Renderers for Sketchup are like food....
I touched on this in the Thea forums and the more I thought about it the more sense it makes, so if you have the time read on.
There is lots of talk, threads and questions about render solutions for SU many of them are repeated and re-answered over and over again which can get boring to the regular SCF member after a while.
So let me try and explain the differences in a way that might resonate better using food.
Based on my American experience of restaurants.
There are many types of render engines available for Sketchup, I'd even be willing to bet that it has the most options available at the moment making you the SU user pretty spoilt for choice.
So lets say you want a quick and easy drive through meal type of renderer that you do not have to do much besides order by number, maybe choose the soda flavor and decide to 'biggie size' the fries and you are done, that's what I call the easy renderers and there are those available, I would recommend Podium as this type. The guys at Podium do not object to this comparison, in fact they pride themselves at having probably the easiest to use render app for Sketchup and they do not intend changing this, they want you to concentrate on the design and not get side tracked by the render process, so lets call that the McDonalds of renderers. There are others like this but I will not mention them as they unfortunately may take offence at being the fast food of rendering.
I would most seriously recommend first using such a renderer if you are new to rendering, the skills you learn without the technicalities of hundreds of controls is priceless, you get to concentrate on light, composition and presentation, I started with Podium and can highly recommend it.
Then you get the national franchise or chain restaurant, think Applebee's, Cheesecake factory, Outback, they are sit down and get served type of restaurants with a large variety of choices, combinations and specials. I'd like to compare this with the higher end Biased renderers like Vray for Sketchup, you need to do more work now, know the menu, have tried the variations or been given good recommendations by peers/friends, know what they serve when you request your steak medium rare, learn which sides go best with what meal. There is a reason these type eateries are national franchises as they are good, with pleasing menus and leave you satiated and happy, they are fast if you keep to the menu and do not complicate the order or request the abnormal which might slow the flow in the kitchen. These types are also consistent, they should taste the same in Houston as they do in New York, hence a Vray render can be spotted a mile away. I too can recommend Vray, I also used it and can say it will produce an exceptional result with a bit of learning of the parameters and getting acquainted with the terminology.
You then get the themed restaurants like On the Border, Olive garden, Pappadeaus etc, these are like Vue. If you are in the mood for Mexican, Italian or fish tonight, or in rendering terms you want to render exteriors with tons of customizable vegetation and you want specialized atmospheres then this is the only real choice. Sure you probably could get a steak here maybe even a burger but it's not their specialty and may not look or taste right or may take a very long time to arrive as you just messed with the kitchen's flow, this I'm referring to how it handles interiors, sure it can do it but it will take a very long time and there may be artifacts.
Finally we have the Mama/Papa type establishment. I'd like to call these the unbiased render engines like Maxwell and Indigo.
Think of them as good hearty meals cooked from fresh organic ingredients, they are cooked from scratch so there will be a wait, be patient as the results will be awesome. There is not much setup needed as they are physically accurate engines, no faking the light, no MSG needed here. These are not the places you go to eat if you want a quick bite or have movie reservations in an hour, this is a place sit and enjoy a few glasses of wine while you wait and another during the meal once it finally arrives, these never disappoint and normally once tried they it is hard to return to the franchises.
I do not use either Maxwell or Indigo, I use Thea render, Thea is like the mama/papa as it has two unbiased engines and it's also like the national franchise as it also has a biased engine all in one application.
I'm hungry.
These are my personal opinions and in full disclosure I am and current beta tester for two of the above mentioned.
