The State of Architectural Rendering
Real-time rendering has entirely displaced traditional ray-tracing for 90% of daily firm workflows.
1. Enscape
The current king of integrated workflows. It plugs directly into Revit, Rhino, and SketchUp. The learning curve is practically zero. It is best used for rapid, iterative design reviews and quick client presentations.
2. Lumion
A standalone software that imports models. It excels at heavy vegetation, atmospheric effects, and animations. Requires a massive GPU. Better for final marketing imagery than Enscape.
3. V-Ray
The old guard. Slower, traditional ray-tracing (though they have added real-time elements). Still required if you need absolute photorealism and precise lighting control, but increasingly relegated to specialized viz studios.