I donât think that SW Visualize (Bunkspeedâs new name) is meant to replace Photoview 360, and at the present it is still just a stand-alone application (not integrated). From some things I read on the Solidworks boards, Visualize Standard (only static renderings) will be packaged with a SW Premium or Professional license purchase, and Visualize Professional (animations, 360 views) will cost extra. I was extremely disappointed with the initial release of Visualize. The interface is very clunky and the materials controls are confusing. Couple this with the fact that Dassault has hidden all information contained on the Bunkspeed message boards by forwarding all traffic to the Visualize home page, and it means that there is little to no information out there on actually how to use the software. I spent a full day messing around with it and barely got anything usable. At this point, from my perspective, SW Visualize isnât worth the time to download and try teach yourself how to get good renders out of it⌠go with something more established like Keyshot.
On a side note, Iâve been playing around with Blender a lot recently, and am absolutely blown away by itâs versatility. The modeling approach is completely different than SW (polygon vs parametric), and the interface is very difficult to get used to at first. However, in addition to modeling, it supports scripting via python, provides real-time raytraced rendering, animation, and game-engine development. Oh, and itâs completely free and open source, so there are tons of tutorials out there to show you exactly how to accomplish anything youâre looking to do. The one downside is that the workflow from SW to blender is not that great, since you have to convert your geometry to STL data, there is no good way to update your models if the design changes. Since itâs free, thereâs no reason not to check it out!
Thanks Engelhjs - I will have a look at Bunkspeed and see what sort of quality I can get out of it and then progress from there if necessary.
thank you for advice!
Moczys - That doesnât sound great. Its included in our work license so I will give it a go and see i I can get on with it, but the idea of not being able to get any information on it doesnât sound like a great feature!
I do like the sound of Blender thoughâŚthe price tag sounds perfect and the tutorials are always helpful - I am going to check this one out regardless of if I use SW Visualize or not because it sounds fun!
I just downloaded Blender and have been playing with it for a couple hours. The âCycles Rendererâ that they have packaged in is amazing. Thanks moczys for mentioning. You are correct that .STL seems like the only way to import Solidworks unfortunately ⌠but then again, Keyshot was never too good at accepting any model changes after importing anyway!
I remember playing around with Vray a few years ago, and you could only see how your scene looked like by hitting ârender.â Like Keyshot, there is a mode here in blender that lets you move your camera and objets while seeing the rendering preview update real-time.
This was a good tutorial for the Cycles render mode, done in about 25 minutes, including modeling:
Thanks for the feedback, I didnât know that. We decided to get a floating Keyshot license even though we technically already pay for Visualize Standard.
I agree that the sudden and complete disappearance of the whole Bunkspeed site was very weird.
The Bunkspeed forums werenât too helpful to begin with, so no big loss there.
If you have questions, I think itâs still pretty easy to get ahold of David Randle, who seems to have stayed on board during the transition to Dassault.
Iâve been trying to force myself over to Visualize since it came out, and it is improving. The big deal breaker for me right now is the fact that I canât send jobs to a remote queue (render farm.) The pluses are pretty big though: Decent auto updating (the scene in Visualize updates when your CAD is updated and saved) and the materials are a little better. There are a couple nice UI changes (illustrated camera views) as well.
One neat trick: You can open Solidworks Visualize files in Bunkspeed by changing the file extension to â.bifâ. It even imports materials! That alone is worth the wonky workflow.
I use Modo. Still on SW 2014 to modo 701 but hope to upgrade to modo 901 soon.
Modo was a bit of a pain to learn, but once youâve mastered the shader tree, UV mapping and global illumination youâre good to go. Iâd recommend Richard Yotâs videos.
Check out my coroflot for some examples. All 3D content on there is Soldiworks to Modo.
Has anyone come across any tutorials for Visualize Pro ? Tough to figure out - like how to assign different colors to three different shape sin a SWX16 file ?
I really wish the software developers of the big cad tools like SW and Creo would develop more into the core rendering tools than they do. Interface designers say âexpose more of the toolâ indicating itâs just an interface thing. The render engine for Creo is now Mental ray and using that in Maya I can see 70 options for leather. In Creo and SW there is less than 5 settings for the same tool.
Reviving this topic as Iâm starting to look at alternatives to Bunkspeed/Visualize. While that engine has been my preference for a few years it definitely has its limitations, the largest of which being a very homogenous look to most of the renders you get out of it. Until you really dig into and tweak a scene most materials are extremely plastic-y, and it has a habit of rendering soft shadows as large blobs of grey (similar to something you would create in Photoshop with a heavy gaussian blur.) Iâm also less than stoked on Dassault axing the entirety of the Bunkspeed materials, support, and forum archives, which were really helpful.
The most useful features Iâve found from Bunkspeed, and what have kept me running a legacy version post-Dassault buyout, are GPU rendering (both real-time and final image) and the ability to queue up multiple renders to process all at once, rather than setting up and rendering each image separately. If thereâs something out there with these features and potentially better quality, Iâd be willing to take a look.
I havenât found anything better than Keyshot. And as with all rendering packages, the standard features are not enough as good renders require lots of preparation. In Keyshot you can modify a lot - customize HDRI environments, you can add lights to manipulate shadows, do a flat render for manipulation of individual parts in photoshop, basic animations, while keeping a good overview through the scene hierarchy which preserves the imported modelâs hierarchy.
The only thing bothering me about Keyshot which I havenât solved yet is how to work with geometry -spheres and planes- as emissive lights. Even with a high (40) sample amount and ray bounces you get dots in less lit places, for example with vehicles underneath edges and near the end of the light falloff. In animations these dots flicker so the whole approach does not work - If anyone has a solution it would be great.
You might want to bump up the Global illumination setting. It could also be a tessalation problem. And if it is purely on the ground, then it could be a problem with ground size/shadow quality.
Hi, Thanks. Amping up the GI +raybounces does help but does not solve it completely. I will try different tessellation qualities soon and let you know the test results, once I have the time since this is a 1+Gb Keyshot file. For now I solved by, for each camera setup, creating a custom HDRI map with the highlights where I want them, and use emissive lights only at a low intensity setting to generate reflections in windows/metal parts. I am also creating invisible planes with gradient labels on them for specific reflections. Once the animation is done I will post a link online.
I was responsible for vehicle design, 3D modeling in Solidworks, all renderings and the animation.
The animation took about 24 hours to render @72opx HD, 25fps.
I for one would like to see more renders from everyone. Esp if itâs native in Solidworks and not using a plugin. What we need in our workflow is a tool that does good enough otherwise a plug in is necessary.
These renders are all several years old but are all native SolidWorks Photoview 360 with Photoshop retouching/ enhancement.If youâre willing to take the time to set up the render and materials, SW can produce excellent results without having to use another package.
I donât recommend Photoview 360 anymore, I have used it a few times but due to the engine the image looks inherently âtackyâ compared to other renderers. Also clients today recognize this quality and will reject your work. Much better to stick to dedicated software for everything you do.