Hi there! We’ve just finished beta version of our free renderer NOX with a exporter especially for Blender users! Feel free to learn more about it at http://www.evermotion.org/nox (don’t forget to check the gallery!)! Feedback and bug reports involving Blender exporter are welcome!
NOX Information
For quick familiarity and avoidance of questions here is a list of things NOX can or can’t do.
Supported features:
mutlithreaded
32/64 bit
standalone ms windows application
gi based on metropolis light transport
materials
multiple layers
physical based micro-facet model
transmission
fake glass
dispersion
opacity
emission
textures + simple processing
local and online material library
regions (only direct ligthing)
camera
physical exposure settings - iso, apeture, shutter
physical based realistic dof or fake dof in post-process
aperture shape settings
realistic bokeh effects
sunsky system
blend layers
post process
exposure correction (ev)
standard color correction: brightness, contrast, saturation, rgb, temperature
curve (rgb or luminance)
camera response functions
vignette
bloom
glare
fake dof
chromatic aberrations
grain
load/save post settings
3dsmax plugin
nox sunlight
nox camera free/target
nox material
exporter
renderer in another process
blender script
nox sunsky
nox material
nox camera
exporter
renderer in another process
files compatibility
typical image files (jpg,bmp,tiff,png,gif)
exr image file
scene as custom binary or xml file
materials as xml file
postproduction settings as xml file
blend settings as xml file
final post as xml file
autoupdate
Not supported features:
displacement
bump/normal mapping
subsurface scattering (sss)
instancing/proxy
sky portals
… but don’t worry, it is going to be developed someday.
standalone ms windows application
Too bad, stopped reading right there…
I assume Free = Free until it’s good enough to compete with other commercial render engines.
It’s always interesting to new render engines, but there are plenty of path tracers out there and at the moment NOX doesn’t add anything new…
The gallery looks very convincingly.
@rozmiarek: What are the plans for the future? Just one or two another beta versions and then the commercial version? Or still freeware? Resp. what about pricing?
Interesting question, radek!
I dont wanna be a renderer-crashtest-dummy anymore 
A few questions though.
What does Nox deliver, (or will deliver), in terms of GI capability that other pathtracers don’t, does it have any advantage in speed, quality, ect…?
What has brought you to the choice that you would start your own engine project over signing on to an existing project like Luxrender or Cycles?
If it goes commercial, how do you plan to be a competitive choice as you compete against engines such as Thea, Octane, Fryrender, Maxwell, Indigo ect…?
Apologies if the questions interpret as a little rough since it is the internet, just wanting to know.
Also, just so you know, the site doesn’t render properly on the latest version of Firefox so I can’t get a lot of information.
I tried it already and it looks quite nice, good Blender integration, 2.58 exporter, the material editor runable from Blender reminds a bit of Thea.
But, the biggest question is, will it remain free like your first post suggest? Or is it an open beta phase where you lure people into getting it in their workflow with the term free?
I already own plenty of unbiased renderer licenses and I don´t see why I should buy another one, not to discredit your hard work, but after all for what I see it’s just another renderer - with nice Blender integration though.
On a sidenote, I don´t mind to pay 100 or 200 Euros for another renderer if it´s to my liking, for that I got to test it more, but if it turns out to be another 4 digits pricetag renderer, I guess it´s not only me not very intrested in it. I guess then it´s even the wrong forum here 
Personally I tend to buy Vray next, but its 375 Euro and already at the limit of what I´d spend, and only because it´s biased.
Unbiased renderers there are good and plenty free or cheap alternatives.
I’m not sure that this is an unbiased renderer.
It has gi based on metropolis light transport so I think its fair to assume it’s unbiased…
any blender test?
NOX will remain free, that’s what we plan here. As for other questions I have to ask the main developer as I’m not involved in the project (I’m not a programmer).
Having read recently your positive comments on Vray integration with Blender, how do you find this brand new engine in respect to Vray one?
Smooth integration is an absolute must to me.
Thanks!
The site works like a snail.
It’s good to have more renderers. However I wish there would be a renderer with fake options for SPEED. Man I hate unbiased renderers, because they are so slow and produce noise. Just fake everything and make it look convincing enough and I’m sold.
And I want an “artist” user interface with easy options and presets. I hate the way you need to be a physicist to understand the settings of unbiased renderers.
Rozmiarek will there be an Osx-Version ???
Grand news. All I can say then is thanks for your work and effords. I really didn´t expect it to remain free, I´ll be sure to test it down to the bone =)
Too early to say anything in particular, also, you can´t really compare a semi-biased renderer with a biased renderer. If you go for exporter quality, Nox´s is grand. It obviously is designed with a heavy focus on blender (you even got blender layer controls in the render studio UI) but also comes with a plugin for 3dsmax.
What is a showstopper for me though at the moment is that it NEITHER supports Normal/Bump, NOR displacement. So either you model/sculpt fine details, or you got to stick with a flat look or fake it with texture shadows. But hey. As stated it´s on the to do list.
There´s also no SSS support at the moment, but SSS should be an addition rather easy to implement as they got the renderkernel up and running.
My personal opinion is that if it stays free and development continues, NOX will be a term to be known in the CG society.
I really like the UI in NOX, sleek and easy to understand.
The Blender integration works like a dream (I guess we have you to thank for that Rozmiarek ;)) and I haven’t run into any major bugs so far, it works great.
Progressive rendering is nice and it is quick and easy to visualize the scene but the noise removal is really slow 
Also I guess that it will be free for commercial use but it will cost you to remove the watermark, is that right?
Watermark? You’re joking right?
There is and will be a small watermark (due to promote new renderer) however you are allowed to crop it. As for my support I was just a tester of the exporter and pointed out the most important things that for us Blender users needed to be included. Glad to hear there are no problems so far!