appleseed vs Kray
appleseed
appleseedhq.netKray
kraytracing.comSide by side
| Figure | appleseed | Kray |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 3 |
| Spec score · 3D Rendering Software | 8.2 (#6) | 7.7 (#20) |
| Rendering | It supports unidirectional path tracing, stochastic progressive photon mapping, light tracing, progressive rendering, interactive rendering, and spectral rendering. | The renderer supports global illumination, reflections, refractions and caustics. |
Plans
Kray
- Kray2 for LightWave academic license€70, paid once
- Kray3 for LightWave, upgrade from Kray2€190, paid once
- Kray3 for LightWave€435, paid once
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.