You've been duped.  We all have.  We pick the expensive product figuring "It's got to be better."  There's hard evidence according to economists and other scientific studies that expensive wines actually...

taste worse!  However, it is BECAUSE we have paid the higher price that we will make ourselves actually BELIEVE it tastes better. 

But can we stay rational enough to think critically about the facts?

So, isn't this the case with most products? Is it true also, say, for render engine software?

Is a render engine that costs $200 twice as good as one that costs $100?  And if it costs $800, it's got to be 8x as good... right? Right? Right? Yeah, right.

It's fairly easy to tell the quality of the product when looking at render engines, simply:

Ignore the "buy" page and jump straight to the galleries and features pages.

Now each engine will have a few artists that are exceptional, and a few that are ~ehem~ not so exceptional.  So, it's important to "ignore" the best of the best and the worst of the worst images you see done by any engine's users.

When you look at the images, here are some things to consider:

Are the majority of the "average" images in the $800 render engine gallery actually 8x better than the "average" images in the $100 gallery?  Are the $200 engine's images actually twice as good?

When you look at the features, here are some things to consider:

Are the features offered by the $800 engine actually 8x better than the features offered by the $100 engine?  (For that price you could buy yourself a new computer AND Twilight Render) In fact, are they better at all?  Can they really render animated objects (opening doors of a building) and fly-thru cameras all without leaving SketchUp as easily and as well as Twilight can? (It is doubtful.)  Do they have an option to render in unbiased mode or biased mode, allowing you to render amazingly large and complex scenes in unbiased mode then switch to render quick animations with biased mode all right from SketchUp? (again, doubtful.)

Are you even in need now or in the future of the features offered by the render engine?  Is it offering things you will never need or use like displacement, particles, or fur?  Why pay for something you will likely never need?  Are you just paying to make the "wine" taste better?

Or is the OPPOSITE true?  Are they over-simplifying things so that later, when you've developed your skills, are you going to be "stuck" with limited materials or lighting options?  Can you add a custom specular or bump map to your materials in the future when you are ready? Can it use procedural materials to create effects like irridium metals? Can you light your scene with an HDR, spots, point lights, projector lights, IES lights, light emitting materials, and the physical sun and sky that changes depending on the time of day? (Twilight can do all this and more for less than $100.)

Wouldn't it be wise, knowing that science is on your side, to buy the lower priced "wine" and see if you like it first?

What are people around the world saying who bought Twilight Render for only $99? (Student price for much less!)  Are they disappointed?

"First of all I want to shout THANK YOU to everyone who gave life to Twilight - this software is pretty much what I had in mind for rendering inside SketchUp, I am amazed!"

~Shura, Stage and club lighting designer, Germany

"I'm a very happy customer indeed!"

Jerome Zaavy, Furniture Designer, Quebec, Canada

"I really enjoy the Twilight material editor and especially the templates, they make the job faster and tweaking them after applying gives good results for my custom made textures." 

~Unclebim, Architectural Designer

"Brilliant - saves a lot of time! Really enjoying the product."

~AndyW

"It really has made my design procedure more enjoyable having some control over the final look."

~sainty

"I searched high and low and TwilightRender was the only plug-in I could find that renders photorealistic animations, so thank you for developing this product and keeping the price nice! I've got some ideas of animations that I want to do, and this software really makes it easy."

~Mary, Graphic and Web designer

"Great product by the way, coming from blender/yafaray I'm really enjoying SketchUp+Twilight"

~pdwyer

"I have a lot to learn about lighting and texturing but Twilight is really easy to use and I'm enjoying my self paced training."

~NVizion

"I am using SU8 with Twilight and have really been enjoying it."

~JHArch