Prelude to GTC: GPU-Based Rendering Speeds Up Visualization
Matthew Gueller chuckled when I asked him if he does rendering, as if to say, “Do you even need to ask?”
Being a professional visualization artist and surface designer, Matthew sees a large chunk of his time consumed by rendering. “Some of the images we have to render — they’re one-to-one ratio, at 72 DPI poster resolution — can take up to 16 hours to finish,” he noted. “Lots of materials involved, large data sets — they’re very CPU-intense.” Continue reading
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Keyshot 3 Goes to Movie
Luxion Keyshot, which made a name for itself by giving CAD users an easy way to produce rendered still images, is about to move into a new territory: animation clips. The movie-making function in Keyshot 3 is not meant for filmmakers producing feature-length 3D animations like Toy Story or Kung Fu Panda, but it’s aimed at an emerging segment: those who want to produce multimedia-driven presentations and instruction manuals using CAD files.
Whereas traditional animators develop their sequence in key frames, Keyshot users can rely on dragging, dropping, pivoting, and rotating objects along points in XYZ axes, similar to how they’d move and position imported objects to set up scenes. The software also offers the option to use an orbiting, inclined camera for dramatic angles and movements. Continue reading
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Luxion KeyShot 2.2 with Improved Import Functions
Luxion KeyShot, one of the offshoots of HyperShot, is now in its second incarnation. To be exact, it’s in Version 2.2, with incremental upgrades sprinkled over the past few months to bring it to where it is now. A major improvement in the latest version is the smoother, faster import function. Now, when you import a CAD assembly, you’ll see a model tree with the same assembly structure inside KeyShot. During import, the program gives you options to place the model at the center of the scene (or not), snap the model to the ground (or not), and orient the model by a certain axis (X up, Y up, or Z up). This eliminates the work you would otherwise need to do to position and align the model in the scene before applying aesthetic treatments.
KeyShot continues its tradition, dating back to its origin as a rendering program for those with little or no experience. With robust support for common CAD file formats, KeyShot remains one of the most accessible rendering packages for those who regularly work with mechanical modeling programs.
The program retains its drag-and-drop simplicity, allowing you to apply materials, environment, backdrops, then render the visible scene in the program window into a photo-realistic image. No need to understand ray-tracing, Gama adjustment, and other technical setups. The simple slider bars and real-time feedback let you work intuitively by experimentation to compose the scene with the right brightness, camera angle, and materials.
In Version 2.2, the hierarchical assembly structure imported along with the model gives you a simpler way to sort, identify, and apply attributes to different parts of your model. Furthermore, items selected in the model tree are encircled by a yellow outline in the program window, which makes isolating them much easier. If you often deal with complex assemblies and you’re used to identifying items by name (part number, for instance), you’ll find this enhancement a huge help.
In Version 2.2, you’ll find that the Move and Scale commands are much more responsive. You’ll also notice some interface improvements: among them, an easy to way to select standard camera views (Front, Left, Right, Top, Back, and so on) from a drop-down menu; and a single-click button to center your geometry.
Though not highly publicized, it’s worth noting that KeyShot gives you the option to select a small region for test-rendering. Under Render > Render Settings > Region, if you place a checkmark in the Enable box, you’ll be able to drag a selection window to define the region you want to render. If you’re concerned about the details in a certain region in your scene, and you don’t want to wait till the entire scene has been rendered to inspect the area, the regional rendering option works well as a way to test-render the chosen area.
Previously, to project a 2D image on the model’s 3D surface, you had to load the image as a texture in the material editing window. Though it gave you the result you wanted, the method also left you without a way to apply texture once the slot was occupied by the projected 2D image. In Version 2.2, KeyShot gives you the ability to apply labels — more than one, if you want — to your material. Not only is the operation simpler, it also gives you the option to apply texture to your material in addition to labels.
Since both Luxion KeyShot and its main rival Bunkspeed SHOT claim to be descendants of HyperShot, you’ll inevitable wonder: how do I decide which one to go with? The primary distinction may be the choice of hardware. KeyShot relies primarily on CPU; SHOT uses both CPU and GPU. Rendering a model using CPU and rendering it using GPU appear to produce identical results; however, if the software code is designed for parallel processing, it tends to render at a greater speed on special GPUs designed to accommodate multi-threading (for example, professional-class NVIDIA GPUs with CUDA). The performance gap between multi-core CPUs and GPUs may also become narrower as Intel works to add on-board HD graphics to its upcoming CPUs. Therefore, your hardware configuration and preference may offer better clues on which package to go with.
For more about the history of Luxion KeyShot and Bunkspeed SHOT, read “One Scene, Two Shots,” July 2010.
For more on Bunkspeed SHOT, read a recent review by Mark Clarkson, published in January 2011.
For more on KeyShot 2.2, watch the video report below.
Rendering a New Year Message in KeyShot 2.1
Happy New Year and welcome to 2011!
I’m kick-starting a new series of video reports with a short demonstration on using Luxion KeyShot 2.1 to create a New Year message. The latest release of KeyShot comes with a slew of user-interface improvements, including a Label function (frequently referred to as “Decal” in modeling and rendering software packages).
What you need for this exercise:
- a 2D image with your New Year message (I created mine in Adobe Illustrator, then saved it as JPEG);
- a 3D model with an even surface where you can project the message (I used an iPad model created by sgi102, found among user-submitted 3D content at Dassault Systemes’ 3DVIA.com portal); and
- KeyShot rendering software (Luxion lets you use the trial software for 15 days, but the rendering produced will include a watermark).
For the rest of the steps, watch the video clip below:
modo 501 with Pixar Subdivision Surfaces
The difference in modo 401 and modo 501 may be a single digit, but if you upgrade from the former to the latter, you can expect to see 30-40 % increase in rendering speed, according to Luxology. In addition, modo 501 also promises improvements in texture baking, depth of field, bump mapping, and fur simulation.
“We’ve done a lot of research looking into speed gain in CPU versus GPU. I was hoping to find speed gains in the GPU. We don’t find that to be true immediately,” noted Brad Peebler, Luxology’s CEO, in the video launching the new release.
Many believe GPU’s parallel processing can improve rendering operations. However, R&D in this area is a territory Luxology must tread carefully; the company has an ongoing partnership with Intel to find ray-tracing optimization methods using the CPU. The speed gain in the current version comes from what Peebler describes as “a massive update to the ray-tracing acceleration structures” in its rendering engine and “memory use [optimization].”
In modo 501, you can paint textures onto your model (similar to how you might apply textures in, say, Autodesk Mudbox or Blender) — a useful method to add effects, such as rust and oxidation, in your model without additional modeling work. Consumer product artists will find the back-facing gradient feature especially useful in mimicking, say, how a product logo looks when seen from the opposite side of a transparent bottle.
The new release features Pixar subdivisional surfaces (different from modo’s standard subdivisional surfaces), which are much more effective in applying deformation to edges (called “edge weighting”). This allows you to create dramatically new look in your model (for example, rounded edges) without the need to modify its geometry.
Today, the company rolled out the new version, modo 501, available for both PC and Mac. This version marks the introduction of 64-bit Mac OS support.
For more, watch modo’s video demonstrating Pixar subdivisional surfaces.
