3darchitect

I'm an architecture student at UW-Milwaukee in WI and I've been attempting to teach myself 3ds for a little less than a year now. My internship gives me opportunities to produce architectural illustrations, but because the only knowledge I have is from teaching myself, my output and progress is very low quality and slow. I've only used 3ds 8 - I haven't gotten any plugins or shaders or renderers or whatever, and I guess I want to know how much those are used to produce the really good renderings.

I guess I don't really know exactly what a lot of this stuff is. My understanding is that there is the software of 3ds, but then there is a separate "rendering engine" within the software that really does the output work. I was looking into VRay mostly because it seems to be the most used and praised of all the external engines out there, but I really don't fully understand the benefit of having one (well I do, but only kinda). And I wouldn't know how to use the engine if I purchased it.

Same thing with RPC's. I don't really know how important they are to producing a great rendering, and even if I could make use of them with the limited knowledge that I have.

I know that most of the great work that is out there is the product of skill and technique. But I guess I'm wondering exactly how much of those renderings are the result of technique or the aid of a rendering engine, plugin's RPC's, etc.

Along a similar line, I really want to know what kind of machines are being used to produce the really high quality stuff. I know that when modeling, you try and cut down on geometry to save rendering time, but my understanding is that you can make something look only so good before you need a more complex model. So do these really awesome renderings come from a huge rendering farm with 2 or 3 machines linked together? Or do people just use one machine and wait for 2 days while their image renders out? And even then, I always find it difficult to figure out what my image looks like unless I render it (or at least a low quality sample) so if my model is so complex that it takes forever to render, then is there another way to determine how it looks for tweaking purposes?

I was also wondering what the major difference between rendering on a 32-bit vs a 64-bit machine/software. I'm not very knowledgable in that area, so I'm wondering if I should get a 64-bit machine to help out. The reason I ask is because I'm planning on getting a laptop soon, and I want to see if I can get one that can do some renderings (or if I should stick with a desktop).

Ok that was reeeeeeeeeally long. Sorry. Oh, and if there is anyone in the Milwaukee, WI area who wants to help me out, that'd be beyond awesome. Thanks!

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Maxer

As far as what software you should use that is a hard question to answer because great art can be created from just about every 3D app and render engine that's out there. Vray could be considered and industry standard but it's not the only one and just like the others it has it's strengths and weaknesses. If I were you I would research those engines that you are interested in and find the one that has the features you’re looking for. Don't forget that technical support is very important and some engines have better support than others.

RPC's are very easy to use but don't work with every program so you would need to make sure that your application supports them if it's something you really want to use. Many people use them mainly because they are quick and easy, not necessalary because they look good. They are quite possibly the most over used plugin and lot's of people don't like them because they can look like they are added in instead of blending in to the scene but it's really a personal taste thing.

Hardware is another issue; some of the best images can be produced using a single computer and a lot of time. On the other hand you could have a farm of 100 machines and all the top technology but if you don't know what you’re doing your renderings won't look very good. The faster the computer the less time you will have to wait for your renderings to finish, so if you have lots of clients or tight deadlines you may want to get something fast. If on the other hand you have plenty of time then speed wouldn’t be as big of a concern for you. 64 bit it the new thing, it's not going to be any faster than 32 bit and in some cases can be slower but it does allow you to address more than 3 gigs of ram and for some renderings you will need it.

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3darchitect

Great, Thanks. I knew about the software things mostly, but I was just curious. I guess I'll just browse around the forums here and see what other people are saying about engines and machines. Thanks again!

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Spooner04

If you're trudging your way through your arch degree I would also suggest looking around in the Computer labs and seeing what software they have available. If they've got brazil, vray, maxwell render and a wide variety of plugins, then no worries. If they've only got Max with no plugins, it might benefit you to learn mental ray or whatever software they have. That would enable you to hijack 2 or 3 of those machines to use as a small render farm. Also check with the lab assistants on reservation policies, auto-log off after X number of mins. and other things like that.

Good luck with Architorture school.
Mua ha ha ha ha

3darchitect

Interesting you should suggest that, because I actually think the computer labs don't even have 3ds (let alone vray or maxwell). So far as I know of, the only software applications that have anything to CGI are MicroStation and Photoshop. So, needless to say, that doesn't do a lot for me in terms of resources. The only things I'm going to have access to are through my firm, and since I'm still an Intern, I'm limited to what I can ask for. From what I've been reading, I think I might go with VRay mostly for the same reason as why I went with 3ds - the community and support seem more wide spread (please tell me if I'm wrong on this assumption). The thing is, I have NO idea what rendering engines really do (sure I have a vague idea, but nothing that will really do me any good). I don't even think I could explain half of what I know, let alone attempt to understand what the major differences between rendering engines are (this is why I'm still trying to find someone in the Milwaukee area to help me with 3ds - know of anyone?). I don't know if I'm looking for someone to spell things out for me, but perhaps somewhere along those lines.

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