Thea Render: Open Beta

[Hirazi Blue]

Thea Render finally went into it's Open Beta stage.

Thea Render is the first commercial solution that contains both state-of-the-art biased and unbiased engines. This means that the advantages of both kinds are present in a unified framework. All render engines use the same materials and lights without any hidden obstacle between using one or the other. No need anymore to convert materials or parameters from an unbiased renderer to a biased one (and vice versa) because there is a job that one kind can do better.

Features: here
Download (plus SI 7.5 Plugin): here

Friendly prices complete the picture: €161.16 for the Software and €16.53 for the Softimage Plugin... ;)

[Rork]

Most important question:

How fast does it render?

It's all nice to have impressive end results, but if the render times are still in the hours+ range for a simple lighting scheme, it doesn't help us during production ;)

It's a nicely priced renderer though, although paying for the plugin is a bit odd.

[Hirazi Blue]

Some indication of render times can already be found in the Gallery section of the Thea Render Forum. You'll have to register first, though...

[Rork]

Yes, I saw that, but I don't register to forums anymore just to find an answer that should be publicly available. I just loose interest really fast.....

[Hirazi Blue]

It's still early days (as they launched the Open Beta only yesterday), but I guess anyone who's interested (and isn't on the A... Beta List... ) would want to try it for themselves as the render times posted by others don't really say all that much, until you tried it yourself...

[Diurno]

i saw some renders on the forum showcase.... some of them are quite impressive... and render time are so good....

[dwigfor]

I was kinda interested in this from reading the thread, so I decided to register on the site. Looks really impressive. For the SI plugin, it said:

Compatibility
The plugin contains 32bit and 64bit versions and is compiled against Softimage version 7.5. All newer versions of Softimage should work without problem but support for previous versions is not guaranteed.

Anyone happen to try this with xsi 7.01?

[scaron]

i am actually developing the softimage plugin for thea... i originally developed it with 7.01 but as i personally upgraded my software i moved everything to supported autodesk software.

will 7.01 work? probably

for how long will it work? i dont know, certain features of the SDK have changed from 7.5 to 2010 and even to 2011 so i can't maintain that much compatibility without a serious hit on my continued development of features.

currently i am working full time a blur studio and part time on the plugin, i will be taking some time off to do some focused development in april and may. so the plugin is lacking features and is a bit rough, but expect that to improve.

feedback should continue on the thea softimage plugin forum

thanks guys
s

[danyargici]

Hi Steven, as you are developing the plugin I assume you are fairly intimate with Thea. It would be great if you couple spare a couple of minutes to share your thoughts on it.

[Rork]

Hi Steven,

You seem to pop up on every renderer betalist ;)

But any insights would be great.

rob

[nassosy]

Irrelevant info of the day: "Thea" means goddess in Greek

glad to see more Greek 3D graphics developers
cheers

[scaron]

i am actually not that intimate with thea as a renderer, i am just developing the plugin as an exercise in a large c++ softimage plugin.

but i do think thea is pretty fast unbiased modes... and a biased mode to back that up. so unlike maxwell or other 'unbiased' marketed renderer, you have the option of using a 'biased' engine.

the material system is fun and easy, but its not the render tree

@rob, i am on the same search that everyone else is... but as i mentioned above my association with thea is more about developing the plugin/product.

[Hirazi Blue]

Looks like the "Open Beta" phase for Thea is nearing its end. An official release date for the "finished" product has been set for the 21st of February. This also means: on that date the discounted pricing for the application and the plug-ins will end, so now might be a good time to (re)consider buying Thea.

press release