Using other Rendering packages with SoliWorks

I really don't know why you need to ask. People have been talking about PW failings for a long time. Finally with 07 you get start moving ahead...

ok you didn't ask about Blender and I don't know why I bother to answer questions seeing as you guys mostly ignore people on your own forum or post dumb questionnaires but

able to do - complex animations incl blur, fades, colour changes,use multiple textures, DOF make architectural walkthroughs using the game engine particles- smoke,hair etc fluid sims with obstacles,wake effects cloth -officially soon soft bodies- rubber utilise scripts for effects and export to other renderers like Indigo or video perspective matching. various AA filters node compositing incl alpha and chroma key post processing network render or render farm character animation for incorporating humans as reference. micropolys - soon I hope and much more all for free and, it develops faster and ,has fewer bugs.

In short it is capable of delivering a much more finished artistic/graphic presentation and from just the one program. Ideal for smaller businesses and if you will use features infrequently.

The last three on that list with particular emphasis on ease of use! I still quite often fall back Accurender

I use Maxwell and now hardly, if ever, use PhotoWorks, if I use PhotoWorks it's only for the fact that PhotoWorks is faster than Maxwell.

The images that Maxwell can produce are simply far more realistic than PhotoWorks can produce. Visit the galleries at

More advanced keyframe animation - not something I currently use More advanced camera tracking - not something I currently use Motion blur - not something I currently use More advanced materials - Much better in Maxwell Particle affects - not something I currently use More realistic lighting affects - Definitely Much easier/better in Maxwell

More Predictable - Definitely Much easier/better in Maxwell, This was one of the major reasons I dumped PhotoWorks. Faster rendering - Maxwell is considerably slower than PhotoWorks but the near reality of the images more than make up for it. Easier to use - For me Maxwell / Maxwell Studio are far more intuitive than PhotoWorks.

Thanks for asking the questions Mark, it is appreciated.

John Layne

Supreme Commander

Solid Engineering Ltd

The main reason why i am looking for a new renderer for solidworks is that solidworks will not render my imported surface models from other software packages (the surfaces show in solidworks but kan not be rendered). Only the solids show in the rendering , the surfaces disapear completly .

Another reason is that perspective settings behave unreliable.Larger geometry has effect on the perspective.

also photoworks is always giving my products an offset from the floor of the studio(very annoying).

I am dissapointed with the photoworks add in, we bougt the add in 2000 when photoworks was using the lightwave renderer. The results were good and predictable in comparison with other packages,(My VAR used my pictures in precentations) But know the competition has become much better.

I find the lighting difficult to control. The results are often not convincing enough.

We quit our subscription and are planning to buy another render package from the money we saved . The main factor on what i want from a renderer is: realism, stability, ease of use, realism, predictable results , and realism .

I apreciate your work Mark on trying to improve on the software.

best regards,

Bram van Welzenis Noordzij Design

schreef in bericht news:1154986502.705536.119540@n13g2000 cwa.googlegroups.com... For those of you that do PhotoWorks renderings but sometimes or often incorporate other rendering/animation packages like Maya, 3D Studio Max, Maxwell, Alias Image Studio, SoftImage or LightWave3D into your process -

What are some of the reasons that you use these other systems? In other words, what features and/or capabilities do these other rendering/animation packages have that PhotoWorks/Animator does not have that are necessary for you to get your job done? Here are some possibly suggestions to name a few:

? More advanced keyframe animation ? More advanced camera tracking ? Motion blur ? More advanced materials ? Particle affects ? More realistic lighting affects ? More Predictable ? Faster rendering ? Easier to use

Any comments would be most appreciated.

Mark Biasotti Product Manager

I have dabbled with other renderering software other than photoworks, but since timeliness is everything for me, I haven't had the time to self teach myself the way to a great result. Fact is, I think the interface in PhotoWorks is a good thing.

That said, I think there are some things SolidWorks could do to promote PhotoWorks as a very powerful tool. Since PhotoWorks/SolidWorks is directly competing with the likes of Maya or MAX, some similar tools would be great. Below I'll list some.

What I have learned, is I like Blender in theory, and I think SolidWorks/PhotoWorks would become infinitely more useful to me if there was tight integration with Blender and other useful open source tools and file formats like Blender and Rhino files.

Porting of PhotoWorks materials and SolidWorks model data and perhaps even 2D/3D sketch or other entities could make the Blender / SolidWorks relationship very powerful for 3D content creators. Imagine the ability to define bones as pre-drawn sketches in blender.

What I would MOST value in a future PhotoWorks are these features:

1. The ability to open, convert to solids, render, and save as the most often used 3D graphics formats such as Blender, Maya, Rhino, 3D Studio Max, Cinema 4D, 3DS, See
   formatting link
   for examples of models that we could be using for free in scenes, but cannot due to file compatibility issues.

1. I would like to see the floor offset issue fixed. This has been a real deal killer in my place of work, forcing me to make a simple floor in the scene in every instance rather than using the tool as intended.

2. I would like to see a SolidWorks sponsored online user environment for sharing materials, lighting, environment setups, etc. We all have some great materials we've customized, environment setups to share, but it's difficult to hook up with other users to do so.

1. I would like to see better definition between environments, backgrounds, bases, showrooms, and studios... These seem counterintuitive in their implementation, with some settings changing without the user knowing or understanding.

2. I would like the ability to more easily rotate HDR images that I use for environments so as to control my lighting and reflective directional properties.

1. Add the ability to use third party renderers, those that come to mind: Yaffray, Indigo, others.

2. Add the ability to render multiple configurations without a macro to file, with control over file names, and file formats, and resolutions.

1. Add the ability to render distributed over a network (render farm)

2. Add the ability to easily (one click or two) render with a transparent background.

1. Perhaps have a Render Scope that works like assembly cut Feature Scope, so I can place objects in the scene that are hidden, and don't render, but do have shadows cast upon them? (Highly useful for creating illustrations etc.)

--Matt Schroeder