3d distributed rendering engines only. I’ll add links for video software that supports network or distributed rendering as time permits.

I’m slowly adding to this list. Please eel free to shoot me an email about your favorite distributed rendering system. (bstone@bradleystone.com)

Mental Ray by Mental Images (Runs as a standalone and is also integrated into several packages such as Autodesk 3DS MAX, MAYA, Softimage XSI, VIZ, Inventor, AutoCAD, and Revit, as well as SolidWorks, PhotoWorks 2, Matucad DomuS3D, Dassault System CATIA v4+, and Side Effects Houdini). This is a very high quality render engine and I expect to see if in more and more packages as time goes by.

V-RAY www.vray.com – Vray is a plug in renderer that supports distributed rendering. It is a very high quality renderer and has a great community as well. (There are versions of V-Ray available for 3DS Max, Maya, Softimage, SketchUp, Rhino, and C4D) Others may follow.

Brazil R/S – www.spluterfish.com – Brazil render system is absolutely one of my favorites. It is a bit on the expensive side but the customer service is unparalleled. (Unfortunately this is only available for Autodesk 3DS MAX, and Rhino users)

finalRender – Cebas Software – finalRender is only available for Autodesk 3DS MAX.

Yadra – Yet Another Distributed Rendering App – This one is open source for Blender 3D. You can read about Yadra Here and download Yadra Here.

YafaRay – www.yafaray.org – Is a free open source raytracing distributed render engine available as a plugin to Blender 3D.

AccuRender – www.accurender.com – AccuRender is a renderer for AutoCAD 2002-2010 that supports distributed rendering. I’m guessing that they will have future versions that will be supported in more recent versions.

Realsoft3D – www.realsoft.com – Realsoft is 3d package that includes distributed rendering capabilities. Available for MAC, Windows,Linux, SGI IRIX and supports import of Illustrator files as well as VRML, and IGES.

Ethereal Render – www.ethereal3d.com – This is a community based distributed render engine for Modo. Very neat concept here. You actually distribute your render to other users in the Modo community and every pitches in on renders automatically via their Ethereal Render software. I LOVE teamwork! Let those idle computers get some use! Great Idea… I’d like to see more like this!

LuxRender -  http://www.luxrender.net – Stand alone render engine that supports network-distributed rendering. Exporters for Max, Maya, Blender, Maxon Cinema 4d, and Softimage XSI.

Maxwell Render – http://www.maxwellrender.com – Supports Max, Maya, Lightwave, Archicad, Cinema 4d, FormZ, Modo, Rhino, SolidWorks, Google Sketchup, and Softimage. There are also 3rd party plugin developers for AllPlan, SolidThinking, and Houdini. Post processing plugins also offered for After Effects, Nuke, and Adobe Photoshop.

Well those are the ones I’m familiar with off the bad but send me more and I’ll post them.  I’ll be on the lookout otherwise and add them as I find them!

Yours Truly,

Bradley Stone
http://www.bradleystone.com
bstone@bradleystone.com