After the render wars article I wrote, I realised I had to make a decision. Redshift was getting so much traction – it was bought by Maxon to be integrated into Cinema 4D so it seemed like a safe bet. I’d heard that the learning curve for Redshift is quite steep, but hey, why not start with a difficult one?
I’ve been using Redshift for a few months now and I can honestly say that it’s changed my 3D for the better. When I was a budding young motion designer (a looooooong time ago) learning Cinema 4D, I shamefully told myself I didn’t want to learn lighting. It was a boring subject to me and it’s not like I’d ever look for a job as a 3D lighting specialist. Over the years I’ve come to appreciate just how important lighting is to any render, any animation. It is the most important thing. What a fool I was.
Redshift makes lighting so incredibly easy. I’m not saying I’m now an expert in lighting a scene, in fact far from it, but Redshift’s viewport, with instant feedback, makes understanding lighting, placement, intensity and shadows, so much easier. You can watch the scene change before your eyes as you move things around and I found myself feeling in awe of cinematographers and everyone else that appreciated the importance of lighting far more than I ever have.
It’s something I definitely want to build on learning and there’s far more benefits to Redshift than just the instant feedback for lighting. I’m currently struggling with learning how to place textures in a particular place on an object. I’m pretty sure I saw a tutorial somewhere so will have to find it again.
For now, I am loving Redshift and man is it fast. Definitely give it a look if you have yet to try an external renderer in C4D.
