Why Redshift is Our Favorite Rendering Engine

We’ve been asked a lot about the different software our team uses. As a 3D animation studio, the rendering engine we use is particularly important. The FUSE team has used and experimented with a lot of 3D rendering programs over the years, but for our high-quality production work, our preferred renderer is Redshift.

Why? It’s the fastest rendering software we’ve used and it also plays well with our third-party plugins. 3D rendered images by Redshift create attractive visuals that create stunning package artwork. Actually, there are a lot of reasons to love the Redshift rendering software.

But first, let’s start with the basics.

For those of you unfamiliar with Redshift rendering or the process of 3D rendering overall, here’s a quick rundown. For those of you super familiar with it, you can go ahead and skip this section.

Rendering is the process of creating images based on three-dimensional data. You may be more familiar with the term “CGI” or computer-generated images. Artists take this data, which may be from physical product specs or an engineering file, to create 3D models.

Learn more about 3D rendering for marketing here.

After we create our 3D wireframe models, we run them through the Redshift rendering engine. Then:

1. The rendering engine takes the data from our 3D models and builds a three-dimensional image.
2. From there, it calculates light, shadow, materials, reflections – everything that makes an image look real.
3. All those elements come together to create the final, photo-real image or 3D animation.

Redshift’s object ID feature lets us isolate individual objects after rendering. We can then make changes to things like reflections and refractions. It’s a handy feature.

We can adjust these elements in real-time, then bring the finished rendered product or medical device into a post-production program like Photoshop or AfterEffects.

First of all, because the Redshift rendering software is crazy fast – it’s the fastest rendering solution we’ve found. In fact, Redshift may be the world’s fastest rendering engine.

But that’s not the only reason Redshift is our team’s #1 3D renderer.

In the last five years or so, our team has used four rendering engines in production and experimented with about three others. Out of those seven, we had a clear favorite. Here are some of the reasons why:

Okay, we already said it, but it’s worth repeating. Speed is one of the biggest reasons we prefer the Redshift rendering software over other rendering engines.

The Redshift rendering engine is a biased GPU rendering program, which means that it renders using the graphics card (GPU) instead of a standard computer processor (CPU). It can calculate those elements we talked about earlier all at once, rather than one after another.

• Biased 3D renderers make approximations during the rendering process. These estimations let users create realistic images much faster, like this image of Insight Brewing’s Royal Nuisance 16 oz can.
• Unbiased rendering engines calculate as much as possible to create a 100% realistic image. But all those calculations means these images take a long time to render. More on unbiased rendering engines here.

There’s been debate over the years about the benefits of unbiased versus biased rendering. Early versions of biased renderers were error-prone, forcing users to make more adjustments after the final rendering.

However, advancing tech has closed the gap. Biased renderers now can render images faster and more accurate than earlier versions. And Redshift’s default settings offer pretty good realistic images. Speaking of which…

The Redshift rendering software is set up to deliver pretty solid out-of-the-box results. You don’t need to fiddle with controls or endlessly scroll through menus looking for the right settings. It’s undoubtedly made with artists in mind, with intuitive lists of settings and a toolbox of favorite commands.

“Redshift is set up by default to give you pretty good results. But you can also dive in and change a whole bunch of settings if you want,” says Senior Rendering Specialist Levi Krippner. “The real-time viewer makes it much easier to understand what settings you’re changing and what they do.”

Other 3D rendering engines, like V-ray, offer full control over these settings but it’s a little more tedious. There are tons of settings, checkboxes, and dials you have to tune just right to get the image how you want.

For this reason, the Redshift rendering engine is one of the easier engines to learn and use.

Many people rely on third-party plugins, and of course, all those elements need to be rendered. Redshift does a great job keeping up with the most popular and useful plugins. We’re talking about plugins like X-Particles and Turbulence FD.

Our commercial animation studio uses a lot of these plugins every day. So, it’s super important that we’re using rendering software the integrates well with these other tools.

Recently, we rendered 3D clouds for a project with Insitu using a third-party program. When we brought them into Cinema 4D, Redshift had no problem rendering them.

While the Redshift rendering software’s out-of-the-box functionality sets you up for photorealistic success, its RenderView Interactive Preview Region also makes it easier to tweak settings as you go. In fact, artists can make adjustments more or less in real time.

Because Redshift is such an incredibly fast rendering engine, you don’t have long periods of downtime waiting for new scenes to render.

“It’s exponentially faster. I can have a live preview of my scene open, change lights and move stuff around, and adjust anything on the fly. And I can get a real-time representation of what that’s going to look like,” says Senior Animator Ben Lodge.

With the work we do at FUSE, there’s an obvious benefit to fast, real-time rendering. Actually, over the past five years or so it’s become standard to render in GPU for that reason.

While working with clients, real-time rendering lets us quickly adjust our work based on client feedback or product changes. We don’t have to wait hours or days to present a new image (with updated color or lighting). Instead, we can make the necessary updates, quickly render with Redshift, and send back.

In the video below, Levi demonstrates how Redshift’s real-time viewer (on the right) makes it easy to adjust an image’s color, lighting, or other settings (on the left). Artists can tweak the image and see how it will render right on their screen.

In summary, the Redshift rendering engine offers fast and reliable 3D renderings with a real-time viewer. When working with a client, it’s important to be able to make adjustments with a speedy turnaround time. And Redshift helps our team run smoothly and meet deadlines for your overall marketing plan.

Now is the time to ditch photography and opt for 3D photorealistic images!

We also blog a lot about the different projects we’re working on in-house, playing around with new programs or trying out a new technique. Recently, in anticipation of the new X-Particles release, we wrote all about what we’ve been up to with this amazing particle engine.

Interested in learning more about the different programs we use? Drop us a message on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. We’ve got links to our profiles below.

Related:

• Guide to the Best 3D Visual Effects Software
• What is Storyboarding for 3D Animation
• CAD Files: Before and After with 3D
• Transforming Workplace Training with Digital 3D Video
• Exploring a Year of Possibility with FUSE
• Stunning 3D Rendered Windows and Glass
• How to Create 3D Product Animation Videos for Your Brand

Want to see our Redshift rendering work?