Indigo (a commercial render with a Blender export script) has received an upgrade that claims to speed up renderings with 100%.
From their announcement:
We are pleased to announce that we have released the latest version of our photo-realistic rendering package: Indigo Renderer 2.2.
Indigo 2.2 is at least 2 times faster than Indigo 2.0 on all scenes, and up to 10 times faster on scenes using environment maps.
Subsurface scattering (used for skin, candles and rubbery materials) has been improved to render faster and with less noise. Tone-mapping and Aperture Diffraction are now fully multi-threaded, allowing for more rapid tweaking of the scene's mood.
The all-new Indigo Material Editor, introduced with Indigo 2.2, allows fully featured creation and editing of materials in a graphical environment. All material functions are available in the Indigo Material Editor, with Indigo Shader Language able to control any attribute. The Indigo material editor also allows direct uploads to and downloads from the online Indigo Material Database.
The Indigo exporters for Blender, Cinema4D, SketchUp, and 3ds Max, have all seen many improvements, making the Indigo workflow fast and easier.
Link
24 Comments
I already liked the free version, so I purchased a licence in the early steps of the commercial adventure of indigo. I want to say that since this moment, many great improvements have been done !
Blendigo, the exporter for Blender is much more mature now, and the recent standalone material editor for Indigo is a very good tool for people like me with an allergy to XML files.
The speed increase is real, and less noisy image can be rendered in less time. I really enjoy the new indigo, and my only regret is my own lack of time not allowing me to use it more !
They raised the price by 100% too!
this thing is way overprice.. i wonder if they actually make money considering you can get vray for the same price
As roofoo said, they raised the price by 100% too, which makes them absolutely uninteresting.
Their website says "There is no commercially-available renderer that has better quality than Indigo."
is this an official rating or just what they feel? That is boasting a lot.
Actually Maxwell Render has been around longer and has excellent quality so I don't see what's so special about Indigo anymore, especially since now they're both in the same price bracket, around $1000 USD. Plus GPU rendering is the future, with Octane Render out now and Luxrender soon to be OpenCL enabled. I will stick with Luxrender, thanks.
Note that the price increase is on Feb the 1st 2010. This means you have a few weeks to purchase the new version for the existing prices.
The prices are not unreasonable for companies that are making money off a product.
@Alltaken: Perhaps not unreasonable to you, but for small studios or individuals, it's out of reach. Which is ironic since it was the individuals who created interest in the product to begin with.
why he give a price?why dont give for free???why all people want only money...give indigo render 2.2 for free and be happy for this... be happy for one thinks doing good for people... i don't have money for this and what?i can use it?f......
421.488 USD...hahaha...
@Miroslav: Because some people like to eat and live in a house.
I can't argue that it is WAY overpriced though. I mean, it's not like this is something completely unique or specialized. There are other tools that have been out for much longer and some, cheaper, as well as more "industry standard." I'd like to know how business is going lol.
Also, way to turn your back on the people that gave all of the free publicity.
Oh, making a buck from good software is not a bad thing. But many software sites seem to hide their prices to much. If I get advertisements it always show in bold big fonts how much a product costs. After clicking the buy now button I see a price of: 295€. Then I read here they will double the price? 295€ was already out of my league, sorry. These are price ranges for commercial companies, not for me as an individual.
I used Indigo while it was free, since it is only a hobby I can't spend upwards of $300 for it . I find this new price waaaaay overpriced, IMHO around $150 would be a good target. That might open the potential million-people hobby-3D market.
But pricing it at $600 needs some VERY GOOD reasons why it is better than Maxwell or many other renderers (remember the two basic sales tactics in economics: either make it cheap or differentiate it from the competitors).
Maybe having a better priced, not restricted home/non-commercial version would help.
...people all life working and working for what? money? if you destroy the money cycle you dont work so much....money sleep on credits,banks,black gold and angry of people...
Definitely going V-ray if I need a commercial solution. Just read the buy now list of questions and sorry guys, for the price they are asking they should be willing to pay for a descent marketing team to promote them better.
I agree with most of the above comments, for the money they are asking they should be showing off a rather better show case as well as some high end production work of it in use ( easily recognized work, Commerials that have used it, TV shows, famous architecture firms work ) . It is a bit premature to up the cost especially by such a huge margin as they are doing...but,
Good luck to them non the less, I wish them all the success in this.
I agree that the new price is not very affordable, but as they hired new people, I think that they have found no other solution. It is most possible that this choice will not help to sell the software.
@Miroslav: Yeah, go ahead and get rid of the "money cycle." You go first. That would mean you can't respond to this post through the internet if you stop paying your ISP. I guess you'll just have to give me a call. Wait, you have to pay the phone company too... Send me a latter then. Oops, who's going to pay the mail man? You know what, just go outside, build your own buggy, find a horse (you can't BUY one), and come over to my house and tell me your message. If you live across the ocean, well, good luck.
ANYWAYS, I really don't mind them trying to make money off of good software, but where is the market? Is the market geared toward "at home" users and hobbyists? (HUGE market) No. It costs just a LITTLE too much. That means it's more for big budget productions, right? Er, how does it fit into the workflow at this time? Where is it's showcase? What makes it attractive to companies that already have a program, a workflow, and a way of doing things to buy this product? None. What about a new company/production. Not a whole lot. There are, honestly, much better alternatives for the price Indigo is asking for.
I'll say it again, way to turn your back on the people (3D hobbyists and home/small business users) who helped to make Indigo what it is.
i search for renderer for 3d (eyeware)where i can find it?(program)..TheGriveous
@ Greyspot
Currently, Indigo is primarily geared towards three fairly large demographics: Visualization professionals (Product designers, Architects, Interior Designers etc.), 3D artists, and avid hobbyists (Like myself). Although Indigo is not the best choice for all users, there is certainly a market for it.
That being said, I have to admit I agree the new pricing is a little steep. I think a super-inexpensive renderer would be the way to go.. Something like $99. At such an affordable price, and such a high quality renderer, They could easily sell thousands of licenses, as well as become a bigger player in the 3d Industry.
@Godzilla:
I think you hit the nail on the head. For their asking price, I still say there are better alternatives though. If it were $200 at the most, it would definitely fit a small company's budget and at $100, would be a sure-buy for tons of hobbyists.
Personally, I'd stick with LuxRender. But at that price, heck, it's in MY price range!
Hmmm. Such a high price but they do a lot of right things though.
Speed improvements is something users like especially in this era. I could almost make myself believe that they had the costumers requirements in mind (except for low price, they think they have to pay for it). Can't say the same thing with LuxREnder though, seems they forget the need for speed (without sacrificing quality) which I think anyone is always looking for .
@ greyspot
how i use luxrender how open animacion...(*.lxs file)??
well i am using INDIGO 2.2 demo for 3 hours and OMG its outperformed every other physical renderer in speed and real time performance. these NewZealanders have done an amazing job. though i agree..... price is.. well ... very steep.
I agree with Godzilla - 100 bucks is the best price... but if shuvro speak trully (btw - what is your specs and OS?)
... maybe it can cost around 300$ - not more. It's kind of... etiquette around open source community. It's not a full pipeline with animation, physics and etc.!