- Fri Aug 22, 2008 4:08 pm
#278786
I recently downloaded the PhotoView-360 Beta from the SolidWorks website and wanted to make a very preliminary report. It operates as a separate application not as a SolidWorks addin and my initial reaction is that it is vastly superior to PhotoWorks (the current SW rendering solution). I could never get PhotoWorks to produce a usable render (actually that's hyperbola, it was just time consuming and not very intuitive) nor was it particularly fast.
While the feature set isn't nearly as rich as Maxwell, it seems to provide a reasonable render -- especially so given the render time. For example, a 1024x768 rendered at what they refer to as Best (which isn't really best, that is referred to as MAX) ran in 2 min 35 sec. You start by opening an SW part or assembly file. You can then set the environment and apply materials. I tested with SW2008 parts, supposedly under SW2009 Appearances (replacing the previous notion of color and texture) come along for the ride. Materials can be applied at the Face, Body, Part, or Assembly level. You can control the Bump strength and Scale of each material as well as changing the Diffuse, Specular, and Reflection colors. While the choice of materials is not anywhere as extensive as Maxwell, there is a reasonable number of materials provided. The file type for the materials is listed as .LXP, which is not a filetype I'm familiar with so I cannot comment on the availability of 3rd party materials, etc. It is not clear that it is possible to save a material after one has modified it or if that capability is going to be provided as part of a later release.
Overall I'd rate the render quality a B-, but what it does in just under 3 minutes (and this is on an older iMac...not an 8-core racer) is impressive. I have raised this issue in the past and it found little traction, but I will raise it again. Maxwell, IMO, should consider offering an alternative render engine what will yield a reasonable result in under 30 minutes. In terms of quality, it would take at least 6 hours (on my iMac) of rendering with Maxwell to obtain a result that is comparable with a 3 min result with PhotoView. There are times that one doesn't need the accuracy and finesse of Maxwell (at least given the rendering times) and an alternative engine would make it much easier to go to Maxwell for 100% of renderings. As it sits now, I may introduce PhotoView into the workflow when I need/want to push something very quickly, but quite frankly, I would prefer to run just on renderer -- Maxwell.
Saludos,
Ken
While the feature set isn't nearly as rich as Maxwell, it seems to provide a reasonable render -- especially so given the render time. For example, a 1024x768 rendered at what they refer to as Best (which isn't really best, that is referred to as MAX) ran in 2 min 35 sec. You start by opening an SW part or assembly file. You can then set the environment and apply materials. I tested with SW2008 parts, supposedly under SW2009 Appearances (replacing the previous notion of color and texture) come along for the ride. Materials can be applied at the Face, Body, Part, or Assembly level. You can control the Bump strength and Scale of each material as well as changing the Diffuse, Specular, and Reflection colors. While the choice of materials is not anywhere as extensive as Maxwell, there is a reasonable number of materials provided. The file type for the materials is listed as .LXP, which is not a filetype I'm familiar with so I cannot comment on the availability of 3rd party materials, etc. It is not clear that it is possible to save a material after one has modified it or if that capability is going to be provided as part of a later release.
Overall I'd rate the render quality a B-, but what it does in just under 3 minutes (and this is on an older iMac...not an 8-core racer) is impressive. I have raised this issue in the past and it found little traction, but I will raise it again. Maxwell, IMO, should consider offering an alternative render engine what will yield a reasonable result in under 30 minutes. In terms of quality, it would take at least 6 hours (on my iMac) of rendering with Maxwell to obtain a result that is comparable with a 3 min result with PhotoView. There are times that one doesn't need the accuracy and finesse of Maxwell (at least given the rendering times) and an alternative engine would make it much easier to go to Maxwell for 100% of renderings. As it sits now, I may introduce PhotoView into the workflow when I need/want to push something very quickly, but quite frankly, I would prefer to run just on renderer -- Maxwell.
Saludos,
Ken
- By CDRDA