appleseed vs KeyShot
appleseed
appleseedhq.netKeyShot
keyshot.comSide by side
| Figure | appleseed | KeyShot |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 8 |
| Spec score · 3D Rendering Software | 8.2 (#6) | 8.2 (#10) |
| Integrations | The maker lists native integrations for Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3ds Max, Blender, and Gaffer. | KeyShot Studio supports native import of 34 3D file formats and offers LiveLinking plugins for design software. |
| Intended users | Its core mission is to provide individuals and small studios with a complete, reliable, fully open rendering package. | KeyShot describes Studio as built for physical product teams and lists individual designers, freelancers, small studios, design, engineering, and marketing teams among its audiences. |
| Rendering | It supports unidirectional path tracing, stochastic progressive photon mapping, light tracing, progressive rendering, interactive rendering, and spectral rendering. | KeyShot Studio offers real-time ray tracing and rendering on CPU, GPU, or both. |
| Support | The maker recommends its Discord server or user forum for most questions and says private email may receive a slower response. | The pricing page lists critical issue response SLAs of 12 hours for Professional, 4 hours for Business, and 2 hours for Enterprise. |
Plans
KeyShot
- KeyShot Studio ProfessionalPrice not published
- KeyShot Studio BusinessPrice not published
- KeyShot Studio EnterprisePrice not published
- KeyShot Studio EducationPrice not published
- KeyShot Studio for Education (EDU)$95 a year
- KeyShot Professional$1,299 a year
- KeyShot Business$1,599 a year
- KeyShot EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
appleseed
appleseed is a free, open source rendering engine for animation and visual effects, built around physically based global illumination. It is designed for individuals and small studios and runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS. Rendering methods include unidirectional path tracing, stochastic progressive photon mapping, light tracing, progressive and interactive rendering, and spectral rendering. For shading, it supports Open Shading Language and on-the-fly shader compilation. Production tools include motion blur, AOVs, Cryptomatte, adaptive sampling, denoising, and resumable render checkpoints. Native integrations are listed for Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3ds Max, Blender, and Gaffer. It works with OBJ geometry and image formats including OpenEXR, TIFF, HDR, PNG, JPEG, and PSD. Developers can use C++ and Python APIs or extend the engine with external C++ plugins. The listed plan costs nothing and is under the MIT license. The download page lists version 2.1.0-beta, released September 21, 2019.
KeyShot
KeyShot Studio is 3D visualization software for product design and CAD data. It renders with real-time ray tracing on CPU, GPU, or both, and includes drag-and-drop materials, a procedural material graph, and an HDRI editor for lighting. Local AI tools provide Restyle, Background, Imagine, Transform, and Replace modes. KeyShot supports native import of 34 3D file formats and LiveLinking plugins, including options for Autodesk 3ds Max, Blender, Cinema 4D, and Autodesk Fusion. Its listed outputs and capabilities include image rendering, a product configurator, an interactive 3D viewer, and augmented reality. Plans are listed for individual designers, freelancers, studios, and larger teams, but several plan prices are not shown. KeyShot Professional is $108.25 a year, billed at $108.25 per user per month annually ($1,299.00 per year); KeyShot Business is $133.25 a year, billed at $133.25 per user per month annually ($1,599.00 per year). A 14-day trial is available, but there is no free plan. Linux support is for Network Rendering only. KeyShot Connect lists access controls, single sign-on, guest access, and an audit log; it is in Early Access with a select group of teams.