With a CPU renderer, in order to reduce render times, you simply buy a CPU with more cores. The two main OpenCL compatible GPU renderers are AMD Radeon ProRender (previously called FireRender) and Chaos Group V-Ray RT.Īpplications that support OpenCL renderers include Rhino, SolidWorks, 3ds Max, Revit, Maya, SketchUp and modo.ĭrill rendered with Nvidia Iray in SolidWorks Visualize GPU hardwareĭepending on your hardware, a physically-based renderer can take tens of minutes, often hours, to render a high-quality image. It can execute on all types of GPUs (Intel, AMD and Nvidia), CPUs and other processors but OpenCLbased renderers tend to perform best on GPUs. OpenCL is an open standard from the Khronos Group, a non-profit organisation whose members include AMD, Nvidia, Intel, Apple, ARM and others. GPU renderers that are compatible with CUDA include Nvidia Iray, Lightwork Design Iray+ and Chaos Group V-Ray RT.ĬUDA has the broadest application support, with renderers available for Siemens NX, Rhino, 3ds Max, modo, Maya, SketchUp, Revit and Cinema 4D (as well as SolidWorks and other CAD apps indirectly through the standalone GPU renderer, SolidWorks Visualize). Some CUDA-based renderers can also be accelerated by CPUs, but the performance is usually nowhere near as fast. Most GPU renderers support either CUDA or OpenCL, but some support both.ĬUDA is a proprietary technology from GPU manufacturer Nvidia and is designed primarily to work with Nvidia GPUs. CUDA and OpenCLīefore we get into the details of GPU hardware it is important to understand the two underlying technologies that make rendering on a GPU possible. And, with 1,000s of cores, GPUs are certainly that.

Rays of light are traced within a scene, which is very computationally intensive, but, as the rays are not dependent on each other, the process is extremely well suited to parallel compute architectures. The rendering tools are ‘physicallybased’, which means they are designed to simulate the real physical interactions between light and materials. The push button approach, championed by CPU-based renderers like Luxion KeyShot, means engineers and designers don’t have to be experts in rendering in order to produce decent images. Previously, much of the activity was in the Digital Content Creation (DCC) sector with applications like 3ds Max and Maya.įor CAD, GPU rendering is all about ease of use. In 2016 alone we have seen GPU rendering technologies appear in SolidWorks, Rhino, and Siemens NX. So much so, that it could change the way you approach your next workstation purchase. Rendering with a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), instead of (or alongside) a Central Processing Unit (CPU) is nothing new - we’ve been covering it in DEVELOP3D since 2009 - but it has suddenly become much more relevant to product development and CAD. Image courtesy of Dustin Brown, Industrial Designer Camera image rendered with V-Ray RT for Rhino.

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