Max
  • Autodesk Mudbox
  • MANY more

for free (3 year license) directly from Autodesk.

Make an autodesk student account (It's free and you don't need a .edu address) After verifying your email address, it'll ask more info about where you study. I selected a random college, field, and admission/graduation dates. And that's it.

Other commercial options available either via trial/student licenses that aren't geared towards archvis/engineering work:

  • Foundry Modo (More geared towards poly/subd modeling)
  • Maxon Cinema 4D
  • SideFX Houdini (more geared towards particle sims/dynamics)
  • Pixologic ZBrush (3d sculpting. Arguably better than mudbox, but much more difficult interface)

EDIT: Personally, I prefer Maya's interface and workflow over 3ds max's. I find it easier to use and it was quicker to pick up, although 3ds Max has notably better 3rd-party plugin support (which matters, in production environments). Both of these two are very, very robust. Your images won't necessarily look better on one 3D graphics package versus the other. It comes down to which environment you prefer working in and how well you can produce work in it.

As far as the actual rendering part, that's dependent on the renderer your software package is using to produce whatever image you're putting together. Renderers like maxwell, mentalray, vray, all have distributions for different software packages (ie: vray for maya, vray for c4d, vray for blender, etc). In other words, don't judge a 3d software's capabilities on the final output you get when you put together a scene. The image quality depends your scene setup/assets as well as the renderer (not 3d graphics software) you're using. In other words, a turd model won't look any better or worse than it does because you decided to use, for example, cinema4d over blender. The differences with the different animation software available to you is more about how you get from a blank canvas to your final model/image.

Edited by Exotic
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Well thanks for that in depth info. I will try auto desk I seen great reviews for it but didn't know theirs a trial like that lol. I don't mind paying for software cuz I need it and eventually it'll earn its money back. 

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If you decide to go down the commercial route, most of em go down the monthly/yearly subscription route. Before you decide to sink in, give yourself some time to familiarize yourself with the software. I strongly recommend you look up video tutorials on places like Pluralsight, Skillshare, Udemy, etc. Written tutorials aren't as practical for learning a new piece of software.

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do any of you use a drawing pad/tablet or touchscreen monitor? Currently im using a drawing pad, not thrilled with it, considering getting a touch screen monitor, just wanna know if their sensitive enough and work good with a drawing pen/stylus.

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2 hours ago, O9B066 said:

do any of you use a drawing pad/tablet or touchscreen monitor? Currently im using a drawing pad, not thrilled with it, considering getting a touch screen monitor, just wanna know if their sensitive enough and work good with a drawing pen/stylus.

u can try messaging Itchy in our team discord ,  he works with all that stuff

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2 hours ago, Nana7 said:

I use a "Huion" monitor with Pen. Huion sells the same stuff as Wacom does - just at 1/4th of the price.

Since mine is running for 3 years now, I can guarantee its long term use.

1/4 of the price? ha its like 1/10 the price lol wow i didnt see these on my search, might try to track one down on display.

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