[JoeKool]

Hey all.
Does anyone use the trial (or purchased) versions of the new Brazil rendering system for Max 3 and 4? http://www.splutterfish.com/sf/
I am always interested in better renders, especially for Max..etc..and it looks pretty snazzy. Wondered what YOUR findings were..quality, amount of bugs/crashes, difficulty in use..etc.
Thanks!

[Steven Stahlberg]

Haven't tried it, I don't use Max, but make sure you look into Final Render too, seems to have more features than Brazil. http://www.finalrender.com/finalrender/default.htm

[Steven Stahlberg]

Yes, that's right. Bad luck, since Final Render isn't available for Maya. Entropy and Mental Ray are, but FR seems better from the feature list and the renderings I've seen.

[JoeKool]

hmmm..ill have to check it out. I have been a fan of your work Steven..what software do you use primarily? Maya?

[Ed Lee]

Hey there, I've used Brazil alpha. I like their GI but other features it bewilders me (cuz I don't know enough about them I guess) and it's lacking too - feature wise. They've improved the rendering time but their cel-line feature is incredibly slow - it took about 4 hours to render out one background model. The price is what gets me - it's pretty steep. If you're just starting out and want to play with alot of features which Final Render has I'ld opt FR over Brazil because not only its price but it has more settings/features. Hope this helps. Ed--

[ November 09, 2001: Message edited by: Ed Lee ]

[Darklighter]

i love brazil, it only takes an hour or 2 to get into if you're good with max.... right now it's primarily a raytrace/gi renderer, but the final version is almost out and there should be all kindsa cool stuff in there.... can't bitch about the price yet cause i don't know what they're gonna add to the final.... i haven't really looked at finalrender yet

[BooMSticK]

steven - Right now, yes - FR has more features than Brazil, but that will change upon the release of Brazil. To my eye Brazil is very much capable of outperfoming Final Render in quality. Remember that Brazil (for all I know) not have the full feature set implemented when the renderings that are in the gallery were done. Features like softareashadows and the like have just now been implemeted. Subsurface scattering will also be in the final version!
Speedwise im not sure, even when we see the shipping version of Brazil.
,Boom
(not a sales person )

[jonaz.dk]

well.. I would choose Final Render. If I had to shell out the bucks. That is.

FR is faster and cheaper.. they should be about equal in features.
Cheaper means about HALF as much as brazil..

but hey... I'm pretty satisfied with the free public brazil alpha's anyway.
Though.. photomapping, SSS and area shadows would be extremly nice.

[Ed Lee]

I too like Brazil - and know the Splutterfish.com peeps in person. They're great guys. I too am amazed at the result that Ghost/Brazil were to achieve. But, the going rate for Brazil is $1,200 and I bought fR at $495. I played with Brazil's arealight - nice, but hella slow. Yes, Brazil will have more features, toon shader, area lights, surface scatter, etc - which fR has with lots of settings. Yes, quality wise I think Brazil has bit of edge on fR but with the economy the way it is I opted for fR, and so far I think I've made the right choice. If I were to go little higher on quality scale I would get Entropy or Mental Ray. Ed--