For creators in the CG circle, besides the production software, the renderer is the type of software that they usually come into contact with the most. The process of rendering with the renderer is to change the preview effect in the production software to the final result of integrating material, lighting, and physical characteristics. This process of effect, which is the most important step in CG production, is related to the presentation of the final effect.
The difficulty of rendering is that it is necessary to simulate the lighting effect of the real physical world with a computer, and it is necessary to fully consider all the characteristics of light such as direct light, reflection, scattering, diffuse reflection, diffraction, interference, and light attenuation. The more fully the presentation of light, the more complicated the calculation and the greater the amount of calculation.
GPU rendering is the future trend. There is no doubt about it. The parallel computing speed of GPU’s multi-core stream processor is unmatched by CPU. The use of CPU for logical operations combined with the advantages of GPU multi-core parallel computing has brought 3D rendering to a new level. . Today we will talk about OctaneRender and Redshift, two frequently used GPU renderers of C4D. Knowing yourself and your enemy, and using the most suitable renderer in different scenarios can get twice the result with half the effort!
Octane Render
Octane Render (OC for short) is the world's first truly GPU-based path-tracing rendering algorithm, all-round, and unbiased renderer. It can manually set the tracking depth to reduce point calculation density. Compared with traditional CPU-based rendering, it can Reaching a speed increase of 10 to 50 times, it is not only fast but also fully interactive, allowing users to obtain rendering results in real time, and spend less time to obtain excellent works. This is the role of OC renderer.
Image credit: Jake Fazekas
Here is an explanation of the meaning of "unbiased". A simple understanding is the physical renderer, which uses the calculation principle of the spectrum to break through the long-standing rendering technologies such as light transfer. The rendering engine based on real lighting uses completely accurate calculations and formulas for lighting Therefore, the rendering effect of OC is excellent, it can be said that it is the closest to the rendering effect of SLR photography, and the main focus is a real one! "Cheat"!
Image source: Maciej Sikora (C4D+OC renderer)
Rendering speed is fast and rendering effect is high-quality. These two points have caught the hearts of CG creators. In addition, OC renderer node mixing does not require too many parameter adjustments. It is easy to use, easy to produce effects, and the learning cost is not so much High, so the OC renderer has a wide audience base, it’s hard not to love it, family members~
But there is a prerequisite for using the OC renderer - a good graphics card requires an NVIDIA graphics card that supports CUDA to run, which is the threshold for using the renderer. The OC rendering process completely relies on the GPU for rendering without using the CPU (except for scene loading). When the graphics card is better, the rendering quality level will be improved more.
Redshift
A GPU-accelerated, biased renderer is also a very popular GPU renderer in the market, and it can be regarded as a strong competitor of OC. In terms of core algorithm, Redshift adopts ray tracing algorithm; in terms of rendering effect, REDSHIFT can render and output movie-quality images; in terms of rendering speed, the biased renderer makes concessions for efficiency, adding sample bias, Use small changes or blurs to reduce rendering time, so it is better than OC in terms of speed.
Please know: Redshift has supported CPU rendering since version 3.5.01, so it is not completely a GPU renderer now, but users who use its CPU rendering are rare, so it is not typical. In this article No discussion in this article, this article still discusses Redshift as a GPU renderer.
Image Credit: Greg Zdunek (RS Rendering)
After Redshift was acquired by Maxon, there must be nothing to say about its compatibility with C4D and its later development. After all, it is a family. Give artists more space to play, and the detail effect is very controllable!
Image Credit: Adrien Lambert (RS Rendering)
This also means that Redshift is not as easy to use as OC, and the learning threshold is high. If you want to obtain realistic and fast rendering effects in Redshift, it takes more time and energy to deal with it than the unbiased OC renderer. Technical parameters, not the artistic quality of the picture. but! As long as you play proficiently, high-quality effects are also within your reach~
Image Credit: Greg Zdunek (RS Rendering)
To sum up: Redshift has the best compatibility with C4D , and it is also the most efficient renderer among GPU renderers. It is more suitable for dynamic video, more controllable , easy to adjust, and the rendering speed is better than OC renderer . It is recommended Friends who are engaged in partial dynamic direction, such as packaging film and television animation, choose to use it.
Image Credit: Christophe Desse (RS Rendering)
Octane Render is easy for newcomers to use , but lacks controllability. It is more suitable for e-commerce posters, product packaging, and poster designs with flat and static frames, and the effect is fast.
Image Credit: Jake Fazekas (OC Rendering)
The two renderers have their own advantages for different directions, but do they really have to choose one or the other? Not absolutely... In the process of doing actual projects, we can take advantage of the strengths of Octane and Redshift, and apply the best functions of both parties to the extreme, such as Octane's glow depth of field, Redshift's exclusion and noise reduction, and add In the later stage, the disadvantage of insufficient depth of field can be compensated. If you are an Octane user, you will definitely get more gains after learning the Redshift renderer.
In the end, I want to say that the renderer is just an auxiliary tool, not a panacea. The rendering effect of personal works is only a small part of the tool. It mainly depends on the creator's understanding of rendering, such as lighting, light and shadow, and object physics. Cognition and grasp of attributes, specific to highlights, reflections, refractions, texture attributes, etc. After understanding the core of rendering, no matter what renderer can produce ideal works, the most important thing is your own rendering ideas and aesthetic level , so come on! Self-improvement Never too late(￣▽￣)／
PS: Xunyun Video Client supports C4D (R19-R2023), Octane Render, and Redshift . Friends with insufficient local hardware configuration can try Xxyun Video Client to experience cloud rendering services based on public cloud cutting-edge resource configuration~Currently Users who actually pay 999 can enjoy 30% discount on rendering , and the rendering discount is valid for one year from the day of recharging , and there are more exclusive discounts waiting for you when you log in to the official store of Xunyun Rendering~
Zanqi Cloud Workstation: a one-stop cloud platform for 3D rendering and production
But there is a prerequisite for using the OC renderer and Redshift - a good graphics card requires an NVIDIA graphics card that supports CUDA to run, which is the threshold for using the renderer. The OC rendering process completely relies on the GPU for rendering without using the CPU (except for scene loading). When the graphics card is better, the rendering quality level will be improved more.
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