In addition to hardware shading, which happens in real time on your computer display, there are three single processor types of renderer (raycast, raytrace, and hidden line) and two multi-processor types of renderer (powercast, and powertrace).
You can render a scene using any of these renderers either interactively within Alias, or to the Alias renderers from a UNIX command line. You can also test render a scene at a lower resolution.
When you render a scene, a stream of data is sent to the renderer.
The results of rendering are created in the appropriate folders of your local Alias environment, regardless of which renderer you use.
Raycasting produces smooth shaded renderings that include shadows. Raycasting is faster than raytracing, but does not produce reflections or refraction. (You can simulate reflections using reflection maps and simulate refraction using linear transparency.) Raycasting is often required for long animations to keep the total rendering time within a reasonable limit.
Raytracing produces smooth shaded renderings that include reflections, refraction, and shadows. It is the most realistic rendering possible, but much slower than raycasting.
Hidden line rendering produces a cartoon or sketch style rendering. Outlines for the objects are rendered in the shader color, and the objects are filled with white. Silhouettes of surfaces include the effect of any bump or displacement maps.
The PowerCaster and PowerTracer are multi-processor versions of the RayCaster and RayTracer. By using the PowerCaster or PowerTracer you can render a scene using a select number of processors of a multi-processor computer.