Enscape, V-Ray or Vantage?

Introduction

Many users wonder which is the right software for their needs, Enscape, V-Ray, or Vantage. Let's explore what are the main differences and how they are designed to help you in different situations.

At first, they might look similar, but at a second glance - each of these is developed with a different purpose in mind. Depending on the workflow or the final goal, each has its own merits, but choosing between them or collaborating with all, can become somewhat challenging. So here we gathered detailed information on how to compare and choose.

Developed for	Producing final high-quality still images or animations	Project exploration, visualization during development	Project exploration, visualization during development
Industry	Media, Entertainment, Film and Video Game production, Industrial, Product, and Architectural design	Industrial, Product, and Architectural design	Industrial, Product, and Architectural design
Project stages	Design and Finished stage	Pre-design and Design	Design
Physically accurate	Fully physically accurate	Partially physically accurate	All supported features are physically accurate
Real-time / Interactivity	Focused mainly on offline rendering whith support for interactive rendering	Focused mainly on interactive rendering	Focused mainly on interactive rendering
Host Applications	3ds Max, Maya, SketchUp, Revit, Rhino, Cinema 4D, Houdini, Nuke, Unreal, Blender	SketchUp, Rhino, Revit, Archicad, Vectorworks	3ds Max, Maya, SketchUp, Rhino, Revit, Cinema 4D, Modo
Export functions	Still renders, Animated renders, Panorama, VR, Sphericals, Videos. vrscenes	Still images, Videos, 360° panoramas, VR, Standalone exectutables	Still images, Animated images, Panoramas, Walkthroughs, Videos, vrscenes
Post production	Fully equipped. Post-production can be applied internally in the VFB or externally with another image correction software with the use of render elements	Post-production can be applied to still images externally via render channels	Internal render and video corrections are available
Asset library	Available	Available	Available
CPU/GPU based	GPU, CPU, or Hybrid	GPU only	GPU only
OS	Windows, Linux, macOS	Windows, macOS	Windows
Supported features	link	link	link
System Requirements	link	link	link

Quality vs. Interactivity

There are two major factors when it comes to choosing software for visualization -
how fast it renders and how good is the render quality, or “Quality vs. Interactivity”

It is important to note that those two aspects are usually inversely proportional to each other. Higher render quality usually requires longer render times and vice versa. On the other hand, faster rendering and render interactivity can be achieved at the cost of lower output quality and accuracy.

Bear in mind that every project is different in terms of complexity, scale, quality, requirements, deadlines, and presentation. For example, some jobs require frequent updates and often walkthroughs with clients, others require swift production for tighter schedules, and some are all about quality and polished marketing images or videos. Since the criteria for speed and quality vary, different software solutions are needed.

As a result, the choice of rendering software should be based on the project requirements, daily workflows, requested types of visual communication, and most common practice needs. For example, is it more important to frequently communicate the project development during its stages or to deliver a final polished selling product?

V-Ray Image Gallery	Enscape Image Gallery	Vantage Image Gallery

V-Ray 

V-Ray is a physically accurate, photo-realistic rendering and simulation software that is developed for delivering high-quality end products. It is most commonly used in industries such as architectural design, media, entertainment, film and video game production, as well as industrial product design. The richness of features and settings make it suitable for all design stages: from development to the finalized product.
V-Ray true strengths lie in delivering the best final image and video quality. The various setting options allow users to set and extract high-quality products. This, however, is achieved at the cost of longer render times and a slower interactivity rate.
The Interactive rendering does allow a moderately quick project preview. However, the interactivity and speed are affected depending on the project size and complexity. Project previews and walkthroughs of heavy scenes are possible with Interactive rendering, but may be challenging for the memory and frame rate.
As a solution, V-Ray comes with Vision real-time viewer. It is a lightweight “game engine” that does not currently use ray tracing. Due to its speed, it can serve as a powerful alternative viewport offering a quick output of both still frames and animation sequences as well as spherical panoramas. In addition, it comes with camera animation playback controls with auto-exposure, tone mapping, and color correction options.

Enscape

Enscape is a real-time rendering and virtual reality engine based on path-tracing and ray-tracing computations. It is developed as a tool for delivering very fast offline renderings without any visible noise and focuses mainly on project exploration. It produces quick real-time 3D renders, project walkthroughs, videos, and snapshots. As such, it is most suitable and commonly used in the Pre-Design and Design stage, where frequent visual communication between architects, engineers, designers, and clients is needed. It is most prevalent in the Architectural, Industrial, and Product design industries.
Enscape provides control over geometry, camera animation, auto-exposure, tone mapping, and color correction options. Furthermore, it offers a Live Link connection which allows instant visual representation of any changes that are made in the project. In addition, Enscape also comes with its own built-in asset library.
As an Instant real-time rendering engine, Enscape focuses on high interactivity and render speed. In order to achieve those real-time framerates, some quality aspects and physical accuracy are slightly scaled back, e.g., the reflection quality during camera movement and the amount of geometry visible in reflections.

Vantage

Much like Enscape, Chaos Vantage, is a 100% ray-traced real-time rendering tool developed for exploring and manipulating V-Ray scenes. The main purpose of this software tool is to allow a fast preview or walkthrough of a project during its developing stages. The Live Link feature makes it possible to instantly see changes made with V-Ray without the need to export and import .vrscenes.
Due to its interactivity and showcase purposes, Vantage is most commonly used in the Architectural, Industrial, and Product design industries. Vantage also offers camera animation playback controls, geometry and auto-exposure, tone mapping, and color correction options.
With fully raytraced and real-time rendering, Chaos Vantage uses physically based cameras, lights, materials, and global illumination for the most realistic results. The default renders quality is high, but can be even further increased from the available settings.
In comparison, Enscape is not physically accurate but offers exceptionally fast interactivity. Vantage is physically accurate, but not that fast when it comes to interactivity and frame rates.

Interface and learning curve

V-Ray

V-Ray offers a straightforward and user-friendly interface, allowing users to arrange all features in single or several toolbars. The main manipulations are done in two major windows: the Asset Editor, where assets, elements, and render settings are managed and the Frame Buffer, which is the rendered image holder allowing Layer Compositing for a higher level of post-processing adjustments.
The friendly and neatly designed UI does not mean that using V-Ray is entirely intuitive and easy to handle. The extensive list of features, render setting possibilities, attributes, and controls may seem more challenging for beginners or sometimes even for more experienced users. It may take some time to familiarize yourself with how certain features and tools work. However, once the basics and general principles are covered it becomes much easier to navigate around and understand how things should or could be used to achieve various results.

In order to assist with the learning curve, Chaos is constantly delivering a list of V-Ray tutorials, webinars, and courseware, covering features and workflows.

Enscape

Enscape offers a straightforward, very user-friendly, and intuitive interface. The options are arranged at the top toolbar and a settings window dropdowns when an icon is clicked. The main working area and image holder are located in the center.
Enscape can not be launched separately. Only predefined Standalone executables can be launched without the host app.

Enscape is designed to be a fast visual communication tool between artists and clients. This includes not only the real-time rendering speed but also the quick-to-navigate and easy-to-use features. As a result, Enscape has a very short learning curve, and the basic principles and workflows can easily be explored within a few hours of installing the software. Furthermore, the learning curve can be shortened with the help of a list of tutorials provided by the Enscape team.

Vantage

Chaos Vantage User Interface appears slightly less compact at first glance. There is a menu row, three sets of toolbars with icons, and left and right panels with several tabs that give you access to a range of functionalities for managing your scene performance and settings.
Vantage can be used with Live Link, where it appears as a secondary viewport window or can be launched separately, where a .vrscene can be loaded, explored, and manipulated.
As a result of the many options and list of settings, Chaos Vantage has a slightly longer learning curve. However, once the users are familiarized with the user interface, it becomes significantly faster to navigate within and explore more advanced settings and possibilities.
In order to assist with the learning curve Chaos has provided a list of videos and tutorials that will ease the learning process.

OS systems	Windows 10 or higher Mac 10.14.x or higher Linux	Windows 10 or higher Intel Mac only, Windows 10 is installed on certain Intel Macs via Bootcamp	Windows 10 or higher
Can utilize	CPU, GPU, or Hybrid	GPU only	GPU (RTX) only
Processor	Intel 64 , AMD64 or compatible processor with AVX2 support
Memory	Minimum 8 GB RAM, recommended 16 GB RAM Minimum of 4GB VRAM	Minimum of 4GB VRAM VR requires a minimum of 8GB VRAM	Minimum 8 GB VRAM
Hard Disk Space	minimum 2GB, recommended 12GB (includes additional downloadable content)
GPU Support	Maxwell-, Pascal-, Volta-, Turing- and Ampere-based NVIDIA card(s) with latest recommended video driver	AMD or Nvidia RTX	DXR compatible GPU: NVIDIA RTX® series GPU in WDDM mode2
GPU Drivers	NVIDIA driver version	Recommended driver version	NVIDIA driver version
Host Applications	3ds Max, Maya, SketchUp, Revit, Rhino, Cinema 4D, Houdini, Nuke, Unreal, Blender	SketchUp, Rhino, Revit, Archicad, Vectorworks	3ds Max, Maya, SketchUp, Rhino, Revit, Cinema 4D, Modo

More information regarding the system requirements can be accessed at the following links:

V-Ray System requirements
Enscape System requirements for Windows

Enscape System requirements for Mac OS
Chaos Vantage System requirements

Supported Features and compatibility

When choosing software, it is essential to know what features are currently supported. Therefore, we recommend users familiarize themselves with the supported features of V-Ray, Enscape, and Vantage by following the links below.

You can use V-Ray, Enscape and Vantage on their own or in a collaborative environment. Chaos Vantage is developed to handle .vrscene files. The Enscape - V-Ray collaboration is a recent ambitious and promising project. We highly recommend users to go through V-Ray - Enscape Compatibility in order to familiarize with some of the current specifics.

V-Ray supported features	Enscape supported features	Vantagesupported features

Note: V-Ray-supported features may vary according to the host platform. Detailed information regarding V-Ray for different platforms can be found at chaos.com

Conclusion

The final choice of software should be based on what needs to be visually communicated and how often it should be communicated: is interactivity more important, or is there a need for high quality; are fast walkthroughs and showcases mostly required, or finished and polished renders and videos?

We hope that the provided information throws some light on the main differences, similarities, and strengths of V-Ray, Enscape, and Vantage. If you would like to know more on this subject, offer feedback, or discuss the topic in further detail, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us!