I know this topic has probably been covered before, but I feel the company may be missing out a huge opportunity.
As a standalone rendering platform, Keyshot doesn't come cheap at $1000 for stills, and $2000 for animations and more advanced functions. There is an educational version, but this is for registered students only, and even the trial has a very short window of use at only 14 days. This leaves just Keyshot for ZBrush as an affordable route, but it is also contingent on people having at least some experience with ZBrush to use it.
What I propose, therefore, is a solution that gives users a taste of Keyshot, but with the following restrictions:
- Save still renders - confined to 1280x720 resolution with small, blanketed watermark over whole image
- Save animations - confined to 640x480, with a maximum running time of 30 seconds
- Render layers - confined to 4 (any type allowed)
- Limited Library - 120 Material presets, 10 HDRI presets and select Mold-Tech, Axalta and Sørensen content
- Ability to create and save new materials using library presets
- Keyshot directories locked to editing/import of content from other versions
- Ability to import content from other applications, but not export meshes/textures
- Scripting, interactive elements and NURBS/Deformation rendering disabled
This would allow users to learn the bulk of Keyshot's core functionality, whilst preventing more advanced features from being accessible without upgrading to a commercial version. Scenes and materials created in the PLE would also continue to function after the upgrade, offering the ability to convert them for commercial use.