Can anyone recomend a stand alone renderer (it doesn't need to model). Currently using bryce, tried kerkythea and demo c4d.
many thanks

I like Carrara's renderer really well, I use it quite a bit. POV-Ray is really good, I think, but it can be hard to get the hang of, since it's all script based.

I think Maxwell Render looks really good, but it's pretty pricey. I haven't used it before, but I've got it on my wish list for someday down the road.

What kind of object or scene are you rendering?

thanks to you both- Shawn - internal and external

Easy, fast, and now freeware : Gile(s)

Quote -
what is gile[s]? gile[s] is a global illumination / radiosity lightmapper, capable of rendering high resolution lightmaps fast and efficiently.

gile[s] features an easy to use editor, that allows you to place models and lights without fuss.

gile[s] handles models of arbitrary complexity keeping smoothing groups intact, and rendering perfect results every time.

With gile[s] you can even paint directly to the lightmap, and mix and match vertex lighting and lightmaps as you please.

In short: gile[s] lights up your worlds.

http://www.frecle.net/index.php?show=&section=giles&sub=features

I noticed they've updated their free 3D tree program to 3.0.  I'll have to try that out.

Luxrender,
Yafaray,
VRay will soon (probably) have a standalone version.
3Delight has a free first license and the MOSAIC plugin for Blender

Lux looks really good but I am not familiar with the import file.

you should be able to get all the info from the website.  It's a pretty good render engine if your PC is fast enough.  Mine isn't so I gave up on it for the moment.  There's an exporter for Blender so you could use that if you wanted to

I'm trying to stick with metasequoia which exports in a good number of formats though none of which seems to be compatable.

The Blender/Yafaray route seems good for rendering.

yup, Blender + Yafaray is the way to go (until they release the standalone VRay and the export script gets finished - VRay is loads faster than Yafaray)