Maximus wrote:dont think mr 3.9 is integrated at all, just that Unified Sampling feature.
And regarding iRay, sayin is useless is kinda unprofessional..
Just think with a gt460 gfx card wich cost 90bucks you can have cpu+gpu rendering for insane quality for product/archviz, its a feature of the render engine wich is totally incredible its not implemented, even Cinema4D has it, Catia.
From 'no-choice' point of view, it looks like... From perspective of 3d studio Max users... I sow a few guys playing with iRay, and that's all. Professional or not, you'll be in trouble if someone asks for fly-through, because it's can't utilize just nothing in between rendered frames... For me personally, it still has a 'something-slightly-wrong-in-mid-tones' so typical for Mental Ray images.
People already have Vray setups, tons of Vray scenes, work flows, tutorials,
setup software, small render farms (one Vray licence is for 10 machines, at least for Max).. Actually all that Mental Ray/iRay what not, it's some kind of outsider, beginner story. They became to Max a few years after Vray, they released a unique material with interpolated reflection, energy conservation and another stuff... a five (5) years after vRay material, they never had a comparable radiosity. Average Max user probably don't even know basic stuff about MR, some of us with XSI experience have a *very* bad memories....
I'll never forget, first what I saw on XSIBase, was a long, 'hot' discussion between two 'XSI base masters', about AA settings, no winners... Well, when gurus can't make agreement about so basic stuff... what beginner can think about all that
And after all, it's about confidence too. For now, even Mray/iRay has something outstanding (don't believe..), that 'outstanding' should be consistently alive at least for two or three years (impossible...). *Then*, people may start to thinking of...
BTW, those who don't need that much animation, but still good radiosity images.. these days, Lightwave has a really great, integrated radiosity, unlimited render nodes, all that for a good price.
Anyway, for me, 'vector displacement' feature is a top bad joke