Best / easy 3D software to go with V-Ray

[john_gulland]

Afternoon all,

Currently we / I am using Sketchup + Vray to create images / videos for our brand. To give an example please see this = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT4tkascfwk

Whilst the learning curve of Sketchup is very easy, we are finding some of the functionality very limiting, the following being:

• It doesn't work very well with small measurements e.g. 0.050mm. This results in having to patch up models fairly frequently, often resulting in lower quality renders
• Things like round corner tools are good (you have to buy separate now!) but they once again have issues with the point above regarding small measurements
• Animation / movement / camera transitions are a little clunky, once again resulting in buggy issues and making it not very manageable. Also you can't batch render, so you are restricted in what you can render per night.
• Currently crashing quite frequently, and I'm not really sure what the cause is to be honest.

It might sound like I'm slating Sketchup. Overall I really like it, but perhaps we are getting to the edges of what it can do for us as a company. Perhaps it's better suited to bigger pans of buildings (architecture etc), whilst we are generally looking at detail e.g. door furniture.

That being said, our / my skills are only so limited, so ideally I don't want to pick up another piece of software and spend weeks learning to get to where I am now with sketchup.

That being said, I would like to think I'm moderately good with VRay now in terms of getting something semi decent, so that's one big hurdle (in my opinion) out the way.

With the context above, I was wondering if someone can give me some insight into the following:

1. What is the best software to use in collaboration with vray as the renderer?
2. What software will have a moderately easy learning curve, coming from sketchup? I tried Blender a few times and still find it a little daunting.
3. What are good industry standard 3D software's? E.g. if we need to get someone on board, ideally we want to be using what other people are using.

Once again, the focus here is to create images / video content for our company blogs / socials etc. Not perfect accurate manufacturing stuff, but marketing representations.

Also it would be nice to add in effects like smoke / water / other 'pre cooked' elements, as at the moment we only have the Vray cosmos items which we can put in.

Best

T

[fixeighted]

Nice work there

There's no 'best' app is the simplest answer. They all have their strengths and weaknesses.

I use 3DS Max so will advocate for that. Many here use Maya which is 'similar'. Blender is great but not a contender, due to Vray
not being likely to be fully developed for it in any immediate sense...at least I believe that's the case.

So, pick one and take one of your most complex products as the test case project. That should be a good approach to
learning the environment and common tasks.
They'll all have a learning curve but the concepts are fairly universal.
With the vast volume of tutorials available, plus the combined knowledge of the very helpful bunch here,
you shouldn't have trouble creating what you need.
Also, you can get trial versions of these apps, so no outlay immediately.

Or you could outsource that which you need...the modeling part that is. It may well be a cost-effective route to take
if you are time-limited in terms of learning a new app.

EDIT: I meant to add that there are many 'pre-cooked' vdb files of smoke/fire available to buy, plus both Max/Maya have fluid systems that are fairly simple to use,
depending on exactly what you are after, or there's PhoenixFD for maybe more ease (as it's Chaos) and the quality is fantastic plus you can make your own smoke/water/fire.
Quite a curve with that route though

[sirio76]

I mostly agree with fixeighted, every software have its strength.
That being said since you have specified that you are looking for an easy app, probably C4D is your best option. I'm not saying that it is the best software overall but it is surely one of the easiest, and Vray works great too.

[fixeighted]

Sorry to neglect C4D
Of course another good option; I was rather thinking of potentially adding Phoenix so was a little biased.
I don't know C4D so not aware of smoke etc. capabilities.

[john_gulland]

Thanks for all the feedback so far everyone!

Just another question to add into the mix.... which platform is the most stable / reliable e.g. the least crashes?

Is it still the case that GPU / CUDA rendering is the least reliable, or is it about the same as CPU now?

Ideally I want to be leveraging the GPU as that's what our company is best for (RTX 3080 / AMD Ryzen 7 5800X). Also it means we can get more content out quicker. Whilst we are looking for good quality, we don't need hollywood spec quality so to speak.

[sirio76]

CPU is still more feature rich and generally more stable, GPU is good and fast but still miss some feature and even a driver update can screwup things. Depending on what you are doing both can be great.
Anyway, Vray offers both so your best option is to test them by yourself.