In the world of digital artistry, architecture visualization, and animated films, the quality of rendered images can make a substantial difference in the effectiveness and appeal of a project. As rendering software advances, so does the complexity and potential of its outputs. However, achieving the desired level of professionalism often requires more than leveraging the latest technology. By using effective strategies and tricks, artists and designers can significantly improve the result of their renders. This guide will explore five essential rendering software tricks that can enhance visual quality, optimize workflow efficiency, and ultimately elevate your final output.

Let’s get started with iRender! 

Improving your render results often involves optimizing both hardware and software. Here are some hardware and software tricks to enhance your rendering performance and output quality:

Hardware tricks

Increase RAM

• Add More Memory: Ensure you have enough RAM to handle complex scenes and high-resolution textures. Depending on your workflow, 16GB might be the minimum, with 32GB or more being ideal for demanding tasks.

Fast Storage Solutions

• Use SSDs: Solid State Drives (SSDs) offer much faster read/write speeds than traditional HDDs. Use SSDs for your operating system, software, and project files.
• NVMe Drives: For even faster performance, consider NVMe SSDs for better data transfer speeds, especially useful for loading heavy scene files.

Balanced System

• Avoid Bottlenecks: Ensure that your CPU, GPU, and RAM are balanced to prevent bottlenecks. For example, pairing a high-end GPU with an outdated CPU can limit performance.

Software tricks

Upgrade Your GPU

• Invest in a Powerful GPU: High-performance GPUs are crucial for rendering, especially for GPU-accelerated rendering engines. Brands like NVIDIA (RTX series) or AMD (Radeon series) are popular for rendering tasks.
• Use Multiple GPUs: If your rendering software supports it, consider using multiple GPUs to distribute the rendering load and significantly reduce render times.

Choose the Right Rendering Engine

• Select Appropriate Rendering Engines: Different rendering engines (like V-Ray, Arnold, Redshift, Octane, etc.) have unique strengths. Choose one that suits your project needs for faster and better-quality rendering.

Optimize Render Settings

• Use Adaptive Sampling: If your software supports it, use adaptive sampling settings to focus on image parts requiring more detail while reducing samples in less critical areas.
• Render in Passes: Render your scene in passes (beauty, shadows, reflections, etc.) to gain more control in post-processing software.

Use Instances:

• Instance Geometry: Instead of duplicating heavy models, use instances for repetitive elements in your scene (like trees, chairs, etc.) to save memory and speed up rendering.

The key technique is to ensure that your rendering is using your computer’s full capabilities. Your computer has two processors: a graphics processing unit(GPU) and a central processing unit(CPU). The majority of software will choose to use your CPU by default, although that is drastically less efficient. Your GPU has a lot more power for rendering, you see. In addition to having much greater rendering power, the GPU should be your choice.

GPU Tricks

Use GPU-Accelerated Rendering

• Select Compatible Rendering Engines: Choose rendering engines that support GPU acceleration (e.g., Redshift, Octane, V-Ray GPU). This takes advantage of the parallel processing capabilities of GPUs, significantly speeding up render times.

Optimize GPU Settings

• Adjust Memory Settings: Use the card’s memory as effectively as possible by managing texture sizes and scene complexity. Monitor VRAM usage and make adjustments accordingly.
• Enable Multi-GPU Rendering: If you have multiple GPUs, enable multi-GPU rendering in your software settings to distribute the rendering workload.

CPU Tricks

Leverage Multi-Core Processing

• Choose Multi-Core Rendering Engines: Use rendering software that can effectively utilize multiple CPU cores. Software like Arnold and V-Ray operates well with multiple cores for faster rendering.
• Enable Threading: In the render settings, make sure that multi-threading or CPU threading options are enabled to maximize usage of available cores.

Optimize Render Settings for CPU

• Use Bucket Rendering: Enable bucket rendering (as opposed to progressive rendering) in CPU-based renderers to optimize memory usage during rendering tasks.
• Adjust Sampling Settings: Increase smart sampling settings to reduce noise without taxing the CPU too heavily, which can lead to longer render times.

By applying these CPU and GPU tricks, you can greatly enhance your render results in terms of both quality and speed. The key is to understand the strengths of each processing unit and optimize your rendering pipeline accordingly.

Rendering is mostly about presenting something in a real environment. Lighting and texturing are essential pieces of a good rendered model. Combining the simulated sunlight and simulated alternative lighting sources, alongside different angles, is going to give us a better interpretation of a product.

Lighting Techniques

• Use Global Illumination (GI): Enable global illumination to achieve more realistic lighting by simulating the way light bounces off surfaces.

• HDRI Lighting: Use high dynamic range images for realistic sky and environment lighting. This method can greatly enhance mood and realism.
• Three-Point Lighting: For character renders, utilize a three-point lighting setup (key light, fill light, and back light) to create depth and interest.

Texture Optimization

• Texture Resolution: Ensure that you’re using high-resolution textures where necessary, especially for close-up renders. Avoid stretching textures on objects.
• Normal and Bump Maps: Use normal maps or bump maps to add detail without increasing polygon count.

Optimizing your render settings is crucial for improving the quality and efficiency of your renders. Here are some effective render settings tricks that can help enhance your results while managing render times:

Adjust Sampling Settings

• Increase Samples: Use a higher number of samples for both camera and light sampling, especially in scenes with complex lighting and materials. For final renders, consider using 100-200 samples, balancing quality and render time.
• Adaptive Sampling: Enable adaptive sampling if your renderer supports it. This technique increases samples in areas requiring more detail while reducing them in less critical areas, effectively managing render time.

Denoising Techniques

• Use Denoisers: Implement built-in denoising tools like NVIDIA’s OptiX or software-specific denoisers to clean up unwanted noise in your images. This allows you to use lower sample rates while still achieving a clean result.

Use Bucket Rendering

• Select Bucket Rendering: In CPU-based rendering engines, enable bucket rendering to process the image in smaller sections. This can make rendering more efficient and allow you to preview results more quickly.

Post-processing effects can significantly enhance the visual quality of your renderings, providing depth, vibrancy, and a polished finish.

Color Grading

• Use Color Grading Software: Tools like DaVinci Resolve or Adobe After Effects can help you achieve cinematic looks. Adjust midtones, shadows, and highlights to create a cohesive mood.
• LUTs (Lookup Tables): Apply LUTs to quickly achieve desired color schemes and styles. You can find many free and paid LUTs online that can be tailored to your specific needs.

High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging

• Tone Mapping: If your render is HDR, use tone mapping techniques to compress the dynamic range for better viewing on standard displays. This helps retain details in highlights and shadows.
• Exposure Adjustments: Fine-tune the exposure to balance bright areas and enhance overall contrast.

Depth of Field (DOF)

• Add DOF in Post-Processing: If your software allows it, simulate depth of field in post, focusing on key subjects while softly blurring the background. This draws attention to the focal points of your scene.
• Control Focal Point: Make sure the depth of field complements your composition and storytelling, helping the viewer’s eye move through the image naturally.

The choice of software and the techniques you employ can profoundly impact the quality and efficiency of your work. By leveraging the five rendering software tricks outlined—optimizing render settings, utilizing efficient lighting techniques, making the most of materials and shaders, implementing render layers and passes, and utilizing powerful post-processing capabilities—you can significantly enhance both the aesthetic and technical aspects of your final renders.

iRender – the best cloud rendering service, provides high-configuration servers that increase CPU and GPU rendering speeds. We provide the most powerful RTX 4090 configuration packages on the market, all equipped with AMD RyzenTM ThreadripperTM PRO 3955WX @ 3.9 – 4.2GHz and AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ PRO 5975WX @ 3.6 – 4.5GHz processors, 256GB RAM and 2T NVMe SSD hard drive capacity. You can see our powerful configuration:

You just need to transfer your files, connect to the remote machine, and install your software, as well as the necessary render engine and plugins then add your license and render yourself. Setting up ONCE and your working environment will be saved and ready to use at any time. Specially, if you are a Blender or Cinema 4D and Redshift users, it would be perfect.

Blender projects

Currently, our machine has preinstalled Blender 4.3.2, you can create a machine easily then connect to it and render normally. You can refer our most powerful’s performance video when rendering on Blender scene following:

Cinema 4D and Redshift projects

Our machine has also preinstalled Cinema 4d and Redshift preinstalled, you can save your time for installation. Moreover, as Maxon’s partner, we provide one combo Cinema 4D and Redshift license free. Following is our test video when rendering with Cinema 4D and Redshift scene, you can see:

Currently, we are running a SPECIAL OFFER: 100% Additional Bonus for new clients who register an account and make a top-up within 24 hours after their registration. For educational projects, we offer 50% bonus for all transactions.

Futhermore, our price is flexible with hourly rental which has pay-as-you-go basis, daily/ weekly/ monthly subscription with discount from 10-20%.

In case you have any problems or questions, don’t hesitate to contact the 24/7 support team. We will be happy to help you with your questions and problems at all times.

Register for an account today to experience our service, or contact us via email at hanght@irender.vn or WhatsApp at (+84) 912075500 for advice and support.

iRender-Happy Rendering!

A realistic 3D human model plays a vital role in various fields, including video games, animation, medical simulations, marketing, and especially virtual reality experiments. Since eyes are often considered the “windows to the soul,” crafting lifelike eyes is a crucial aspect of creating a believable 3D human model. In this guide, iRender will explore five fundamental steps to model 3D eyes.

To model 3D eyes as realistic as possible, the first and most important step is to familiarize yourself with the anatomy of the eye. Understanding its structure is essential for accurate modeling. The eyeball comprises three distinct layers: the outermost layer, consisting of the cornea and sclera; the middle layer, which contains the primary blood supply, iris, and pupil; and the innermost layer, made up of the retina. Studying detailed images and diagrams of the eye’s anatomy will give you a clearer understanding of the shapes and features that need replicating. This knowledge will also guide you in selecting the appropriate tools and determining the necessary steps for the modeling process. Furthermore, assembling a comprehensive catalog of high-quality reference images will significantly enhance the realism and intricacy of your 3D eye model, enabling you to capture subtle details with greater precision.

Gaining a solid understanding of eye anatomy is indispensable for grasping the details of what you aim to achieve in your 3D modeling process. However, taking your learning a step further by sketching out the anatomy can make a significant difference. Sketching acts as a practical rehearsal after you’ve studied the structure and features of the eye. It doesn’t have to be a perfect or realistic drawing, nor does it need to be artistically beautiful. Even a simple outline or rough representation will suffice. The primary goal of sketching is to reinforce your memory of the various parts and intricate details of the eye. This practice ensures that you retain the information better, reducing the need to repeatedly refer back to reference images during the time you’re modeling 3D eyes.

In many tutorial videos, artists commonly rely on the sphere shape as the foundation for modeling various parts of the eye, including the eyeball, cornea, and lens. This approach simplifies the process and provides a versatile starting point for creating realistic shapes.

The first step to model 3D eyes involves using a sphere to model the eyeball. It’s generally recommended to start with a perfectly round sphere, as this is the safest and most accurate base. To shape the iris and pupil, you can scale the vertices inward on a small section of the sphere and add additional loops to refine the details.

The second step is to use another sphere to create the lens, which is positioned inside the eyeball. This step requires some adjustments since the lens is not perfectly spherical; its vertices will need to be carefully reshaped to achieve the correct form.

The third step involves using yet another sphere to model the cornea. Similar to the lens, the cornea is not entirely round, so you’ll need to manipulate the vertices to match its natural curvature. By following these steps and refining the shapes as needed, you can create the essential structures of the eye with accuracy and detail.

The next crucial step in modeling a realistic 3D eye is applying textures, which bring the model to life by adding color, details, and surface variations. Texturing involves overlaying a 2D image onto the surface of a 3D model to simulate the intricate details of a real object. This process can be achieved using various tools, such as Photoshop, Substance Painter, or available techniques in 3D software like Blender or Maya. One of the most challenging aspects of texturing is recreating the complex and detailed appearance of a real-life iris, as it contains numerous intricate patterns and subtle variations.

To achieve maximum realism, it’s highly recommended to use a combination of texture types. For example, Diffuse Texture is essential for defining the base color and visible details, such as the intricate iris patterns and the veins in the sclera. Normal Map can be used to simulate fine surface details, like the delicate ridges in the iris and the slight texture of the sclera. Specular Map is key for controlling the reflective properties of the surface, particularly the cornea’s glossy appearance, while Roughness Map determines the smoothness or roughness of the eye’s surface, enhancing its overall realism.

If time is limited, you can opt to source pre-made textures from online libraries, many of which offer either free or paid options. This can significantly speed up the texturing process while still providing high-quality results for your 3D eye model.

To model 3D eyes which can be more realistic, adding shadows and highlights is an important step because the eye is often the focal point of a character, playing a vital role in conveying life, emotion, and a sense of realism. The eye’s glossy and reflective nature, along with its complex interaction with light, makes accurate rendering of these elements essential. Highlights are particularly important for replicating the wet and shiny appearance of the cornea, while shadows add depth and definition to the sclera and the iris, enhancing the model’s overall lifelike quality.

To further elevate the realism of your eye model, incorporating small details and subtle variations is key. Features such as wrinkles around the eye, delicate veins on the sclera, tears, or realistic reflections can significantly enhance the uniqueness and authenticity of the model. These intricate details can be achieved through a variety of techniques, including sculpting fine features, hand-painting textures, or adding extra geometry to the model. These finishing touches ensure the eye stands out as a dynamic and convincing element in your character design.

In case you want to focus on other parts of the body crafting rather than to model 3D eyes, you can use an instant model. With The FlippedNormals Eye Kit, you can instantly drag and drop the model to your character, saving you quite a time from modeling the eyes to focusing on other parts of your human model. The eye model is realistic enough to be used in either VFX or the game at close or distant angles.

The FlippedNormals Eye Kit includes 6 iris colors (blue, brown, dark brown, green, hazel, and grey), together with 2 sclera variations (bright and dark).

The kit is ready to use in Arnold for Maya, VRay for Maya, Blender, and Modo. With just some easy steps like importing the file or dragging on a slider, you can change pupil dilation and constriction. With other software, you will need to import FBX or OBJ files. Not all software; however, interprets them the same way, you might see minor discrepancies when importing an OBJ across different platforms.

For the best final result, not only a complicated model and appropriate rendering software are required but also a computer with a powerful configuration. iRender provides high configurations of machines with upmarket specifications like AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ PRO 3955WX @ 3.9 – 4.2GHz or AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ PRO 5975WX @ 3.6 – 4.5GHz, RAM 256GB, Storage NVMe SSD 2TB. Most importantly, we always update to the latest GPU technology.

Whatever modeling software and render engines you use, you still can find a suitable PC at iRender. You can consider our packages and their configuration here.

Let’s see how fast Arnold for Maya, VRay for Maya render on our servers!

Why can iRender be a great render farm for you?

In addition to high-configuration servers, iRender also provides many other utilities to bring the best experience for users.

• Dedicated server for individuals: You have full control and access to the server you rent. The working environment (installed apps, files) will be stored for the next use.
• Easy and free file-transferring between your computer and iRender’s server: The transferring task can be done via “GPU iRender” application for Windows and the “iRender Drive” application for MacOS.
• 24/7 assistance: iRender’s attentive agents are always ready to support all your queries.
• All software compatibility: iRender’s PCs are built to meet the configuration needs of all 3D software and rendering tools at a variety of cost levels for users to choose from.

REGISTER NOW to get the free trial today—don’t miss out!

If you have any questions, please get in touch with me through email duongdt@irender.vn or our 24/7 support team for a quick response.

Thank you for reading & Happy Rendering!

Source: flippednormals, linkedin, daisie blog, youtube 

In September, Reallusion released some new free updates for the real-time character animation software iClone 8.5. In this version, we see an extension of the crowd animation toolset, such as Smart Accessory and Prop Interaction system.  Let’s take a look at them in this article.

In this version of iClone 8.5, the developer built the crowd simulation system based on iClone 8.4 and elevate Smart Accessory system. Now it’s easier for users to add accessories like hats, glasses or weapons to crowd characters.

You can attach multiple materials and multiple parent bones to your accessories, and it doesn’t need to be attached to a specific bone.

It is also now possible to embed animations in iClone’s MotionPlus format into accessories, giving crowd characters readymade stock movements that involve the accessory.

Another new feature in iClone 8.5 is the Prop Interaction system. It will help you streamline the process of getting crowd characters to interact with their environment. Using MD Prop – a new type of asset – you can automatically trigger behaviors in nearby crowd actors.

There are basic MD Prop types and customized one. The basic types include objects to sit on, push buttons on, or inspect, and the animations they trigger can be modified by a character’s age or gender. You can choose among 10 stock models that can be used with the built-in MD Prop templates in the new version of iClone 8.5 .

iClone 8.5 is available on Windows 7 and later. New perpetual license costs $599. However, the update is free to existing users.

iRender provides you a high-performance and configurable server system for 3D rendering, AI Training, VR & AR, simulation, etc. We believe that design and creative activities are private and personal that only you artists will know what you want with your animation. For the latest version of iClone 8.5, you can definitely use it on iRender’s remote computers.

You can create a blank machine, then install iClone 8.5 (or any other versions) on our remote machine (first time access only), add license, and modify, adjust and render by yourself there.

iClone only supports one GPU, so it’s better if you choose the server 3S – single RTX4090 from iRender.

Let’s see how you can start to work on iRender remote server:

Not only those powerful configuration, iRender also provides you more services. NVLink for large scene on our server 4N – dual RTX 3090s. Free transferring tool named iRender drive for macOS or Linux users. For Windows users, we recommend using our all-in-one application iRender GPU to work, and you don’t need to come to our website. Our price is flexible with hourly rental which has pay-as-you-go basis, daily/ weekly/ monthly subscription with discount from 10-20%. Plus, you have 24/7 support service with real human who will support you whenever you encounter an issue.

Register an account today to experience our service and enjoy a very big promotion 100% bonus for new user first top up. Or contact us via WhatsApp: (+84) 916806116 for advice and support.

Thank you & Happy Rendering!

Source and images: cgchannel.com, reallusion.com

In the world of 3D artistry, the right tools can make all the difference. Unbiased render engines are the unsung heroes, faithfully reproducing realistic lighting and materials without shortcutting the physics. This article dives into the top five unbiased render engines every 3D artist should know, spotlighting the unique features that set them apart in delivering stunning, photorealistic results. Whether you’re crafting a lifelike architectural visualization or an intricate character model, these render engines offer the precision and power needed to bring your creative visions to life. Let’s explore the best in the business and see which one is your new go-to tool in the quest for perfection with iRender!

When a render is calculated using unbiased rendering, either no shortcuts or very few shortcuts are employed. It will strictly compute the light bounces in the scene as accurately as possible. 

The strengths of unbiased rendering: 

• • More straight-forward setup, it is just modeling the physics of light and materials, no massaging, it is what it is
  • Spend less time fiddling around with materials, lights and settings
  • Can more consistently produce photorealistic results while requiring less knowledge and skill to do so

The weaknesses of unbiased rendering:

• •  Render time is orders of magnitude greater. More light rays mean more calculations made, more computational power and longer render time. 
  • The level of control that you have toward your scene. You have to stick with the render settings hardcoded into the renderer and don’t have a chance to play with them.

In terms of biased rendering, it uses algorithms to approximate lighting, speeding up the process by simplifying or skipping certain calculations. While this approach is faster and often sufficient for real-time applications like video games or quick previews, it may sacrifice some level of accuracy and realism. However, the learning curve of the biased rendering engine will be more difficult, as you have to know how to tweak your scene to achieve a good result. Essentially, the choice between these methods hinges on the project’s needs, whether prioritizing speed or the highest fidelity in visual quality.

Autodesk Arnold software is a highly optimized, unbiased, physically-based ‘Monte Carlo’ ray/path tracing engine that helps you deliver beautiful and predictable results. Arnold. It can be used for 3ds Max, Cinema4D, Houdini, Katana, and Maya. 

With Arnold, you can:

• Navigate through the software with simple and intuitive controls.
• Produce professional-grade renders with full artistic control.
• Get immediate results with interactive rendering.

Strengths  

• • • Arnold is known for its high-quality rendering capabilities, producing realistic and visually stunning results with excellent lighting and shading effects.
    • Arnold is widely used in the industry and is supported by major 3D animation software such as Autodesk Maya, making it a popular choice among professionals.
    • Integrated with popular 3D software like Maya and Cinema 4D

Weaknesses 

• • • Arnold can be expensive for individual users or small studios, especially when compared to some other rendering solutions on the market.
    • Due to its advanced features and capabilities, Arnold may have a steeper learning curve for beginners or those new to rendering software. 
    • Slower rendering times compared to GPU-based renderers

Price: 

• • • The price of a monthly Arnold subscription is $50. 
    • The price of an annual Arnold subscription is $400 
    • The price of a three-year Arnold subscription is $1,200.

Cycles is Blender’s physically-based path tracer for production rendering. It is designed to provide physically based results out-of-the-box, with artistic control and flexible shading nodes for production needs. To use Cycles, select it as the Render Engine in the Render properties.

Blender is cross-platform, running on every major operating system including Windows, Linux, and macOS.  Its UI makes use of OpenGL to offer a unified experience. Furthermore, proficient users can utilize Blender’s Python programming API to personalize the application or create customized tools. GPU rendering with NVIDIA, AMD, Intel and Apple Silicon.

Strengths 

• • • Free and open-source
    • Cycles is seamlessly integrated into Blender, allowing for a smooth workflow within the Blender environment.
    • Cycles is based on a physically-based rendering model, making it well-suited for creating natural and realistic materials and lighting.
    • Good for both beginners and professionals.

Weaknesses 

• • • Can be slower than some commercial render engines
    • Noise can be an issue in complex scenes: Achieving noise-free renders may require longer rendering times or the use of denoising techniques, especially in scenes with challenging lighting conditions.
    • While Cycles is designed for Blender, its integration with other 3D software may not be as seamless as some other rendering engines.

Pricing: Free

Corona Renderer is a high-performance, photorealistic rendering engine for Autodesk 3ds Max and Cinema 4D. It uses advanced techniques such as unbiased rendering and denoising to produce highly realistic images with minimal noise. Corona is the only renderer created specifically for high-end architectural visualization. 

To ensure smooth operation, the software requirements for 3ds Max include Autodesk 3ds Max version 2016 or newer, running on 64-bit Microsoft Windows 10 or newer. Additionally, installation requires administrator privileges. For those utilizing distributed rendering, Autodesk Backburner is also required, which is available for free from Autodesk.

For MAXON Cinema 4D, the minimum version needed is Cinema 4D R17 or newer. This software is compatible with both 64-bit Microsoft Windows 10 or newer, and macOS 10.14 or newer. Similar to 3ds Max, installing Cinema 4D also necessitates administrator privileges.

Strengths:

• • • Corona is often praised for its user-friendly interface and ease of use, making it accessible to both beginners and experienced users.
    • High-quality hybrid rendering
    • Good for architectural visualization
    • The Corona community is known for its active and supportive nature, offering resources, forums, and tutorials to help users learn and troubleshoot any issues.

Weaknesses

• • • Limited to CPU-based rendering
    • ome users have expressed concerns about the size and variety of the built-in material library in Corona Renderer, which may require users to create their materials more frequently.
    • Can be more expensive than some other render engines

Pricing: Corona Renderer offers several pricing plans to suit different needs

• • • Monthly Plan: around $60 per month
    • Yearly Plan: around $340 per year
    • Student Plan: around $65 per year

Maxwell is a ground-truth photorealistic renderer for top-notch CGI. Now faster thanks to Cloud Rendering and a GPU version & numerous 3D integrations.

Maxwell is quite versatile when it comes to compatibility. It integrates seamlessly with a variety of popular 3D modeling applications, including Maya, 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, and FormZ. This broad compatibility allows artists to use Maxwell within their preferred software environments without needing to switch tools.

Additionally, Maxwell supports both CPU and GPU rendering. The GPU version leverages NVIDIA’s CUDA computing platform, meaning it works with NVIDIA graphics cards from the Maxwell, Pascal, Volta, Turing, and Ampere micro-architectures. However, it’s important to note that AMD or Intel graphics cards are not supported. This flexibility makes Maxwell a powerful option for a wide range of hardware configurations and workflows.

Strengths:

• • • Known for its photorealistic image outputs
    • Seamlessly integrated with various design tools
    • The Multilight feature in Maxwell Render allows users to adjust the intensity and color of lights after rendering, providing flexibility and control in post-production without needing to re-render.
    • Offers a 30-day free demo

Disadvantages:

• • • Can be slower in operation
    • No library of ready-made 3D models
    • Maxwell Render historically placed more emphasis on CPU rendering, with less emphasis on GPU acceleration compared to some other rendering solutions.

Pricing: 

• • • Maxwell Bundle: from €745 for a Node-locked license and €945 for a Floating license 
    • Maxwell Studio: from €495 for a Node-locked license and €695 for a Floating license

OctaneRender is the world’s first and fastest unbiased, spectrally correct GPU render engine, delivering quality and speed unrivaled by any production renderer on the market.

OTOY is proud to advance state-of-the-art graphics technologies with groundbreaking machine learning optimizations, out-of-core geometry support, massive 10-100x speed gains in the scene graph, and RTX raytracing GPU hardware acceleration.

Octane renderer is supported on Microsoft Windows 64-bit, Linux 64-bit, MacOS X 10.5+, 10.11, and macOS 10.12 and 10.13

Strengths:

• • • Real-time rendering capabilities, high-quality, photorealistic results
    • AI-based denoising techniques in Octane help reduce noise in rendered images, enhancing the overall quality and allowing for faster convergence during rendering.
    • Supports NVIDIA RTX ray tracing for faster rendering
    • Octane offers seamless integration with various industry-standard software, enabling users to incorporate it into their preferred 3D content creation workflows.

Weaknesses:

• • • Can be expensive for some users
    • Requires powerful hardware for optimal performance
    • Primarily a GPU – based renderer, so it doesn’t utilize CPU power effectively.

Pricing: 

• • • Monthly Subscription: €23.95 per month
    • Annual Subscription: €15.99 per month (billed annually), which comes to €191.88 per year
    • Studio+ Subscription: €19.99 per month (billed annually), which includes additional tools and cloud rendering services

iRender powers up your creativity with unlimited GPU rendering resources. Our GPU render farm houses the most powerful 3D rendering machines. Configure from 1 to 8 GPU with top-tier RTX 4090/RTX 3090, Threadripper Pro CPUs, 256GB RAM and 2TB SSD storage

Any program and plugins you want can be installed only once and saved for further use. To ensure you get the most out of our service for your work, iRender additionally offers you a ton of helpful features like NV Links.

In case you have any problems or questions, don’t hesitate to contact the 24/7 support team. We will be happy to help you with your questions and problems at all times.

Let’s watch some tests we made on our new server (8xRTX 4090) below:

In this video, we will guide you on how to estimate cost on iRender Farm and give bonus tips for a more time- and cost-effective workflow.

For more detailed information, please contact us via Live chat 24/7 or WhatsApp: +(84)915875500 or Email: vyvtk@irender.vn

iRender – Happy rendering!

References: autodesk.com, docs.blender.org, support.chaos.com, maxwellrender.com, otoy.com 

We are working in the period where many 3D tools available for many requirements. Previously, you were introduced to some of the best tools to simulate fire and smoke, fluids and clothing in 3D. Today, if you are interested in enhance your environment or exterior scene better, then don’t forget some best tools for scattering in 3D.

Forest Pack from iToo is a complete pack for creating large-scale areas of object. It’s not just for forest, trees, natural plants, but also for every landscape objects like building, people, crowd, etc. This plugin allows you to populate and scatter the scene with thousand of objects, without decreasing performance.

One of the best selling-point for Forest Pack is that it is compatible with many renderers like V-Ray, Corona, Arnold, Octane. However, it’s the plugin for 3ds Max only, which means if you use another software, you will need another scattering tool. Forest Pack will work best in a studio where you use many renderers at the same time. And if you want to see the scattering in real-time, it’s also able to export to Unreal Engine, Chaos Vantage or Unity. This means a lot in previewing your scene before start to render.

• • • • Pricing: $330 annually
      • Compatible: 3ds Max, V-Ray, Corona, Arnold, Octane, Unreal Engine, Chaos Vantage or Unity.

Forester, along with Forest Pack, is one of the most popular tools for trees, plants, rocks. It has a large and photorealistic number of preset in the libraries to use straight into your project. Four modules of Forester are focused on the actual content: Forester Trees, Multiflora, Forester Rock and MultiCloner, helping you work with objects from scratch or chosen, and handle them easily even with an impressive number of scattering. Another advantage of Forester is its wind effects, which enables vegetation move nicely in the wind.

However, Forester has some drawbacks. The first one is that it only supports Cinema 4D. If you want to gain access to materials that are compatible with renderers likes of V-Ray, Redshift and Corona, you will need to buy the expansion packs.

• • • • Pricing: $460
      • Compatible: Cinema 4D

One of the tools which can scatter any types of objects in the market is MultiScatter. The tool is based on VRayScatter, which is from the same company iCube 3D but only for V-Ray. MultiScatter, like its name, is for many renderers, such as V-Ray, Corona, Octane and Maxwell as well as others. It’s a selling point for any 3d artist or studio who don’t want to work with only one renderer.

The license of MultiScatter is also an advantage, as you only need to pay one time and can use it for life.

However, everything come with a price. A life-time license leads to the fact that MultiScatter is rarely updated. The support from the provider and the forum is not really active either, making it the biggest obstacle for anyone considering using it.

Moreover, right now the plugin is only for 3ds Max.

• • • • Pricing: $200
      • Compatible: V-Ray, Arnold, Corona, Octane, Maxwell, 3ds Max

We can see above that many tools supports V-Ray and Corona in terms of scattering. These tools are used very often in exterior scene which requires the appearance of vegetation, rocks, people, etc. And the developer of the two renderers, Chaos has released Chaos Scatter tools to support them.

Because it’s just released recently and in the progress of improving itself, there’s not much advantage over other existing tools. However, if using the tool, you are able to access Chaos’ other products in their ecosystem, namely Chaos Cosmos. This is a collection of top-quality assets that are ready to go with V-Ray and Corona renderers. Scatter users will benefit every time Chaos builds on and improves its Cosmos collection.

Chaos Scatter is provided by Chaos, meaning that you are guaranteed if your materials are set up by V-Ray or Corona, they will work perfectly and seamlessly with Scatter.

• • • • Pricing: V-Ray with Scatter: £358.80 / annually, Corona with Scatter: £240 / annually
      • Compatible: V-Ray, Corona

We have explored many scatter tools for mostly exterior renderers, focusing mainly on vegetation. Now we will introduce you a scatter tools for Unreal Engine, and it can be used to populate from plants, nature to building, crowd, actors, etc. It’s ia scatter.

ia scatter is a robust static mesh instance scattering blueprint for Unreal Engine, developed by Iraisynn Attinom. The tool can be used to scatter instances of static meshes or blueprint actors on any surface. You just need a few clicks, then your scene will be populated with any objects you want.

The disadvantage of this tool is that it now only supports Unreal Engine.

• • • • Pricing: $9.99
      • Compatible: Unreal Engine

As you may know, iRender provide to you high performance and configurable server system for 3D rendering, AI Training, VR & AR, simulation, etc. With our server, you can install any software you need, add your license, and do whatever you like with your project. These tools above are no exception.

Most tools for scattering are for one software like 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, Unreal Engine, and could be used with many renderers. It means that you can use them in single GPU or multiple GPUs workstation. Understanding that, we have released many packages compatible with them which is single or multi RTX4090.

Moreover, iRender has many more to offer.

iRender offers a powerful and free file transfer tool: iRender drive for macOS or Linux user. With fast file transfer speed, large data capacity, and completely free. You can transfer all the necessary data into our iRender drive tool at any time without connecting to the server. The data will be automatically synchronized in the Z drive inside the server, ready for you to use.

For Windows users, we recommend using our all-in-one application iRender GPU to work, and you don’t need to come to our website but still can transfer your data, recharge your account and access the machine through the app.

The price for each package varies from hourly plan to monthly plan. You can always save from 6% to 20% if you rent a 3 hours/6 hours/daily/weekly/monthly plan.

Our support is available 24/7, helping you to handle the problem quickly, effectively, saving you both time and money.

Register an account today to experience our service and 100% bonus for new user’s first transaction. Or contact us via WhatsApp: (+84) 916806116 for advice and support.

Thank you & Happy Rendering!

Source: creativebloq.com, 80.lv

Sometimes when you use DaVinci Resolve to process the images’ color grading, effects, etc, you will encounter a problem where the software kind of not effectively using the GPU, and it’s often with free version. In this article, we will try to give you a solution we have discovered to how to troubleshoot DaVinci Resolve not using GPU effectively.

DaVinci Resolve is a software that integrates all solutions for images processing, video editing, color correction, visual effects, motion graphics and audio post production. According to Black Magic, the software is for Windows, macOS and Linux, and can leverage the rendering performance using GPU.

There’s one thing you need to keep in mind when rendering DaVinci Resolve: the free version can use only one GPU, while the paid version (studio version) can use up to 8 GPUs, making it a choice when you want to export in 8K.

At iRender, there are many option to render DaVinci Resolve. You can rent package single GPU RTX 4090, or multi-GPUs from 2/4/6/8 x RTX 3090/4090s.

This is based on our experience with some recent cases. Some people reported that they cannot render or the software crashes while they used the powerful RTX 4090. It could be due to many reasons, and sometimes need a DaVinci Resolve technician to carefully check. However, there are some simple solutions we have discovered as below (for paid version):

• • • • You should go to the menu DaVinci Resolve > Preferences > System > Memory and GPU.
      • In the GPU configuration, for “GPU Processing Mode” and “GPU Selection“, uncheck Auto and select either Cuda (if you are using NVidia) or OpenCL (if you are using AMD Radeon).
      • Click Save

• • • • You should go to the menu  DaVinci Resolve > Preferences > System > Decode Options
      • There, you can select Decode H.264/H.265 using hardware acceleration, and check CUDA or AMD based on your own graphics card.
      • Click Save and restart DaVinci Resolve.

• • • • You should go to Deliver > Video.
      • There, you select the Format and Codec as you want (Codec should be 264 or H.265)
      • Under the Encoder drop menu, select Nvidia or AMD based on your own graphics card.
      • Click Add to Render Queue at the bottom.

We hope this article help you to solve the issue when DaVinci Resolve not using GPU.

iRender is a Professional GPU-Acceleration Cloud Rendering Service provider in HPC optimization for rendering tasks, CGI, VFX with over 40.000 customers and being appreciated in many global rankings (e.g. CGDirector, Lumion Official, Radarrender, InspirationTuts CAD, VFXrendering, All3DP). We are proud that we are one of the few render farms that support all software and all versions. Users will remotely connect to our server, install their software only one time and easily do any intensive tasks like using their local computers.

There are a variety of servers from single-GPU RTX 4090 to Multi-GPU 2/4/6/8 x RTX 3090 and RTX 4090, you can choose one server that is suitable for your demand and your software to get started. Besides, we offer clients the powerful processor AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3955WX/AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ PRO 5975WX and RAM 256GB, 2 TB SSD to load your scene quickly.

Register an account today for 100% bonus for new users to experience our service. Or contact us via WhatsApp: (+84) 916 806 116 for advice and support.

Happy rendering!

Source: beginnersapproach.com

When you find a good rendering engine for your pipeline, there are many factors to consider, and I believe that you have heard about biased and unbiased rendering. However, does it really affect your rendering a lot? Let’s discover this question with iRender.

Biased rendering means it will reduce the calculation of light in each pixel, by using a variety of shortcuts and methods to give out an approximation. It will not strictly model the physics of light, but optimize (or limit) the amount of ray bounces, which makes it faster in rendering time.

However, when it reduces the calculation of light, the more you need to tweak your scene to achieve a better and more realistic result. If you don’t know how to do that, the renders will come out bad.

Some of the settings or shortcuts is considered of the biased render engine: defining the amount of light bounces, using cache, adaptive sampling, caustics rays, reducing fireflies, etc.

Some very famous biased rendering engines are: V-Ray, Redshift, Mental Ray, Renderman.

Unbiased rendering means that no shortcut (or few shortcut) is used when calculating a render. It will strictly calculate the light bounces in the scene as accurately as possible. This will lead to a long render time because you have to deal with many light rays. However, the light rays will help to create a realistic render result without you having to tweak too much.

Some of the famous unbiased rendering engines are: Arnold, Cycles, Mantra, Maxwell, Octane, Mental Ray (optional), V-Ray (optional), etc.

Biased rendering has its own advantages. When you have less light bounces calculation, it means that the render speed is faster. In this world of 3D where you have the most boring stage – rendering – being the one that takes longest time to do, you will appreciate the render engine which could produce nice result with less time.

Biased rendering allows you room to play with your settings, meaning you have more freedom to express your creativity. However, it has two sides. The learning curve of the biased rendering engine will be more difficult, as you have to know how to tweak your scene to achieve a good result.

Unbiased rendering is opposite. Because it has many light bounces calculation, it’s easier to achieve a realistic results when the lights do their jobs. You have less setting than biased rendering, and you don’t need to be a pro to really know what to do. Of course, to actually have an outstanding render, whether in biased or unbiased rendering, you have to study and learn.

The downsides of unbiased rendering could be the render time and the level of control that you have toward your scene. More light rays means more calculation made, more computational power and longer render time. Moreover, you have to stick with the render settings hardcoded into the renderer and don’t have a chance to play with them.

Many have said that unbiased is better than biased, because unbiased is physically accurate, used less settings. Is it correct? Unfortunately no.

First of all, unbiased doesn’t mean that it completely models the physics of light behavior in real life. This work will need a ton of computational power and time, and we don’t have enough time and resource to do that.

It will reduce the shortcut and try to mimic the path of light reflects as accurate as possible. However, because there’s a case when light paths and reflections amount are not from a homogeneous distribution source, the shading density, toning, tint, etc. will be different. This leads to flickering or noise.

Second of all, less settings of unbiased just means that it has fewer settings visible.

The other factors like brute force GI or path tracing is like grey line. It can be biased, or unbiased.

It actually depends on some very basic factors when you decide if you use a rendering engine or not.

The features of the renderer: above I have said that biased rendering engine allows you more control by having more settings available. However, don’t think that biased rendering engines have more features than unbiased one. With the help of GPU power and the fast development of 3D technology, we can expect more from all of the renderers. Many users of one software or plugin stick to it because of the features it provides.

Render speed: biased rendering engine is faster because it has less light rays calculation. However, it takes you time to tweak the scene to be able to achieve the realistic result. So is it really time saving? Not really.

Learning curve: whether a rendering engine is a choice or not could come from its learning curve. A steep one will be likely to prevent it from approaching a broader range of customer.

The idea of biased or unbiased rendering is not purely about technology or anything that makes your render more realistic, it’s more of a marketing trick.

To select your rendering engine, sometimes it’s very simple. It’s based on the feature it provides, the render speed of it, the UI is friendly or not, you can learn it fast or not, etc. You can even use many render engines and sometimes it’s your clients or your pipeline requires which renderer you use.

Source: mustafasen.tv, chaos.com, George Maestri’s post on Linkedin

GPU is slowly replacing CPU in terms of rendering 3D. We see many GPU renderers being released like Redshift, Octane, FStorm, etc. The old renderers which only supported CPU rendering before, now start to support GPU rendering such as Arnold, V-Ray, Renderman, Keyshot, etc. The development of real-time rendering is making GPU even hotter, where you can make changes and modify your scene and it immediate shows you the 3D images and animations. In this context, we all shift to GPU sooner or later, and will have to explore how to optimize GPU usage when rendering 3D.

Your rendering engines or software have to support GPU rendering in the first place. For example, Octane, Redshift, FStorm, Lumion, Twinmotion, Unreal Engine, etc. are all designed to take advantage of the power of modern GPU. They will render fast and efficient if you use GPU.

Some render engines or software have two options for you: CPU rendering or GPU rendering. In this case, be sure you have selected GPU rendering, or the GPU version, and enable your graphics card. We can tell some renderers such as  V-Ray, Arnold, Cycles, Eevee, etc. all allow you to choose GPU or CPU.

Another case is a render software supporting CPU at the beginning, and shifting to GPU later, such as Keyshot starts to be GPU-based renderer from Keyshot 9.

Many rendering engine or software have GPU-accelerated features, or even effects. If you want to utilize your GPU, make sure you use those features or effects. For example, features like viewport rendering, denoising, and interactive rendering will use the power of GPU; or some effects in After Effects or Premiere Pro require GPU. In this case, uitilizing your graphics card will help speed up the rendering process and allow for quicker iterations.

There are a lot of cases when your GPU is taxed, such as many geometry, high resolution textures, etc. It could slow down the rendering speed. The solution could be optimizing your scene for complex and detail scene like that.

You can reduce the number of polygons, use efficient mesh topology. Or using LOD (Level of Detail) systems to reduce the complexity of objects at a distance is a way. Reducing the size of your textures, or using tiles texture to manage your memory also help you render faster with GPU.

Of course in a pipeline of making 3D project, it involves many applications. However, when you render and want to render fast, make sure you have the software needed for the 3D rendering process. Close all the unnecessary or unused apps in the background. You can disable them through task manager.

For example, I have encountered many people suggest to close Adobe software in the background if have to work and render smoother. Because when you have multiple programs at one time, not only your GPU usage is slower, but your CPU and and RAM are working hard as well and will likely lead to lower FPS or hanging machine.

Graphics card drivers are responsible for the optimal performance of GPUs. Usually people will recommend you to update to the latest drivers, but it does not always works like that.

If you use modern and the latest graphics card, you could install the latest driver. If your graphics card is old, it’s not likely to support the latest drivers. You will need to find and install the suitable version of driver.

Sometimes, the driver you need to install will depend on the software as well. There are cases that the latest driver is not compatible with the latest version of your software (I have encountered this cases with Lumion and Redshift), therefore you have to revert to the old driver version.

So keeping up with the update, but still you have to pay attention to bugs and fixes from many sources to use the correct driver.

CPU is not really related to GPU rendering fast or slow. However, it will affect the speed of data transferring and processing. If your CPU is weak, the speed is slow, which means that it takes longer to load and process the scene or the project. Even if your GPU is powerful and render fast, your total rendering time still prolong. That’s why you will need a powerful CPU, not only to load the scene smoother, but also to deal with strong GPU.

And again, the unnecessary apps in the background also can slow down your CPU. You should close them and let your project and software utilize all CPU and GPU.

A modern or the latest GPU will always have the best performance. You should pay attention to VRAM, RT cores, CUDA cores, tensor cores. A GPU with a good amount of VRAM will allow you to work in a more complex scene, which is good if you want to approach bigger projects in the future. More CUDA cores means that your scene will be processed faster; more tensor cores helps you create high resolution of images of videos; more RT cores means that the GPU can do the math of ray-tracing quicker than the others.

Pay attention to the software as well, if it needs RT cores to do ray-tracing or not. For example, Twinmotion or Unreal Engine support path-tracing (a new technology of ray-tracing), and it requires a graphics card which can run path tracing. So a modern Nvidia graphics card with RT cores will be a suitable choice for Twinmotion or Unreal Engine users.

If possible, and if the rendering engine or software allow, go for multi-GPU rendering. Nowadays, only real-time render software like Lumion, Twinmotion, D5 Render, Unreal Engine, Chaos Vantage, Enscape support one GPU maximum. Other rendering engine or software are likely to run on multi-GPU systems, and will upscale nearly linearly.

Octane is one of the fastest GPU rendering engine, and the speed is nearly linear if you add more GPUs. Other rendering engines such as Redshift, V-Ray GPU, Arnold GPU, FStorm often speed up about 1.7 to 2 times faster, depending on the graphics card.

You can render your project on the multi-GPU system, or distribute the project to each of the GPU in the system. Both ways will help you to utilize the GPU usage.

There is another way to optimize GPU usage and achieve better speed: you can render on a render farm. Before, SaaS render farm is famous and the only choice for anyone who want to use render farm. It allows you to upload your project and just wait for your rendered results being sent to you. Slowly, SaaS farm shows its weaknesses, like it cannot detect your lacking files, or it’s not able to show you the wrong result on time. And its greatest disadvantage is that you cannot control your rendering process, from the software you use, to how you want it to be rendered.

All the downsides are removed if you use IaaS or PaaS render farm like iRender. You will be able to work freely with your own software and pipeline. What we provide you is supercomputers, with high-end specifications like AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ PRO 3955WX @ 3.9 – 4.2GHz or AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ PRO 5975WX @ 3.6 – 4.5GHz, RAM 256GB, Storage NVMe SSD 2TB. Most importantly, we always update to the latest GPU technology, with 1/2/4/6/8 x RTX3090/RTX4090.

You are free to install any 3d software or rendering engines on our remote servers, add your own license then render or modify your project by yourself. If you use C4D or Redshift, iRender now provides PaaS solution for them. Let’s check it out:

iRender also provides you more services. Free transferring tool named iRender drive for macOS or Linux users. For Windows users, we recommend using our all-in-one application iRender GPU to work, and you don’t need to come to our website. Our price is flexible with hourly rental which has a pay-as-you-go basis, daily/ weekly/ monthly subscription with discount from 10-20%. Plus, you have 24/7 support service via livechat with real humans who will support you whenever you encounter an issue.

Register an account today to experience our service and enjoy a very big promotion 50% or 100% bonus. Or contact us via WhatsApp: (+84) 916806116 for advice and support.

Thank you & Happy Rendering!

Source: quora.com, neogamr.net