Just a test to check progress. 1st image is on Amiga circa 1994. Software used I honestly can’t remember. It was one of Imagine, Cinema 4D (V4) or Real3D. I never really got on with Imagine, so I suspect one of the others.
The second image is, of course, modern day Blender, deliberately rendered at the same resolution as the old one.
Now, I know the scene is different (hell, 30 years between them) but similar enough to compare. The original was featured in one of the old Amiga mags (possibly Amiga User International, but I can’t be sure, may have been Amiga Format).
Was only interested to see how renderers have progressed.
EDIT: It’s odd, when I built and rendered the Blender scene I wasn’t thinking about the old one, but side by side, my idea of ideal angle and aesthetics doesn’t seem to have changed.
I’m sure a part of that is due to having access to much better technology (the first one, I think, would actually be pretty good for off-the-shelf software back in 1994).
I bet it also took a long time to render back then, and on something you would’ve spent quite a bit on as well.
It is absolutely the result of better technology, particularly materials and render.
I’m not going to say the modelling itself was less capable back then, though the modelling tools have progressed massively, simply manipulating vertices in 3D space was possible. So some of the improvements are the drive for more detailed models.
Even so, yes, back in the day it was considered good. Now, it almost looks like a cartoon.
The odd thing is, some people today try to recreate the old school look, which at the time was striving for realism.
