The LuxRender team have released v1.0 which brings a long list of improvements and more stability.
From the announcement:
We are pleased to offer you the long awaited new stable version of LuxRender: version 1.0. This release features lots of enhancements and fixes all around that have been quickly summarized in the wiki. We give a slightly more verbose list below.
Many thanks to all the developers involved in this development cycle, this is probably the most stable release of LuxRender even if a few issues remain and should be fixed in a forthcoming release. Starting from now on, we'll try to make more timely releases to provide you with improved features as soon as they are stable enough.
Changes since v1.0RC4:
- networking fixes
- GUI improvements
- photon mapping fixes when restoring photon maps
- GPU rendering fixes
- SPPM fixes
- queue rendering fixes
- automatic tonemapping and imaging pipeline improvements and fixes
- layered material improvements
- support for more IES files
- Retina display support for Apple devices
- various bug fixes from static analysis tools
There's more - see the full list in the announcement.
Link
24 Comments
Can anyone tell me which one is faster and more suitable for interior architectural visualisation: Cycles, Yafaray or LuxRender?
Depends on the visualization... knowing the benifits of each render method (eg Path Tracing, Bi-Dir, Photon Mapping, SPPM etc...) and their limitations/strengths will help you more than the render engine you use.
Professional interiors still require render engine which will be efficient with large scenes and massive amounts of light sources. I really appreciate the progress the free ones are making but running a commercial visuals jobs I had to/switched to "the standard" V-Ray (linked to Blender by Andrey Izrantsev) and this is the most stable and most predictable solution for now for Architectural renders got out of Blender..
The other group of tasks like non complicated bathrooms' pictures take much less effort and can be quickly and easily completed using cycles(GPU). I treat them like visual sketches though..
Generally interior scenes are much much lighter, that is not the problem in my opinion.
Interior architectural visualisation is probably Vray's ultimate best case scenario. Vray's approximations with GI makes it a good choice unless you have animated objects in your scene. For still renders and fly through animations vray rocks. The adaptive sampling will also speed across all the smooth surfaces.
LuxRender is a quality renderer. It is just way too slow for anything other than stills(I have not thoroughly tested it though).
I love Cycles but Interiors is one of Cycles' biggest weaknesses. It could still be a viable option.
I think yafaray might be a good option. I would recommend trying them all out.
Cycles Has problems as its very young, it needs much work still(I'm not a fan of it).
Lux-Render is truly amazing and has had a lot of time to mature and the same goes with Yafaray(not so much in 2.5+ versions of Blender), If I had to chose from the 3 then it would be Lux-render as it has both cpu+gpu support and is very easy to get a network working stable and fast.
The down side to using any external software is all do you may get better results and maybe a lot faster you lose time in the export progress, so really its not faster unless it's a still image in some cases.
Congrats to the LuxRender team on reaching the 1.0 status for such amazing software :)
All of them! :D
LuxRender 1.0 in numbers. :)
http://cg.iit.bme.hu/~zsolnai/gfx/luxrender-infographics.jpg
I remember the days when 1.0 meant the alpha version of software.... :P Weird numbering system.
Also, does Lux support SSS yet?
Yes, that was in the past release actually.
LuxRender supports true scattering into homogeneous volumes and can emulate scattering in thin surfaces with the glossytranslucent or mattetranslucent materials.
I remember the days when 1.0 meant the alpha version of software.... :P Weird numbering system.
Also, does Lux support SSS yet?
Sorry for the double post, my browser kept giving me an internal server error.
I downloaded it, and it runs, but I don't see where I select GPU rendering. It is rendering with CPU. I have a GTX 580 with the latest drivers installed. According to Nvidia, Open CL drivers are included. Cycles works fine with GPU rendering on my system.
Yes I downloaded the "Open CL enabled version."
How do you render with the GPU?
You have to select the hybrid renderer method in the rendering options.
I tried that, but "LuxRender" crashes immediately after it launches from Blender if I choose either "Hybrid Path", or "Hybrid Bidirectional"
I downloaded it, and it runs, but I don't see where I select GPU rendering. It is rendering with CPU. I have a GTX 580 with the latest drivers installed. According to Nvidia, Open CL drivers are included. Cycles works fine with GPU rendering on my system.
Yes I downloaded the "Open CL enabled version."
How do you render with the GPU?
Thank you, LuxRender Team!
Thanks a lot to the LuxRender guys!
It is my favorite renderer for realistic rendering.
not bake yet, when the first render engine (lux, yafaray or cycles) can make bake this change the indie videogame industry
Greetings from Istanbul .
Here at 5 am in the morning ,at stand I am clapping my hands , congrats to all who made it possible .
Thanks Luxrender team and great work! I use it occasional for photorealistic game pieces from time to time. Looking forward to checking this out.
Has anyone been successful at rendering the children hair in Luxrender? I've managed to get the main hair particles to render, but I don't beleve the children hair show up. If so, what's the prefered setting (sppm/hybrid, etc...)? Thx!
Great news!
Don't compare Lux to yafary or cycles.
Lux can still beat cycles in rendering volumetrics, difficult light situations because cycles lacks bidirectional, MLT and sppm, supports light groups etc...... and is overall very different.
All have it's pros and cons.
Just put light in box with one open side that you don't directly see.
I'm stuck, after I install the main package I tried adding the path to the Luxrender installation but nothing happens when I the render button it goes to a black screen.