Evermotion releases NOX renderer as open source
Evermotion has released NOX, its physically based renderer for Max, Blender and Cinema 4D, as open source.
According to the Evermotion website, users can now “freely improve and modify [the] render engine, integrate it with any 3D software, write plugins, use it in commercial works and/or sell it”.
What can NOX do?
NOX, which was first released in open beta in 2011, is an unbiased path tracer. It includes a range of standard functionality, including instancing, displacement, DoF, subsurface scattering and render layer export.
As well as vanilla 3ds Max scenes, NOX is capable of rendering basic V-Ray materials and lights.
Does it being open source change anything?
Given that NOX was already free, and licensed for commercial work, the decision to open-source the renderer probably doesn’t affect the ordinary user very much.
Evermotion announced last year that it would be stepping up the frequency of updates, so how it affects the pace of development will depend on how much of that work continues in house.
However, it does make the prospect of export plugins for other host software more likely – and raises the possibility of other developers integrating the renderer into their software.
Blender already has its Cycles renderer – available under the same Apache licence as NOX – and Cinema 4D has had its Physical Render Engine since R13, but it would be interesting if the code were picked up for Max.
Availability and system requirements
NOX 0.44 is available for Windows only. As well as the installer and the source code, it comes with a free test scene: the hacienda from Archexteriors vol. 22, Evermotion’s commercial collection of assets.
Download NOX from the Evermotion website
(Separate download links for installer, source code and free scenes)