Your favorit RENDER soft and why?

Keyshot for sure, so easy to use & very realistic.

95% of the time, I used PhotoWorks in SW2010, now it's replaced with PhotoView (now integrated in SW2011/12) and the rest of the 5% I tried my luck with Keyshot2, and after some time had to do a clean install of everything, lost my license key for Keyshot2, received the new license key for Keyshot3, still didn't install it, as I don't do many renders, most of the time it's just for manufacturing and fabrication process, and developing and designing a whole new product usually takes two or three months, sometimes even more... If you're satisfied with the results (you get within the main app), save your money for things you need more (for the price of Keyshot, I could buy I a new MB, the fastest Intel CPU and a brand new ATI FirePro V4800 and upgrade from 6 to 16G of DDR3 RAM...) That was a much better investment for me ;)

Photoview 360. easy to use and above all integrated in Solidworks. And good rendering.

I use keyshot 2/3 mainly because it was the first renderer ive had a go with, its simplicity and speed what makes it the most appealing to me

Keyshot 2 mostly, because of the variety of materials and the realistic result. I also use Showcase 2012. Not so realistic result but great with Inventor files, and very nice animation capabilities.

If you want a free alternative, you can try 123D
http://www.123dapp.com/123D-3D-Model/snowman/596195
or Kerkythea
http://www.kerkythea.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=77

Showcase, very easy interface and great ray tracing.

3D's Max for College and Showcase when in College
@Home it has to be Keyshot 2/3 there is nothing as quick, realistic renders, simple interface and just so good to work with.....
:)))

If I had my way it would be Keyshot @ College also LoL'ss

I was using Photoview360, and I really liked the stand alone app, not to fond of the integrated version. As some mention, save your money, this is true, however, I have found, for me, doing a render early on, have given a lot of my projects the green light to design.

Prior, a few mock up designes would get killed due to client not fully seeing the idea. I can mock up fast and render in a few hours, and have a client sold on a design.

Adding a render to my designs has increased my jobs, as well as how confident and happy my clients are. When a company takes one of my renders into their board room, everyone just gets it.

Ok, I am going too far off base, as of late, I am playing with Keyshot, very fast and easy to use, and with the same amount of time as PV360, I feel gives a better result.