I’ve had Z2 for several months now, and am starting to look for an affordable rendering alternative to accompany it. I’ve looked at tons of other packages, and from what I’ve found xsi (foundation, the rest are a bit pricey for me) seems to be one good alternative. What are some other alternatives in the $500ish price range for high quality rendering (Or just some other software that you artists use and can’t live without).
ever notice when you see some thing on the forum that really sticks out
and your like :eek:
then at the end of the post the person says, it was render in ??
or render in ??? but not zbrush.
rendering is the final touch and can make a hole world of different
zbrush doesn’t seam to keep up with the rest of the world when it comes to rendering like everyone else.
maybe some day you wont need to pay a extra $500
the render in zbrush hasn’t really been updated that much since the day it came out…
I think your choice, hands down, for a renderer in that price range would be Messiah Studio. You might even have money left over for Silo or Hexagon, both extremely good polygon modelers in the hundred dollar range. Between ZB, Messiah, and a good polygon editor, you’ll be set.
Oh, and personally, I like ZBrush’s renderer. Sure, it’s not exactly cornering the photorealistic market, but there’s a variety of scenes I prefer to render in ZBrush for the image qualities it produces.
Renderers are a mixed bag always, anyways. Each has its diffrerent qualities and quirks, that’s what makes them fun, and it provides a diversity of choices when deciding in what app you want to render a particular scene or element.
Since you specify a budget of $500 or less, but do not mention if you care about rendering speed, then Strata has an excellent render engine. Carrera also has a decent renderer. Neither of these are speed demons but they can be had for $200- $500. Another choice in the low–medium range market is Shade. It has been around for 15 years or so, but has only recently made headway in the North American marketplace.
Another option is to head over to Ebay and pick up a copy of Electric Image Universe version 4 or 5. (currently at v6.1) It’s the fastest Phong renderer on the planet, a bit slower at raytracing, but still one of the two fastest render engines out there. C4D being the other. Although C4D base module can be had for under $700, adding the Advanced Render module (Radiosity, GI, HDRI, etc) brings it to over a thousand.
That’s why I recommend Strata since it is very cheap and has had a very respectable Raydiosity renderer for well over a decade.
I personally use Electric Image and Cinema 4D. I need the speed and high-end functions.
If you really want a cheap renderer you can pick up a copy of Vue 4 for under $70. Or Bryce 5.5 for under $150.
Thanks for the alternatives. I actually already own Vue 5 Espirit, but as the previous poster had mentioned every software package seems to have it’s own niche and things it does well. I don’t mind Zbrushs renderings all that much, it’s the environment that gets me. The main software I’m used to working with is AutoCAD and photoshop, and I can move around and know all the shortcuts and command line codes. I love the modeling capabilities, and if I had $2k to drop I’d probably get Maya. However, I’ve got four mouths to feed and only one paycheck. I’ll check out Strata, and I peeked at Messiah but wasn’t sure if it was a stand alone or a plug in. Looks like both, but I’ll have to research more there too. Thanks again.