Change can be a good thing when it’s an upgrade. That’s the case with the new version of Modo, as Mike Griggs finds out

PRICE: £999 / $1,495 / €1,169. Upgrade from £324 / $495 / €379

OTHER EDITIONS: Education licence, £99 / $149 / €116

OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows / Mac OS X / Linux (beta)

FEATURES

• Advanced subdivision modeller
• Integrated live and final GI rendering
• Multi-resolution sculpting and painting
• Character and constraint-driven animation solutions
• Complete dynamics and particle solution

DEVELOPER: The Foundry

It has barely been a year since 3D World reviewed Modo 601 – and yet somehow Luxology has managed to shorten its development cycle on major releases from approximately 18 to 12 months while at the same time going through a merger with The Foundry. The latter event has changed the landscape of the 3D application market, bringing Modo to a whole new audience within a high-end VFX market that The Foundry is increasingly well placed to develop, thanks to products such as Nuke and Mari.

So, despite a tightened schedule and corporate shake-ups, we have Modo 701, one of the first children of this new creative marriage. Other than a change of the Modo icon to a look more in keeping with the other Foundry apps, at first glance it appears that not much has changed. But looks can be deceptive. For a start, the familiar tabbed layout has been developed into part of a tabbed view switcher. The view switcher takes a bit of getting used to, but it is worth getting to know: Modo intelligently adjusts to the last used layout, which allows quick switching between layouts if you’re in a specific workflow, which definitely speeds things up.

The Environment Importance Sampling technology fixes historic Modo rendering problems

Speed is probably the defining word for 701. Put simply, it flies in OpenGL view. Once complex meshes have loaded, it is genuinely stunning how capable Modo is at handling large data sets. This becomes very useful when you want to retopologise a sculpt from an application like ZBrush, for example. Instead of the previous workflow of trying to reduce the size of my ZTool, I exported a 8 million-poly .OBJ into Modo: once the model had cached into the OpenGL view, I was freely able to use Modo’s excellent retopo tools. These have been improved both in terms of speed and accuracy from 601, and have been augmented by additions as the Contour tool, which allows you to create edge loops across a mesh. The loops can be connected by smart bridging tools to allow you to speed through your mesh creation, much quicker than if you were using ZBrush alone.

NEW FEATURES

I was able to flip between rendering and retopo layouts with the heavy ZBrush mesh and work with the preview improvements. While every view of Modo now has advanced ray tracing available, the speed improvements in the preview mode are phenomenal. There is also a new feature in the Global Illumination settings called Environment Importance Sampling, which optimises the renderer based on the HDR used for lighting it, and with one checkbox fixes most of Modo’s legacy rendering problems instantly. Obviously tweaking can still be done to optimise your render, but the render enhancements make 701 worth the upgrade in terms of speed, reliability and render quality alone over previous versions – especially since the gains are still realised on older equipment and so-so graphics cards.

The new particle system works with the dynamic system to let you create complex simulations

It feels like every one of Modo 701’s features have been overhauled, but it’s not all upgrades. New features have been added, the biggest being a particle system. This is placed in the Setup tab along with the rigging systems, which were added in 601 and have been enhanced with deformers; and an improved dynamics system that finally works as advertised.

The particle system allows a range of tools such as emitters, which can be combined with specific particle modifiers, such as flocking and terminator tools, to get an advanced particle system setup in minutes. The particles can even have dynamics working quickly and easily and, with the new Workspace view, setting up logical connections combined with the existing replicator toolset allows an exciting range of possibilities that are applicable to VFX and motion graphics. There is a range of caching options, which work with the OpenGL speed improvements to allow you to see very complex sims play out in real time. There is an added benefit to particles in Modo: Modo’s core has always been about modelling, and particles and their paths can be frozen as meshes, which can be sculpted and used just like any other piece of geometry.

Animation has also received an overhaul, with a well thought-out interface which works well. New features such as audio track ingestion and dynamic parenting, which allows you to pass animations from one mesh to another whenever you please, could be revelatory to a lot of 3D artists who have been scared away from rigging due to its steep learning curve. The new feature sets in Modo 701 really do make certain types of animation simpler in Modo than in any comparative application.

As well as new features, Modo 701 has received upgrades to its rendering toolset which make images such as this one by Richard Yot and Seth Richardson readily achievable

INTEGRATION

One of the worries with Modo has been that artists were gaining new tools with every new release while losing the focus on what made Modo great in the first place: speed, simplicity and a new methodology of creating content where the app got out of the way. With Modo 701, The Foundry has managed to regain this core feeling and have made a truly astounding 3D application.

While still presenting steep learning curves in some areas, Modo 701 has at its essence a core toolset that’s applicable across virtually all of the new features, which allow a breathtaking array of creative possibilities. While most 3D applications really do benefit from plugins to help provide complete workflows, Modo is pretty much feature-complete for most 3D tasks. In areas where other applications may offer better solutions for specific tasks, Modo integrates into most pipelines exceptionally well.

This integration will be improved with the long-term stability that being part of a product suite alongside the rest of the Foundry’s applications brings. The benefits can be seen in Modo 701 becoming available on Linux for the first time: a beta is currently available.

When you consider that this package is a third of the price of most of its competitors, with one of the best licensing systems (cross-platform, unlimited render nodes) on the market, there is no reason not to recommend Modo 701 as one of the best tools that a 3D artist can have.

The new particle modifiers combine with replicators to let you to make complex instance rigs with targeting, using the improved Workspace view

PROS

• Revised interface improves workflow
• New features have been integrated
• OpenGL speed and stability improved

CONS

• Steep learning curve in setup mode
• Price has increased
• Stability and UI redraw can be problematic

Modo now has the potential to become one of the standard 3D tools in the industry. Modo 701 offers an exceptional combination of toolsets, value for money and render capabilities

RATING 5

Mike Griggs is a freelance 3D, VFX and mograph artist. He can be found on Twitter, and his work is available on his site

Discover 15 inspiring examples of 3D art at our sister site, Creative Bloq.

Master the secrets of leading 3ds Max artists with our 228-page guide to essential 3D principles and techniques: available worldwide now

3D World has teamed up with 3DTotal to produce 3ds Max Essentials: Volume 2, a comprehensive guide to core 3ds Max techniques.

Inside, some of the world’s leading designers and animators reveal their trade secrets, enabling readers to build up their skills in easy stages.

New 3ds Max tutorials for 2013

The sequel to the original 3ds Max Essentials, now long since sold out, Volume 2 contains 228 pages of new training for 2013.

The twelve 3ds Max tutorials are divided into themed sections covering characters, environments, vehicles and animations, and are supplemented by downloadable project files and video walkthroughs, providing over 14 hours of modelling and animation training.

Individual walkthroughs cover key tools introduced in recent releases of 3ds Max, including the Graphite modelling tools and MassFX physics.

Learn from 3ds Max masters

Tutorial authors include Michael McCarthy, recipient of Autodesk’s 3ds Max Master award in 2011; games industry veteran James Horn, currently Head of Art at Kwalee; former Framestore senior character artist Jose Lázaro; and architectural visualisation and mental ray expert Jamie Cardoso.

3ds Max Essentials: Volume 2 is available now, price £14.99. Our online store, My Favourite Magazines, will ship copies anywhere in the world.

Order a copy of 3ds Max Essentials: Volume 2 online

This upgrade to Luxion’s real-time renderer makes light work of product visualisation and look development, says Steve Jarratt

PRICE: KeyShot Pro $1,995, Upgrade from $795

OTHER EDITIONS

• KeyShot, $995
• KeyShot Pro + Animation $2,495
• KeyShot Pro + KeyShotVR $2,995
• KeyShot Pro + Animation + KeyShotVR $3,495
• Other bundles available

OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows / Mac OS X

FEATURES

• Real-time ray tracing
• Certified physically correct render engine
• Materials library
• Transform-based animation
• Render passes & layers

DEVELOPER: Luxion

Luxion’s KeyShot is a real-time renderer for artists, designers and engineers who need to produce quality visualisations with the minimum of fuss. It’s entirely CPU-based and relies largely on HDRI for lighting. Workflow is a matter of importing your mesh, adding materials by dragging and dropping, and adding a suitable HDR image or backplate. The main window continuously renders the image as a high-quality preview, which can be saved at any point, although you can output a final render for large, print-quality images or to create a KeyShotVR sequence.

As with previous updates, the core rendering technology remains much the same, but the application gains lots of new features to help improve workflow. KeyShot now has live linking with Rhino, SolidWorks and Creo, so models can be textured, lit and rendered while being built or modified. One major upgrade is in the area of lighting, where you can drop a physical light material onto any object, and it will act accordingly.

KeyShot Pro can now export render passes. Here’s the original image, plus depth, normal and clown passes. The latter isolates objects for easy selection in an image editor

To add some specular hits to your object, for example, simply import a primitive, such as a plane, disc or sphere, and apply your preferred light source – area, point, radial, IES – then adjust the scale and position of the object and the intensity of the light.

It’s not a huge issue to have some primitives on hand for just such a purpose, but it would be nice to have the option to add light sources directly within KeyShot itself. Still, this is a really valuable addition for those times when you simply want to sweeten a shot without messing about with HDRs or doing it in post.

If you apply an area light material to a plane or disc, the object remains visible, so it’s easy to get beautiful lightbox-style reflections. Of course, you can still toggle the object’s visibility to the camera, in reflections and in shadows, to get the shot just as you want.

To add a light bulb to these wall fittings, Steve stretched a sphere and added a light material, then duplicated it. The Wood and Rippled Glass are standard KeyShot presets

You can also apply emissive materials to any part of your object, so if your latest gizmo has a cool blue glow – and what doesn’t these days? – you can replicate the effect and have the rest of the model lit accordingly. When used in conjunction with KeyShot’s glass or iridescent paint materials, for example, you can get some really lovely results.

Given that you now have all these extra objects to manipulate, however, I think it’s about time that direct keyboard shortcuts for the translate/rotate/scale widget were added to KeyShot, instead of having to access it via the right-click menu or Position panel. It’s a minor gripe, I know, but the current set-up makes manipulating parts or objects a fussy, multiple-click operation.

With really heavy scenes, such as interiors, scene navigation can also become quite slow, even in Performance mode. It would be really useful to have the option of switching to a wireframe or other proxy view while placing objects and lights and setting up your camera.

MATERIAL WORLD

Designers working to a specific brief will welcome the support for the Pantone and RAL colour libraries. Colours can be searched for by number or shade – a neat proximity search brings up any colours that match ‘blue’, ‘red’ and so on – or by using the colour picker. Then you can simply drag and drop it onto the model, which is then coloured irrespective of the underlying material.

The curved edges feature adds the effect of micro bevels at render time. There’s a real improvement in these before and after shots although it doesn’t cope well with corners, and some edges go very dark

KeyShot 4 also gains hundreds of Mold-Tech textures, with a range of grains from stippled to leather to wood grain to textiles. The mixture of industry-standard colour swatches and textures offer a quick way to iterate design and material changes, and KeyShot’s final output can generate a wonderfully realistic representation of your product.

The translucent material presets benefit from faster and more accurate subsurface scattering, helping you to recreate a range of material effects such as plastics, wax, skin and so on. It relies on using real-world units with small objects to get realistic SSS effects, although you can rescale your objects with the Set Model Units menu.

A new work-in-progress feature is the ability to render sharp edges as curves. It’s accessed from the Scene Tree Properties panel, with simple slider values that control the edge radius and minimum edge angle. It’s great for making angular CAD models look like real-world objects, but it has a few limitations: it only really works on solid, untextured materials and with small values.

Introduced in KeyShot Pro 3.1, the HDRI Light Editor now allows you to interactively allocate a highlight on your object, which pins a new light to the HDR

With things like glass, it generates unsightly black edges, and textured materials tend to distort. Even with simple surfaces, you get black corners where the rounding can’t be properly resolved. Hopefully, this will continue to be refined, because it’s a simple and largely effective way of getting realistic images from models that lack fine geometry.

LIGHTING CONTROL

The Pro version of KeyShot gains other niceties, such as stereoscopic viewing, render passes, View and Model sets for managing multiple shots, and more. The HDRI Light Editor introduced in KeyShot 3.1 now allows you to create highlights from within the real-time window – hold down [Cmd] and click the object, and a new pin is made on the HDRI, which can then be moved around the scene interactively or scaled and coloured in the Editor window. You can also blur and tilt the HDRI to better suit your scene, so Pro users now have nigh-on complete control over every aspect of their lighting setup.

KeyShot 4’s range of new features constitutes a substantial upgrade that helps make product visualisation easier, more efficient, and – dare I say it – more enjoyable. There are still a few UI and workflow niggles, but KeyShot is rapidly maturing into a dependably solid app that answers all the questions thrown at it. The improved range of materials and lighting options means its final output is better than before, with even less effort. If the price isn’t too much of a hurdle, there’s much to recommend here.

The new translucent materials have faster and more accurate sub-surface scattering. Here, an object is lit via a physical light placed inside

PROS

• Physical light sources for precise lighting
• Live linking for CAD users
• Vast range of preset materials

CONS

• Object manipulation still clunky
• Some features limited to Pro edition
• UI still needs a little work

KeyShot continues to evolve, and with each iteration it gets better and easier to use. Long may the trend continue

RATING 4

Steve Jarratt has been into CG for many years. He’s a regular contributor to 3D World and edited the magazine for two years

What’s next for Augmented Reality? Find out at Creative Bloq.

We take a first look at the newly released animation and rendering software from pmG. Find out if version 6 will suit your needs

pmG Worldwide has just released messiahStudio6.

We asked Vegard Myklebust, Technical Director at useful slug / Thuristar for his first impressions:

This release has brought about a number of user requested features and production driven improvements. pmG fixed and tweaked a number of things, and gave amazing support for the production of the animated short 850 Meters (on festivals this year).

One of the nice new features is that you can do sub-division at one or more points in the deformer stack, enabling you to control deformers to occur on different levels of detail while maintaining point order predictably.

Skelevision: an interactive rigging view

Skelevision is also the talk of messiah town.

Messiah has always had very powerful automatic bone weighting, now you can have a split view of your setup tab and animated poses, and adjust the setup position of the bones with immediate feedback of what deformation the automated weighting process will give you.

This gives a great amount of control to the user and enables you to do even less tedious weight painting.

There’s a lot of great improvements under the hood as well, resulting in speed increases, stability improvements, more custom control of where the anti aliasing will spend time (Noise caused by GI? Hair?).

Many of these features and improvements may be less flashy, but they are certainly noticeable if you do your day to day work in messiah.

Overall, a great release from pmG.

About the author

Vegard Myklebust is a freelance character modeller, rigger, animator, programmer and TD. In addition to working on the short film 850 Meters, he is currently creating advertising, TV and music videos for Darkside Animation.

Compatibility and pricing info

messiahStudio can be used standalone or with Maya, 3ds Max, Modo, ZBrush, Lightwave and Unity.

pmG is offering a limited time special on new purchases of 6.0 for $299 (regularly $1195), and upgrades for just $99 (regularly $249).

Read a review of messiahstudio 5

James Morris finds that this updated configuration is simply the most powerful modelling workstation we’ve ever tested

PRICE: £3,245

SPECIFICATION:

• 3.2GHz Intel Core i7-3930K processor (clocked to 4.3GHz)
• 32GB 1,600MHz DDR3 SDRAM
• Nvidia Quadro K5000 graphics with 4GB GDDR5 memory
• 240GB Intel 520 Series solid-state disk
• 2TB 7,200rpm Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 SATA hard disk
• Gigabit Ethernet networking
• Windows 7 64-bit
• Three years onsite warranty

MANUFACTURER: Workstation Specialists

All the excitement over Intel’s eight-core Xeon E5 processors has taken the focus away from more everyday, affordable workstations. A system with 32 virtual processor cores is a very powerful piece of hardware, but the price will be proportionate. If you primarily focus on modelling, a workstation based on the Intel Core i7 desktop processor can still make a lot more economic sense, particularly when it has been tweaked for extra performance, as is the case here.

CORE VALUES

In general, modelling benefits from higher clock speeds while rendering gets a boost from more cores. The WSX6 V2 comes with a single Intel Core i7 3930K. The top Xeons run at 3.1GHz, and even with Intel Turbo Boost only manage 3.8GHz from a single core. The Core i7 in the WSX6 V2 runs nominally at 3.2GHz, with a 3.8GHz Turbo Boost mode. But the WSX6 V2’s processor is permanently set to run at 4.3GHz when under load, which gives it a significant advantage over a Xeon. However this is still only a six-core CPU, even if Hyper-Threading turns it into 12 virtual cores, so it should still offer a decent amount of rendering power when needed. The processor has been partnered with a healthy 32GB of 1,600MHz DDR3 SDRAM, which comes in the shape of eight 4GB modules. This takes all the available slots, so would require replacing if you want to increase the memory.

Workstation Specialists hasn’t spared any expense in the graphics department. The latest Kepler-generation Nvidia Quadro K5000 is supplied, which I have already been highly impressed with in other systems. This sports 1,536 CUDA cores and 4GB of GDDR5 frame buffer, making it significantly more powerful than the Quadro 5000 it replaces – although only in single-precision calculations, as double-precision abilities are reduced.

Storage is similarly cutting-edge: a 240GB Intel Series 520 solid-state disk for operating system and applications, plus a 2TB conventional hard disk for general data in the shape of a 7,200rpm Seagate Barracuda 7200.14.

When it comes to performance, where Xeon E5-based workstations are more like jacks of all trades, the WSX6 V2 is very much the master of one. The Cinebench R11.5 rendering score of 12.47 is good, but the fastest Xeon alternatives are achieving twice that. Modelling is a different story, though: the Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL score of 99.81 is quite simply the highest I have ever seen, beating the next best score by 14 per cent. Similarly, the SPECviewperf 11 scores of 88.34 in lightwave-01, 134.18 in maya-03, and 73.17 in sw-02 are all significantly ahead of the fastest I have seen. The 4.3GHz clock speed and Quadro K5000 make this the most capable modelling workstation I’ve tested.

The WSX6 V2 gives you all-conquering modelling power and decent enough rendering for trying out ideas before the final output. If your focus is mainly on modelling, it’s the king of the hill.

PROS

• Fastest modelling performance to date
• Reasonable rendering performance
• Decent price

CONS

• Not suited to intensive offline rendering

The frequency-enhanced Intel Core i7 processor and Quadro K5000 graphics make this the most powerful workstation for modelling we’ve tested

RATING 5

James Morris has tracked the rise of every new development, from OpenGL accelerators to multiprocessor workstations, over more than 15 years of testing 3D content creation hardware

Up your skills with these 25 Cinema 4D tutorials – over at Creative Bloq.

Whether you’re modelling or rendering, this workstation has power to spare. James Morris tries it out for size

PRICE: £4,995

SPECIFICATION:

• 2 x 2.6GHz Intel Xeon E5-2670 processors
• 32GB PC3-1600 DDR3 RAM
• Nvidia Quadro K5000 graphics with 4GB GDDR5 memory
• 240GB SSD 335 Series solid-state disk
• 2TB 7,200RPM SATA hard disk
• Gigabit Ethernet networking
• Windows 7 64-bit
• 3 years RTB parts and labour warranty

MANUFACTURER: InterPro www.ipworkstations.com

InterPro’s IPW-DX8 may have a rather unassuming appearance, but lurking inside its sober black chassis is an expansive range of cutting-edge technology. We have become used to the Intel Xeon E5 processor in recent times, and although it’s still the pinnacle of workstation performance, there are some even more recent components in here that I just have to shout about.

The core of the system is a pair of Intel Xeon E5 processors, in this case the 2670 edition. These run at 2.6GHz nominally, and have eight processing cores. However, Turbo Boost technology means that a single core can reach 3.3GHz, and multiple cores 3GHz when required. Hyper- Threading splits every physical core into two virtual ones, so the system presents a total of 32 virtual cores, which is great for parallel tasks such as rendering. These are partnered by 32GB of PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM, arranged in two banks of two 8GB DIMM modules each. This leaves 12 slots free for upgrade, up to the maximum of 512GB.

Even more significant are the graphics. This is only my second sighting of Nvidia’s latest Kepler generation of Quadro cards: again it comes in the form of the K5000 model, which ostensibly replaces the Quadro 5000. However, where the previous version offered 352 CUDA cores, the new K5000 upgrades this to a whopping 1,536, and ties this with 4GB of GDDR5 memory rather than the 2.5GB of its predecessor. So with this under the bonnet, it promises a hefty increase in performance, although this increase is tempered by a notable reduction in double-precision processing.

SOLID GEAR

Storage takes the now de-rigueur strategy of providing a solid-state disk for the operating system and applications, with a mechanical hard disk for the more general data. The former disk is a 240GB Intel SSD 335 Series. The SSD 335 Series is Intel’s first solid-state disk to feature 20-nanometer technology, allowing it to maintain a throughput of 500MB/ sec when reading and 450MB/sec when writing. The SSD 335 Series’ mechanical partner is a 2TB 7,200RPM SATA hard drive, which InterPro says will come from either Western Digital or Seagate, depending on stock. Either way, it’s a pretty adequate amount of secondary storage for most reasonably sized 3D or video assets.

I’m also pleased to report that performance is pretty impressive all round. The Xeon processors may not be the very top models, but the result of 22.41 in the Maxon Cinebench R11.5 rendering test is still very quick – weighing in at a credible 10 per cent behind the fastest systems I’ve seen.

The OpenGL score of 79.2 is similarly excellent, again with only a few systems faster. With Nvidia’s Quadro K5000 on board, the InterPro’s SPECviewperf scores were never going to disappoint. Highlights include a lightwave-01 viewset score of 67.04, maya-03 result of 109.28, and SolidWorks sw-02 score of 57.78. All are close to the best I have seen.

So the InterPro IPW-DX8 has phenomenal modelling performance available, and some very impressive rendering capabilities as well. The £4,995 price is also relatively reasonable, considering the high price of the graphics and Xeon processors. This is a super-powered workstation that will be equally at home with every stage of the 3D content creation process.

PROS

• Powerful rendering
• Supreme modelling performance

CONS

• Nvidia Quadro K5000 has reduced double-precision processing

With eight-core Xeon processors and the latest Nvidia Quadro K5000 graphics, this workstation will make short work of modelling and rendering 3D

RATING: 4

James Morris has tracked the rise of every new development, from OpenGL accelerators to multiprocessor workstations, over more than 15 years of testing 3D content creation hardware

Discover 20 famous buildings that you have to see, over at Creative Bloq.

Lance Evans reckons that a powerful and evolutionary upgrade, plus a few kicking features, make this a very impressive release

PRICE: $895, Dongle $50, Upgrade from $395

OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows / Mac OS X

MAIN FEATURES:

• Animation toolset
• Phong rendering
• Unlimited rendering nodes included
• Cross-platform licence

DEVELOPER: EIAS3D

Electric Image Animation System (EIAS) version 9 is the first upgrade to this venerable animation and rendering system in two-and-a-half years. Tomas Egger, the company’s CEO, tells me that their focus is clearly on the animation/VFX, architectural and graphic design markets. EIAS offers some keen strengths for all those groups.

For architects, the software has long been able to import and render huge dataset models that choke most programs. EIAS’s ease of use, texture map layers and multipass Photoshop export enable designer types to feel at home. And the inclusion of camera mapping, explosions and other effects are great for VFX.

Compared with direct competitors like Cinema 4D Prime, and the pricier offerings of modo and LightWave, EIAS has a few glaring omissions. With no real modeller, it should be viewed as more of a scene building and animation tool (both things done in Animator) and rendering package (done in Camera). But fortunately, it does all of this very well.

WHAT’S NEW IN ANIMATOR?

While the Animator application is still a 32-bit program, it has been made many times more efficient and capable. Scene building in version 9 has become even better with the addition of a few welcome new features. They include OpenGL previews that are able to display as many as eight texture layers deep on models, each with its own Photoshop-style blend mode applied (Darken, Multiply, and so on). This is a wonderful capability, but don’t let it tempt you to add too many layers. Also new is Smart Image Based Lighting, a relatively new industry standard that organises IBL sets and makes them both portable and far easier to use.

The EIAS 9 interface with new Smart IBL environment and library windows open, along with the material and shader palettes

Animation controls have also been given a huge shot in the arm with the inclusion of Bullet Rigid Dynamics, an open-source library also found in other major 3D software and games. This first round of implementation is easy to use and includes simulations, forces, vehicle controls and constraints/bones.

Less whizz-bang but just as important in day-to-day workflow, Animator has improved its import modules for ZBrush and Illustrator, Wavefront OBJ files now import UV coordinates with the MTL files, plus there’s a host of interface tweaks.

WHAT’S NEW IN CAMERA?

The rendering engine Camera is now optionally either 32- or 64-bit, and finally multi-threaded. As before, it is a superfast rendering engine compared with any renderer I know of – sometimes, and maybe frequently, over 1,000 per cent faster. This update, like most others, increases Camera’s speed even further than before, and adds some nice rendering refinements. And as before, unlimited rendering nodes for Mac and Windows at no extra cost is priceless.

PROS

• Stable
• Competitive features and price
• Fast, high-quality network rendering

CONS

• Lagging interface problems
• Missing modeller
• Minimal industry saturation

Offers some high-end features unseen in this price range, and is easy to learn and use, but the ageing interface holds it back

RATING 4

Lance Evans is creative director of Graphlink Media. He has written books on 3D, and produced the 3DNY Seminars for Apple and Alias

 Discover the best 3D movies of 2013 at our sister site, Creative Bloq.

James Morris finds that the RS-D2850 is a cost-effective and compact way of providing network rendering for a small studio

PRICE: £3,195

SPECIFICATION:

• 2 x 2.2GHz Intel Xeon E5 2660 processors
• 32GB 1,600MHz DDR3 SDRAM
• 120GB PNY Prevail Series solid state disk
• Gigabit Ethernet networking
• Windows 7 64-bit
• Three-year on-site warranty

MANUFACTURER: Workstation Specialists

When I first looked at Workstation Specialists’ RS-D range in the shape of the RS-D2600, I rather liked the idea. This low-profile box is essentially a personal render farm that you can sit on top of your regular workstation tower. Once it’s set up, you can use it as a network render node, and everyone on the network can send jobs to it. The RS-D2850 is the most recent incarnation, sporting the latest Intel Xeon processors.

The benefit of this arrangement is that a render node doesn’t need expensive graphics, and you can scrimp on the storage too. Since a long render will have lots of parallel threads, you’re better off with more cores rather than a fast clock speed – unlike modelling – so you can make economies here too.

As a result, the RS-D2850 comes with the latest Xeon E5 processors, but not the top-of-the-range models. Instead, a pair of 2660 models are included. These still offer eight physical cores apiece, but run at 2.2GHz, where the top models run at 3.1GHz. Single cores can still hit 3GHz thanks to Turbo Boost, plus there’s 20MB of cache for each CPU, and Hyper-Threading means there are 16 virtual cores each, making a grand total of 32. As an added bonus, each Xeon has a 95W rating compared with 150W for the top Xeon E5, so you should save on power consumption too.

HEALTHY SPECIFICATION

Workstation Specialists has partnered the Xeons with 32GB of 1,600MHz DDR3 memory, supplied as eight 4GB modules. This leaves eight DIMM slots free for future upgrade, and the motherboard supports a whopping total of 512GB, so there’s plenty of room for growth. The other major component worth noting is the 120GB PNY Prevail Series solid-state disk, which houses the operating system and rendering software. This might seem a bit small, but assets would likely be sent over the network for rendering.

The RS-D2850 does have integrated graphics with a VGA connection, plus a couple of USB ports, so you can hook up keyboard and mouse to use it as a standalone system. But most of the time it would be accessed via the twin Gigabit Ethernet connections using a remote desktop or as a headless render node.

When it comes to performance, things have moved on apace compared with the RS-D2600. Where the latter managed just 14.11 in the rendering portion of Maxon Cinebench R11.5, the RS-D2850 leaps to 20.23. The top-end 3.1GHz Xeons are only about 25 per cent quicker than the 2.2GHz Xeons, so you get 75 per cent of the rendering power for a little over half the price. Of course, graphics co-processors like Nvidia’s Tesla offer an alternative to a whole dedicated render box, but can only benefit a single user at a time. You could kit out your studio with cheaper systems or workstation notebooks, and share one or two RS-D2850 units. For a smaller studio, the Workstation Specialists RS-D2850 could make a lot of economic sense.

PROS

• Top-end rendering performance
• Cheaper than a modelling workstation
• Compact size

CONS

• No modelling abilities

The RS-D2850 can’t take the place of a modelling workstation, but it can supply heavyweight rendering power to a network for a keen price

RATING: 4

James Morris has tracked the rise of every new development, from OpenGL accelerators to multiprocessor workstations, over more than 15 years of testing 3D content creation hardware

ZBrush 4 R3 reviewed – over at our sister site, Creative Bloq.

Mastering V-Ray can be hard, but Mike Griggs finds that SolidRocks can help those starting out

PRICE:

• SolidRocks for Max, €90
• SolidRocks for C4D, €78

OTHER EDITIONS:

• SolidRocks Lite for Max, free
• SolidRocks Lite for C4D, free OPERATING SYSTEM
• SolidRocks for Max, Windows
• SolidRocks for C4D, Windows / Mac OS X

MAIN FEATURES:

• Alternative interface for V-Ray
• Preset selection
• GI controls
• Auto-exposure (Max edition only)

DEVELOPER: Subburb

In the right hands, V-Ray can be exceptionally fast, as well as being one of the prettiest renderers on the market. However the range of options that V-Ray offers – both in material and scene set-ups – means that it’s not a product for the faint-hearted.

SolidRocks can speed up V-Ray render times considerably through its presets

Artists who are desperate to get the V-Ray look, but don’t have the time to learn every last render nuance, can hit a wall quickly. This is where SolidRocks comes in: a plug-in for Cinema 4D or 3ds Max that takes the potential headache and worry out of setting up V-Ray.

With the ability to define final render size, and a simple slider to define quality, along with a range of predefined presets, it’s a breeze to set up a still render safe in the knowledge that you’re getting the best blend of quality and speed. However this level of hand-holding does mean you could sometimes miss out on the optimum V-Ray render setting.

SolidRocks takes the difficulty out of setting up V-Ray to get the most from your scenes, but the Cinema 4D version has far fewer options than the 3ds Max version

3ds Max users benefit from more features, such as Auto Exposure and animations settings, compared with their Cinema 4D counterparts. In fact the Cinema 4D price is potentially high considering the lack of features. (There is a pared-down free version as well, though.) In a perfect world, SolidRocks would be bundled as part of V-Ray – but until then, SolidRocks could be the answer to making you and your client happy.

PROS

• Simplifies V-Ray workflow
• Can decrease render times immensely
• Potentially helps you understand V-Ray

CONS

• The unusual disparity in features between the Max and C4D versions
• No Maya or Softimage versions
• Stops you from truly learning V-Ray

This can be the key to making a deadline, and is worth the price – at the expense of masking much that V-Ray can offer

RATING 4

Mike Griggs is a freelance 3D, VFX and motion graphics artist. He can be found on Twitter.

Find 15 top free 3D models at our sister site, Creative Bloq.

James Cutler takes you through all the steps towards making your beauty pass properly beautiful

Click here to download the support files for this tutorial

A complete rendered image is made up of various individual layers called render elements. Each element corresponds to a specific property, such as illumination, shadow, reflection and refraction. By rendering out each of these elements as a separate image file, you’re able to control every property individually. You can tweak the intensity of a reflection, change the diffuse colour and even adjust light intensity. Here, I’ll cover the necessary render elements that make up what’s commonly referred to as the beauty pass.

Open 3D World 0164 t_Q&A_164_Max-vray.max from the files accompanying this Q&A. There are a few settings that need to be set in Render to render out each element correctly. One incorrect setting could cause the composite not to match the intended beauty pass. Firstly, the render elements must be saved in linear space. This is because when compositing in Photoshop or After Effects the calculations are also done in linear space. Any other gamma value would cause the render elements to be incorrect. However, for calculating accurate lighting and materials, you should always use gamma 2.2.

In Render Setup under Colour Mapping, set the Type to Linear Multiply and the Gamma to 2.2, and then tick Don’t Affect Colours (Adaptation Only). During the rendering process V-Ray will be using gamma 2.2 correction, but when it comes to saving out the image V-Ray will save the elements as linear (gamma 1.0). Later on, you’ll add gamma correction to the final composite to bring it back to gamma 2.2.

In Render Setup, you need to go to the Render Elements tab and click Add. Holding down the [Ctrl] key, choose the render elements VRayDiffuseFilter, VRayRawGlobalIllumination, VRayRawLighting, VRayReflection, VRayRefraction, VRaySelfIllumination and VRaySpecular, and click OK. The reason for using Raw is so that you have the ability to adjust the diffuse colour separately. If you don’t wish to adjust the diffuse you can use the VRayGlobalIllumination and VRayLighting elements instead.

Next, in Render Setup go to the V-Ray tab and click to enable the V-Ray Frame Buffer. Scroll down to where it says Split Render Channels and tick Save Separate Render Channels. Untick Save Alpha because it’s not needed, but keep Save RGB ticked so you can compare the composite against this. Click Browse and point to a location to store the render elements. Choose TIF as the image file type and set it to 16-bit colour. Saving in anything less, such as 8-bit or a lossy compression type such as JPEG, will mean too much colour information will be lost and the composite won’t be correct. You can choose to save out as 32-bit colour, which greatly improves the accuracy, but this will also mean larger file sizes. You’re saving the rendered images via the V-Ray Frame Buffer, so there’s no need to use the 3ds Max render output.

Finally, click Render and you’ll notice in the V-Ray Frame Buffer that you can view each individual render element in the drop-down list that’s located in the top left. Now open all the render elements in Photoshop as a layered PSD. When you’ve done that, convert the VRayDiffuseFilter layer into a smart object and then duplicate it; this will make an instanced copy. Place the layers into the following order: RGB Colour, VRaySelfIllumination, VRaySpecular, VRayReflection, VRayRefraction, VRayRawLighting, VRayDiffuseFilter Copy, VRayRawGlobalIllumination and VRayDiffuseFilter.

Now each layer must be blended into the layer below to complete the beauty pass. Some layers are multiplied and some are added. As a guide, anything that contributes light should be added and anything that takes away light should be multiplied. Group the VRayRawGlobalIllumination and VRayDiffuseFilter layers and call it Diffuse + GI. Then group the VRayRawLighting and the VRayDiffuseFilterCopy layers and call it Diffuse + Light. Finally, apply the following blending modes to each layer and group:

RGB Colour: Normal
VRaySelfIllumination: Linear Dodge (Add)
VRaySpecular: Linear Dodge (Add)
VRayReflection: Linear Dodge (Add)
VRayRefraction: Linear Dodge (Add)
Diffuse + Lighting (Group): Linear Dodge (Add)
VRayRawLighting: Multiply
VRayDiffuseFilter Copy: Normal
Diffuse + GI (Group): Normal
VRayRawGlobalIllumination: Multiply
VRayDiffuseFilter: Normal

You can now toggle between the RGB Colour element and the composite below to make sure they match. To complete the image, a gamma correction needs to be added. In the Layers panel, add a Levels Adjustment and set the middle slider to 2.2.

Render elements tips

Use the VRayWireColour element

Provided that each of your objects in the scene has a different wire colour, you can use the VRayWireColour element as a selection mask in Photoshop.

View the gamma 2.2 version

The V-Ray Frame Buffer shows the result in linear space. To view the result with gamma 2.2 correction during rendering, click Display Colours In sRGB Space.

Load elements in Photoshop

In Photoshop go to File > Scripts. Choose Load Files Into Stack. Browse and select all the render elements and click OK to put each element into layers automatically.

James Cutler runs MintViz Workshop, a resource for any CG artist, designer or generalist who’s looking to develop their skills

Discover the designer’s guide to the Golden Ratio, over at Creative Bloq.