Photorealism Rendering Challenge

For the latest KeyShot Studio rendering challenge, we want to see you master the use of physical lights. Show us transparent or textured materials and how they interact with different lighting scenarios.

The options are endless: scenes with textured glass glowing in the late afternoon light, shimmering caustics caused by refraction, scene lights that create brilliant shadows and highlights – we’re excited to see what you come up with. The combination of materials and illumination can turn a scene into a story.

Be sure to check out KeyShot 2025’s new Planar Lights!

Tinker with the new features while editing your Area, IES, and Spotlights, and don’t forget to look at the new light positioning feature that lets you quickly adjust individual lights to the left, right, top, bottom, front, or back of your scene for instant setup.

Need a scene to get started? Titan Automatic has provided a complete KeyShot Studio scene with lighting and materials. Download to see how it’s set up or customize to make it your own.

Download the sample scene

Important information

Use Physical Lights (light materials applied onto objects and planes) instead of HDRI Environment Lights. The scene must make use of at least two Physical Lights.
If you’re a current KeyShot user, update to KeyShot Studio 2025.1 to participate.
New to KeyShot? Get a free trial of KeyShot 2025.1 to participate! Use “KSYDTITAN25″ to activate a special 7-day trial with full features to participate.

How to participate

Download the sample scene or the .OBJ model. Or, use your own model/scene.
Share the design (3 total KeyShot renderings or 1 ten-second video) to your Instagram account with #keyshotphotoreal2025 and tag @yankodesign_official and @keyshot3d.
Submit your Instagram links (you can share multiple entries till the challenge ends) at designchallenge@yankodesign.com by April 28th, 11:59 PM PST.
NOTE: Only the entry links shared to the email address will be considered.
Shortlisted entries will be asked to submit their KeyShot files before being awarded prizes.

Judging criteria

Understanding of brief: Did the designer effectively explore and use physical lights in KeyShot? Did they demonstrate an excellent understanding of lighting?
Photorealism: Quality of output, detailed environment, material use, camera presets, etc. Did the designer create a truly photorealistic render? Can it fool people into thinking it’s a photograph?
Creativity: Overall creativity of the submission. Did the designer think out of the box? Did the designer do something different to wow us?