Non real-time
Animations for non-interactive media, such as feature films and video, are rendered much more slowly. Non-real time render max enables the leveraging of limited processing power in order to obtain higher image quality. Rendering times for individual frames may vary from a few seconds to several days for complex scenes. Rendered frames are stored on a hard disk then can be transferred to other media such as motion picture film or optical disk.
Techniques have been developed for the purpose of simulating other naturally-occurring effects, such as the interaction of light with various forms of matter. The architectural rendering process is computationally expensive, given the complex variety of physical processes being simulated. Computer processing power has increased rapidly over the years, allowing for a progressively higher degree of realistic rendering. Film studios that produce computer-generated animations typically make use of a render farm to generate images in a timely manner. However, falling hardware costs mean that it is entirely possible to create small amounts of 3D animation on a home computer system. The output of the renderfarm is often used as only one small part of a completed motion-picture scene. Many layers of material may be rendered separately and integrated into the final shot using compositing software.
Rendering max is the final process of creating the actual 3D image or animation from the prepared scene. This can be compared to taking a photo or filming the scene after the setup is finished in real life. Several different, and often specialized, rendering methods have been developed. These range from the distinctly non-realistic
wireframe rendering through polygon-based rendering, to more advanced techniques such as scanline rendering, ray tracing, or radiosity. Rendering may take from fractions of a second to days for a single image/frame.
Real-time
Rendering for interactive media, such as games and simulations, is calculated and displayed in real time, at rates of approximately 20 to 120 frames per second. In real-time rendering, the goal is to show as much information as possible as the eye can process in a 30th of a second. Rendering software may simulate such visual effects as lens flares, depth of field or motion blur. These effects can lend an element of realism to a scene, even if the effect is merely a simulated artifact of a camera. This is the basic method employed in games, interactive worlds.Rapid increase in computer processing power has allowed a progressively higher degree of realism even for real-time farm render, includes techniques such as rendering Vray.
A useful tip is to make sure the processors in your render farm are the same as the processors in your workstation, as there may be differences in rendering between processor architectures, which could mean small differences in your final rendered frames.
There are a few software options available but by far the most commonly used in the architectural visualisation industry is 3ds max farm render. This is an amazing piece of software that is used for an astounding amount of varying applications throughout the 3d world. You should spend as much time as possible mucking around in 3ds max so you become familiar with its general layout and the tools available.
Rendering max Software – again there are quite a lot to choose from but 3d VRAY is the most popular amongst visualisation professionals. Whilst being quite a complex program it simply creates the most realistic images – which is pretty much the most important thing in architectural visualization.
So it is highly recommended that you get yourself the latest versions of 3ds max and rendering Vray to get things started. Another very useful piece of software is Photoshop – this is very useful in the post processing of images.