This is a topic we probably don't discuss well enough, but is suitable for a forum like this one, particulary if we are trying to help others make good choices about the software they need.
Most people can't afford more than one rendering engine, so there is kind of a premium on making a good selection of a rendering engine. Up until the very recent past, there were only a handful of rendeeringing engines who had survived the long market competition of years, and each one has strived to be "The One" that will meet all a person's needs. New developments in physically based rendering, and some shifts in the costs of rendering engine developments are changing this situation. As is the fact that we have a whole new generation of very talented computer scientists creating new kinds of possibilities for rendering engines. So, ... it is my personal opinion that the days of all of us advocating for the superiority of one rendering engine over another are probably gone. We may be doing a disservice to newly come model-builders by continuing in these older ways. I've certainly been guilty of this myself in the past.
This idea was provoked by a short discussion JaguarBeastProduction and I got into in response to a question about PC specs for a person who makes jewelry models and is looking to upgrade.
(https://www.cgtrader.com/forum/general-discussions... I was recommending the Maverick Render software - the choice of this rendering engines has implications for the choice of some pieces of computer hardware. JaguarBeastProduction recommended D5 Render as a good choice, and I was not familiar with it. So, I downloaded the free trial and played with it for an hour or so. In my particular case, I am a freelancer model-builder - a person necessarily forced to cover a wide range of subjects, so I am equally forced to have many kinds of software, and therefore, I subscribe to multiple rendering engines. A situation I woud not have thought to find myself in in prior years because of the heavy expense of doing this. Even if it is a ncessity of the business today.
JaguarBeastProduction's advocay led me to realize something I'd not really given much thought to before - I think we've entered into a time period where there are at least three kinds of rendering engines, and possibly more, whose differences we should be aware of and sensitive to in our discussions.
First, I think there are the "general purpose" rendering engines. These are the "big guns" in the field - the ones that have survived market competition over the years, and who truely aim to be all things to all people. V-Ray, Corona, Maxwell Render, Arnold, Keyshot and the like. Second, there seems to be a whole crop of newer rendering engines, such as D5 Render that are aimed at architecture and something that generally might be thought of as "full-scene development." And Third, there are some newer engines like Maverick Render that appear to be aiming more at product visualization than anything else. I read a recent article in 3D World that purported to talk about the choices among rendering engines, and it focused on differences like "biased" and "unbiased" engines - which seems to me to be somewhat beside the point - or kind of an irrelevant feature for a person who really might have to be searching for the one, single rendering engine that will fit his or her needs.
It seems that the big guy rendering engines are still trying to be all things to all people, ... to make sure that everyone knows they are "PBR" (physically based renderers), even if that claim is stretched quite a bit beyond reality. Certainly, it has taken V-Ray a massive effort to move in that direction, after it clearly had perfected great visualization using biased rendering technologies.But, if I take a closer look at any of these "big guys" like Arnold, for example, I can see that it has strengths for some things (cinamaphotography and animation), but, for other things, I would never recommend Arnold to a product visualization specialist, an architect or a jewlery maker. In fact, and here comes the "heresy," I would not recommend the current versions of V-Ray for these purposes either.
Meanwhile, I am finding myself somewhat enchanted by my first looks at D5 Render because it has features suited to the kind of work I do. Almost instantly, I very much like the clarity of the atmospheres and skies and lighting that play on buildings, large objects and vegetation. It is as if it has a native depth of field suited to architecture that doesn't require a lot of special camera adjustment - ditch the fiddiling around with the camera. Also, I am wierdly finding myself turning to Maverick Render over and over again for all my general purpose needs. Maverick is clearly aimed at "micro scenes" - a point I had not thought about until JaguarBeastProduction made me grapple with the differences between D5 Render and Maverick Render.Maverick has an ease of use for product renders that is superior to anything I have ever experienced, and for a Substance Designer like myself, it is the only rendering engine I know of that directly loads a "substance archive" with all of its user adjustable features. So, you can tweak you materials while live in the rendering view. And, its fast - damn fast! Essentially, you are working "real-time."
So, my main point here is that there really is no longer a single rendering engine that can be all things to all people. Instead of advocating for our favorite renderer to all newcomers, maybe we should be trying to share information with each other about the key differences among rendering engines - to the extent that we know them - so that we all can learn more about these very expensive tools.
So, my first impression/thought is that all the current crop of rendering engines can be sorted into the three groups I mentioned above. With the traditional "big guy" rendering engines purporting to be excellent at all things, that not being actually true, and with those big guys slowly becoming unable to be remain excellent for all rendering needs. That's the first group, in my mind, and it would help if we knew better what the strengths and weaknesses of thesee big guys actually are. I don't have this knowledge. Do any of you reading this question?
And then there are the newer rendering engines on the scene. What would you recommend for what kind of purpose - such as JaguarBeastProduction did with D5 Render for architecture, and as I did with Maverick Render for product visualization? ?????????????????????