HELP PLZ on good render

[reflexion]

I am currently working as a floor plan designer for store layout company and I will eventually need to produce quality 3d images.

 

I am using autocad architect 2008 to build my plans.

 

What I wanted to do is to build (or take available textures), apply to every project I start and be able to simply hit the render key if I want to produce a quality 3d image. I know I could export the design to 3ds, make really good textures, use vray and end up with an awesome Image, but this is not what I need.

 

I need something really quick that doesn't need adjustments for lights, etc.

 

I've tried to find good tutorial on how to use autocad architecture the right way, but I was not able to find any good. I am still pretty new to autocad materials, and it seems that it is way more complicated in architecture 2008.

 

If someone could please help me on how to setup things in autocad or suggest me something else, it would be really appreciated.

 

 

Thank you

[reflexion]

I thought this forum was more... active

[reflexion]

help please?

[BrianKitts]

what you are asking for is not really possible, it isn't as simple as you ask it to be, which is why you aren't getting any response....

 

the forum tends to work better when you give something a try and post it for critique, then people will be more likely to give tips, criticism and suggestion on methods of how to improve what you have.

 

If you show you've invested thought into it already you'll be rewarded whereas most people won't tell you how to do everything from scratch, and there is no such thing as "just hitting render" every render takes setup, adjustment, and an artistic eye to compose a good render. If it was as easy as you make it sound, we'd all be out of jobs

[notamondayfan]

ive seen good results with just about every renderer ever made, so maybe you should be more specific. do you have a budget? any previous experience? what resources do you have? how much time do you have?

 

you also say you want good quality images, but then also state " I could export the design to 3ds, make really good textures, use vray and end up with an awesome Image, but this is not what I need." which seems contradictory.

[reflexion]

Thank you for the response!

 

ok. I think I did not made me clear. Maybe an exemple of the kind of render I would want would make me more clear : http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/25471-3d-floor-plans.html

 

The job alfienoakes did is very good. If you only take his walls and a basic grey ground polygon with some shadows on it, this is what I am aiming for. This is only 3d floor plans, seen from the top.

 

In the next days, Ill be posting back the exact result I would like to have.

 

I am experienced with lightwave, 3ds max and vue, but I find them way to complicated for what I want to do.

 

I would want to keep it in autocad, because I believe it is faster this way because I could have prebuilt textures for my walls, windows and doors.

 

I cannot show you the work Ive done so far cause I am at the job, but as soon as I get the time, ill post back.

 

thank you!

[AJLynn]

Well, okay, if I'm reading you correctly, it sounds like you want to standardize your process so that anything you do is renderable, but it doesn't have to be particularly good. It sounds like you're working in an environment where speed and predictability are more important than quality.

 

You have ADT08, which is good. You can define your own styles for your ADT object, so they have materials of your choosing. And 08 has mental ray "lite" and can import lighting from... I think Erco and probably others. So you can have default settings, default materials applied to default smart walls, drop in a few lights or maybe an environment source and hit render.

 

I think going to Max and Vray would be overkill. Try learning those ADT functions first.

[reflexion]

WOW

 

Now were getting somewhere!!

 

This is exactly what I meant.

 

But now I need help on those features. I've looked on the net to find good tutorials, but I wasnt able to find any good.

 

Also, I think ill be able to post tomorrow or sunday a picture of the exact rendering I mean.

 

thank you again

[AJLynn]

Try the included documentation, books and of course there's professional training. But to get it to do exactly what yu want you'll be doing a lot of self teaching and experimenting.

[reflexion]

Im trying to learn why there is so much layers now.

 

What I would like is to have 1 layers for external walls, 1 layer for interior walls, 1 for windows and 1 for doors.

 

Then I would apply the same material per layer.

 

But it seems that their is multiple layers cause they all depends on another. Am I right?

[AJLynn]

Yeah, ADT uses a lot of layers. Wish I knew this well enough to tell you exactly how to do it, but I don't.

[reflexion]

Im doing some tutorials right now, but I was wondering what is the difference between architech 2008 and revit suite?

[AJLynn]

Totally different programs. Autocad Architecture, AKA Architectural Desktop, is Autocad plus stuff. Revit is a BIM-based program originally developed by a competing company that Autodesk bought. You can use either one as your cad package, or use Revit with Autocad, and get to the same place in the end, but the processes are very different.

[reflexion]

ha, ok.

 

Im looking for a tutorial for autocad architechture cause I would like to know what is the "good" way to design (how to manage layers and textures).

 

thank you

[reflexion]

I did my first test render.

 

With 2 light setup and custom material, I ended up with this:

 

And I have observations:

 

1 - I would prefer that light bounces on objects and creates more realistic render like the first image i showed.

2- My shadows are too defined

3- I would need a "floor"

 

help?

 

suggestions?

[AJLynn]

I don't have ADT08 here to look at how you'd do that, but going from what I know from mental ray the areas you should be studying are the settings on the lights (look for soft shadows and/or area shadows) to get the shadow line soft, global illumination (GI) and final gather (FG) for the bounced light, and as for the floor, well, whatever you want to put in there - put something in the ADT model, Photoshop it in or have the background be white.

[reflexion]

im looking at this right now,

thanks for the info

 

Edit:

 

this is my render #2, with global I and FG, it seems like the deign is more realistic, but it didnt made a big difference I think.

And for the shadows, I tryed to put it to soft, and it didnt helped.

 

 

Ill work on it tommorrow.

[AJLynn]

You can't just turn those options on and get a good render automatically - you need to read up on the options and settings they have.

[reflexion]

of course!

 

and thats what Ill do tonight.

[reflexion]

following your advices, I ended with this:

 

 

wich is way better.

 

But my shadows are still too defined. I putted Soft (mapshadow), ill change it to the other option, see if it is better

 

I will now bring down my lights a little bit and start "building" my wall textures.

 

Suggestions?

[AJLynn]

It's improving. I think there may be too many lights. Can you use some sort of environment light or skydome, plus one or two lights to provide a simpler set of shadows and softer feel?

[reflexion]

i dont know how to setup a skydome in autocad...

 

and where should I put my 2 lights?

 

thanks

[AJLynn]

Okay, I've got ADT08 here now. Please do read all the documents and familiarize yourself with everything in the Visualization workspace. The sky environment is right there in the lights section on the right, with the date and time sliders and everything. As for the extra lights, try one representing the sun coming from a side, not in line with the camera, at whatever angle looks best for your current scene. Never mind that sunlight wouldn't shine through the floor plate above - that's a minor technicality. The other light is a "fill" and it's only necessary if you've still got areas too dark, it should be on the other side of the camera from the sun. Experiment a bit with colors - maybe the sun is (very) slightly yellow if there's a fill and the fill is slightly blue or pink.

[reflexion]

Thanks,

 

ill open the vizualisation workspace as soon as I get home.

 

Ill post up after

[reflexion]

It is with excitement that I now present you the GOAL of all this processing.

 

The image following is the EXACT result we are aiming for.

 

 

 

And all of this was rendered in autocad.

 

So how should I do it? IMO, there is no define light in this setup, but the light seems to come from everywhere...

 

tip? thanks