ZBrushCentral

Good cheap/free renderer?

Community
#1

Was hoping for something like vray but way cheaper or free would be ideal. After buying zbrush and a new car I’m low on cash. Also easy to use is a plus just wanting to basic renderings that can emulate the suns light.

Povray doesn’t look quite up to par for what I’m wanting, I can spend a little but would like to keep it under $200. Anything out there like this?

#2

Blender!

Or sell your car and get mental ray

#3

Yep Freeware - http://www.blender.org/

That exports to external Renders

Yafaray or Sunflower are not so bad as an external renderer engine. I haven’t had a chance to compare them all.

If you are new to Blender then check out Lynda.com , Cartoon Smart , or Tuffs University Open Courseware would be a good place to start.

Jason Welsh (Canned Mushrooms) has offered a lot of good videos on blender and ZBrush.

#4

Blender’s good. the 2.5 Alpha allows you to connect directly with yafray and Luxrender, also both good rendering systems. Pain to learn, though.

Caligari Truespace is also freeware. Lots of video tutorials. No longer in development, though. [<img src="http://www.zbrushcentral.com/pixo/atn.gif">](http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/faq.php?faq=vb_read_and_post#faq_zbc_display_images)

3Delight is a free to use renderman compliant renderer, so you can work with the same tech as Pixar and Dreamworks.

Houdini Apprentice HD can be had for $99. Incredibly complicated but probably the most powerful 3D app made, especially for explosions and fluid effects. Try the Apprentice Free version first. Allows you to render with watermarks and limited resolution. If you like the results, upgrade to HD to get rid of those limitations. Also look on ebay or the Lightwave Community forum for a Lightwave license. Even version 6.0 had decent modeling and render tools and can be had cheaply. Same goes for Cinema 4D and Electric Image. Much easier to learn than Houdini. Though graphics nerds won't respect you as much. [<img src="http://www.zbrushcentral.com/pixo/atn.gif">](http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/faq.php?faq=vb_read_and_post#faq_zbc_display_images)

You could also look for old editions of 3D World and other 3D Graphics magazines. They’re always giving away 3D software like Carrara, and Poser, both with okay rendering systems. Though they’ll probably bug you to upgrade to the new versions mercilessly.

Messiah Studio Basic also has a good render system, with nice character animation tools, but is $399. Maybe pimp your ride as a shuttle service. Any of these would hold you off until you have enough cab fare to pay for Maya Unlimited. [<img src="http://www.zbrushcentral.com/pixo/atn.gif">](http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/faq.php?faq=vb_read_and_post#faq_zbc_display_images)
#5

the blender ones look good and I love the price :slight_smile:

what about vue 8 espirit? It seems heavily animation focused, I’m really wanting just something simple for stills but using real good quality ray tracing.

#6

Unless you splurge and nab a Mental Ray or Vray license, you might not be completely satisfied with any other renderer you purchase. <img src=“http://www.zbrushcentral.com/pixo/atn.gif”>

Now, E-on makes good products, though they tend to nickle and dime you to death with modules to make their so-called “3D artist” versions more like their “Professional” versions. You should be able to achieve similiar results using blender, minus the upgrade fees. <img src=“http://www.zbrushcentral.com/pixo/atn.gif”>

Also, Zbrush actually has a decent rendering system, particularly if you render in passes, and composite everything in photoshop and blender. Quite a few tutorials on that as well.

Not to get too negative here, but if you’re looking for Top Row gallery quality, you really need something more than freeware or a $200 renderer can offer. The big studios use the expensive Mental Ray and vRay systems because they don’t skimp on features and are FAST.

Here’s my rant: If you’re looking to do this just as a hobby, then blender definately should be the top choice. By the end of the year, when they finally release 2.5, it should have an excellent range of rendering features and overall quality. But, sadly, neither it nor Vue will probably ever be able to offer the same level of WOW as Mental Ray or vRay. These developers can only raise a microscopic fraction of the R & D funding that the huge commercial products can, and the performance and technology will always be a few years behind. You want quality stuff, you must pay mucho grande for it. End stupid rant.

Just get what you have the most fun using. Ultimately, if you’re doing 3D professionally, you’ll end up buying Mental Ray, and vRay anyway. Or maybe Pixologic will finally give us a Mental Ray / vRay / Renderman compliant renderer for Z4, and stop making its users spend more money. <img src=“http://www.zbrushcentral.com/pixo/atn.gif”>

#7

I agree. Are you thinking about recouping your investment in software, or is your 3D-ing a hobby? How much time are you prepared to be investing in the learning curve?

Give Esprint (or Vue 8 Studio) a trial and see if you have any problems importing and exporting objects between it and ZBrush before purchasing. It does have a nice renderer in it.

And also just want to throw in Modo, Cinema 4D and Maya since they work really well alongside ZBrush using the GoZBrush Plugin that is built into ZB 3.5.

#8

You want this:
http://www.thearender.com/cms/

#9

:eek:

this looks perfect!

Thanks for the link

#10

Personal opinion here, might get bashed for it…

Go for a biased renderer. Learn lighting and surfacing. Learn how to use a linear gamma/colour workflow. More control, more skill, more understanding, more flexibility.

#11

Thea does both. So you can linear gamma your heart out.
Lemo