That’s fundamentally inaccurate. My car cost American $15,000. If I lose my car keys and have to get a replacement from Honda the price is (I think) approx. $150. A license for V-Ray for Rhino cost $899. If I lose the dongle the replacement price is - $899. V-Ray wants you to think of the dongle as a mechanism that protects your software from piracy but that’s disingenuous - the dongle is the software. Lose it or break it and you lose your software.
Well… and I think YOU are fundamentally inaccurate 
“you will need to purchase a new one. CGarchitect sells them for $35+ shipping & handling. We don’t make any money selling dongles, but happy to help you out if you like. We just have to contact Chaos Group to have your old dongle blacklisted/deactivated and get the new one programmed for you.”
From the forum:
http://forums.cgarchitect.com/73287-lost-vray-dongle.html
I’m quite happy to stand corrected on this issue. I will have to contact my reseller - I was told the opposite. All of our CNC software works on that principle - lose or damage the dongle, lose the software.
Happy to share the good news!
Hard-software doesn’t sound like a good idea. The big render programs used to have dongles until they realized that students used the software that was easiest to crack and when they entered the industry they bought what they knew, and that was the start of the PLE (personal learning editions) and free software to students.
Yes, you can set both the exposure and the gamma of the HDRI.
And as I wrote, I lowered the intensity of the rectangular light, so this can be raised to 100%. Rhino does not support more than 100%, but you can add two lights instead of one (at the same location) and Brazil supports brighter lights (both works in Neon)
It is work in progress and hopefully will work it’s way into Rhino 6.
Forget the Dongle & thus V-Ray. I can buy cracked software all day long in China. I’m in the CRACK CAPITAL of software - the factory floor here. Keyshot Pro? $80. 1.3 billion Chinese have crack everything - this country is like a PIRATE COVE, of treasure, fake Apple Stores, fake BABY formula, fake cooking oil, fake music, fake movies, fake clothes, fake degrees (just buy one), fake restaurants, fake money, even fake propane tanks and fake rebar for construction. A guy was remodeling his condo and found that the contractor had used BAMBOO in place of steel rebar - the official explanation? “It’ was just a joke.”
So - you have CPU as most sensible - unless you feel inclined to spend ADDITIONAL money on VIDEO CARDS, and wade into researching the best card and finding a bargain. I once paid $2,000 for a killer card. No more - I’m a CPU guzzling freak now.
That means KEYSHOT #1.
Fast, simple interface, quick to learn, however not so swell integration in Rhino, and although 30% off on CYBERMONDAYS, and 10-15% if you negotiate maybe - the ASKING PRICE is $945-ish, however, it can be had for $700 which is too much IMO it’s worth $499. - the refreshing cold imported beer!
V-Ray is #2, if you want a perfectly integrated Rhino renderer with a blessing, a simple straight forward speedo interface option! And a curse - a crutch - a scab - a tumor - YES! The humpback vampire DONGLE of V-Ray. It’s probably worth every penny of $995, a SPRUCE GOOSE. The cognac of fine renders.
Maxwell #3 if you want to stare at a wall full of whistles & bells, and launch a rendering as though you had a manual setting that required a NASA cockpit that looked like it belonged in a space shuttle - this GUI looks like the mother of the blob - and like NEW YORK from the sky - at night - where God says "pick a button, any button, and push!"
And your CPU DIES - as you tweak into render Heaven - slow. Meanwhile your video card catches fire and your CPU starts looking like Chernoble. Gorgeous renders though. $775 - a fair price. Good support, I like Maxwell - if - only - it had a dummies option for an interface. The ZEK of sloggers.
BRAZIL? Octane? Hear good reports - albeit boring - however they do run well with the rest of the herd, like skinny baby FLUID RAY - except FR is $349. Sorta “Meh!” Another normal cow growing up. Is it getting crowded here? Yep! So, “you idiot! Start negotiating the price!”
BunkSpeed Shot? A video card reliant equivelant of Keyshot. The other FAST FOOD renderaunt. Like KeyShot, worth $499. Sort of a thin soup with a fishy flavor.
Neon. Free. This is the FETUS stage of rendering. It crawls around in your CPU with a soiled diaper and shorts out your software or whatever else it dribbles and drools on - but it’s good for a surprisingly good render if you’r a cheap bastard and all you need is FAST FOOD - it’s the PIZZA DELIVERY solution to a rumbling gut - an empty wallet - for those of is who live on fresh air & sunshine.
CONCLUSION:
WINNER: KeyShot
if you don’t feel like you’re overpaying 30-50% of the $945 asking price, or if you can’t get it on CYBERMONDAY 30% off at $700, which is IMO still $200 over priced.
Note: (spoiler) Going with NEON until KeyShot gets down to at least $700, or Maxwell offers a stripped-down speed interface, or V-Ray tosses it’s dongle.
SECOND:
V-Ray - if you have $995 - and don’t mind having a DONGLE WIFE - that you can never, ever divorce. Is V-Ray Catholic? You gotta have a nagging dongle - wear it on your ankle like an inmate bracelet for house arrest - tracking device, courtesy of the Nationalist Workers Party - comes with a yellow star and a free shower.
THIRD:
Maxwell - if you want to have a virtual camera with a whole wall full of buttons and sliders - and a gas-guzzling engine - that makes IMO the best renders - and if you have PATIENCE waiting for results - fair price $775, with 25% off if you twist arms or wait for sales. A really fair price - good support.
FOURTH:
Fluid Ray only cause it’s $349
FIFTH:
Neon. It’s free. It’s a fetus only it works when it works - breaks things - but it works - for now - ITS NEON!
Thank all - you peripatetic dongle carrying button smashing red-eyed photog gluttons -
Cheers!
Ced
1 Like
We had a broken V-Ray dongle here and it was replaced at minimal cost.
Marc, minimum cost was $150? Also - it was broken - was it run over by a vehicle or smashed in a drawer? Or did it simply BREAK on its own? And if so - wouldn’t it be covered by the warranty - bad workmanship - or defective merchandise? Yea, its like having car keys for your vehicle - the DONGLE - however - imagine having a DONGLE for everything? You get up in the morning and have to find the dongle for your TOOTHBRUSH, then you need the dongle to turn on the tap for water?
Next thing you know the government will require you have a DONGLE to function in society.
A dongle - with a yellow star on it - or a flag - or a number? Imagine it would be a DONGLE attached to your ankle, or embedded in your brain. Does it have a tracking device?
Is it just me? Or is there something inherently sinister about a DONGLE?
I think your social security number, or any other number your government uses to track you, is the same as the dongle you’re imaginating.
The dongle was broken while moving our office from one building to another, you should not keep it attached to your computer while doing so.
I think the cost was $35.
OH! Well - that wasn’t so bad.
Any good dongle jokes out there?
dongle locks.buy one.
How about a big dongle joke? Dongle Gate? “A ___ with a dongle walks into a bar…”
A dongle,a goat,a unicorn with a pigeon stuck on its horn and a huge pink gorilla walk into a bar,
and the bartender says “Is this some kind of a joke?”
Well that’s 120 seconds of my life I can’t get back.
Keyshot - no dongle, no messing.
KeyShot it is - however - having second thoughts about V-Ray - is it entirely CPU based? How fast is it - and how simple - compared to KeyShot?
Well - the dongle costs $150 to ship to China - and - the mail is not so reliable - it could disappear in which case I’d have to purchase another one already.
However - I don’t think V-ray has China on its list of permitted countries to sell to - a lot of these programs are banned in China by Homeland Security. The good news is: The KeyShot - Black Friday Sale - will be on November 28 from 12:01 AM to 11:59 PM Pacific Time. And the Cyber Monday sale runs all week, November 24-28.
The other cool thing is AUXPECKER - and that - combined with NEON isn’t so bad for quick pre-renders - however - Keyshot is est for small renders. Meanwhile, if one were to go for CPU - you can build a blazing fast computer here in China for around $1,000.
ChaosGroup is in Bulgaria, so I don’t think there’s a problem with that. Don’t invent stuff…
–Mitch
(If your country is not listed, “China” please contact sales@chaosgroup.com)
http://www.chaosgroup.com/en/2/purchase.html?pID=9
Most software has a problem selling to mainland China - whatever the reason.
not sure why i’m involving myself in this but…
china is listed at that link.
1 Like