My previous experience with Truespace was with the (now ancient) version 2. When I played with the new freely available Truespace 7.6, how baffled I was. Truespace 7.6 is an entirely different beast with a much steeper learning curve.

Truespace 7.6 is actually separated into 2 sections: the Workspace and the Modelspace. To get the realistic renderings done, one will need to do it in the Modelspace.

Below is a screenshot of Modelspace while I was working on the product rendering. The model is the usual one that was created in Rhino 3D, that was used to test the other 3D applications as well.

Here’s the final Product Rendering test result. The image was rendering using the default Lightworks renderer. A HDRI environment map was used to produce the subtle tones and shadings. The HDRI map really made a big difference in terms of rendering quality.

I have yet to test Virtualight which is the other Rendering engine that comes with the free Truespace 7.6 download. From what I know, Virtualight is capable of producing caustics effects. Information on Virtualight rendering engine are scarce. The intriguing thing is that the Virtualight website is either offline or no longer existing.

For your info, Vray can also be used with Truespace as an offline renderer. You can purchase Vray for Truespace on the Caligari website.