I've been watching this thread, and I'll offer my 2 cents on the subject (and that's probably all it's really worth).

Regardless of the software used, getting good or great renders is a lot of work (at least in the beginning, or anytime for me). It’s typically less work as you gain knowledge and experience, but the learning process must certainly be considered in the cost, or investment, to creating great images. There will be a lot of costs associated with using a different software to render with. The costs include the price of the software, the learning curve, the hardware required, content and presets available, etc. Some software will be less costly than others. Some will be more costly in one area than the others. For example, Blender is "free", but due to it's complexity, the cost of learning it is rather high. Of course once you begin to get comfortable with it, your investment could pay great dividends.

Hellboysoto is certainly a master of his craft. Using both Lux and DS/3Delight, his work is outstanding, but also his knowledge of shaders, lighting, and the software he uses is outstanding. That knowledge, combined with his natural artistic talent, gives him that edge that makes his work so amazing. If Poser was his tool of choice, I have no doubt that he would be creating equally beautiful renders. His natural talent gives him a big advantage over us mere mortals, but with a lot of effort and work learning how to make the best use of our software, we can at least come close (or maybe in my case hope to come close).

I think it's important to keep in mind an application that one person finds very easy to get good results with, another person may find nearly impossible to use. I struggle with Poser lighting (not as much as I used to though), but have always found lighting and shaders in Carrara very intuitive and easy to use. Octane, Lux, and some lighting in DS is also easy for me. I mention this, because the right software fit makes getting the results you want much more enjoyable, which typically translates into better images.

Speaking of Carrara, it might be worth a look if you are finding Blender a bit too difficult. It has many of the features you have expressed an interest in, and is much easier to learn than Blender is. It would also help to get you used to working with a different shader system and render engine. Landscaping in Carrara isn’t as good or sophisticated as Vue, but in the right hands it can be used to create some beautiful and amazing landscapes.

If you really want to get into using an unbiased renderer, then LuxRender via pose2lux would be a great free way to start, or Reality 3 makes using Lux quite easy. But of course, your renders will take a lot of time. Octane with the Poser plugin is truly amazing and you get unbiased speeds with a biased renderer, but it’s not cheap (IMVHO it is worth every penny though, and the best 3D investment I have ever made).

Vue has a very high quality render engine as well, but as others have noted, you would probably want to have at least Vue Studio. But you could start off with Frontier, upgrade to Vue Esprit if you like it, and then gradually buy the modules to have Vue Studio or Complete. I have Vue Studio, but started with Frontier. There is quite a bit to learn with Vue, so it would be best to try a demo first (I don’t use it much – hope to “someday”).

I’m sure others have a different view on this, but IMVHO, if you want renders like those you have shown and linked to, you could get very close with Poser (in some instances just as good). You could get equal results in other applications that have been mentioned. But even with Octane, if the renders are done at decent size (over say 2400 x 2000 pixels) the renders will take time to complete. That time will typically be measured in hours (or days?), not minutes, unless you can throw some major hardware at it as well. The render time may also be rather small compared to the time spent setting up the scene, and tweaking the shaders.

Finally, I think it’s important when you are asking questions, or for advice sort of like what you have asked here, that you take a look at the gallery(s) of those who offer advice when available. The reason I say this is because everyone has a different style, and sometimes you get what seems like perfect advice from someone, but don’t realize that they really don’t do what you are trying to accomplish (or it can also be the opposite, someone sounds like they don’t have a clue, you look at their work. and realize that they are doing exactly what you want). It’s not that anyone is trying to mislead you; it’s just a communication gap. By looking at the work they do (if it’s available, and hopefully, it is a true representative sample), you gain a lot of incite and context for their comments. That is why I typically encourage people to look at my gallery when I talk about results using different software/renderers. One look at my gallery, and they may realize that my work is nothing like what they want to do, or that while what I said sounded good, but my work doesn’t back up what I said. It just helps to put my “advice” in context with what they are trying to achieve. So, if I have said something here that seems of interest to you, especially in reference to Lux, Octane, or Carrara, please look at my gallery to ensure that the quality of my work might be what you are looking for (or that I’m just full of hot air).

 

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