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I am thinking of ugrading my old C4D 8.5 to the current 10.5 and take advantage of the specials going on. Been using MR with Rhino and 3DS Max 2008 for a while but would like to try the newer C4D (and be able to use the MR plugin). I am also getting tired of fighting through Max!

My question for you current C4D guys is, are you using Maxon's AR when not using the MR plugin or are something else, like say Vray, FR-2 or just the standard render engine in C4D? As I remember the old AR was a bit weak.

regards to all,
Doug

The 'ol AR is showing it's age in some areas, but it really depends on what you are doing. I still use it all the time, much more than MR really, but I have been doing a lot of animation and sketch and toon recently. You may also find the integration of the C4D to MR plug a little weak compared to the Max version.

As always I'd suggest downloading the demo, play with some of the samples and try the MR plugin before dropping too much money.

Of course that's just my opinion.

Steve

My primary use would be for architectural and product visualizations. Are you using AR 2.6?

As for MR plugins, the Max one works fine but the Rhino one is absolutely seamless and awesome. I never render anything from Rhino without MR.

I am planning on downloading the C4D demo over the weekend and give it a test drive.

By the way, how do you like Sketch and Toon, and have you attempted to use MR for a C4D animation?

regards,
Doug

I'm not using AR for anything, but for a while now my other engine besides Maxwell in C4D has been Final Render which i think is great and fast and very easy to work with. But as Vray has been ported so nicely now to C4D with an excellent integration i would personally love to have that renderer.

As seco said, AR is a bit outdated now. It needs a major update to catch up with the competition.

Try them out, see what you like and dislike. Only you know what you will like, it's not something we can decide for you.

/ Max

FR-Stage 2 seems to be a good engine but you are right, Vray for C4D is much better, but also costs nearly twice as much.

I sure wish these render engine guys would market like MR and C4D and allow one to buy the program and use plugins/modules to use with a handfull of different softwares. Dishing out for each one is counterproductive to users (we pay to much) as well the companies (they do not sell nearly as many licesnes as they could) and limits their market share. This is why I like MR with all its quircky warts and slow speeds since I can use it with Max, Rhino and C4D and not have to pay any more.

I also did not think AR was all that great and definitely needs a major upgrade. My intial thought is to buy the core C4D and maybe Dynamics and use the MR plugin until I spring for FR-2, Vray or something else comes along later.

Thanks for the inputs. It has helped me a lot.

regards,
Doug

Did you get a chance to download the demo? If you look in the content manager (i think this works on the demo also) there are several samples that you may be interested in including HDRI and GI rendering examples.

SOFTRENDER wrote:FR-Stage 2 seems to be a good engine but you are right, Vray for C4D is much better, but also costs nearly twice as much.

try to render an animation in your network or try the distributet render
you will see, Vray ist the cheaper choise then
beside that are just a hand full render farm suited with FR - in case of emergency you are lost

a bit ot: i heard a lot of bad things about dynamics, so you might want to try silverbullet and / or phytools by www.remotion4d.net

i own silverbullet and i like it a lot!

seco7 ans QuakeMarine1,

Yes I have downloaded the demo and used it a bit. I am still going to just do the core (with Bodypaint intergrated which I love) and go with MR then another render engine later. AR does not do it for me.

You are correct Quake. If you distribute render or farm then Vray is the only way to go. I did not take that into account before but will do so now. thanks

Doug

It's very rare I use the Advanced Render module. With an almost fully functional Cinema plugin then Maxwell Render is used for everything. However, if I was doing animations then AR would be fine.

I am still chained to AR, as it can read PSD files. There is too much of a workflow issue to make separate alpha masks for what I use. I'm in the exhibition industry and graphics change ALL the time, PSD files are the only solution for tight deadlines. It would be SO GREAT if maxwell could read PSD files....

Since I have Vrayforc4d the AR is obsolete...I don't really use it anymore....except for Sketch Renderings.So Maxwell and Vray are the apps I use.

AR not very useful as it is today IMO. With Maxwell and Vray you have better Alternatives, depending on what you would like to achieve you'll use the one or the other.

Dynamics is practically also replaced by Remotion's PhyTools, which are way easier to use.

Kabe