LuxRender

LuxCoreRender is a free and open-source physically based rendering software. It began as LuxRender in 2008 before changing its name to LuxCoreRender in 2017 as part of a project reboot. The LuxCoreRender software runs on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. LuxCoreRender features a 3D renderer; it relies on other programs (3D modeling programs) to create the scenes to render, including the models, materials, lights and cameras. This content can then be exported from the application for rendering. For Luxrender, fully functional exporters are available for Blender, Daz Studio; partially functional ones are available for Cinema 4D, Maya, SketchUp and . Luxrender is also fully supported as a production renderer in 3DS Max. For LuxCoreRender, Blender is supported through the BlendLuxCore plugin. After opening the exported file, LuxCoreRender renders the scene. Various tweaks to post processing settings can be set via graphical user interface and the scene control file. A significant feature of LuxCoreRender is that the user is able to change the balance of different lights while the image is still being processed. LuxCoreRender originally started as LuxRender in 2008. LuxRender was based on PBRT, a physically based ray-tracing program. Although very capable and well-structured, PBRT focuses on academic use and was not easily usable by digital artists. As PBRT is licensed under the BSD License, it was possible to start a new program based on PBRT's source code. With the blessings of the original authors, a small group of programmers took this step in September 2007. The new program was named LuxRender and was to focus on artistic use. Since its initial stage, the program has attracted a small handful of various programmers around the world. On 24 June 2008, the first official release was announced, version 0.5. This was the first release that is considered to be usable for the general public. The plan for LuxRender 2.0 was defined during the 2013 summer and one of the major components is a new engine based on the C++ and Python APIs.