LuxCoreRender vs Terragen
LuxCoreRender
luxcorerender.orgTerragen
planetside.co.ukSide by side
| Figure | LuxCoreRender | Terragen |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $8/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 2 | 26 |
| Spec score · 3D Rendering Software | 8.6 (#2) | 8.6 (#3) |
| API | LuxCore provides C++ and Python APIs for editing scenes, materials, lights, geometry and interactive rendering. | The product comparison lists a Remote Procedure Call (RPC) API feature for Terragen 4 Professional. |
| Lighting | Lighting features include emitters, environment lighting, IES photometric data, HDR environments and a physical sun and sky system. | Lighting includes sunlight, local and spot lights, ray-traced soft shadows, global illumination and ambient occlusion. |
| Support | The project directs users to its forums and Discord for feedback, and provides tutorials, a wiki and bug reporting links. | Support is provided through licensed-user contact, forums, Discord and the documentation wiki. |
| What it does | LuxCoreRender is a physically based, unbiased renderer designed to produce photographic-quality images by simulating light transport. | Terragen builds, renders and animates realistic natural environments, including whole planets and imported real-world terrain. |
Plans
Terragen
- Terragen 4 Professional — Indie 50$10 a month
- Terragen 4 Professional — Indie 50$96 a year
- Terragen 4 Professional — Indie 100$16 a month
- Terragen 4 Professional — Indie 100$150 a year
- Terragen 4 Professional — Small Co$27 a month
- Terragen 4 Professional — Small Co$240 a year
- Terragen 4 Professional — Mid Co$42 a month
- Terragen 4 FreeFree
- Professional INDIE 50 monthly$10 a month
- Terragen 4 Professional — INDIE 50$10 a month
In their own words
LuxCoreRender
LuxCoreRender has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
Terragen
Terragen builds, renders, and animates natural environments for landscape visualization, visual effects, and artistic work. It creates procedural and heightfield terrain, can use real-world terrain data, and adds details such as cliffs and overhangs. Its spherical planetary atmosphere model includes volumetric clouds and fog, multiple scattering, and global illumination. The hybrid renderer combines micropolygon rendering and ray tracing, with support for anti-aliasing, motion blur, depth of field, and render elements. Nearly every project parameter can be animated, and image sequences can be rendered through the interface or command line. Terragen imports 3D objects and camera data, exports terrain as heightfields or geometry in formats including TER, EXR, LWO, OBJ, and FBX, and handles camera data in FBX, Nuke CHAN, and Maya MOV formats. It can also generate HDR environments for lighting in other renderers. Windows and macOS are supported, with Linux render-node support. The free edition is for non-commercial use or 30 days of commercial evaluation, with still renders limited to 1280 × 900. Professional subscriptions start at $10 a month.