Rendering Workshop - Studio Lighting

We've been running a series of Rendering Workshops over on SketchUcation.

This week's workshop - on lighting a still life in a studio setting - is a big hit.

They are achieving good effects using HDRi lighting. Some renderers, such as Podium, just can't to it. Some others can do it, but have to jump through a few hoops. For IRender nXt this is the default one-click rendering mode - so it is much easier.

Take a look: Rendering Workshop

Automatic Web Page Translation

Google has created a new device which turns on automatic page translation for a web site.

Select a language at the top of the page and the page will automatically be translated.

Once you select a language it is remembered for the rest of the web pages on the site.

These translations aren't perfect, but they are getting better and better. We use Google Translate all the time when helping clients who don't speak English well. They can be very helpful, and should make it easier for people looking at our web site from around the world.

Rendering Tip - Use Camera Lights

By using lights attached to the camera, you can:

• Add illumination which moves with the camera.
• Make it easy to render several views of a model without having to add additional lights for each view.
• Insure that the objects you are focusing on are well illuminated.

Scene rendered with lights attached to the camera.

It is often very difficult to place enough lights in your drawing to be fully realistic. Ambient light settings help with this, but often produce a flat effect. By placing movable lights, attached to the camera you can add effective illumination and highlighting which will be used for all views.

These can be multiple lights attached to the camera - but they can be offset as far as desired - left and right, up and down.

Read more: Camera Lights

Panoramic Images

We are adding a feature to nXtRender and IRender nXt to create Panoramic images.

Here is an image created from a SketchUp model provided by Boothy



Note: for this image a single camera is used and it is swept through 360 degrees'
We used an external program to convert the image to a flash movie.


Here is a link to the panorama: Panorama

Rendering Workshop - Model Cars

We started a new rendering workshop on SketchUcation.

Take a look and add some of your own rendering ideas as well.

Rendering Tip - Use 2 pt Perspectives

Due to the type of default perspective that SketchUp use, sometimes buildings can become distorted. Using two point perspective can correct these types of distortions.

Two point perspective, sometimes called ‘2D’ in SketchUp, will keep the vertical lines of your model parallel to each other.

If your rendering software supports 2 pt perspective, use it for better renderings when ever you are looking up or down on models with vertical lines.
 

SketchUp image in 2 Pt Perspective. Vertical lines are vertical.

SketchUp image in normal perspective. Vertical lines angle out.

Read More

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Use reflective surfaces for better detail

When making your first renderings you will probably think of adding mirrors and lights, but you may ignore the value of adding reflective properties to other surfaces.

A reflective floor can make the difference between a flat image and a realistic look image. The same is true of metal, wood, plastic and other surfaces... Read more...

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