Actually, compared to vray you loose in productivity, if you dont like making your own shaders theres vray express, if you dont like tweaking a studio setup, you can use the default setups, you can use HDRI’s vray rt with gpu support, all inside rhino, i do product renders also, also visualisation and alot of tweaking in renders, making small adjustments on shapes and re render just to see what it looks like, doing this in keyshot would be re importing re assigning materials over and over, it is quite fast (last time i tried it) but if its not properly implemented in my case it would slow me down,…
Sheesh! Sabino! Micha! ShultzeWorks! You just blew KeyShot out of the water! Having a look at Vray because of the simple interface - Express -and FluidRay (again) cause its inexpensive.Of course, I’m in China - and shipping a DONGLE is another $150 - that’s if they’l even ship it to China. I just watched this demo and it looks really practical http://www.chaosgroup.com/en/2/vrayforrhino.html
I have and use Keyshot and it is very easy to get some good basic product renderings. I, too, mostly do small product “studio” style shots. KS does have the plug-in that makes if much easier to deal with product/model changes and eliminates the need to re-export, but it can be a little finicky. It is a separate application, though, and I’ve found it isn’t as handy as a fully integrated product would be. The next time I need to pay for a Keyshot upgrade, I would seriously think about skipping it and making a switch to V-Ray, instead.
One thing I would suggest, if you haven’t already, is to download and try out Neon. It’s free and does a pretty good job on simple product shots. I find myself using it more and more for quick renderings right in Rhino, rather than open up Keyshot, apply materials and render. It might not be used for your final product shots, but depending on the project and customer, maybe it could be. Just a thought (and did I mention it’s free?). A couple of very quick Neon product renderings:
mcRamblet - are those NEON renders? Can you recommend a clip how you made those?
Those are Neon renderings right in Rhino. Here is a link to a @BrianJ video:
Towards the end of this video he talks about Neon.
It’s pretty easy:
Turn on Ground Plane (I use these settings):
Turn on Sky Light:
Select an Environment:
Adjust HDR Multiplier, if needed:
Select “Raytraced with Neon” in Viewport, adjust view and/or model and let it render:
Not too bad for a free Raytraced rendering and in some cases might suffice, as is:
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Neon is also nice just for some good visual feedback as you’re modeling. If you have Rhino, you should have Neon, too.
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An other interesting point could be the HDR Light Studio integration of Vray. I don’t want miss it anymore, Vray RT and light paint allow me to “render” an image like a classical design image painter doe’s it in the past. It makes a lot of fun to tweak design shots, set reflection on edges where needed and adjust the shape in realtime. I save me a lot of time.
Here can be found a gallery of this product:
http://www.hdrlightstudio.com/
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Just buy keyshot - the rest will do your head in!
I have worked with maxwell vray but stick with keyshot.
I do work for a company called tech21 that create phone cases
rfollet - yea - that’s the key - doing my ‘head-in’ bit - I just want to bang out a descent render - without scrambling my brains. That’s why Keyshot keeps tugging at me - and V-Ray requires a DONGLE and I’m in China - which means $150 to ship the thing - and I keep losing dongles! I’ve lost 2-3 for other things - I hate dongles. V-Ray has a simplified interface - so it appears you don’t need a PHD in “Interface Navigation Management Control” so much - however - Keyshot is a no-brainer for interface - hit the road running! Oh! Gosh! mcramblet = well! I think I might just stick with NEON! No place like starting from the beginning - ! I love the simplicity - and the simplicity is unencumbered!
as you already decided that you need quick and easy way of doing renders it would be tricky to replace Keyshot.
But as soon as you start to think about doing some more complex things you’ll discover it’s shortcomings.
In my workshop I use Modo for rendering. It has awesome rendering engine (but it’s not point and click solution ) and more importantly it’s super cool modeling and animation package. For me choosing it was a no brainer - for a price of Keyshot I got a package that is capable of doing much more.
But again it depends on how deep you’re willing to dive in - if you don’t want to spend time learning render settings stick to Keyshot.
Przemas - That’s the most sensible thing to do. I just want a sensible render - not a killer to die for render. If I want that - then I’ll pay a professional to do it. I simply want a damn good idea of a 3d product illustrated - not a DaVinci. If I want anything above that - I’ll already have Rhino 5 and T-Splines in my pocket - and be sizzling hot with those - before I take a stab at learning something in which I’d need a PHD in “Control Interface Management” + what kills V-Ray is the dad-blamed DONGLE. The big plus for V-Ray is the compatibility inside Rhino - as well as the SIMPLIFIED experience. In the meantime - you sit there staring at what looks like the dashboard of a NASA LunaTick Mission Control Center - wondering what all those pretty lights and buttons do. Forget that! Now I’m back to KEYSHOT!
I was going to mention this fact, too. If it’s a model that you can simply drag and drop stock Keyshot materials on and render, it works great. When it goes beyond that and you start getting into trying to apply custom textures with bitmaps, all sorts of labels, etc., I think Keyshot begins to become a headache. Another reason I might look at something else in the future.
One more thing to throw into your pot for consideration; Bunkspeed Shot.
I haven’t used this myself, but I know a few people who have. It’s very similar to Keyshot, supposed to be super easy, with no complicated controls.
There isn’t a “one size fits all” application when it comes to rendering, as this thread can attest. Ultimately, you will need to figure out what’s most important to you, what your needs are and then find what fits best within that. It’s not easy with so many choices and options.
BunkSpeed - mcramblet, is the same price and KeyShot - like a grand. I wish there were a simple one for $500.
But then you would probably wish for one that costed 250… 
If you need a free solution go for Neon and spend the extra time to learn how to get the most out of it.
Holo - no - my budget is $500 and I don’t want a learning curve per se - I want the KeyShot Drag n’ drop - which apparently Bunkspeed Shot has also - however - in my opinion - I think they’re overpriced. I think the best value is V-Ray for the fact it has an express easy interface option - and you can grow with it - however I detest dongles.
My opinion; start with Neon, which won’t cost you a penny. Then as @Holo mentioned, spend some time to maximize what it can do for you. Maybe it will be all you need, if it’s not, it will at least give you a better understanding of where you’d like to go when it comes time to purchase something else. There is nothing to lose going this direction and potentially, much to gain. No cost, no dongles, no shipping, fully Rhino integrated, an opportunity to get a better grasp of rendering and figure out where you might want to go next. Enough said.
Yea - I think you’re right - V-Ray I’d take except I’m in China - and have to not lose the DONGLE - and Keyshot and BunkSpeed Shot are IMO overpriced - so now it’s NEON!
First point : these apps are ALL historically and hysterically cheap. I learned 3D on Alias in the mid-90’s and the hardware + software cost $100,000. The current prices of everything we are talking about are ‘crazy cheap’ comparatively. For an extra $100 or $200 price difference, I go with the best, then take the time to learn it. By the time you figure out the ‘workarounds’ to limited software, you could have been proficient at the superior software.
Second point : If 3D and rendering were easy, you’d see homeless guys in the park doing it. [Bad joke!] Superior skills in complex software take time. Knowing Photoshop makes you marketable; putting ‘Photo-Dude!’ on your resume makes people wonder.
Its totally cool if people want to skip or shorten this process. If it’s something I love doing and I aspire to be the best, then the time spent learning is both fun and an investment in my career.
DONGLE TIP : I bought two licenses. One for work, one for home. If you travel, I recommend a small USB hub for the laptop. Get the ones with a short flexible cable, so your dongle can be left plugged in (not sticking out.) If you unplug the hub, its harder to lose the dongle if it still plugged into the hub.