Intro to 3D Design

OK, so now you have a model. The next step is to give it life. Again you can use Max or Viz, but I would suggest buying Accurender. It works inside of AutoCAD, and does so very seamlessly. Its biggest benefit is that it can create trees and plants, in the rendering without drawing them in the drawing as normal trees and plants where you see every leaf. However, when it renders, it creates the leaves, steams, bark and flowers and actually has them casting shadows onto the drawing. This gives it a real boost in the realism area. No other program can come close to doing this. You could use the renderer that comes with AutoCAD, but it is cumbersome when compared to other programs that are out there. I find that using it for anything other than basic studies is pointless and my time is better spent with Accurender. As an aside, plan on spending a day fixing the lights, colors, textures, etc in the view you are rendering. Before you render, consider what views you want. Do not draw in 3D anything that is not needed in the view or walkthrough. Use lots of low power lights, and adjust the ambient light down. Give yourself plenty of time for the machine to do the rendering. Plan ahead and figure out what media is this to be seen on. Either it will be seen only on the screen, or on paper, or on slide, or projection, or some combination. This will determine the amount of detail and the resolution for image. If you will be sending it out of house for plotting or slide creation, check with them for information on what file type and flavors to save as, media that they accept for transporting it, file sizes, etc. Color depth, DPI, resolution, size of picture are all-important. Also, consider how far away will this image be seen at. Send sample images to the printer or service bureau and see what they look like. Make sure that the colors that are on your screen match the colors you print out. Many times the colors that are on the screen will differ from what you see on paper, and the type of paper will play a big role in how the image looks too. Don't be surprised if you the better high gloss paper will cost as much as $5 per

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