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Photorender: What is the best software out there?

S

szimmer

Senior Member
Photorender: What is the best software out there?

Hello.

So you spend hours and hours creating a beautiful 3D object in Alibre but I have to be honest the photorender add-on does not provide the best output.

What are all the photos from http://www.alibre.com/success/ using?

Photorender industrial or more?

The output created by PDF looks better than regular photorender add-on.

What is everyone else using?

Any tips on how to make the objects look more realistic would be appreciated. Also if there are other 3rd party programs that can be used with Alibre, I would love to hear about them.

Thanks.

Simon
 
S

szimmer

Senior Member
Nice but ...

I noticed maxwellrender works only for:

Maxwell Render™ is a cross-platform solution available for Windows Windows™ 32 and 64 bits,MacOSX Mac OSX ™ and Linux Linux™ platforms.

Maxwell Render™ provides plugins for the major 3D applications like 3ds Max™, Viz™, Maya™, LightWave™, Rhinoceros™, SolidWorks™, Allplan 2006 ™, Archicad™, CINEMA 4D™, form·Z™, Houdini™ and SketchUp™.

Additionally, Maxwell operates as a stand-alone application featuring Maxwell Studio – a full 3D editor to compose scenes, Maxwell Material Editor – a versatile physical material editor, and Maxwell Engine – the command line controllable render engine.

Or can I export my drawing in a certain way to use it in Maxwell render?

Thanks.

Simon
 
M

MilesH

Alibre Super User


The best route is:

STEP (AP 214) into Rhino, then use the Maxwell/Rhino plug-in to convert the nurbs to mesh and create an MXS file, which you can then open in Maxwell Studio. You can use the Rhino evaluation version for this, ad infinitum...

The Maxwell evaluation version is size limited - but not time limited, so you can play with it as much as you like....
 
S

szimmer

Senior Member
Okay!

So I need to:

Export my drawing as a step format.

Download and install Rhino (Rhinoceros 4.0) - trial version.

Using Rhino export it into an MXS format.

Download and install Maxwell evaluation.

Finally try it out and see if I like it.

Whew! I think I can handle that.


Not to go off on a tangent but ...

What is the major difference between Rhino and Alibre? And what is the reason that many users are using both?

Thanks.

Simon
 
M

MilesH

Alibre Super User


You'll need to download the plug-in for Rhino from the Maxwell site, too.. - you need this to create the MXS file, which is the Maxwell scene format.

Rhino works with surfaces and polysurfaces (like solids), it's aimed more at industrial design than mechanical. They are complementary.
 
S

szimmer

Senior Member
Okay!

Thanks.

I will try it out.

Are there any other third-party programs for rendering that you would recommend? Maxwell looks amazing but it is 1000 bucks! :(

Simon
 
S

szimmer

Senior Member
Cool!

I will check them out too!

It does not have to be free. I will pay good money if it is worth it.

Maxwell is quite impressive though!!!!!

Thanks again.

Simon
 
M

MilesH

Alibre Super User


The 3 render programs above, look very promising - they won't be very user friendly for a while yet, though....
 
S

szimmer

Senior Member
Yeah

I noticed that they are not very user friendly.

Very abstract.

I will check out FryRender.

Thanks.

Simon
 
W

WoodWorks

Alibre Super User


I did a lot of rendering research, and the big problem I found was getting the files from Alibre to the Rendering software.

Alibre creates solids and exports via STEP and ACIS. Rendering programs deal with surfaces and have very different standard formats (OBJ seems to be almost universal). STL is often accepted, but you loose all the tree information in the design explorer and have to deal with coloring every single surface and not being able to select by feature.

Rendering software tends to have a very non-standard interface that is unlike any other standard windows interface and can be daunting to learn.

I bought NuGraph from Okino because the interface was similar to a standard interface (although still different enough to require a moderate learning curve). However, I have to export to STEP AP214, import that into Inventor, and then export that to XGL. Hardly a simple or easy transition. The path through Rhino is a lot easier and less costly as it does not require you to have use your wife's employer's software license.

NuGraf has a STEP import option, but there seems to some disagreement between PTC that provided the standard interface that everyone seems to use to read STEP files and the feature names get lost (but the tree structure remains intact). This intact tree structure allows you to texture parts based on the already assigned colors from Alibre. You can differentiate parts with color in Alibre to make texturing easier. The big annoyance is the high price of the STEP import as well. All of a sudden the $1000 for Maxwell Render does not seem so bad.

I have not any luck with a low cost render package, not because of the package, but because of the lack of ability to get my Alibre model into a format that the affordable packages can handle. I also bought TrueSpace as the price for anything less than the latest version is very affordable. But, the import filter to get files out of Alibre did not work out.

I still use the Alibre Industrial PhotoRender where possible, and check out our website for a tutorial on how to make your own user texture archive. It makes the Alibre PhotoRender a much better tool with your own texture files. And, please let me know if anyone finds an affordable rendering package that will interface easily with Alibre.
 
S

szimmer

Senior Member


I am experiencing the same problems. In order for me to use Maxwell I would also have to purchase Rhinoceros since I can not export directly to Maxwell.

The photorender industrial pack seems like the obvious upgrade but no one seems to be all that excited about it and for $195.00 I am a bit weary about wasting that much money.

Would someone be willing to use photorender industrial pack on one of the parts I have drawn and show me a rendered photo of it to show the industrial packs capabilities?

Let me know and I will post the file in binaries. Thanks!

Simon
 
M

MilesH

Alibre Super User
Re:

szimmer said:
In order for me to use Maxwell I would also have to purchase Rhinoceros since I can not export directly to Maxwell.
Click to expand...

Nope, you can use the evaluation version - this gives you a certain number of saves (25, I think) but neither Importing, nor Exporting via the Maxwell plugin, count towards this total.
 
S

szimmer

Senior Member
You are right!

I did not realize that.

Okay now it only costs 1000 bucks.

:?

Thanks for the info MilesH!

Simon
 
Mibe

Mibe

Alibre Super User
Re:

szimmer said:
I am experiencing the same problems. In order for me to use Maxwell I would also have to purchase Rhinoceros since I can not export directly to Maxwell.

The photorender industrial pack seems like the obvious upgrade but no one seems to be all that excited about it and for $195.00 I am a bit weary about wasting that much money.

Would someone be willing to use photorender industrial pack on one of the parts I have drawn and show me a rendered photo of it to show the industrial packs capabilities?

Let me know and I will post the file in binaries. Thanks!

Simon
Click to expand...

I can do it for you, please post in the binaries...
 
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