Rendering engines comparison
Blender could be used with many external renderers.
The aim of this webpage is to show which rendrerers suit your needs with pro and cons.
NAME__________ | HOMEPAGE__________________________________________ | RAYTRACING__ | G.I._______ | OPENSOURCE__ | EXPORTER_____ | PLATEFORM |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Blender Internal | http://blender.org | yes | sort of | yes | :-) | |
Yafray | http://yafray.org | yes | yes | yes | integrated | |
Povray | http://povray.org | yes | yes | ? | Blender mod or script | |
Sunflow | http://sunflow.sourceforge.net/ | yes | yes | yes | Script | Java |
Winosi | http://www.winosi.onlinehome.de/ | yes | yes | yes | yes | |
Aqsis | http://www.aqsis.org/xoops/modules/news/ | yes | yes | yes | ||
Kerkythea | http://www.kerkythea.net/joomla/ | yes | yes | no | Blender mod or script | |
Indigo | http://www.indigorenderer.com/ | yes | yes | no | Script | |
Renderman | http://renderman.pixar.com/ | yes | ? | no | ? | |
MentalRay | http://www.autodesk.com/mentalray | yes | ? | no | Blender mod http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=74765 |
Contents
Blender Internal
Pro
Fully integrated. All the power of Blender material panel
Cons
No GI (only Ambiant Occlusion). Slow antialiasing.
Yafray
Pro
Full GI. Nice realistic rendering. Integrated
Cons
Texture alpha channel is ignored for shadow casting... :-(
Transparent material casts solid dark shadow... :-(
Povray
You could use either the Povanim script or the custom Blender build with Povray mod.
Pro
Full GI. Nice realistic rendering. Fast
Cons
Doesn't use yet all functions of Blender like Orco mapping, background picture, skies...
Indigo
Pro
Full GI. Accurate lighting
Cons
Very slow Closed source
Kerkythea
Pro
Full GI. Accurate lighting. Fast. Lot of tweaks.
Cons
Closed source. Only available on Windows and Linux x86.