Best 3D Render Engine – CPU & GPU Renderers

This post talks about “Best 3D Render Engine – CPU & GPU Renderers”.

How do you make a photorealistic image or a short animation?

For me, it starts with an idea. Then I make 3D models, rig them, add textures, lighting, visual effects, and the final step would be rendering.

The rendering process will generate an image or a sequence of images from 3D models by means of computer software. This computer software is often called a 3D render engine or renderer (sometimes rendering engine or rendering software).

A variety of 3D render engines are available on the market for different 3D modeling software. I will look at the most popular and best 3D Render Engine in the industry.

What is a 3D Render Engine?

If I have to define,

A 3D render engine is the software or a plugin that performs the calculations needed to generate a final image from a 3D scene. In other words, it takes the 3D models as well as camera, texturing, lighting, and shading data and turns them into an image.

What is a 3D Render Engine used for?

3D render engine is used in various industries. For example, architecture, simulators, video games, visual effects for movies and television, and design visualization.

Rendering techniques and types

A 3D render engine uses specific methodologies as well as special hardware to render an image. In terms of rendering technique, 3D renderers typically use one of below:

• Rasterization.
• Ray tracing.
• Path tracing.

Besides, based on speed and the expected outcome, rendering engines offer different types of rendering. That is:

• Real-time rendering.
• Non-real-time rendering.

Choosing the best 3D Render Engine for your need

When choosing the right 3D render engine for you, there are several factors to take into consideration. 

• Compatibility: Does it work with your 3D software of choice?
• Hardware: Is it a CPU or GPU-based render engine?
• Feature-set: Does it have the features you need?
• Cost and Licensing: Does it cost an arm and a leg or is it free? Perpetual license or subscription?
• Learning Curve and Support.
• User Community: Is the render engine’s community large and active?

CPU or GPU Render Engine?

In terms of hardware, 3D render engines take advantage of the processing power of the computer’s CPU or GPU or both to perform the calculations.

• CPU-based render engines typically can handle bigger and more complex scenes. They can be slower in rendering speed, but more produce accurate results compared to GPU-based render engines. On top of that, CPU renderers have been around for a longer time. So they can have more features and better support.

Some popular CPU render engines are Corona Renderer, Arnold Renderer, and RenderMan.

• On the other hand, GPU-based render engines generally have a lot faster rendering speed. This is thanks to the GPU’s parallel processing nature. Plus, GPU-based render engines offer better accessibility and scalability for 3D artists and designers. Since GPUs are less expensive, thus easier to add up or upgrade to the rendering system.

Some popular GPU render engines are Redshift and Octane Render.

However, it is the trend today that developers will expand their render engines to support both CPU and GPU rendering. Right now, there are only very few 3D render engines that are purely CPU-based or GPU-based. As far as I know, Corona as CPU renderer and Octane as GPU renderer are two examples.

Best 3D Render Engine – CPU & GPU Renderers

Plenty of 3D render engines are available on the market. It can be a software package’s proprietary render engine, a plug-in, or a standalone software.

However, there are still some most popular and best render engines in the industry, which 3D artists and designers commonly use.

Autodesk Arnold

Image: Autodesk

Arnold is an unbiased rendering engine engine developed by Autodesk (previously Solid Angle). It is widely used in various industries, from film and television to games and design visualization. The 3D render engine is the built-in interactive renderer for 3ds Max and Maya software packages and works with Cinema 4D, Houdini, and Katana.

• Best render engine for photorealistic renders.
• Easy to use and stable.
• Usually used for large productions.
• Easily switch between CPU and GPU rendering. Support multiple GPU rendering.
• Slow speed.
• Pricing: subscription at $50 per month or $400 per year.

Blender Cycles

Image: Blender

Cycles is a ray-trace based production render engine developed by the Blender project. It is included with Blender software and available for some other packages such as Cinema 4D (Cycles 4D), 3ds Max (Cycles for Max), Poser, and Rhino. Blender Cycles has been used in television and films, video games, product design, and architecture.

• Best render engine available for free.
• Feature-rich, production-proven renderer.
• Cutting-edge speed and real-time denoising.
• Allow CPU, GPU, and Hybrid (GPU + CPU) rendering. Multiple GPU support.
• Need improvements in some areas such as caustics.
• Pricing: totally free.

Chaos Corona

Image: Corona Renderer

Corona Renderer is a CPU-only render engine developed by Chaos Group (previously Render Legion). It is created specifically for architectural visualization and can be used for automotive, and product visualizers. The rendering software is now only available for 3ds Max and Cinema 4D.

• Best render engine for architectural renders.
• Intuitive and easy to use.
• Not offer an extensive array of options when rendering.
• CPU rendering only.
• Pricing: subscription at €48.90 per month or €322.80 per year.

Chaos V-Ray

Image: Chaos

V-Ray is a production-proven rendering software developed by Chaos Group. It has been used in many industries, from architecture to product design, automotive, advertising, video games, and visual effects. The renderer is available for a wide range of platforms, including 3ds Max, Maya, SketchUp, Cinema 4D, Unreal Engine, Houdini, Blender, and many more.

• Often used for architectural visualization, particularly interior and exterior scenes.
• Plenty of learning resources and a large, supportive user community.
• Can be a bit more complicated than other render engines.
• Allow CPU, GPU, and Hybrid (GPU + CPU) rendering. Multiple GPU support.
• Pricing: subscription at €69.90 per month or €418.80 per year.

Maxon Redshift

Image: Maxon

Redshift is a first biased and fully GPU production renderer, which is now developed by Maxon (previously Redshift Rendering Technologies). Creative individuals and studios of every size use it for a variety of uses, including high-end production. The render engine supports the industry’s most popular 3D applications, i.e. Maya, 3ds Max, Blender, Cinema 4D, Katana, Houdini, and ZBrush.

• One of the fastest render engines available.
• Easy to use, yet plenty of settings to experiment with.
• Good renders.
• Multiple GPU rendering. Expand to support CPU rendering but still need improvements.
• Pricing: subscription at €46.74 per month or €274.29 per year.

Otoy Octane

Image: Otoy

Octane is an unbiased and correct GPU render engine developed by Otoy. It has been adopted into many different fields such as architecture, interior and product design, automotive, video games, advertisements, and visual effects for movies and television. Octane integrates into a wide variety of 3D applications, including 3ds Max, Maya, Blender, Cinema 4D, Houdini, Modo, Unreal, and a lot more.

• One of the fastest render engines available.
• Physically accurate, high-quality renders.
• Frequent crashes.
• GPU rendering only with multiple GPU support.
• Pricing: subscription at €23.95 per month or €239.88 per year. Free for some software (Blender, Daz 3D, Unity, and Unreal) with limitations.

Pixar RenderMan

Image: RenderMan

RenderMan is photorealistic 3D rendering software developed by Pixar Animation Studios. Pixar uses RenderMan to render their in-house 3D animated movie productions. It is also used to create visual effects for many Hollywood blockbuster movies. The render engine is available for Maya, Katana, Houdini, and Blender.

• Powerful render engine.
• Stylized Looks toolset for creating excellent toon or NPR (Non-Photorealistic) renders.
• Allow CPU and Hybrid (GPU + CPU) rendering. RenderMan XPU for Hybrid rendering still needs improvements.
• There is a free non-commercial version (does not include the Stylized Looks toolset).
• Pricing: RenderMan costs $595 per license. And $250 per license for annual maintenance renewal.

Best 3D Render Engine for Specific tasks

Above are the seven best 3D render engines in general. They can be used for plenty of 3D workloads and industries. However, there are some other rendering software that are popular in their field.

Free 3D render engine

• Blender’s Cycles and Eevee
• LuxCoreRender
• AMD ProRender
• BEER
• Appleseed

Architecture

• Lumion
• Enscape
• D5 Render

Summary

So that’s all about the best 3D render engine on the market. Most of them support a wide variety of 3D software packages.

So you should determine what are your needs and find a rendering engine that can leverage your hardware and enhance your projects.