@teknow
Off topic. Do you all have a community section for C4D users learning Blender?
There's this thread of course, of which you participated, but it's hard to ask questions on one single thread.
I still use C4D on my personal project but I did get to use Blender (when 2.80 was released) because one of my clients is moving/using to Blender.
So far, what I don't like about Blender is lack of "official" support. I tried asking if I donate, do I get an official support. And the answer is not really. It's probably on the higher tier donation.
Community support is fine but when you are in a production where you need response within 24 hours, support is really a must.
RE: Cycles
Indeed, this render engine is a real contender. Not as fast as Redshift (of course since RS is unbiased) but you get a high quality render with GPU power. And with RTX coming along, it is said to be 30-40% more faster.
RE: Cycles4D
The bummer with the C4D port is because there is no API for the nodes. And there is no details when and what specific features are going to be ported soon. My subscription is going to end soon and I don't see renewing with nothing to look forward.
RE: Octane FREE on Blender
Correct me if I'm wrong but Octane is Free on Single GPU hardware in Blender.