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LuxRender in Blender


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  • Reputable Contributor

First, Thanks Michalis and others for again sparking my interest in Blender. I am enjoying Linux and Blender though learning new stuff is causing my brain to roll out of my head like marbles. :blink:

LuxRender looks to be a great renderer(free), so after some brain work,(you know the marble stuff), I got it running inside Blender. I am looking forward to using it as I learn to make scenes and light them in Blender. Link to the LuxRender site is below:

http://www.luxrender.net/

There is a Windows and Mac version too.

Exporters include: Blender,Maya,3D Max,Cinema 4D,and XSI

The picture is just a screen cap inside of Blender, with the LuxRender settings dialog box and the renderer with the generic box and the default light. Visit the LuxRender gallery and forums to see some good renderings that have been posted there.

In the end,I think that 3DCoat,Blender and LuxRender will make a great combination...

Edit: Using Blender 2.49 as the new LuxRender exporter script is not ready for 2.5 alpha 2 as of the last time I read.

post-518-12737118764346_thumb.jpg

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LuxRender is cool although the renders can take forever when i tested on this computer. Yafaray is another similar rendering thing and worked great for me as the renders are much faster and also very high quality so it might be of interest also.

For these external/addon rendering apps though i have yet to get any working well in 2.5, i don't like the 2.49 interface but i use it for rendering and the import/export scripts it has. With future 2.5 versions though these will probably become part of it and easy to use directly within the program also. Version 2.5 is much better in my opinion but not as many addons are available just yet.

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Luxrender is too slow. I hate de-noising too.

Yafaray is extremely fast on my computer (16 threads running 100%) but I experienced some crashes with huge amounts of faces.

I personally prefer the 2.49 GUI, some great modeling plug ins work better, importers and exporters work faster and stable. 2.49b is the most stable app I ever seen (on a mac) it never crashed so far (maybe once)

The shrinkwrap modifier is the only way to handle some serious problems of 3DC actually, turning a retopo model to a multi-res model. Multi-res is in our wish-list for 3dC isn't it?

I'm testing 2.5.2 for the moment and especially the 'render 25 branch' because internal blender renderer will be great in a few months. And wow, its really fast. Difficult to set up, lot of tricks but great in the end.

If you don't know it already here's the link for the new experimental builds

http://www.graphicall.org/builds/

and a warning: 2.49b and 2.5.2 models are not 100% compatible, especially when UVs and multires involved. :excl: Some bug reports here. Its a bug!

2.5.2 64 bit can handle up to millions (40?) of poly in sculpt mode but don't expect it to bake them (crash). But can work fine with some millions (depends on the build).

A voxel (coat) model turned to a multires quad and resculpt details (zbrush like) its a good idea and you may not need zbrush. (some tools modifications needed here, another wish - in 3DC too lol)

I bought zbrush 2 years ago and from the first time I used it, I'm searching for apps to replace it. True...

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  • Reputable Contributor

like most software, Luxrender will be used at times for a specific purpose, Though it is extemely slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. B)

I'm on my Linux honeymoon,so nothing bothers me now, but like marriage that will change... :D

I will check out Yafaray too...

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I have to check Luxrender and Yafaray. They seems to be quite nice renderers. They really seems to have a solid userbase.

Right now I'm learning how to use V-ray with blender and it's really looking nice. 260 euros for v-ray it was a good deal.

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  • 5 years later...

LuxRender 1.5 Stable Release

The stable release of LuxRender 1.5 is finally ready!

It was delayed because of some nasty bugs found during final testing, but those are resolved now.

Download: http://www.luxrender.net/en_GB/standalone

Official Announcement: http://www.luxrender.net/forum/viewt...p?f=12&t=12363

The next version 1.6dev already has some interesting features (partially) implemented that are waiting to be merged into the trunk, among them OpenSubDiv support, Variance Clamping and a new implementation of the Sobol sampler.

Node material support for the new LuxCore Mode in LuxBlend is also in the works.

List of changes since the last Release Candidate:

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  • 4 years later...

LuxCoreRender team releases LuxCoreRender 2.2

Veteran physically based open-source renderer now supports Blender 2.80.

 

The LuxCoreRender team has released version 2.2 of the open-source physically based renderer, adding a new PhotonGI cache system to speed up global illumination rendering, a new Disney BRDF material, and integrating Open Image Denoise, Intel's AI-driven render denoising system.

The update also makes LuxCoreRender compatible with the current version of Blender again: BlendLuxCore, its Blender integration plugin, now supports Blender 2.80, and work has begun on supporting all of the materials, lights and camera settings from Cycles inside the renderer.

The main image for the story was created by architectural studio ARCHVIZBLENDER using Blender 2.80 and an early build of LuxCoreRender 2.2. You can see more images from the same project here.

So what is LuxCoreRender?

Formerly known as LuxRender  development was rebooted last summer, giving the software a new website to match its new name  LuxCoreRender is a powerful, physically accurate renderer.

Before Cycles, it was one of the key solutions for rendering photorealistic images in Blender, and even now, it has its own strengths and unique features: for example, a hybrid OpenCL/C++ rendering system that makes rendering much faster when using both CPUs and GPUs.

New in LuxCoreRender 2.2: PhotonGI cache, Open Image Denoise

In LuxCoreRender 2.2, rendering with global illumination should also be much faster, thanks to the new PhotonGI Cache. Described as a “V-Ray-like solution”, but based on photon mapping rather than the approach taken in V-Ray’s Light Cache GI engine, it gives a rapid approximation of brute force GI.

It consists of separate caches for direct lighting, indirect lighting and caustics, which can be be enabled in different combinations to render fast but noisy animation previews, or noise-free final images.

LuxCoreRender22_Caustics-566x450.jpg

The caustics cache also renders caustic effects “nearly for free” with path tracing.  The complex patterns of illumination that result when light strikes a curved surface  they are often seen when light passes through transparent materials like glass or water  caustics can be tricky to render in other renderers: in the past, they have been described as the "one weak point" of Cycles.

Other major features in LuxCoreRender 2.2 include a new Disney BRDF material. Based on the same Disney research paper as Blender's own Principled BSDF shader, it is designed to mimic a wide range of real-world materials using as few shading parameters as possible.

The update also integrates Open Image Denoise (OIDN), Intel’s AI-based CPU render denoising system, which is due to be supported natively in Blender in Blender 2.81.

It is also now possible to set the transparency of the front and back faces of an object independently, which can be used to make objects in a scene ‘invisible’ to certain lights, as discussed in this forum post.

There are also a number of bugfixes, plus smaller features like new texture types and AOVs, so for the full run-down, check out this forum thread or the online release notes.

New in BlendLuxCore 2.2: support for Blender 2.80

But for many Blender users, the big change in LuxCoreRender 2.2 will simply be that it is compatible with Blender 2.80. BlendLuxCore, its integration plugin, has now been ported to Blender 2.8x.

In addition, the LuxCoreRender team have begun work on the Cycles scene reader, a development project to make all of Cycles' materials, lights and camera settings compatible with LuxCoreRender. You can see a detailed list of Cycles features currently supported, plus those in progress and those that are unlikely ever to be available, in this overview of the project on GitHub.

System requirements

LuxCoreRender 2.2 is currently available for Windows and Linux: the Mac version hasn't yet been updated from version 2.1 BlendLuxCore 2.2 is compatible with Blender 2.79b and 2.

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  • Carlosan changed the title to LuxRender in Blender
  • Advanced Member

Is that optically correct caustics or is that the faked variety? I've been reading about this and I can never make out which render engine or which settings produce one or the other. That picture you posted does look impressive. I've heard VRay is powerful but not physically correct overall in it's lighting effects for example.

How long will Lux  Core be free for I wonder?  Its results look pretty impressive on its gallery page.

Edited by L'Ancien Regime
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  • 3 weeks later...

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