Best in Show PLM Connection 2015: KeyShot

At PLM Connection 2015 in Dallas the expo floor was buzzing with software and hardware providers, service agencies and a glut of PLM-wonks all willing to share their stories. With over 50 booths showing off their latest and greatest it was certainly difficult to pick out the show’s best.

But somebody had to do it.

Over the course of this week, we’ll be unveiling the companies and products that impressed us the most over those two days on the showroom floor. First up is KeyShot 5.

KeyShot 5

Over the last few years rendering has become a larger and more important part of the product design process. But rendering has often felt like a tedious process that stalls the product design workflow. Who really wants to spend hours tweaking and re-rendering a design just so you can ship an image off for approval?

Though there’s still a litany of complex rendering products available, more high-quality options are appearing for those who need a quick, photo-realistic snap of their latest design.

Enter KeyShot 5.

The Basics

Render: Rich Feldman

At its core, KeyShot is a ray-tracing application that’s armed with a well-honed and powerful render engine. To complement its ability to quickly and accurately simulate lighting conditions, KeyShot 5 makes it easy to set up a render by allowing users to drag and drop materials onto components. With these capabilities, you can create a render in a matter of minutes.

For those interested in adding a bit of realism (read grit, custom textures, etc.) to their models, all materials can be modified and updated in real-time, though that’s sure to slow the rapid-fire model-to-render-to-approval paradigm that’s at KeyShot’s core.

Reaching to the Cloud for Improved Workflows

That being said, one of KeyShot’s newest features does improve iterative rendering workflows by giving designers access to materials and environments that are stored in the cloud. Rather than having to build custom materials for every project, users can navigate to a centralized cloud UI and grab materials that best suit their needs, drop them into their scene and move forward with the design. For that matter, designers also have the power to tweak ready-built materials and upload them to the cloud as new instances.

Workflow issues solved.

Harnessing the Power of the Sun & Sky

Model & Photo: Philippe Vanagt

Another powerful feature that’s been added to KeyShot 5 is its Sun & Sky system. With this new tool users can light their model based on geographic location and time of day to set up scenes that toss shadows in accurate directions and add a heap of realism to product promotion. Couple this feature with its ability to simulate these complex conditions in real-time—rather than waiting an eternity to see the final results in a render—and you can see why KeyShot is such a powerful marketing tool.

It’s All in Your Perspective

While adding accurate lighting is important, it’s also critical to have a background scene (whether it be a still or video) that places your model in an appropriate context.

Inserting a background image is easy enough; it’s just a matter of inserting it into a scene. However, you’ll likely end up with a perspective clash that puts your model and its environment at odds. Rather than fiddle with the orientation of your models, KeyShot includes a feature called Perspective Matching. With this feature users simply draw arrows that align with elements in their scene to create a vantage that matches the reality of their background.

Once all of the appropriate arrows are drawn a simple click aligns your model’s orientation to that of its surroundings.

So, How’s This All Work?

Now that we’ve covered many of the best features in KeyShot 5, it’s time to discuss what could be the most useful aspect of the software—its integration with product design software.

Like most software, KeyShot does have a stand-alone program. But to make life easier, users can download a plugin that adds workflow efficiency to a number of standard CAD apps (including SOLIDWORKS, Fusion 360, Creo, Solid Edge and many more). Once the plugin is installed and added to a workspace, you simply click a button and your model is sent to KeyShot.

Admittedly, that seems a bit puny for a plugin, but the real value lies in the user’s ability to update their model with a click of a button and have those updates appear immediately in KeyShot. With this seamless integration any number of changes can be made to a model as it’s tossed back and forth between design reviews without having to go back and re-build a scene.

That’s a serious improvement in workflow and productivity.

Final Thoughts

KeyShot 5 is a winner when it comes to building internal and external marketing tools for designers. While it may not be as powerful as other rendering software, it’s a marked improvement over the native renderers in CAD applications, making it a valuable addition to any product design firm’s workflow.

Update: KeyShot 6 has been released at the PTC annual user meeting (see press release). Rest assured, we’ll have more information on it soon.

See Also

Ray Tracing Brought to Life - Kyle Maxey, ENGINEERING.com, March 25, 2015