Rendering program recommendations

[Uman]

Greetings,
I am interested to know what 3D rendering program Alibre users have used with Alibre Design with good results and any recommendations.
We are in the process of developing a new website and would like to populate it with product images and CAD Image rendering is our preferred method to display these images.
Also, do Alibre assembly files tend to be compatible with other rendering programs?

Thanks,
Jeff in Florida

 

[MilesH]

Also, do Alibre assembly files tend to be compatible with other rendering programs?

Absolutely not... Bunkspeed HyperShot will read STEP files, that's the closest you'll get.

I use Maxwell Render Studio and I have to process via Rhino to get there...

 

[Uman]

This is discouraging. I have all but given up on PhotoRender as a solution. The time invested on this add-on application was a waste and more time investment does not look promising. This is kinda an important feature for a mechanical CAD program; I am surprised more users are not vocal about this. Is there anything in work with Alibre or on the horizon to remedy this? Can PhotoRender be used as a viable rendering solution for businesses or am I missing something?

Jeff in Florida

 

[wathavy4]

Well. At least the rendering engine seems very much to Aliibre one as far as CoCreate Rendering machine is concerned.
I did not have any problem to render the CoCreate since GUI is very familiar...
And the resultant picture were.... you may guess.

 

[dak70]

wathavy4,

I have a had pretty good success using the Photorender option....My main complaint is how forced the perspective views can be....it can be unatural and difficult to keep in scale with a background...

dak70

 

[WoodWorks]

We are having good success in using the SketchUp export Add-on and doing rendering in SketchUp.

You can use the Architectural style of rendering that is standard with SketchUp, or you can download the free Kerkythea photo rendering package for more sophisticated rendering.
One advantage is that this option is entirely free, as you can do this with the free version of SketchUp.

Another point in favor of this method is that the interface is very straight forward for rendering in SketchUp, unlike most rendering packages that have an interface unlike any other standard Windows interface. One current failing is the inability to rotate textures using the SketchUp texturing tools as there is a problem rotating once the model has been made into components and groups (which is automatically done via the Alibre add-on). However this is easily overcome by creating additional texture files with the texture rotated within the graphics file. You may have less need for this with Mechanical models, as we use a lot of directional wood grain textures. Our default texture has the wood grain oriented horizontally, and cross grain is oriented vertically. SketchUp is very consistent in orienting the horizontal texture along the X axis, and our standards of creating the length of our wood parts along the X axis meshes with this grain orientation.

SketchUp allows texturing down to the individual face level, and not just a single texture per part. If you also happen to own the Acrobat 3D PDF software, the textured SketchUp model creates a textured 3D PDF much better than within the 3D tools of the Acrobat software itself. The add-on to create 3D PDF files directly from SketchUp has some failings in translation and you should test it before purchasing that package.

The Alibre add-on does not translate sub-assembly structure directly and tends to flatten the tree structure. It is relatively easily rebuilt if required. It is not entirely Alibre's fault, as discussions with a programmer who provides translation software to the SketchUp format says the definition of the SketchUp file structure is relatively loose and not rigidly defined. It makes it hard to create a formal nesting structure when translating from other programs via a conversion program.

 

[edbardet]

I have been successful with exporting .stl and importing them for rendering in Cinema4D. Also Google various file conversions and you may find a useful one.
Ed

 

[NateLiquidGravity]

I tried a demo of PolyTrans 3D Translation. http://www.okino.com/default.htm It worked good to take Solidworks files to other graphic model file types. A limitation of the demo is that it leaves out every 5th poly. But I could still open the model and see that it translated nicely.

The full version will set you back quite a bit, but its very good at what it does. Make sure you purchase the right packages though.

They also have a full rendering program as well. NuGraf 3D Translation, Rendering. Same site. Looks good but I haven't tried the demo for it.

 

[chuck-com]

I agree that the limitations of photorender don't make it useful in the broad spectrum but I've had good results on items with a size of less than 3 cubic feet. As a model gets larger the perspective gets forced out of natural. The texture mapping control is also fairly limited, which I've found is the main feature for getting images correct in any rendering program. I'm testing bringing files into 3d studio and will let you know how that works out.

 

[DavidJ]

The problem with distorted perspectives came up in another thread some time ago. It sounds as though the camera position is set too close to the object if you are getting this effect. Try pulling the camera away from the object (Track out), then increase the magnification (zoom) to get the object back to the size in the frame you want. These 2 settings are independent, but can be mistaken for doing the same thing.

 

[Bob]

I've been playing with Kerkythea, also free. You have to export to SketchUp, then export from SketchUp to Kerkythea. I've go a long way to go before I am anything but a rank beginner.

This was supposed to be a zebra wood plank floor but you can see I somehow over wrote that file and it rendered a solid color.

Bob

 

[MilesH]

That's a pretty impressive oil slick, Bob :mrgreen:

 

[NateLiquidGravity]

Yes, It even defies gravity by going higher than the bowl. Still much better than anything I can render yet so props for that.

 

[MilesH]

Actually, it's closest to a traditional Christmas pudding 8)

 

[Bob]

C'mon guys, the boat is nicely riding a swell.

I need to figure out how to modify the materials. Right now it is more someone else's work i.e. the people who developed the material files are the ones who did the most.

I still need to figure out lighting too. This is mostly an exercise in displaying a model and I can practice rendering on it. You can see by what I exported from Alibre that the model could easily be used to display something else.

Miles- My model COULD be used to display your ????? pudding ???? for sure.

Once you get SketchUp and Kerkythea and all the material files installed correctly, THEN this rendering is actually quite easy as I have not customized any setting yet, camera, lighting, and textures or colors of materials.


Bob

Edit- Earlier I said that I had corrupted a material file. I was wrong. I did figure out how to delete material in Kerkythea but my newly downloaded and installed file also creates a solid colored surface. It was still worth doing though as I know more about it and I will use what I learned.

 

[WoodWorks]

I own NuGraph, the version of Okino's Polytrans with rendering. The price of $500 is not too bad a price for a quality rendering program, and the included file translation capability is very nice. It does very nice work rendering models and provides better control and repair of surfaces than most packages I have used. The demo works in two modes, omitting every 5th poly, or providing a smaller size rendering.

The main problems come with getting the Alibre model into the program as the Granite Pack that supports STEP is another $395, and STEPTOOLS used by Alibre and PTC (the provider of the Granite translator) disagree on the format of STEP files and you loose all the feature names from your model. You can get an import option for SketchUp format files if you ask for it specifically. However the SketchUp file format is does not have a published specification (according to the programs author) and there can be some anomalies with some imports.

I own NuGraph, Truespace 5.2 (good deals on older versions), use Kerkythea, and have used Blender. However the problem with all rendering programs is the steep learning curve, as that type of software seems to abandon all standard windows conventions. Not too bad if your main interest is rendering, but if you only need it every few weeks or months, it really makes it hard to obtain and maintain proficiency. NuGraph has a structure not too far removed from CAD software, but you can expect a steep learning curve.

Most of my quick and dirty rendering is done in SketchUp as the designs are for Architectural installations and the standard rendering is common to that industry. I complete my entire model in Alibre and import the completed installation with all Cabinets, Appliances, and molding set in the an accurate model of the site. Then I only have to apply the wood grain to the cabinetry and woodwork. Even this effort is not done very often as a 3D PDF with solid colors is adequate for design review. The job has usually been secured before detailed design work has begun and there is not the necessity for "sales" renderings. Smaller projects that are done as presentations for sales merit the effort of Rendering.

I do use Alibre's Rendering as well for furniture and it works adequately for static presentations where a design is not rotated to the back side (as the wood grain is often not the correct orientation). A download from our website provides video instruction on how to create your own texture library (as that is hard to obtain from the documentation). Substituting graphics for the standard textures provides very realistic rendering and should not be overlooked. Again it does take some time to learn as with all programs.

There is no really easy way to render (as learning enough of SketchUp to render was quite a bit or work as well).