One may think that AutoCAD and 3D and rendering are not a good combination. 3DS Max is the poster child for rendering and rightly so, but what if you do not have access to 3DS Max and AutoCAD 3D is your only option.
Recently Autodesk included some easy settings for rendering and lights. If you have attempted to create lights and have either achieved a render that is too dark (you cant see anything ) or it is too bright (you still can’t see anything) AutoCAD and the render presets will definitely help out.
Firstly lets look at the render that issue, being too dark or too light. On the Visualize tab select the Render drop down arrow and click on Environment and Exposure.
Here you will open the Environment panel. This allows you to select an Image Based Lighting or IBL environment. It is essentially a panoramic picture which takes the light that the colour is based on and illuminates the scene.
What you will also notice is that it can display that image so that you get a good idea pf where your building or product is placed.
You are able to select the following IBL’s and will also notice that it is a watered down list of what you would find in Autodesk Inventor.
If you find that the building or product is not facing the correct direction, you can rotate the environment. You are also able to increase and decrease the Exposure as well as the White Balance.
If you are using the IBL environment’s then you do not have to worry about local lights. The next step after this to render would be to click on render, the quality being whether you select coffee, lunchtime or over night. Yes there are even presets for how long you would like to render incorporated into your AutoCAD.
