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Is Reality worth it?

KitsumoKitsumo Posts: 1,216
in Daz Studio Discussion

Not sure if this is the right forum, but here goes. I've used Poser/Reality/Luxrender for a year or so and I like it.

My specs were:  Phenom II X6 1090T, ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 Motherboard, Radeon 5830 video card, G.SKILL Ripjaws 16GB, Thermaltake  600W  Power Supply

My new computer is:  i5 6600,  GIGABYTE GA-Z170-HD3, G.SKILL Ripjaws 16GB, GTX 770 + GTX 460 1gb, EVGA 850W power supply

Switching to DS/Iray made rendering a lot simpler and faster, but I'm wondering if DS/Reality/Luxrender would be worth trying because OpenCL means I could network my old computer into the mix. The main drawback is that Nvidia cards don't perform so well in OpenCL.  Also, it is nice to be able to just click one button and render a scene (with Iray), I'm not eager to go back to Reality if it involves a bunch of materials setup. In terms of quality, I see some slight differences between the two, but not enough that I can say one's better than the other. Does anyone out there still use Reality with Daz? If so, how does it compare? Thanks.

TL/DR: Would using all the above hardware in OpenCL make up for the performance loss by not using Iray?

 

Comments

  • RodrijRodrij Posts: 156

    Unless you don't have an nvidia graphics card I would stick with Iray. Iray is integrated with Daz so working with shaders is a lot faster and well supported with some very good shader materials being sold in store. The Iray shaders themselves are really good to with plenty of options to get exactly what you want. Setting up shader material is the most time consuming part and Iray just does it better. You will probably waste more time with the Reality workflow then saved by any performance gains if there are any at all.

  • KitsumoKitsumo Posts: 1,216

    Yeah, Iray is definitely easier.  I tried the old Poser/Reality setup today to see how everything would perform networked together. My AMD setup started overheating and I remembered why I upgraded in the first placesmiley.  Anyway, I looked at the DS/Reality video on Youtube and they looked pretty much the same as with Poser, so nevermind. I'm not going to spend a half hour setting up materials and emitters when I could just click the green button in DS and be done with it. I just wish Daz would 1.) make Iray networkable so I'm not limited to one computer and 2.) incorporate OpenCL so I'm not locked in to one vendor.  I actually prefer Nvidia, but the fact that they want to take away all my other choices makes me uneasy.

  • PinzelmeisterPinzelmeister Posts: 114

    Iray took just a bit of getting used to (and a graphics card upgrade in my case) but the renders/shaders etc are great!  Much more subtle for portraits etc than 3Delight.  Reality drove me crazy unfortunately.  In particular, it filled my files with "reality data" - in some cases thousands of little data items that completely messed up some of my DAZ files . . . some were so clogged with Reality data that they took over half an hour to open; cleaning them up was possible but a real mess.

  • DustRiderDustRider Posts: 2,788
    Kitsumo said:

    I just wish Daz would 1.) make Iray networkable so I'm not limited to one computer and 2.) incorporate OpenCL so I'm not locked in to one vendor.  I actually prefer Nvidia, but the fact that they want to take away all my other choices makes me uneasy.

    Don't expect #2 anytime soon, as it will probably never happen. Iray is an Nvidia product, and only integrated for use in DS by DAZ 3D, Cuda, which is used to run Iray on the GPU is an Nvidia product, both are designed to work on Nvidia hardware.

  • TheKDTheKD Posts: 2,696

    I woiuld say no, not worth it really. I have had issues getting skin looking good, and get odd seams with geografts that do not happen in iray.

  • bobswrenchbobswrench Posts: 22
    edited June 2016

    I have Reality for both Poser and Daz3D.  I've used it for a few years now and can say with complete certainty......maybe.

    I love that I can adjust lights, exposure and colour balance while it's rendering.  This is a huge and massive time saver when a deadline is looming. 

    However, there is a small userbase, which seems to have gotten smaller as both Iray (in Daz3D) and Superfly (in Poser) become the default renderers.  Reality is written by one person and has a support staff of two (as far as I know).  Bless their hearts, they work hard, but it's tough to compete with all the resources of NVidia (Iray), or the open source movement of Cycles (Blender - Poser).  The small user base means that there's not a lot of discussion in the forums and few recipes for materials. 

    If you need fast renders for production work where amazing realism isn't called for (most of my stuff for online training), then Reality is unbeatable.  You can get spectacular results with it but you need to do a lot of tweaking and fiddling with materials.  Both Iray and SuperFly, by virtue of their large user base and support network, have done most of the grunt work already making it pretty easy to get great results 'out-of-the-box'.

    I'll keep buying Reality since it works well for my work renders, but when I'm just playing with Daz3D for fun, I use IRay.

    Bob

    Post edited by bobswrench on
  • Jim_1831252Jim_1831252 Posts: 728

    I'm an Iray convert. I never liked the idea of paying out extra for NVIDA cards, but here I am. I still love LuxRender, but Iray is so much easier to work with. That said, I've always been critical of Reality, which I want to like...but don't.

  • pcicconepciccone Posts: 661

    I'd like to address some of these notes:

    bobswrench said:

    However, there is a small userbase, which seems to have gotten smaller as both Iray (in Daz3D) and Superfly (in Poser) become the default renderers. 

    Completely untrue. We continue to expand every day, as more users purchase and adopt Reality.

    Reality is written by one person and has a support staff of two (as far as I know).  Bless their hearts, they work hard, but it's tough to compete with all the resources of NVidia (Iray), or the open source movement of Cycles (Blender - Poser).  The small user base means that there's not a lot of discussion in the forums and few recipes for materials. 

    This is inexact. While Reality is written by myself, LuxRender is written by an active team of developers including a worldwide expert in OpenCL who works for AMD. So, the Reality/Luxrender development team is strong and vital.

    Cheers.
  • pcicconepciccone Posts: 661

    Here are the top 10 reasons to use Reality:

    1. The most accurate Physics Based, unbiased rendering system, based on LuxRender, the benchmark of quality in the field.
    2. The easiest material editor in the industry.
    3. Non-blocking rendering: continue working in DAZ Studio or Poser while the render runs.
    4. Adjust the light’s intensity and color while the render runs.
    5. Adjust the scene’s exposure while the render runs.
    6. Use GPU and CPU acceleration at the same time.
    7. Use GPUs from nVidia, AMD, or other brands, and you can mix them together.
    8. Apply film emulation to create a new, more filmic look
    9. Physically-Based Materials make it intuitive to edit your scene. No confusing nodes or endless lists of properties
    10. Run multiple renders at the same time.
    11. Procedural textures that can be used to amazing patterns with a few clicks.
    12. Same interface whether you use DAZ Studio or Poser.
    13. Automatic presets simplify your workflow.
    14. Share material presets with other Reality artists.
    15. Use the same presets in the DAZ Studio and Poser editions of Reality.
    16. Stop and resume the render at any time.
    17. Unlimited network rendering, even with mixed OSes (Mac OC, Windows, and Linux machines).
    18. Fully documented.

    Reasons #11 to #18 were bonus ????

  • evilded777evilded777 Posts: 2,465
    Jim said:

    I'm an Iray convert. I never liked the idea of paying out extra for NVIDA cards, but here I am. I still love LuxRender, but Iray is so much easier to work with. That said, I've always been critical of Reality, which I want to like...but don't.

    Can I just reiterate that last part:  That said, I've always been critical of Reality, which I want to like...but don't.

    I liked Reality 2. Reality 4, for me, jumped the shark. I just can't get used to the interface and the materials. And I don't like most of the skin materials, so I have to do all my own work there...with an interface I find difficult to use.

    I want to like it... but I don't.

    None of these are value judgements. They are my own personal feelings. I'm a fan. But its not for me.

  • pcicconepciccone Posts: 661
    edited June 2016

    One more thing about the "single developer vs the might of nVidia" issue. 

    Reality brought Physics-Based Rendering in 2010, five years ahead of that technology beeing adopted by DAZ. It's the single developers who have the flexibility and vision to do this kind of things. It took five full years before PBR was adapted by Studo and there is no doubt in mind that it happened because Reality showed that there was a market and a need for it.

    Cheers.

    Post edited by pciccone on
  • pcicconepciccone Posts: 661

    evilded777, I will be very glad to address your concerns, if you want. Reality 4.3 might have already addressed some of those issues.

    Cheers.

  • evilded777evilded777 Posts: 2,465
    pciccone said:

    evilded777, I will be very glad to address your concerns, if you want. Reality 4.3 might have already addressed some of those issues.

    Cheers.

    That's ok, Paolo...I appreciate it, but I just got a TitanX. I'm going to be spending my time in Iray for the foreseeable future.

  • pcicconepciccone Posts: 661

    TitanX is going to scream with Reality ;)

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