Ambient occlusion with Gelato (left). Sorbetto makes Gelato Pro appealing (right). Sorbetto credit: Timothy Heath, NVIDIA.

Buy One, Get One Free
With each new version, Gelato continues to grow and evolve as a renderer. Version 2.1 introduces increased Maya shader support and unprecedented access to many of Gelato's features for free. Of course support for NVIDIA's GeForce and Quadro cards doesn't hurt either.

Whether you're a one-man shop, a sprawling studio or somewhere in between, Gelato 2.1 Free has something to offer everyone. As I mentioned, network rendering requires the Pro version of Gelato, and if your studio already has a render farm, you may as well put it to good use. Throw in Sorbetto, 64-bit OS support and technical support that's second to none and Gelato Pro is extremely appealing at $1,500 per license. If you've got a recent version of Maya or 3ds Max, why not head over to NVIDIA's website and check it out for free?

Bryan Hoff is a multifaceted artist and writer. A web designer, digital artist and animator, his credits include television effects, 3D corporate animation, Flash and traditional web site design. His writing credits include articles for LinuxWorld, Element K Journals and InformIT, covering topics like Photoshop effects, Linux 3D graphics applications, Web and HTML design, RSS feeds and painting with a graphics tablet. He's co-author of the book Moving from Windows to Linux.