what makes studios to use such render engine...

[lukx]

I'm wondering what cause studios to choose x render engine over y render engine.

I started to think about it after reading somewhere this sentence "brazil is used by blizzard ,toxic, blur studios the best 3dmax stuidos in the world and in movies."

Why those studios didn't choose vray for example when it's cheapier, faster and overall better.

Is it fair to judge any software that it must be good if big studios choose it?

I'm just thinking...

Someone would like to share his thoughts about this problem?

[egz]

Most studios use several tools. I see you mentioned Toxic, they use both Brazil and MentalRay, but have also used VRay for some jobs. I just did a job for them with VRay (which I will post as soon as there is no NDA anymore). They also use both Max and Maya, and several different compositing apps as well. It all depends on what is the best suited tool for the task at hand.

[Dogzilla]

Most studios use several tools...

Yep, and it usually depends on who is doing the interview as to which tools the studio mentions. They're not likely to say in an article about Brazil that they use Vray aswell (I doubt the fishes mind one bit, but the PR lifeforms would have a fit )

[lukx]

"It all depends on what is the best suited tool for the task at hand."
So how they know when and why to use vray or brazil or FR? I'm simple man and for me if something is good and fast like vray than why should I use something else like brazil? You know what I mean? Because you have to admit that with almoust all render engines you can create almoust the same (image quality) results and now what counts is TIME. And as I noticed vray is really fast and you don't need to tweak so much as in FR.

[Brim]

Honestly I think it comes down to what people are comfortable with. Coming from architecture side of things, there are several CAD packages, such as AutoCAD, Microstation, PowerCAD, Vectorworks, Rivet, ADT....

Why some firms use AutoCAD vs Microstation I think is someone at that firm somwhere along the line got really quick and comfortable (ie efficient) with X package and introduced it to other employess so why should we try Y package when it will take a learning curve, time, and money to use it. I started with FormZ in architecture school and got pretty quick with it until I discovered MAX's capabilites and saw that it better fit my workflow. But then some people still use FormZ everyday for modelling and swear by it.

So you could make the arguement of whatever tool gets the job done most efficiently is the tool for the job. I'm sure there is a reason Blur is using mostly Brazil to render (maybe b/c most of the early testing of brazil was done with Blur's renderfarm and workflow / most of the fishes worked for Blur at some point in time) and also why another firm would use Mental Ray and not Vray (maybe they're just used to MR's workflow and predictablities). We (vray users on this forum) have discovered VRay and its wonderful capabilites and found it to be the right tool for the right job. I guess it comes down to the user.

[asango]

also remember that it is not easy at all to switch apps.

price, user knowledge/efficency, and IT knowledge/efficency all make a big difference.

so if vray renders an animation 1 hr faster, but it takes teh operator 2 hrs to set it up due to lack of knowledge, then you have in essence lost time by switch to a faster render.

its much easier to switch if your a smaller firm, well except for the lack of capital to go out and by an app on a whim.

[mike_kennedy]

Pipelines are a major factor as well. Vray is very fast and I love it, but if your pipeline makes use of a lot of rendered elements, Vray might not suit the task. Also, certain products support feature VRAY does not support. Renderman shaders would be a big issue for a lot of Film companies that have a large library of RM shaders.
While VRAY has most of the features a lot of firms would require, it lacks compatability with Maya and Soft, it's PC based and it's a very young product. Companies that have farms with 100 + machines running Unix are not going to switch to VRAY until it's as stable as renderman and mental ray and it runs on unix...

As for why a company would run brazil or FR over VRAY, in the case of Brazil or FR I would say shaders and AA and tighter Max intergration and in terms of render elements.

This is not a knock to VRAY. Personally I love it, but like every product out there, sometimes another product does a certain job better...

[cocolas]

Pipelines are a major factor as well. Vray is very fast and I love it, but if your pipeline makes use of a lot of rendered elements, Vray might not suit the task. Also, certain products support feature VRAY does not support. Renderman shaders would be a big issue for a lot of Film companies that have a large library of RM shaders.

renderman shader integration seems to be a big issue: brazil's shaders are renderman shaders therefore they integrate well with something ILM or PIxar would do...as far a I know vray and fr shaders don't have that cabability of shader control and integration w/ renderman...


paul.