"Different render engines have different styles, and with a little practice you can often recognize what app a picture has been rendered in, though I wouldn't claim to be 100% accurate in this."

Most renderers (with some exceptions, like the P4 renderer) are based on the same theories, and can be made to do exactly the same things or mimic the same effects. Therefor, I think it's the artist's own technique (or lack thereof) that makes the source of an image recognizable. What I mean by that is, many users of a particular 3D software tend to stick with a certain predisposed meathodology/technique to using that software (be it a lack of extended knowledge or pure laziness), which has been established by someone else before them. For instance, people using Poser often times reuse the same pre-fab lighting or poses that makes renders recognizable as having been done with that software. Some Bryce users tend to use pre-fab materials or atmospheres that have been used in abundance before, which makes those renders recognizable as having been done in Bryce. There's things people use in other apps that can be easily spotted by most people as well.

But how, for instance, would you tell the difference between a Lightwave or 3dsMax render if both were using the same HDR image to light the scene with GI? Or if both were using the same direct lighting rig? And how is a Cinema render distinguishable from either of these? I don't think there would be any logical way to tell them apart. Message edited on: 08/20/2004 23:35

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Tools :  3dsmax 2015, Daz Studio 4.6, PoserPro 2012, Blender v2.74

System: Pentium QuadCore i7, under Win 8, GeForce GTX 780 / 2GB GPU.