KeyShot
Real-time ray tracing and rendering software for product visualisation. Traditionally CPU-based — render speed scales with core count — with GPU mode on NVIDIA RTX cards delivering major speedups.
- What It Is
- Key Hardware Requirements
- Taught in Singapore Schools
- People Also Ask
KeyShot is the industry-standard real-time rendering application for product visualisation. Designers import CAD models — typically from Rhino or SolidWorks — apply materials and lighting, and produce photorealistic stills and animations for portfolios, marketing, and client presentations.
Category: Rendering / Product Visualisation | Developer: Luxion | Platform: Windows, macOS
- CPU: High core count. KeyShot’s classic CPU renderer scales almost linearly with cores — more cores, faster renders.
- GPU: GPU mode requires an NVIDIA RTX card (RTX hardware ray tracing). 8 GB+ VRAM recommended; the whole scene must fit in VRAM.
- RAM: 16 GB minimum, 32 GB for complex scenes with high-resolution textures.
- Storage: NVMe SSD for scene and texture loading.
KeyShot is part of the official curriculum at:
- Temasek Polytechnic — Diploma in Product Experience & Design (T35), School of Design. Students develop proficiency in KeyShot alongside Rhino CAD, Adobe Creative Suite, and Figma.
Rendering assignments at 2am before submission? An RTX GPU cuts KeyShot render times from hours to minutes compared to a laptop CPU.
Is KeyShot CPU or GPU based?
Both. The classic renderer is CPU-only and scales with core count. GPU mode runs on NVIDIA RTX cards and is typically several times faster — but only if the scene fits in VRAM. AMD GPUs are not supported for GPU rendering.
What PC should a design student get for KeyShot?
A 6–8 core CPU, 16–32 GB RAM, and a used NVIDIA RTX card with 8–12 GB VRAM (e.g. RTX 3060 12GB) gives fast GPU rendering at a student-friendly price and also covers Rhino modelling.
We build and sell tested desktops with multi-core CPUs and RTX GPUs for fast rendering.
