10 Best Rendering Softwares for 3D Artists

External rendering softwares are very popular in the 3D industry nowadays. People like to choose external softwares over built in rendering system for rendering. There is a reason behind this. External softwares provide more features than built in renderers. The users can also use some presets to get their job done easily and quickly. In this article we are going learn about 10 best rendering softwares which you can use for your work. Rendering softwares give you the ability of adding custom improved HDRI, improved lights, advanced materials, advanced render settings, multi passes etc. There are two types of rendering softwares- in built rendering software and rendering plugins or render engines. Some of these softwares use CPU and some other use GPU. Here you are going to learn about different features of these rendering softwares.

1. Octane

Octane is a GPU based rendering software developed by a company named Otoy. Octane is one of the best rendering softwares in the industry. It can be used with almost all 3D softwares. Such as, Maya, 3DS Max, Cinema 4D, Blender etc. Octane uses GPU so it is very fast engine. Octane renderer can be used for making 3D scene, VFX, product rendering, architectural rendering etc. Octane has many advanced feature. It has physical based rendering system, path tracing, multiple GPU support, advanced render passes, volume rendering, texture animation system, denoiser, network rendering etc. Octane lighting system is an amazing system. You can use advanced and realistic lights, sun + HDRI for your render. The lights from octane makes your render beautiful. Octane renderer has advanced physical based material system. These materials support subsurface scattering, complex IOR, chromatic dispersion and creates some awesome render. Octane provides an amazing toon shader to create beautiful 2D looking renders. Octane has a node based material workspace which gives the user more control. For these reasons the users love to work with octane.

2. Redshift

Redshift is also a GPU based rendering software like octane. It can be used with many 3D software like Maya, 3DS Max, Cinema 4D etc. Redshift is also a very fast renderer. It can be used for all kinds of rendering such as architecture, 3D scene, VFX etc. Redshift also uses a node based material system like Octane. It has amazing features. It is known as world’s fastest renderer. It has physical based rendering, realistic global illumination, transformation and deformation blur, volumetric rendering, command line rendering etc. You can do hair rendering, texture baking, VR rendering using redshift. Among the physically accurate materials there are hair shader, realistic skin shader etc. Redshift has large variety of lights such as, dome light, mesh light, physical sky and sun. You can do volumetric lighting also. Redshift provides a large collection of nodes. It has other features like multiple camera lens, layered EXR support, physical lens effects, instance etc.

3. V Ray

V Ray is a rendering engine just like Octane and Redshift. It is a CPU based engine but lately the GPU based version was also released. It can be used with many softwares like Maya, 3DS Max, Cinema 4D etc. It is mainly good for studio lighting, product render, and architectural render. But it can also be used for 3D scene making and VFX. It has powerful global illumination, color correction controls, advanced lighting system, physical sun and sky etc. V Ray has physical materials and advanced textures which can be used for very realistic rendering. Its material system provides realistic reflection and refraction including dispersion. V Ray has other features like real world cameras, render elements, network rendering, V Ray scene export, denoiser, VR rendering etc. It also has better viewport material preview, fog, 2D displacement, VRscans materials etc.

4. Arnold

Arnold is an external render engine which can be used with softwares like Maya, 3DS Max, Cinema 4D, Houdini etc. It was developed by a company called Solid Angle.  It supports both CPU and GPU. It is used in VFX, Games and creating 3D scenes. It was used in movies like ‘Gravity’ and ‘Pacific Rim’, animated movie ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’, Game like ‘Witcher 3’ etc. Arnold has node based material editor like Octane and Redshift. It is used for rendering photorealistic scenes. Arnold supports physical based materials, subsurface scattering, volume rendering, subdivision and displacement etc. You can render realistic fur and hair using Arnold. It has nice motion blur system and command line rendering also. Arnold has other features like instances, toon shader, multi pass etc. Arnold also has a nice IPR (Interactive Preview Renderer).

5. Radeon Pro Render

Radeon Pro Render is a rendering engine created by AMD. It can be used with softwares like Maya, 3DS Max, Blender, Houdini and Unreal Engine. It can be balanced in between both CPU and GPU. Radeon is a completely free rendering software. It is a physically correct fast render engine. It uses path tracing and has AI denoising system. It can be used for creating VFX, product render, architectural render, 3D scene etc. You can export all render passes in .EXR format for VFX compositing. Radeon provides various shaders for the users. Radeon also provides you features like volume rendering, subdivision and displacement, physical sky and sun etc.

6. Corona

Corona render is a modern fast unbiased renderer. It can be used with softwares like 3DS Max and Cinema 4D. It is also found as a standalone rendering software. It is known for its ease of use and realistic lighting and materials. It has node based material system.  Corona is a fast renderer which is not very expensive. It has powerful and flexible tools. It can be used for VFX, product rendering, architectural rendering, 3D scene rendering etc. Corona provides physically accurate and flexible materials. It has high quality material preview, large material library, displacement, volumetric and subsurface scattering, skin and hair shader, dispersion etc. It also has fire, water and smoke simulations. Corona renderer offers distributed rendering facility. It also has physical sky and sun in its lighting library.

7. Thea Render

Thea render is a rendering software which is compatible with both CPU and GPU. It can be used with softwares like Sketchup, Rhino and Cinema 4D. Thea render has high accuracy and performance, light simulations, unique material editor, zero setup time, fast interactive rendering etc. It has physical based materials and a good lighting system. Thea provides volumetrics and SSS (Subsurface scattering) to create beautiful and realistic renders. It has other features like denoising, tone mapping, back face materials, triplanar mapping, LUT file supporting, procedural noise etc. Thea render provides you more features like, linearized roughness, blackbody and full spectral color support, IOR sampled file support etc.

8. Renderman

Renderman is a rendering software created by the famous animation studio Pixar. It is an advanced rendering software for animation and VFX. It can be used with 3D softwares like Maya, Houdini and many others. Renderman uses ray tracing method for rendering. It has powerful shading like skin shaders, hair shaders, subsurface scattering etc. It also has particle and smoke simulations. It provides render passes for post-production and production denoising. Renderman’s motion blur and depth of field helps to create realistic 3D scenes. It has powerful environment light also.

9. Keyshot

Keyshot is a real time rendering software. It can be used with softwares like Maya, 3DS Max, Cinema 4D, Zbrush etc. It supports both CPU and GPU. Keyshot includes 750+ preset materials and advanced capabilities to create custom materials and textures. Keyshot’s powerful lighting studio and image tools help to create beautiful renders. Keyshot is used to render realistic images or animations. It has interactive render viewer. Keyshot can be also used for creating virtual reality. Some other features provided by Keyshot are speed, realism, physically correct lights, denoising, HDRI lighting, global illumination, 3D model library, cloth simulation, procedural textures, toon shading, camera control, network rendering etc. It also includes HDRI editor, render passes, motion blur, depth of field etc.

10. Artlantis

Artlantis is an individual rendering software. It can be used with softwares like Maya, 3DS Max, Cinema 4D, Modo etc. Artlantis is a software with simple and user-friendly interface. This software is mainly used to create photorealistic renders. It is fast and has real time preview. It has advanced shaders and textures. Artlantis contains global illumination and powerful lighting system. It has different kinds of light sources such as, spot, bulb, directional light, sky etc. It has features like ambient occlusion, denoising, adaptive antialiasing, post processing etc. It also has other features like 3D grass, portal lights, 2D view etc.

                This are 10 rendering softwares and plugins that are used by expert 3D artists. This softwares helps making a 3D scene look better. This will definitely help improving your scenes. Write down your favorite rendering software in the comment box. Don’t forget to share this article on social media so that it can help other 3D artists.