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AutoCAD and Photorealistic Rendering

July 30, 2009 By 21 Comments

white only

Rendering with AutoCAD? Why not. It can produce very nice result since 2007. Autodesk change the render engine with mental ray. It’s not exactly the same with mental ray in 3ds Max, but it is good enough.

Every image in this post is created with Revit, and rendered with AutoCAD. Isn’t Revit also has mental ray? Yes, and it’s good too. I created this model in Revit 2008, when Revit still use Accurender. Rendering it in AutoCAD, is a lot better than doing it in Revit before.

Let’s see more of my renderings.

This model below is from the getting started tutorial in Revit. I exported it to DWG, redefine all the materials, and render it. I only use sunlight, no other light is defined. The smooth shadow and indirect lights look very nice.

Let’s take a closer look. See the railing? The stainless steel material look realistic enough to me. The reflection on the door glass look nice too.

railing

This is another one.

render4fun

It can produce very nice photorealistic rendering. If you don’t have 3ds Max, don’t worry. Render your model with AutoCAD. Why not?

If you want to try it by yourself, you can try setting your sunlight in this tutorial. It is easy and produce quite nice rendering!

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Filed Under: AutoCAD 3D Tagged With: ,
About Edwin Prakoso

Edwin works as an Application Engineer in Jakarta, Indonesia. He has 4 years experience in building industry, then start to work for Autodesk reseller.
He is certified as Revit Architecture 2010 certified professional and CATIA V5 part design specialist. Currently he is involved as team leader for implementing SmarTeam as PDM in several companies.
You can reach him on twitter @cad_notes. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn. If you prefer email, reach him at edwin.prakoso@cad-notes.com.

  • Anonymous

    Kudos.

    Good work

  • Anonymous

    Kudos.

    Good work

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/17111411452875625308 Edwin Prakoso

    Thank you very much!
    I know a lot of people can do better than this with AutoCAD. It's not so difficult now :)

  • Edwin Prakoso

    Thank you very much!
    I know a lot of people can do better than this with AutoCAD. It's not so difficult now :)

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/06164678043771940132 kari_san

    Hi,

    I also like rendering in Autocad, it makes it a quicker process to do it in one program. I did find the whole process very time consuming to set up, but it's a lot better than just leaving the whole thing as hidden :)

  • kari_san

    Hi,

    I also like rendering in Autocad, it makes it a quicker process to do it in one program. I did find the whole process very time consuming to set up, but it's a lot better than just leaving the whole thing as hidden :)

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/17111411452875625308 Edwin Prakoso

    Hi Kari_san
    I agree. I like with what they are doing with AutoCAD (and other applications). Now we able to do many things in just one application. I hope they'll get better and better :)

  • Edwin Prakoso

    Hi Kari_san
    I agree. I like with what they are doing with AutoCAD (and other applications). Now we able to do many things in just one application. I hope they'll get better and better :)

  • eepusrinu

    good work

  • Anderson Canteiro

    Hi cold you show me the configurations of Render, i’m from brazil and i do 3D projects, i’d like a photorealistc images on final render
    thank’s

  • http://www.cad-notes.com EdwinPrakoso

    Hi Anderson. They are my old renderings and I have lost the files. The configuration is not that complex. I’ve just use the solar lighting, turn on the global illumination, turn on final gather… and pray for a good result :)

  • robbi baringbing

    saya seorang pengguna render dengan cad dan saya telah melakukannya dengan baik sekali dengan cad 2007. Kemudian saya beralih menggunakan cad 2008 dan berharap hasil render yang lebih baik, ternyata yang kemudian membuat saya kesal saya tidak pernah mendapatkan hasil render yang dengan baik seperti menggunakan cad 2007. apakah ada yang salah dengan program penginstalan sebab ada lighting yang tidak berfungsi yaitu distance light. Thanks atas info dan tipnya.

    robby

  • robbi baringbing

    i am one of the user of cad for rendering, and i’m good did it with cad 2007. But i have problem using with 2008. May be u can help with ur info or tip because there some item not fungsional properly in distance lighting.
    thanks.

    robby

    • http://cad-notes.com Edwin Prakoso

      Hi Robbi,
      If you able to do it in 2007 but not in 2008, there is a possibility that it was a bug. Have you tried to download the updates and patches?

  • rosemond

    hi ….
    i’m using autocad 2007 and i havnt realy understood the technique to get a good realistic rendered image please suggest what settings i need to do and if there is some supporting software i need to install to get a realistic image…Please advice!!!

    • http://cad-notes.com Edwin Prakoso

      Rosemond,
      I didn’t use any additional software to create the rendered image. I will try to write something about it later.

  • Nick

    Hello Edwin
    Thanks for showing your works.
    I wish I can master AutoCAD render like what you did.
    Take the example of the 2nd image. The landing looking out to the windows and see the trees outside.  Apart from Sun is on, do you also have “Sky Background and Illumination” on as well please?
    And do you actually have glass material inside the window frame?
    Thanks.

    • http://cad-notes.com Edwin Prakoso

      Hi Nick,

      I’m glad that you like it :) Yes, I had sky background and illumination on. The glass is actual glass material, in fact the tree is a real tree model.

  • Nick

    Hi Edwin
    Thanks for your swift reply.  Just wondering if the trees (exterior) scene is a JPEG image imported to the Background of the window.  Do you think it will work?  Will “Sky Background and Illumination” be forced ”Off”? 
    And as a matter of interest.  How long did each rendering take you?
    Thanks.

    • http://cad-notes.com Edwin Prakoso

      I think you can use JPEG image for trees and set transparency/cutout map using the same image. If you use that method, sky background and illumination will still work.
      You may want to check this one: http://cad-notes.com/2011/04/autocad-rendering-tip-using-cutouts-map-for-removing-materials/
      The rendering took about 3 hours, but it was a small resolution. Not for presentation, but for testing purpose only.

      • Nick

        Thanks very much.
        Have a good day.