best option for photoreal product visualization?

[brownsa2903]

Hi,

I'm currently a product photographer learning Maya with a goal of creating photo realistic product renders. Im trying to decide between using Vray or Arnold. What are peoples thoughts and what would provide the best results? Are they just so close it doesn't matter? Does one fall short in one particular area more than the other. Speed is not a concern.  Just the final output in photo realism. I feel its a big commitment so I appreciate peoples input who are more experienced than I am. My background in Maya is animation so rendering and shading is newish to me. I consider Renderman as their caustics are amazing but i feel the learning curve would be too steep as there is very little online training for it.

[damaggio]

The  rendering softwares are quite excellent these days, it’s all about the artist, as it should be. You might find small differences if you do a side by side comparison depending on a specific feature. 

[brownsa2903]

I am already finding considerable differences when it comes to caustics.

Arnold
Arnold

VrayVray

RendermanRenderman