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I've just watched the SU podium Internet pages and I'm back here with a simple question : what's the main difference between KRay and Podium, and why should I stay sticked to LW+Kray instead of jumping in something that seems to be quite easier to manage ?

brownie wrote:I've just watched the SU podium Internet pages and I'm back here with a simple question : what's the main difference between KRay and Podium, and why should I stay sticked to LW+Kray instead of jumping in something that seems to be quite easier to manage ?

Answer is clear.

PLUS for Podium:
- K3 Core inside
- very basic software (Google SketchUp + Podium...even children can use this)
- some details which make easier to use Render Engine (limited options menu, presets)
- kind of big base of models ready to use (This one should be for minus because they are very poor: wire and textures)
- light for hardware


PLUS for LW+Kray
- full options in Kray menu + commands line (still K2.x)
- Subpatches
- Instances (this is really PLUS)
- easy animation system and very flexible (let`s say honestly: many movies are done by Lightwave)
- Modelere+LWCAD (this is really BIG PLUS)
- Lightwave with whole his own system can handle really huge scenes
- a lot of plugins and scripts
- professional pipe line
- many different light sources
- network rendering

In my opinion first option is for amateurs (no offence, please!), first step in 3D rendering, students, etc.
Second one, for professionals.

And in the last, the most important: Sketchup+Podium will never achieve quality level of LW+Kray...is just impossible - software limits...even with new Core K3.

My personal opinion about K2.x: still a lot potential which are not discovered.
I use Kray 9 years and there/here is nobody who knows this Engine better (except G. - but actually he knows rendering 3D in very basic level which is enough for him to help with coding)

Thanks a lot. Hope it will help other potential users

Janusz is quite correct. Serious professional visualisers will always want to use a more capable modeller than SketchUp, and for animation, no-one should seriously consider SketchUp as a tool for professional high quality output.

It can do basic things fairly well, but not much of any complexity. The geometry engine is very simple, but for some types of visualisation, it's ideal. Peter Guthrie has used it for a lot of his work. He takes his models into Max and used Vray, but he uses (or used to use) SketchUp for all his work.

However I would like to make a couple of points about some things.

We are planning to implement Kray instancing in Podium. It should work quite intuitively with SketchUp's components being instances.

LWCAD is a cool tool, but SketchUp has IFC support and some very clever architectural plugins are coming, which will be better for designing and documenting probably most types of building. LWCAD will most likely be better for high end visualisation, but that's entirely appropriate to the LW market.

SketchUp has so many more plugins and extensions than LW, but lacks sophisticated lighting, camera, UV mapping and texturing tools

I would say that SU & Podium are more appropriate to amateurs and professional architects and designers who want to concentrate on design, with visualisation as a natural extension of that process, rather than an end in itself.

If you are principally a visualiser and want to get the absolute highest quality results, with few compromises, you use Max or LW or Modo or Maya or whatever.

So in summary - SU & Podium are for speed, workflow and efficiency. Kray and LW are about absolute quality and flexibility.