Best render option for Fusion 360 ?

[hansvaneven]

Hello,

What do you guys use for rendering ? Directly in F360 or is there an application that can load Fusion 360 files and render from there ? I tried the Keyshot plugin, but it crashes Fusion 360 so I wonder if there are other solutions out there with very nice results ?

thanks,

Hans

[burnandreturn]

Have a look at a program named SimLab.   I have both Simlab and Keyshot.  I only use Simlab.

[taylor.stein]

Hello Hans,

Personally, I stick with the rendering capabilities that are built into Fusion 360! Here is a great post that goes into the details of the Render workspace. Just as an example, attached is an image I recently rendered right inside Fusion 360!

Let me know if you have any questions,

Taylor Stein

Fusion 360 Evangelist

[hansvaneven]

Thanks burnandreturn & Taylor for your input, didn't knew Simlab will check it out.

Taylor, will try to go a little more into that post, but when I tried I had the impression that one had to buy online credits to be able to get larger renders, also when using decals or custom material with bitmaps I don't seem to be able to set reflective settings etc, so it's a bit strange and limited for me, maybe I'm missing something, anyway, thanks for your help

best,

Hans

[taylor.stein]

Hey Hans,

For in-product rendering with Fusion 360 (from the Render workspace), no cloud credits are used or required. For cloud rendering (done through your A360 dashboard), cloud credits are used.

In A360 (in a web browser) if you view a design, you'll have the option to create cloud renderings with cloud credits.

Hope that helps!

Taylor Stein

Fusion 360 Evangelist

[hansvaneven]

Hey thanks you Taylor!

Watched the link you send on the Fusion 360 in-product render tips, they are great but a little too basic for my use, so I really hope to find a solution and export models from F360 and render it in a 3rd party render program. 

thank you,

Hans

[TrippyLighting]

Yep, there are a number of users that wish for better export options or perhaps even an API for the integration of external render engines. Other modeling applictions offer that or good reasons. So should Fusion 360!

[cekuhnen]

My current workflow is this:

either export as STL or step.
If you use STEP you can use MOI3d to make perfect UV unwrapped obj export meshes.

That every app from Modo Blender C4D Thea Octane can render.

Using the keyshot plug-in has the advantage of a direct connection but also come with the 1k$ price tag and Keyshot does not offer more or better renderings.

For studio like product renderings Thea renderer is pretty fantastic. Their material system is very logical. And it is GPU powered now!

[hansvaneven]

Thanks cekuhnen,

Thearender seems cool as well, but the problem is that I need an extra software just for exporting to the right file ... Keyshot is indeed expensive and the plugin doesn't work in Fusion 360 it crashes everytime, so I really hope something better is possible without having to use a 3rd software to convert files ?

thanks again,

Hans

[hansvaneven]

I second that, the export options are very limited here and it limits the potential of the very cool software, I really like Fusion 360 and it's exactly what I'm looking for (3D guitar designs and music software UI's for virtual instruments)

cheers,

Hans

[hansvaneven]

Before testing F360 I tried Rhino 5 and while I prefer F360 for the work I'll do Rhino 5 seems to import easy and give more options on the material UV mapping etc, but then again and extra 1000$ just for this is not the solution. Still trying out some of the options here.

Hans

[burnandreturn · Accepted solution]

I like SimLab because I can check a box and there is a dynamic link between the model saved in Fusion as a step file and Simlab.   If I change something on a part in Fusion and save it under the same name as the file I imported into Simlab it will be updated in Simlab as well.  That allows me to add materials and lights in SimLab and not slow down Fusion.  

This is my workflow.

Model a part in Fusion.

Save also as .stp file.

Open the .stp file in SimLab.

Add materials, lights, etc..

Then go back into Fusion and if I change some feature on the model in Fusion and save as a .stp file the scene in SimLab will also be updated.

Short of having to save as a .stp file I don't see much of a problem.

As a side note I sent Simlab a native file from Fusion and they are looking at including it as an importable file into SimLab.  That would save one step.

[San_Escobar]

I do use VRED Pro, simple export .STEP/STP file direct from Fusion360 and it does a heck of render. Recommended.  

[hansvaneven]

Thanks burnandreturn, I tryied, but was lost a little bit in the UI of simlab, also found the render time longer then in other softs especially with a 12 core CPU I'm using. But I'll try again and maybe check a few tutorials on it. Indeed Native F360 import would be a +

thanks,

Hans

[hansvaneven]

 Hey aqhead, wooow, 27.000$ oops, I hope for that price it works indeed 🙂 I already found 2000$ too expensive so not a solution for me,

thanks,

Hans

[San_Escobar]

Hey @hansvaneven I know its pretty harsh price but I though you could have access to it via subscription. I didn't mean to be ironic. I know Autodesk have Showcase 2015 for £1k and I believe you can pay in installments as little as £100 something a month. PS: its not a sales pitch! I personally do not like Showcase.

[hansvaneven]

Hi aqhead,

no problem, i'll look into the subscription as well, so far I'm more into the Simlab solution, it actually seems to be licenced engine from Keyshot/Hypershot, so it may indeed ba a cool solution for that price. 

Thanks again everyone for your help on this, much appreciated!

Hans

[hansvaneven]

Thanks for the tip on Simlab burnandreturn, seems really awesome for the price, if they can add F360 native file import then that would be the perfect solution for my budget,

thanks,

Hans

[cekuhnen]

I find that the material system in Thea is actually more made for designers than any other render engine. But you are right the lack of any serious data export in Fusion currently is a problem. OBJ export was requested very often specifically for T-Splines because in terms of poly sculpting TS cannot offer the same as dump modelers and sometimes it would be nice to be able to enhance initial TS models somewhere else and then bring it back into the TS feature.

Rhino is a nice software but the lack of construction history and bad fillets make it for me a problematic product for that price tag. And I can see why MOI might be a bad option as well because it is around 300$ - it is a Rhino light. MOI however is a perfect companion to Fusion because not every surface tool Fusion has MOI offers. So besides the convert function there are certain other modeling capabilities MOI can offer to supplement the Fusion workflow.

I own MOI and Thea so I don't have the hurting investment question.

At the end the question if how much you might need UV mapping and if not if a brute STL mesh export can be enough for you. The you could use literally any render engine anyway.

Keyshots main advantage is the live linking but thats then it.

[hansvaneven]

Hi cekuhnen,

you're right on Rhino, I really liked it when starting for the search a few weeks ago, but I really need to parametric side of things, and I had also a lot of issues with fillets. Fusion 360 is really interesting, I'm still testing and learning, and hope to be able to make a full guitar with this.

On the render side, I think (but I need to test a few more options) that Simlab is really awesome, the linking with F360 is very good. Here's a render of a test model I did in F360 and rendered in the evaluation version of Simlab this afternoon.

best,

Hans