What 3d Modeling is Best for Me?

[dshall]

Lew, will you please help us out and show us what it would look like if it was done in CA and compare it to what it would like in Thea, and would you please post the times for each render. I would greatly appreciate your expertise in this matter. You being a very experienced user with over 15,000 posts I respect your insight, thank you.


Scott is being sarcastic as usual

He knows I don't do raytraces
when I need fancy ones I hire Kathleen or Kay or Pat etc

My partner has done some nice raytraces but nothing "fancy"

He doesn't have the time to learn Phoebe (Chief's built-in raytracer) or Thea etc

so we outsource the "fancy" stuff

we have never had to "decorate" a house to the level needed for "fancy"
we outsource that as well

I'm sure someone will offer a "fancy" plan

If not, contact CA's customer service as they should have one "ready to go"

Lew

Oh sorry Lew, I did not realize you did not do RT's, please forgive me. However if you wanted to do RT's yourself, it is really quite easy to do in CA, even a nitwit like me does a fairly good RT. I believe someone posted a pic of a CA RT that was quite nice, but if you want a higher quality RT you will definitely need to select a different program than CA.

[Alaskan Son]

I don't think you need Revit , its strengths are more geared toward BIM and plan production and I'm not sure the modeling capabilities you're looking for are going to be much higher in Revit than in Chief. At least not enough to justify the difference in price. I think you would be paying for tools you'll never use.

[sutcac]

..... what would it look like if it was done in CA, how long did that render take in Thea and how long would a CA render take......

The bottom line here is that I have yet to see a single rendering done with CA's native render engine (Phoebe) that matches my rendering in photo-realism. And, I consider this a relatively amateur attempt compared to the pros whose work I see on the Thea forum all the time.

Dermot offered up the links to Phoebe examples and they are, rightly, dismissed by those seeking higher levels of photo-realism. Phoebe has made huge strides over what was generally available from the vast majority of POV renders I have seen on this forum over the years, but like many things in CA, they are seeking a sweet spot that balances convenience over excellence. That is probably a good business choice for them, but simply doesn't address the stated needs of the OP.

Render times, as long as they can be run overnight, aren't really an issue, although I can tell you that Thea is at least 10 times faster than the older Kerkythea engine which I still preferred over Phoebe. With Thea's interactive render feature , and with the requisite amount of knowledge, skill, and experience, it is more about getting the light and materials qualities right and getting a good feel for what the results will be for the final render, without actually having to wait for that to complete.

As far as modeling and Chief's libraries, I think the vast majority of Chief's native symbols also seek a balance between face count and realism, and they tend toward the low poly end for good reason. Most just don't need that kind of realism in their profession as far as symbols. But what Chief does quite well is the modeling of residential structures and basic things like trims, moldings, etc. that don't necessarily need a high face count to appear quite realistic from the typical distance these items are from the lens in an exterior or interior view.

I have really only worked with two modeling softwares extensively, Chief and Sketchup, and I think I can say with a fair degree of confidence that Chief handles higher face counts better than Sketchup. But one bugaboo about Chief and the 3DS export is that there is a face count limit to the export that has nothing to do with the ability of Chief, or Max to handle this face count, it's just a limitation in the export feature.

[WendyWelton]

Nickole,

You may not even need Thea. For exteriors, for what you describe, Chief might be just fine. All my exteriors are done completely with Chief - http://www.artformhomeplans.com/


I do think you need the full version however. You need to be able to get the exterior modelled completely right, with all the trim right etc. The lesser versions might not give you the capability you need.

[WendyWelton]

As Bryce says, Thea is much faster. The renders on my web site take about 20 minutes each on a decent machine, but not a race car. I render at 1920 x 1200 and I don't include a lot of lighting in my exteriors or a lot of 3D plants (the plants you see are there cardboard cutout type.

For interiors you absolutely have to have a lot of lighting and the needed amount of detail to look good is higher (accessories, lamps, etc - all have a lot of faces). So for interiors, if the renderings are your primary product, then I'd be in Thea.

[ohmyhead]

Hello...

I took the advice to contact home office to ask for exported .3ds and .vrml test files. I have not heard back from them, so keeping my fingers crossed.

In the meantime, if anyone here has any they would like to share, my email address is a few posts back. Something simple, would be fine.

I perused the Thea site and will post the type of renderings I will need from my situation. If you all think I can get this quality from CA - Thea (with lots and lots of learning time...) then I will feel confident in my upcoming purchases.

Thanks, all for your help. This is an awesome community.

[sutcac]

With the possible exception of the sculptures in the first pic, you can model all of that in Chief quite easily. You will need to either make or find some symbols in Sketchup or online, but that is par for the course.

[MPDesign]

I have worked with Chief and Artlantis work flow for a few years. only challenge with it is the lights don't get exported so takes time to set in your final view. Chiefs new on board rendering capability is rapidly improving. I would suspect that soon it will have exceptional end result and smooth work flow. No matter what you end up getting keep in mind it takes hours & hours to render image quality like what your after. It does not matter what engine you use. Fast equals -non photo quality, slow-can equal photo if the operator nows what there doing. IMO

I occasionally get a render job so no expert by any means. Have a look at my web site I could share the 3ds kitchen file if it works for you. its my own project so no copy right issues!

[ohmyhead]

Thanks for the additional feedback.

MPD - I would be forever thankful if you were willing to share your kitchen files with me. The home office does not seem to have test files.

I will use your test files in the various free trials I have to better understand what program will be best for my needs.

Let me know where to send the beer. (Actually, I owe you all a round...)

Nickole
ohmyhead@chater.net