updated QuasiKrystal has announced that its new render pass and generic task manager for 3dsMax called RenderStacks is out now. According to the release it shares similarities with RPManager, LPass Manager, Prism, StateSet, and Scene State but is “aiming to be a lot smarter, faster and more stable”.
RenderStacks promises to reduce the number of files required by doing more with a single scene. To achieve this, the tool gives the artists a comprehensive set of controls per pass, called pmodifiers. For example, it is possible to control the camera, resolution, frame range, object visibility, material object properties, renderer parameters and much more. Upon release, 26 pmodifiers will be included with more planned.
As the name would suggest, RenderStacks eschews node-based approaches in favour of a stack-based workflow. The developer cite 2 reasons for this approach. Firstly, stacks ensure the UI remains compact, and secondly, stacks are easy to read and lend themselves to a sequence of tasks.
The team are keen to point out that RenderStacks has applications beyond managing render passes. As an example, they describe using RenderStacks to experiment with combinations of simulation settings for fluid simulations, or enabling/disabling all the turbosmooth modifiers in the scene while modelling. Renderstacks will have applications wherever it is useful to toggle between different parameter states.
Renderstacks is available now with perpetual and subscription options plus a free fully-featured non-commercial version. Perpetual licenses cost $249.99 with a $20 maintenance fee after the first year. Rental licenses are also available at $59.99 per year with discounts for multiple users. Render Stacks is compatible with 3ds Max 2015 and above.
Learn more on the RenderStacks website and documentation pages.
Using it on beta form…. this product its only getting better. A new must have production boost for 3dsmax.
State Sets can do a lot of these features and works great when you get used to the workflow. But I’ve had it corrupt a big job I was working on so I don’t like using it anymore, couldn’t merge in from the file or anything. I wish Autodesk would update that old goat instead of having to purchase plugins like this. Though I’m sure there’s plenty more to this plugin than State Sets can do.
Oh belive me, you can not compare renderstack with state sets at all. You can do so much, but so much more with renderstacks. Agreed, I will like this coming from autodesk, but… its good to at least have it as a plugin.
Same thing happened to me, after that i never touched it
Great work Changsoo!
How do I contact developer to access beta program. Highly interested in this!
Hi 🙂
Here
Hi. 🙂
admin (at) renderstacks.com
Thanks, CGPress for posting this!
Hi Changsoo Eun, looks like a great script. Looking forward to the release.
I couldn’t find a way to contact you or the team, so I post a feature question here.
Imagine having 6 objects, 6 materials and 6 backgrounds and you want to render all the combinations, that would result in 216 renderings. Will your script be able to generate and submit those jobs automatically within 1 setup where you can adjust settings to all these jobs at the same time?
As of now, No.
But, I could have some 1-2 click solution. I actually thought about this situation.
One thing I don’t want to have is implicit auto rendering because you could have error in your logic. Finding out error after 216 rendering would not be fun. So, I prefer generate the combination explicitly as pass so you can check.
Please contact me
admin (at) renderstacks.com
Sounds great! This is a much needed addition!
this looks great – i would love to test it (then buy it when its out)
https://youtu.be/DiyBlHWWkPM
Teaser video is up.
What exactly is happening at the end where it says ‘Not just for rendering’? Switching between low and high poly, or turning on subdivision modifiers across a group of objects?
You have full control over your scene. So you can have a stack saying turn off all Turbosmooth modifiers on your scene, to work faster, Or stitching lowres for hires. The principal idea is to use it for generating renders, but obviously with the flexibility it has you can use it for manage your scene and work more comfortable in heavy projects. In the future you can use it to send simulations and kick projects with dependencies, etc…
Yes, instead of running some modifier on off script. You can just set passes with TurboSmooth on/off. You don’t have to on/off all objects. You can set exactly what you want to turn on/off.
Also you can make “WIP” and “All” passes and hide/unhide between the currently working object and all objects.
Ah. Makes sense. It’s tiny on my phone screen so wasn’t sure exactly what was going on.
Will you be supporting more render engines to the extent you are for VRay? We’re looking at switching.
As of now, it supports VRay, Corona, Arnold, Redshift, FStorm, Scanline, ART. For other renderer, 95% features works for any renderer. We will also finish more renderer support.
Is this independent of the 3dsmax file(does it increase the file size(like scene states))? Or is it more like Vexus but with a bit more depth/ integration?
It stores data in the max file. But, the data is small xml data, Usually a few Kb.
Regarding this feature “Transform – Per object transform”, does that mean we can move around objects in the scene and store their positions in a pass? For example in an interior shot with multiple cameras, can you move around furniture to suit each camera?
Exactly
Oh sweet. Will it work on grouped objects?
You bet!
Excited to give this a try, have been using RPM for ages now and keen for something more modern and streamlined.
Hi!
Perpetual licenses is $249.99. 🙂