Owlet renderer
In case anyone is in need of a unbiased renderer. You can get owlet and some other software in a package for $16.48. 5 days left. Owlet is $499 on their site, so I would say this is a no brainer. Testing it since yesterday and it is pretty good. The software package on stacksocial is for mac but the license will work on windows as well. Not certain about any of the software other than owlet in that scope. This is the first I have even seen Owlet, so maybe it's new to others as well. For those that really like it, maybe buying two licenses is a good option in case you want to not register it until another year and perhaps that would give you another year of updates versus paying $249. That's just speculation on my part but for $17, it may be a wise bet.
https://stacksocial.com/sales/q2-2016-pwyw-mac-bundle
Replies
One note tho - not sure that buying 2 will work as you suggest. I saw this under the licensing section:
License deadline: redeem within 30 days of purchase
Thanks again!
Daf
Yup, you are right about the redeem. Not a big deal when you look at the current feature set as is. Pretty much complete. I know it has caustics but I haven't checked out to see if it has dispersion or other advanced render ability. It does have a bump channel in the texture option but not something like displacement, sub-poly or otherwise that I can see. All in all, it's a nice renderer and well worth the money. Is it worth the full price, not for me, since it's a hobby for me but at this price point, it's an obvious purchase. Quick test with some camera DOF.
OctaneRender (Doesn't run on a mac since it requires Cuda) and especially Furryball (which doesn't run native on OSX) have some steep hardware requirements $ and cost as you state where Owlet doesn't have those requirements and for two more days, a license can be purchased for <$17 and you get 12 other software applications with it. Sure, Owlet doesn't have all of the features or speed of those other two but it has more than enough features to be used as a good unbiased render solution.
Cycles...you are forced to use Blender, which in itself is a disadvantage in my opinion, so it's not a stand alone solution that can be used by any DCC application.
I'm not trying to suggest Owlet is the best thing since sliced bread but it's pretty good and feature rich, right now for a version 1.2.
I guess I was just surprised at a lack of reaction for software this polished at this temporary price point. Admittedly, I don't know about the core capabilities of Owlet, how close it is to Maxwell, for example but my tests show it to be a capable solution that is fairly quick to get good results.
totally convincing that owlet is a glorious renderer for mac users.
The images which are hosted on the owlet website http://boxshot.com/owlet/gallery/
which I presume are there to advertise its features and superior quality over the vast competition makes me
vary to even spend those $17 while its being sold in a bundle with a couple other apps.
I posted renders more relevant to this forum using Owlet, so I don't know why the need for all the sarcasm. I simply was letting others know of a viable unbiased render solution, that a license could be purchased for a small amount during a temporary window.
-even for that little amount of money, it would have been wise to simply
ignore the offer and to keep the mouth shut, I clearly failed to do so and
hope that you are happy with the purchase and of course wish you the
best in producing great stuff with it.
I wouldn't disagree with you on that point.
MYCLAY, hopefully no hard feelings on this. Didn't mean to squelch your valid opinions, I just didn't think I was being an evangelist for Owlet on a render agnostic forum. If I was on the Marmoset board, then I would rightly have to spend more time justifying the merits of said application. I use Marmoset and Maxwell LE mostly for my hobby and will see if this may work for some in between scenarios. I like the fact that different render solutions have a distinct look to them, though they are supposed to be doing the same thing within their type, so to speak.
On top of that, as others have said, the preview material isn't in favor of the renderer, at all. Your renderings also do not help it either. clayrrenders like these are... so... year 2000 and i have to say the Arnold render looks better, just for the sake of having more interesting lighting and at least a hint of color.
And 2 minutes for these results are not quick when compared to realtime rendering. Yes many things might be better, but waiting 2 minutes for one image, ugh!
They should hire some really experienced arch-viz artists who can show off what it can do.
"Owlet render 2min without DOF, with DOF and Maxwell render, same time, 2min. On a crappy i5-1.9GHZ work laptop. Owlet looks pretty good to me and subjectively better. Lighting is not the same but it's close enough for an evaluation of the renders in a basic scene with nothing done to them. Not certain why the Maxwell .PNG file is so much larger."
Your own words are "close enough for an evaluation of the renders."
Edited, just repeating myself.
RYANB,
Edited, just repeating myself.
Critique of the renders in the Owlet gallery were substantive, even in the scope that their niche is "packaging" and not game art. Critique of the render I gave in response to the lack of game art in their gallery, not so much. I am comparing a version 1 release that costs $17 for a COMMERCIAL license to a mature version 3 of Maxwell Render that costs $99 for a Learning edition and $995 for a commercial license. Those of you that can't put this in perspective are being silly.