Rendering With AutoCAD Using NXtRender - Albert Hart

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Rendering with AutoCAD using nXtRender Copyright 2013 - Render Plus Systems

Title Page

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Title Page

Table of Contents Chapter 1 - Getting Started 1.1 - R e nde ring O ve rvie w 1.2 - Download and Installation 1.3 - Lice nsing

Chapter 2 - Tutorials and Videos 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6

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R e nde ring with AutoC AD Installation Vide o Lighting Basics Tutorial Inte rior Lights Tutorial nXtR e nde r Basic Mate rials Tutorial Multipass re nde ring Vide o

Chapter 3 - The Basics 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7

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R e nde ring Tone Mapping C olor Maps Adding and assigning m ate rials Lighting Adding lights W ork ing with Plants

Chapter 4 - Beyond the Basics 4.1 - W ork ing with te x ture s 4.2 - W ork ing with de cals 4.3 - W ork ing with R e fle ction Shade rs 4.4 - Adding indire ct lighting to an e x te rior re nde ring 4.5 - C om bining daylighting and artificial lighting for an inte rior re nde ring 4.6 - W ork ing with HDR Is 4.7 - Lighting C hanne ls 4.8 - Using IES (photom e tric) lights 4.9 - R e nde ring Engine s 4.10 - C ontrolling te sse lation-- sm oothing curve d obje cts 4.11 - Using Archvision R PC with nXtR e nde r 4.12 - Using Te x ture d Me sh File s (3DS or O BJ) with nXtR e nde r

Chapter 5 - Lighting Palette 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5

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The The The The The

Sun Tab Sk y Tab Lights Tab Back grounds Tab Advance d Lighting tab

Chapter 6 - Materials Palette 6.1 - Mate rials Tab 6.2 - Advance d Mate rial Editor 6.3 - The Mate rial Tre e

Chapter 7 - Other Palettes 7.1 - R e nde r Se ttings 7.2 - O bje ct Prope rtie s 7.3 - The Advance d O bje ct Prope rtie s Tab

Chapter 8 - Walkabout and Animation 8.1 - W alk About 8.2 - 3D slide show anim ations

Chapter 9 - nXtRender Add-ons 9.1 - Back ground W izard 9.2 - Laye r Mate rial Sche m e s 9.3 - R e nde r R e ady Block s

Chapter 10 - Other Advanced Topics 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 10.8

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Using Burn Im age Editor Batch re nde ring R e nde r Farm C onve rting Le gacy AR 3/AR 4 Mate rial Librarie s Using Le gacy AR 3/AR 4 Plants Volum e tric Fog Sub-surface Scatte ring

Chapter 11 - Troubleshooting - 3 -

Title Page

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r 11.1 - R e nde ring has som e bright spots or "spe ck le " artifacts 11.2 - Mate rials assigne d by laye r are not appe aring in the re nde ring 11.3 - C rash occurs on 32-bit syste m (hi-re s or com ple x m ode l)

Chapter 12 - Miscellaneous 12.1 - Te chnical Spe cifications 12.2 - nXtR e nde r Platform s 12.3 - C ontact Inform ation

Index

Title Page

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Chapter 1 - Getting Started

nXtRender Getting Started Ge t starte d with an ove rvie w of R e nde ring, Installation, Lice nsing and som e vide o tutorials.

Sala 020612 by Jorge Javie r Lara Dom inque z

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C hapte r 1 - Ge tting Starte d

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

nXtRender Rendering Overview nXtR e nde r cre ate s stunning life -lik e im age s from AutoC AD m ode ls. nXtR e nde r use s R ay Tracing and photom e tric re nde ring te chnologie s from inside AutoC AD to cre ate high-quality photo-re alistic im age s from 3D Mode ls.

R e nde ring by Surya Murali using nXt Engine W ith nXtR e nde r, cre ating pre se ntation quality im age s from AutoC AD m ode ls is e asy. Sim ply add m ate rials, lights, sun, sk y and the n re nde r the m ode l.

General Features Easy to use , work s se am le ssly inside AutoC AD, and provide s a host of fe ature s that spe e d and sim plify im age re nde ring. Use s both raytracing and Indire ct Lighting to cre ate sophisticate d single -fram e im age s and anim ations. Autom atically calculate s indire ct light, hard and soft shadows, color ble e ding, re fle ctions, transluce ncy, transpare ncy, re fraction, highlight, de pth of fie ld, and de pth atte nuation. Supports m ultiproce ssors and back ground proce ssing. Include s m athe m atically ge ne rate d 3-D plants with se asonal variation, giving re alistic plants, shadows, and re fle ctions. W ork s inside AutoC AD. R e nde r change s to the m ode l im m e diate ly. You ne ve r ne e d to e x port or start ove r. Progre ssive -re fine m e nt re nde ring algorithm s with on-scre e n pre vie w. Save and re store plant, e x posure , sun and sk y, and e nvironm e nt se ttings. Graphical library browse rs for m ate rials and plants. R PC 3D O bje ct support. Post-proce ssing for quick adjustm e nt of brightne ss, Lighting C hanne ls, fog, glare , and de pth of fie ld.

R e nde ring O ve rvie w - 1.1

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Download and Installation - 1.2

nXtRender for AutoCAD - Installation Download nXtR e nde r can be downloade d from : http://nx tre nde r.com /download/

Installation Afte r downloading nXtR e nde r for AutoC AD, run the installation. W he n you ne x t start AutoC AD, type in the com m and: nXt nXtRender Installation Video

W atch Vide o www.youtube .com /watch?v=BrU4H64AsEI In this Vide o, Danie l Hargre ave s of AccuStudio will show you how to download and install nXtR e nde r for re nde ring your AutoC AD drawings. nXtRender for AutoC AD is the re nde ring e ngine that allows you to e asily cre ate stunning, life -lik e im age s from your 3D m ode ls inside AutoC AD and AutoC AD Archite cture . nXtR e nde r provide s the highe st quality in AutoC AD visualization solution available today. Additional

FAQ nXtRender does not load I type nXt at the command prompt but nXtRender does not load. Instead AutoCAD produces the error message Unknown Command "nXt". Norm ally nXtR e nde r re giste rs its com m ands with AutoC AD during installation. O n occasion, this m e chanism m ay fail. In this case you will ne e d to m anually load nXtR e nde r the first tim e you run it in a particular ve rsion of AutoC AD. Use the following proce dure : 1. Type _appload at the com m and line . 2. Navigate to the folde r whe re nXtR e nde r was installe d. This is norm ally C :\Program File s\AccuR e nde r nXt. 3. Se le ct one of the following file s de pe nding on your platform : AccuR e nde r nXt.arx -O R - AccuR e nde r nXt64.arx (AutoC AD 2007 - 2009) AccuR e nde r nXt_18_.arx -O R - AccuR e nde r nXt_18_64.arx (AutoC AD 2010 - 2012) AccuR e nde r nXt_19_.arx -O R - AccuR e nde r nXt_19_64.arx (AutoC AD 2013 - 2015) 4. Pre ss Load C he ck the AutoC AD com m and line to ve rify that the application loade d without e rror. At this point you should be able to type nx t or ar5 to launch the application. You should not have to re pe at this proce dure again for this ve rsion of AutoC AD. Sim ply typing nx t or ar5 at the com m and prom pt should cause nXtR e nde r to load. You m ay ne e d to re pe at this proce dure if you - 7 -

Download and Installation - 1.2

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r install anothe r ve rsion of AutoC AD.

Download and Installation - 1.2

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Licensing - 1.3

nXtRender for AutoCAD - Licensing 30 day free Trial nXtR e nde r will run in full m ode (no wate rm ark s or lim itations) for 30 days. Afte r 30 days you will ne e d to purchase a lice nse from : http://nx tre nde r.com /purchase /

Licensing Start AutoC AD and type in nXt Use the se click to bring up the lice nse dialog:

Fill in the lice nsing inform ation and click "C he ck Lice nse and Validate "

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Lice nsing - 1.3

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

and fill out the form , e nte ring this lice nse code , com pany nam e e tc. C lick C he ck Lice nse and Validate to obtain an Authorization C ode for your com pute r, for this application. If, for som e re ason, you cannot use Validate O nline to ge t your Auth C ode : click R e port Proble m to e m ail the validation inform ation to us, and we will se nd you an Auth C ode by e m ail. (If you cannot se nd e m ails from this m achine , you can click C opy, copy the inform ation to the clipboard, paste it into a docum e nt, transfe r it to anothe r m achine and e m ail it to us)

Lice nsing - 1.3

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Chapter 2 - Tutorials and Videos

nXtRender Tutorials and Videos R e nde ring in AutoC AD

Installation Vide o

Lighting Basics Tutorial

Inte rior Lights Tutorial

Basic Mate rials Tutorial

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C hapte r 2 - Tutorials and Vide os

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Rendering with AutoCAD nXtRender Installation Video

W atch Vide o www.youtube .com /watch?v=BrU4H64AsEI In this vide o, Danie l shows you how re nde r your 3D m ode l using AutoC AD and the n how to ge t e ve n be tte r re sults using an inte grate d add-on re nde re r nXtR e nde r. nXtR e nde r (form ally calle d AccuR e nde r nXt) m ak e s it e asy to add lights, m ate rials, tre e s, back grounds, e tc. to ge t a profe ssional re nde ring re sult quick ly from your AutoC AD m ode l. Additional

R e nde ring with AutoC AD - 2.1

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Installation Video - 2.2

nXtRender Installation Video nXtRender Installation Video

W atch Vide o www.youtube .com /watch?v=BrU4H64AsEI In this Vide o, Danie l Hargre ave s of AccuStudio will show you how to download and install nXtR e nde r for re nde ring your AutoC AD drawings. nXtRender for AutoC AD is the re nde ring e ngine that allows you to e asily cre ate stunning, life -lik e im age s from your 3D m ode ls inside AutoC AD and AutoC AD Archite cture . nXtR e nde r provide s the highe st quality in AutoC AD visualization solution available today. Additional

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Installation Vide o - 2.2

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

nXtRender Lighting Basics Tutorial This Lighting Basics Tutorial will show you how to do basic lighting in nXtR e nde r.

Lighting Basics Video Lighting Basics Video

W atch Vide o www.youtube .com /watch?v=A-u0z0XKn9k In this Vide o, Danie l Hargre ave s of AccuStudio will show you how to use the lighting de faults to cre ate basic lighting conditions for nXtR e nde r while re nde ring your AutoC AD drawings. Lighting De faults m ak e it e asy to se t the lighting param e te rs for inte rior sce ne s, e x te rior sce ne s, or to chose studio for re nde ring of individual obje cts without having to k now a lot about the de tails of lighting se ttings Additional

Lighting Basics Tutorial Step 1 - Download Model Download m ode l from : AccuStudio Load the m ode l into AutoC AD and start nXt

Step 2 - Add a Ground Plane

Lighting Basics Tutorial - 2.3

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Lighting Basics Tutorial - 2.3 Go to the W idge t icon and se le ct Groundplane . You'll be able to put a plane unde r your m ode l.

Step 3 - Render with Studio Lighting C lick the double Down Arrow on the Lighting Tab to e x pand the tab. The re are 4 pre se t lighting choice s - Studio, Ex te rior, Daylight and Inte rior Lighting - se le ct Studio.

C lick the gre e n car to start the re nde ring. Le t it run for about 100 passe s. Notice the subtle shadows unde r the e ave s and on the ground.

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Lighting Basics Tutorial - 2.3

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Step 4 - Change the lighting to exterior This is a single source of light lik e the sun le ts you change azim uth and altitude . W e 're going to stay with the de fault. C lick the gre e n car and le t the re nde ring run for about fifty passe s.

W e will e x plore the othe r two se ttings - Inte rior Daylight and Inte rior Lighting - in anothe r Tutorial. The y work be st for inte rior sce ne s with inte rior lights.

Step 5 - Use Model colors Now le t's e x plore changing the m ode l to use m ode l colors and studio lights Go to the re nde r se tting, click on the double down arrow, scroll to the bottom and put a che ck m ark ne st to Use object color. Go back to lighting, m ak e sure studio lighting is se t, and click the gre e n car to be gin the re nde ring proce ss Inste ad of an all-white m ode l, nXtR e nde r has loade d laye r colors into the m ode l. It will tak e m ore passe s to ge t a good re nde ring with colors. Le t it run for about 200 passe s. Lighting Basics Tutorial - 2.3

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Lighting Basics Tutorial - 2.3

Notice that the back ground is in white . This is be cause the m ode l colors re spond to the lighting.

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Lighting Basics Tutorial - 2.3

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

nXtRender Interior Lights Tutorial This Tutorial will show you show you how to use the lighting de faults to cre ate basic lighting conditions for nXtR e nde r while re nde ring your AutoC AD drawings. Lighting De faults m ak e it e asy to se t the lighting param e te rs for inte rior sce ne s, e x te rior sce ne s, or to chose studio for re nde ring of individual obje cts without having to k now a lot about the de tails of lighting se ttings. Interior Lights Video

W atch Vide o www.youtube .com /watch?v=e fA5Z-sPGpg In this Vide o, Danie l will show you how to conve rt e x isting ge om e try in your m ode l to lights, and to place ne w lam ps into your m ode l using nXtR e nde r for AutoC AD. Additional

Interior Lights Tutorial Download Model Download m ode l from : AccuStudio Load the m ode l into AutoC AD and start nXt

Isolate Light Fixtures C hange your vie w, and turn off othe r laye rs to isolate the light obje cts. This will m ak e se le cting the lights m uch e asie r.

Inte rior Lights Tutorial - 2.4

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Interior Lights Tutorial - 2.4

Select and Name Light Objects The re are two m e thods for cre ating lights. O ne is to cre ate a light source and place it in the m ode l. The othe r is to se le ct an e x isting obje ct and give it light prope rtie s. First, se le ct an e x isting obje ct and give it a nam e in this case ce iling light.

C ontinue pick ing the lights and giving the m nam e s

Mark Objects as Lights O nce the y are all se le cte d and nam e d you can change the obje cts into lights by highlighting the m , right click ing, and se le cting Prope rtie s.

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Inte rior Lights Tutorial - 2.4

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

You can se t the wattage , or othe r prope rtie s as de sire d.

Render Scene with Lights Turn all of your laye rs back on. Se le ct the Inte rior Lighting De fault, and the n click on the gre e n car to be gin the re nde ring. A good re nde ring with lights can tak e m any passe s to com ple te .

Inte rior Lights Tutorial - 2.4

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Interior Lights Tutorial - 2.4

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Inte rior Lights Tutorial - 2.4

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

nXtRender Basic Materials Tutorial This tutorial will show you how to cre ate m ate rials and use m ate rials from librarie s using nXtR e nde r for AutoC AD. (form e rly AccuR e nde r nXt) C re ate a solid color m ate rial, cre ate a m ate rial with a te x ture , se le ct and place m ate rials from librarie s. Creating and using Materials Video

W atch Vide o www.youtube .com /watch?v=q0Dnl5Pnog4 In this Vide o, Danie l will show you how to cre ate m ate rials and use m ate rials from librarie s using nXtR e nde r for AutoC AD. C re ate a solid color m ate rial, cre ate a m ate rial with a te x ture , se le ct and place m ate rials from librarie s. Additional

Basic Materials Tutorial Download Model You can download sam ple m ode ls for this vide o from accustudio.com /work shop/m ode ls Load the m ode l into AutoC AD and launch nXtR e nde r (type nXt)

Materials Tab C lick the double down arrow for m ate rials and you'll se e the re 's a sm all toolbar. W e 're going to focus on the first fe w icons. You can e ithe r cre ate a ne w m ate rial, or load one from an e x isting source .

Create New Material C lick the down arrow ne x t to little purple sphe re the re se ve ral m ate rial choice s. Start with solid color.

nXtR e nde r Basic Mate rials Tutorial - 2.5

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nXtRender Basic Materials Tutorial - 2.5

This brings up the basic m ate rial dialog box

C lick on the gray or colore d square . This brings up the color whe e l.

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nXtR e nde r Basic Mate rials Tutorial - 2.5

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

C lick in the color box you'll se e that the m ate rial change s in re al tim e . So you have a ge ne ral ide a with a look lik e in your m ode l.

Create a Textured Material C lick on the te x ture d icon it brings up a dialog box e s se le ct a bitm ap.

Se t the Scale of the bitm ap.

nXtR e nde r Basic Mate rials Tutorial - 2.5

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nXtRender Basic Materials Tutorial - 2.5

The scale should re fle ct the re al world size that you ne e d for your bitm ap.

Set as Bump Map C lick the Advance d button to load the Advance d Mate rial Editor. C lick the Te x ture Tab. Se t the Bum p Map value to 2.5.

This will incre ase the 3D e ffe ct of the te x ture d m ate rial.

Use Saved or Library Material - 25 -

nXtR e nde r Basic Mate rials Tutorial - 2.5

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r C lick the Open icon to se le ct a m ate rie l from the disk .

You can download pre -m ade m ate rials from nXtR e nde r: www.accure nde r.com /page /m ate rial-librarie s or from AccuStudio. [www.accustudio.com /e x change /m ate rials Download som e m ate rials, and se le ct one from the disk . The re are two ways to place m ate rials with nXtR e nde r.

Drag and Drop a Material Drag a m ate rial from the m ate rial browse r to an obje ct in AutoC AD.

nXtR e nde r Basic Mate rials Tutorial - 2.5

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nXtRender Basic Materials Tutorial - 2.5

Hove r ove r the obje ct and choose place m e nt by laye r or by obje ct. Place m e nt by laye r will assign the m ate rial to all obje cts that are on the laye r.

Render Model Afte r you finish assigning the m ate rials, re nde r a vie w of te m ode l.

Le t it run for about fifte e n passe s with daylight pre se ts. If you happy with the m ate rials,the n re nde r any vie w you lik e .

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nXtR e nde r Basic Mate rials Tutorial - 2.5

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Multipass rendering Video Mutli Pass Rendering Technology Video

W atch Vide o www.youtube .com /watch?v=3o1oJv5l9Do This vide o, tak e n from a W e binar for the nXtR e nde r/IR e nde r/AccuR e nde r nXt Engine e x plains som e of the advantage s of m ulti-pass re nde ring. Multi Pass re nde ring le ts you quick ly se e what your re nde ring is going to look lik e – afte r the first fe w passe s – and the e ithe r change se ttings, or le t the re nde ring continue go ge t be tte r. In this vide o Scott Davidson shows you how m ulti-pass re nde ring work s for nXtR e nde r for AutoC AD, R e vit or Sk e tchUp.

Multipass re nde ring Vide o - 2.6

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Chapter 3 - The Basics

nXtRender The Basics Ge t Starte d with re nde ring, lights and m ate rials.

Apartam e nto e n Los Naranjos by Ale jandro Te sta

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C hapte r 3 - The Basics

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Rendering Starting and Stopping a Rendering C lick the R e nde r AutoC AD Vie wport button on the pale tte to initiate a re nde ring of the curre nt AutoC AD vie wport:

By de fault, the re nde ring proce ss will continue re fining the im age , pass by pass, until you te ll it to stop by pre ssing the Stop R e nde ring button. This allows you to m anage the trade -off be twe e n tim e and quality. The longe r you allow the re nde ring to continue , the m ore close ly it will re se m ble its fully-conve rge d or "corre ct" re sult. You can stop a re nde ring afte r se conds, m inute s, hours or days. It's e ntire ly up to you. Pre ssing the Pause R e nde ring button once will suspe nd the re nde ring afte r the curre nt pass is com ple te d. Pre ssing the sam e button again will cause the re nde ring to te rm inate as soon as possible . A suspe nde d re nde ring can pick up whe re it le ft off by using the C ontinue button. Pre ssing the C lose button on the window fram e im m e diate ly te rm inate s the re nde ring and close s the display. You can continue to work in AutoC AD while a re nde ring is active , by pre ssing the Minim ize button on the nXtR e nde r display. The display can be re store d at any tim e by pre ssing the Show C urre nt R e nde ring button, or by using the W indows Task bar.

Additional Notes nXtR e nde r produce s im age s by using re al world lum inance value s. The proce ss of conve rting lum inance value s to displayable pix e ls is calle d Tone Mapping . He re are som e sugge ste d num be r of passe s for a satisfactory re sult unde r a fe w diffe re nt sce narios (your actual re sults m ay vary): De fault e x te rior sce ne s, 10-15 passe s Ex te riors with indire ct lighting, 25-50 passe s Inte rior artificial light sim ulations, 25 passe s pe r se t of 8 lights Inte rior daylight sim ulations, 50-100 passe s Studio m ode ls, 10-15 passe s If you do not want your re nde ring to continue inde finite ly, you can use the Passe s se tting on the R e nde r Se ttings tab to se t an autom atic stopping point. A Passe s se tting of 0, the de fault, m e ans continue inde finite ly until m anual te rrm ination. An Autosave option is provide d in the R e nde r Se ttings tab to force nXtR e nde r to save your re nde ring pe riodically. This m ay re sult in usable work e ve n afte r a powe r outage has inte rrupte d the proce ss. Se e Saving your R e nde ring, be low. The status bar at the bottom of the nXtR e nde r display shows m ouse -ove r inform ation about e ach pix e l in the re nde ring, including the R GB value (lum inance ) and the re sulting color afte r tone -m apping.

Rendering Resolution Se t the re nde ring re solution in the R e nde r Se ttings tab of the nXtR e nde r pale tte . The Total Pix e ls option is an e asy way to m atch the AutoC AD vie wport e x actly. The de fault se tting of 300,000 pix e ls provide s a good se tting for doing proofs or im age s de stine d for the we b. 3,000,000 pix e ls or m ore m ay be re quire d for a final, printe d, im age . Proce ssing tim e and m e m ory usage are dire ctly (line arly) re late d to the total num be r of pix e ls in your re nde ring. The highe r the re solution, the longe r the re nde ring will tak e and the m ore m e m ory it will re quire .

Saving Your Rendering The Save R e nde ring button allows you to save your re nde ring to se ve ral diffe re nt im age form ats. You can save to m ost form ats while a re nde ring is in progre ss. The Alpha channe l ve rsions of the file form ats are m e ant to be use d for high-quality com positing. Back grounds will appe ar R e nde ring - 3.1

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Rendering - 3.1 black whe n the re nde ring is save d with Alpha channe l. The .hdr and .e x r form ats store lum inance data dire ctly in a High Dynam ic R ange form at. Non-lum inance back grounds, such as norm al photographs, will appe ar black whe n save d in one of the se form ats. The .nXtIm age form at is the native im age form at of the nXtR e nde r re nde ring. It is the re com m e nde d form at for storing your re nde rings, since it pre se rve s the m ost inform ation about your re nde ring. Im age s store d in this form at can be m anipulate d in the nXt Im age Editor and spe cial FX can be adde d. From this e ditor, you can save to m any popular standard form ats, including all of the form ats supporte d in nXtR e nde r. You can also save to Pirane si (.e px ) file form at.

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R e nde ring - 3.1

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

nXtRender Tone Mapping Tone mapping is the proce ss of conve rting the lum inance data use d by nXtR e nde r into displayable or printable R GB pix e ls. As you m ove your cursor ove r the nXtR e nde r R e nde ring scre e n, notice the num be rs on the status bar. The Value fie lds show the actual data in the nXtR e nde r im age for the R e d, Gre e n, and Blue sub-channe ls. The data is lum inance , in units of cande las pe r m e te r square d (cd/m ^2). The first thre e C olor fie lds show the re sulting R GB colors produce d afte r tone m apping, and displaye d in the im age . (The fourth C olor fie ld shows the Alpha, or transpare ncy channe l, which is use d for com posting.) The tone -m apping controls are locate d in the uppe r right corne r of the re nde r scre e n.

Brightness - The Brightne ss control is the m ost im portant. Adjusts the ove rall brightne ss. For e x am ple , if a white surface in your m ode l is re nde ring gray, you can incre ase the brightne ss until the surface appe ars white . O r, if your e x te rior sce ne se e m s ove re x pose d, you can de cre ase the brightne ss until the sce ne appe ars m ore corre ct. The de fault se tting is 100 — sm alle r num be rs produce dark e r im age s. For m ost re nde rings, sm all change s produce notice able e ffe cts. Burn - Burn change s the white point of the im age so that le ss than m ax brightne ss obje cts will m ap to white . Se e : Using Burn Saturation - C ontrols the am ount of color include d in the re nde ring. Slide it to the le ft to cre ate a gray im age .

Tone Mapping - 3.2

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Color Maps - 3.3

nXtRender Color Maps The Color' of e ach m ate rial is use d as the Base Color for re nde ring - m atte re fle ction and transpare ncy. Color Settings for a new Solid Color Material

RGB Color C om pute rs use R GB color value s to proje ct color onto the m onitor. Each pix e l on the m onitor can display a com bination of the se thre e colors to display the de sire d re sult. The sam e color de finitions are also use d for othe r outputs - such as printing. In nXtR e nde r we de scribe base colors using R GB, and the n the colors are m odifie d while re nde ring base d on lighting, re fle ctions from othe r surface s, e tc. C olors with te x ture s usually use the colors in the te x ture im age . Howe ve r the Base C olor can be ble nde d with the te x ture if de sire d.

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C olor Maps - 3.3

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Adding and assigning materials Material Basics Adding Materials to a Drawing Mate rials can be adde d to your drawing in m any ways. He re are a fe w: Creating a new material You can cre ate a ne w m ate rial by using the dropdown button on the Mate rials tab of the nXtR e nde r Pale tte . C hoose the appropriate te m plate for your m ate rial. The appropriate Mate rial Editor will be invok e d. This m ate rial is store d in the curre nt drawing only.

Load material from disk or library Using the Ge t Mate rial from File button on the Mate rials Tab, you can im port .nXtMate rial file s for use in the curre nt drawing. Many m ate rial file s are available for Download .

Drop material from Windows File Explorer You can drag and drop an .nXtMate rial file dire ctly from e x plore r into your AutoC AD drawing. Dropping a material from Windows File Explorer onto an object in AutoCAD:

Adding and assigning m ate rials - 3.4

- 34 -

Adding and assigning materials - 3.4

You are ask e d whe the r to assign the m ate rial by laye r or dire ctly to the obje ct, and also the m ate rial is adde d to the active m ate rial list in the nXtR e nde r control pane l.

Assigning Materials to Objects and Layers Mate rials can be assigne d to obje cts or laye rs in your drawing. If you use AutoC AD Archite cture (r) (form e rly Archite ctural De sk top(r) or ADT) you can also assign m ate rials to AEC com pone nts. There are many ways to assign a material to an object or layer. Here are a few: Drag and drop a m ate rial from the pale tte onto an obje ct. You will have the choice of assigning the m ate rial to the obje ct or two the obje ct's laye r. Se le ct the m ate rial in que stion and use the Attach Mate rial to O bje cts button. This m e thod allows you to assign m ate rials to individual face s of 3dsolids by using AutoC AD's sub-obje ct se le ction m e thods.

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Adding and assigning m ate rials - 3.4

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r Drag and drop a m ate rial from the pale tte onto a laye r in the Laye r list. Se le ct a m ate rial from the pale tte . Se le ct one or m ore laye rs from the laye r list. C lick the Attach Mate rial to Laye r button.

Drag and drop the m ate rial file from Ex plore r dire ctly onto an obje ct in your drawing. This m e thod allows you to add and assign a m ate rial in one ope ration. You will be prom pte d to choose the obje ct or the obje ct's laye r.

Assigning Materials to ACA Components nXtR e nde r m ate rials are just AutoC AD m ate rials with som e additional data attache d to the m . If you use A utoCA D A rchitecture (A CA ) you can attach an nXtRender material in the same way you would attach an A utoCA D native material. For e x am ple , using Style Manage r, you can attach an nXtR e nde r m ate rial to an AEC m ate rial using the following proce dure : Se le ct your m ate rial unde r Multi-Purpose O bje cts->Mate rial De finitions. O n the Display Pope rtie s tab, click the Edit Display Prope rtie s button. Use the R e nde r Mate rial popdown list to se le ct your nXtR e nde r m ate rial. The nXtR e nde r m ate rials will have a pre fix of "AccuR e nde r-" be fore the m ate rial nam e .

Adding and assigning m ate rials - 3.4

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Adding and assigning materials - 3.4

Video Tutorial Creating and using Materials Video

W atch Vide o www.youtube .com /watch?v=q0Dnl5Pnog4 In this Vide o, Danie l will show you how to cre ate m ate rials and use m ate rials from librarie s using nXtR e nde r for AutoC AD. C re ate a solid color m ate rial, cre ate a m ate rial with a te x ture , se le ct and place m ate rials from librarie s. Additional

Additional Notes - 37 -

Adding and assigning m ate rials - 3.4

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r Use the AutoC AD _PURGE com m and to de le te unwante d, unuse d m ate rials from your drawing. Mate rials in use cannot be de le te d. Mate rial assignm e nts by obje ct tak e pre ce de nce ove r m ate rial assignm e nts by laye r. Use the R e m ove Mate rial from O bje cts button to re m ove m ate rials assigne d by obje ct. To re m ove a m ate rial assigne d by laye r, se le ct the laye r(s) from the Laye r list and click R e m ove Mate rial from Laye rs

Adding and assigning m ate rials - 3.4

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Lighting - 3.5

nXtRender Lighting nXtR e nde r is de signe d to sim ulate re al-world lighting. Use the following guide line s whe n lighting your m ode l: Provide accurate inform ation whe ne ve r possible . Avoid using unre alistic inte nsity le ve ls for light source s. Se t the units corre ctly for your drawing by using the AutoC AD _UNITS com m and. The lighting will not be corre ct unle ss the units are corre ct. For e x am ple , if your drawing is in m illim e te rs, m ak e sure that m illim e te rs is spe cifie d. Adjust the ove rall brightne ss of your re nde ring by using the Brightne ss control on the re nde ring display. Do not attempt to adjust the overall scene brightness by changing the intensity of all of the light sources. nXtR e nde r's autom atic e x posure adjustm e nt will be work ing against you if you atte m pt to do this.

Lighting Presets nXtR e nde r provide s four lighting pre se ts which can he lp ge t you starte d whe n de ciding how to light your m ode l. The re are m any m ore lighting options available , but the pre se ts are ofte n sufficie nt for m any diffe re nt re nde rings. The Pre se ts popdown list is available on the Lighting tab of the nXtR e nde r pale tte . C hoose the Pre se t which m ost close ly re se m ble s your sce ne :

Studio m im ics the lighting which m ight be found in a photographe r's studio. It is m ost use ful for re nde ring sm all to m e dium size d obje cts in isolation. Exterior is use d for daylight sim ulations of archite ctural e x te riors. A sun and natural sk y are sim ulate d. Interior Daylight allows you to sim ulate an archite ctural inte rior during the day, lit by natural light. Interior Lighting provide s a sim ulation of an archite ctural inte rior at night, lit by artificial lum inaire s.

Studio The prim ary lighting is provide d by an high dynam ic range im age file (HDR I). The light from the HDR I has be e n artificially dim m e d, to re se m ble the inte rior lighting le ve ls of the studio. You can m odify the HDR I se ttings and file on the Sk y tab. You can add artificial lights to your sce ne using the Lights tab. The visible back ground in the Studio pre se t is black .

Exterior The sun and sk y se ttings can be m odifie d on the Sun tab. You can spe cify sun angle s dire ctly or you can use ge ographical location and date and tim e . The de fault visible back ground for this pre se t is the sim ulate d sk y.

Interior Daylight Use Inte rior Lights as we ll as sun and sk y for lighting. For an inte rior daylight sim ulation to work prope rly, you m ust use a transpare nt m ate rial to re pre se nt the glass in your windows. Sun and sk y se ttings are sim ilar to the Ex te rior pre se t. - 39 -

Lighting - 3.5

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r Also, you m ust add artificial lights to your m ode l. Se e : The Lights Tab

Interior Lighting Use Inte rior Lights only. For Inte rior Lighting to work prope rly, you m ust add artificial lights to your m ode l. Se e : The Lights Tab

Additional Notes on Presets Indire ct lighting, the lighting re fle cte d off of surface s, is on whe n one of the two inte rior pre se ts are se le cte d and off for studio and e x te rior. This type of lighting is a ve ry significant com pone nt of an inte rior sim ulation. For e x te riors and studio m ode ls the e ffe cts of indire ct lighting is m ore subtle . You can turn on indire ct lighting for e x te riors and studio m ode ls if you want this additional re alism (at a substantial pe rform ance cost.) Inte rior daylight m ode and e x te rior m ode do not have artificial lights e nable d. You can add artificial lights to the se pre se ts if you wish by following the proce dure he re . Night tim e re nde rings can be a little trick y. Se e this to ge t starte d.

Tutorials Se e : nXtR e nde r Lighting Basics Tutorial

Lighting - 3.5

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Adding lights - 3.6

Adding lights Adding Lights to Your Model

Use the following proce dure to add an artificial light to your drawing: Draw and position the obje ct which will se rve as your light source . O nce this obje ct is tagge d as a light source , it will e m it light in the patte rn you choose . Use the Ne w Light dropdown button on nXt's Lighting tab to se le ct a patte rn for your light. Four patte rns are available : //O m nidire ctional// distribute s light in all dire ctions e qually. The //Spot// patte rn provide s a be am which you can focus. //Diffuse // provide s an approx im ation of a re ce sse d light with a diffuse r or baffle s. The //Photom e tric// patte rn allows you to use a m anufacture r's .ie s goniom e try file to de scribe the distribution. W he n prom pte d se le ct your obje ct (the Photom e tric patte rn will first prom pt you for your .ie s file .) Provide a nam e for your light. Hit e nte r to acce pt de fault value s for the othe r prom pts.

Additional Notes: By de fault, all lights will dire ct the ir light straight down. De pe nding on your sce ne , you m ay ne e d to aim your light in a diffe re nt dire ction. Be fore you be gin the aim ing proce ss, it is ofte n e asie r to have a targe t obje ct to snap to. R ight click on the light in the list, and se le ct Aim < to aim your light. The diffe re nt patte rns will have diffe re nt prom pts to follow. To change the prope rtie s of your light, right click on the light in the list and se le ct Prope rtie s. C lick he re for additional inform ation on IES (Photom e tric) lights.

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Adding lights - 3.6

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Working with Plants Working with Plants nXtR e nde r include s a fun and powe rful plant ge ne rator which e fficie ntly ge ne rate s com ple x e ntourage obje cts during re nde ring. The se plants have little im pact on drawing size ; only a place -holde r is k e pt in AutoC AD. Two broad cate gorie s of plants are include d. Tre e -lik e plants (including shrubs and house plants) are distinct obje cts which are inse rte d in spe cific locations. In addition, an e x isting AutoC AD obje ct can be tagge d as groundcove r to m ak e it appe ar to sprout whe n re nde re d.

Creating Plants R un nXtPlantEditor64.e x e or nXtPlantEditor64.e x e from the nXt folde r in Program file s to load the Plant Editor

Tree Editor usage Plant Type Se t the type from the File/New m e nu at the top.

The re are four tre e type s - Standard, Conifer, Broad C rown, Palm and C om ple x (Do not use Groundcove r with R pTre e Mak e r).

W ork ing with Plants - 3.7

- 42 -

Working with Plants - 3.7

Each has diffe re nt se tting on the tabs of the tre e e ditor. Play with the various se ttings to se e what the y do.

Trunk Settings

- 43 -

W ork ing with Plants - 3.7

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

C hange the Param e te rs and se e the re sults at the le ft.

Foliage and Flowers [[Im age :Tre e -e ditor-foliage .jpg|500px ] You can click on the le af im age to se le ct a diffe re nt im age . Flowers/Fruit You can also add an im age to be use d as flowe rs or fruit

Leaf and Flower Images You can se le ct ne w le ave s, trunk , e tc. by click ing on the im age . You can also add your own le ave s and bark to the Plant Im age folde r and use the m for your custom tre e s.

W ork ing with Plants - 3.7

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Working with Plants - 3.7

RayTrace C lick 'Start' on the R ayTrace drop down m e nu to se e a sam ple re nde ring of the tre e with foliage . Use the m ouse and scroll-whe e l to on the im age to se t a ne w vie w be fore starting re nde ring if de sire d.

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W ork ing with Plants - 3.7

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Obtaining nXtRender Plants nXtR e nde r com e s with a full-fe ature d, e asy to use , Plant Editor which e nable s you to cre ate your own plants. The Plant Editor is locate d in the W indows Start m e nu, unde r the folde r nXt. The re are also se ve ral online source s for nXtR e nde r plants, including the Plant Library and Mixed-Content Library se ctions of the m ain nXtR e nde r we bsite : http://www.accure nde r.com /page /conte nt-and-e ntourage To Insert an nXtRender Plant: Se le ct W idge ts->Plants->Add... from the nXtR e nde r pale tte m e nu bar

Se le ct the .ArPlant file you want to inse rt Pick a Location for your plant in the drawing C ance l or pick additional Locations for additional instance s of the sam e plant To Tag an object as nXtRender Groundcover: Se le ct W idge ts->Plants->Add Groundcove r from the nXtR e nde r pale tte m e nu bar Se le ct the .ArGroundcove r file you want to inse rt Se le ct the obje ct to tag If you tag a 3D Solid obje ct as groundcove r, the groundcove r will tak e on a "topiary-lik e " appe arance . A dditional notes on nXtRender Plants

Mak e sure the units are se t corre ctly for your drawing. The AutoC AD _UNITS com m and or _INSUNITS syste m variable controls this. nXtR e nde r Plants can be scale d, copie d, and rotate d. W idge ts->Plants->R andom ize allows you to se le ct a group of plants and random ize the ir scale s and rotations W idge ts->Plants->Id te lls you the nam e of a pre viously inse rte d plant W idge ts->Plants->R e m ove Groundcove r allows you to "untag" an obje ct pre viously tagge d as groundcove r.

W ork ing with Plants - 3.7

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Chapter 4 - Beyond the Basics

nXtRender Beyond the Basics He lp in work ing with te x ture s, de cal, HDR I sk ie s, R PC obje cts, e tc

HDR i Sk y for illum ination and re fle ction.

Livingroom by Jan Ve rze le n

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C hapte r 4 - Be yond the Basics

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Working with textures Working With Textures Te x ture s allow the use r to m ap im age file s onto the surface of a m ate rial. The re are thre e ways to do this.

1. For a sim ple te x ture m apping, go to Mate rials → Ne w Mate rial → Te x ture d… You will be prom pte d to se le ct an im age to m ap to the surface of your m ate rial. If the im age doe s not tile we ll, you can se le ct Mirror Tile s to re m ove the se am s. 2. For a m ore sophisticate d te x ture d m ate rial, go to Mate rials → Ne w Mate rial → Te x ture Se t… This allows you to im port third-party te x ture m aps that contain inform ation such as displace m e nt, norm al, or bum p m aps. Displace m e nt m aps cause the m ate rial to have de pth, which com e s at a pe rform ance cost. For the appe arance of re lie f without this pe rform ance cost, use norm al or bum p m aps. 3. For advance d options, e ithe r click the Advance d… button in the Te x ture Se t dialog, or go to Mate rials → Ne w Mate rial → Advance d… and the n click on the Te x ture Maps tab. This inte rface allows you to control m ore de tails, such as the he ight of the displace m e nt m apping or which colors are m ask e d. It also allows you to add m aps and m anually se t the m ap type , e .g. Standard, or Displace m e nt. For m ore inform ation about advance d options, click he re . Non-tiling te x ture s can also be applie d dire ctly to obje cts, bypassing the m ate rial altoge the r, by using de cals. W ork ing W ith Te x ture s

W ork ing with te x ture s - 4.1

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Working with decals - 4.2

Working with decals Working with decals De cals are non-tiling im age m aps which you apply dire ctly to obje cts (inste ad of indire ctly via the obje ct's m ate rial.) De cals can be use d to re pre se nt a varie ty of visual phe nom e na, including a painting hung on the wall, labe ls on jars, printe d signs, im age s on m onitors, e tc.

Use the following steps to apply a decal to an object: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Ex pand the O bje ct Prope rtie s tab on the nXt Pale tte Se le ct the obje ct R ight-click on the De cals list and se le ct Ne w Se le ct e ithe r Planar or C ylindrical De cal as appropriate Follow the prom pts at the com m and line (m ak e sure to Acce pt the de cal by pre ssing Ente r whe n finishe d)

The de cal will appe ar in the list anytim e the obje ct is se le cte d. To remove a decal from an object: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Ex pand the O bje ct Prope rtie s tab on the nXt Pale tte Se le ct the obje ct R ight click on the de cal you wish to re m ove Se le ct R e m ove

The de cal will no longe r appe ar in the list whe n the obje ct is se le cte d To reposition an existing decal: 1. Ex pand the O bje ct Prope rtie s tab on the nXt Pale tte 2. Se le ct the obje ct - 49 -

W ork ing with de cals - 4.2

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r 3. R ight click on the de cal you wish to re position 4. Se le ct Edit Position and O rie ntation 5. Follow the prom pts to re position (m ak e sure to Acce pt the de cal by pre ssing Ente r whe n finishe d) To change the surface properties of a decal: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Ex pand the O bje ct Prope rtie s tab on the nXt Pale tte Se le ct the obje ct R ight click on the de cal you wish to e dit Se le ct Prope rtie s…

The De cal Prope rtie s dialog box will appe ar allowing you to change m any of the surface prope rtie s of your de cal.

W ork ing with de cals - 4.2

- 50 -

Working with Reflection Shaders - 4.3

Working with Reflection Shaders Working with Reflection Shaders in the Advance d Mate rial Editor Shade rs allow you to change the algorithm use d by nXtR e nde r whe n it calculate s re fle ctions. The de fault (Balance d) shade r is the be st choice for m ost m ate rials. Howe ve r the re are tim e s whe n anothe r choice m ight offe r be tte r pe rform ance , conve rge faste r, or produce fe we r artifacts in the proce ss. Many of the shade rs de al spe cifically with how artificial light source s are re fle cte d in a m ate rial. The re are two fundam e ntal algorithm s use d by nXtR e nde r to calculate the se re fle ctions. The first is a "ray casting" algorithm and the se cond is a "highlight" algorithm . The se two algorithm s are m athe m atically e quivale nt and will e ve ntually produce ide ntical re sults.

R e fle ction Shade r choice s in nXtR e nde r are : Balanced. This is the de fault shade r and is the corre ct choice for m ost situations. nXtR e nde r autom atically balance s the two algorithm s base d on the Sharpne ss of the re fle ction. Glossy. This shade r incre ase s the blurrine ss of the re fle ction and pre ve nts ray-casting e ntire ly. No obje ct or light re fle ctions are calculate d. Use this shade r to incre ase pe rform ance and pre ve nt artifacts for m ate rials with ve ry blurry re fle ctions. Som e re fle ctive subtle ty m ay be lost. No Light Source Reflections. This shade r e x clude s ray-caste d re fle ctions of light source s. This is som e tim e s use ful in pre ve nting "spe ck le " artifacts if your m ate rial is blurry and your sce ne contains sm all, bright, light source s. No Light Source Reflections and No Highlights. This option e x clude s all re fle ctions of artificial light source s. O bje ct re fle ctions are still calculate d. No Highlights. O nly raycasting is use d to calculate re fle ctions of light source s. This shade r is use ful whe n light source s are large and the surface in que stion is not too blurry. In the se case s, the highlight calculation can tak e a long tim e to re solve . Monte Carlo. O nly raycasting is use d to calculate re fle ctions of light source s. The raycasting occurs in an initially ve ry noisy way, and gradually conve rge s to the corre ct solution. It is m ost use ful whe n the surface is not too blurry. Both conve rge nce and fram e rate m ay slow whe n using this option.

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W ork ing with R e fle ction Shade rs - 4.3

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

W ork ing with R e fle ction Shade rs - 4.3

- 52 -

Adding indirect lighting to an exterior rendering - 4.4

Adding indirect lighting to an exterior rendering A dding Indirect Lighting to an Exterior Rendering - using the e ffe ct of lighting re fle cte d from othe r surface s - can add som e subtle ty and re alism to your e x te rior re nde ring. In particular, the unde rside s of ove rhanging fe ature s such as e ave s or balconie s can be re nde re d m ore accurate ly whe n using indire ct lighting. This subtle ty, howe ve r, com e s at a substantial pe rform ance cost. More passe s will be re quire d to re solve the im age , and e ach pass will tak e longe r. Use the following ste ps to e nable indire ct lighting for your e x te rior re nde ring: 1. O n the Lighting tab, se le ct the Ex te rior pre se t. 2. C he ck Show Advance d Tab. 3. O n the Advance d Tab, change Indire ct from O ff to Ex te rior.

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Adding indire ct lighting to an e x te rior re nde ring - 4.4

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Combining daylighting and artificial lighting for an interior rendering By de fault, nXtR e nde r's Inte rior Daylight pre se t doe s not allow you to add artificial lights. To com bine both type s of lighting use the following ste ps: 1. Se le ct the Inte rior Daylight pre se t on the Lighting Tab. 2. C he ck Show Advance d Tab 3. O n the Advance d Tab, change Lights from O ff to O n. The Lights Tab will appe ar and allow you to add lights to your m ode l.

A dditional Notes: Use accurate value s for your lights, daylight se ttings, and window glass if possible . Be cause the sun and sk y are ve ry m uch brighte r than m ost lights, you m ay not se e a lot of e ffe ct from adding artificial lighting to your daylit sce ne . This is norm al. Avoid the te m ptation to artificially boost the powe r of your light source s. It is le gitim ate to turn the sun and sk y down som e what, as the se are base d on a cle ar, unim pe de d sk y. A m ulti-channe l re nde ring m ay he lp you ge t the picture you want, while still pre se rving accurate data.

C om bining daylighting and artificial lighting for an inte rior re nde ring - 4.5

- 54 -

Working with HDRIs - 4.6

Working with HDRIs High dynam ic range im age s (HDR Is) are 2D im age file s which contain a m uch broade r range of value s than what is norm ally found in a standard im age file , such as a .jpg or .png. W he n the se im age s are produce d using a sphe rical proje ction, the y can be use d to light m ode ls. If the value s containe d in the HDR are accurate , the n the lighting will be accurate . (Se e be low for m ore inform ation on units.) HDR Is can be use d in nXtR e nde r in m any diffe re nt ways. Two com m on use s for HDR I lighting are archite ctural (lighting a building e x te rior) and studio (lighting a product using HDR I for am bie nt):

Using an HDRI to Light an Architectural Exterior O n the Lighting Tab, se le ct the Ex te rior Pre se t. C he ck Show Advance d Tab. O n the Advance d Tab, turn the Sun O ff. O n the Advance d Tab, change the Sk y from Auto to HDR I At this point you can choose a spe cific HDR I using the Sk y Tab. This proce dure use s the HDR I as a visible back ground to your re nde ring. This m ay re quire a high-re solution HDR I to avoid pix e llation artifacts. HDRi sky used for visual background, illumination and reflection:

Using an HDRI to Simulate Studio Lighting O n the Lighting Tab, se le ct the Studio Pre se t. C hoose a spe cific HDR I using the Sk y Tab. This option use s a black back ground inste ad of visualizing the HDR I dire ctly. It also re duce s the inte nsity of the HDR I by a factor of 20X to sim ulate indoor lighting conditions. ---

Additional Notes nXtR e nde r assum e s that HDR Is contain radiance value s e x pre sse d in units of watts. All of the HDR Is available via our we bsite are built this way unle ss othe rwise note d. Howe ve r, this is ofte n not the case with HDR Is from othe r source s. The units in m any HDR Is are not calibrate d to re al-world units of any sort. The inte nsity of the se HDR Is m ay ne e d to be adjuste d in orde r to achie ve prope r illum ination le ve ls. Se e the se ction on calibration be low. - 55 -

W ork ing with HDR Is - 4.6

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r The re are m any diffe re nt ways to use HDR Is in nXt. In addition to the Sk y, a diffe re nt HDR I can be use d for e ach of the thre e back ground channe ls: Visible , R e fle cte d, and R e fracte d Back ground. Use the Back grounds Tab, C hanne l control to individually control e ach channe l.

Calibrating an HDRI sky C re ate a ne w m ode l in AutoC AD and load nXtR e nde r Se le ct the Ex te rior lighting pre se t O n the Advance d Tab, change the Sk y to HDR I O n the Sk y Tab se le ct your HDR I Start W alk About C hange the proje ction to Panoram a Pre ss re nde r and stop the re nde ring afte r one or two passe s. W hat you now have is a re nde ring of your e ntire HDR I. Move the cursor ove r the im age while obse rving the Value of e ach pix e l on the status line . The units are cd/m ^2. You can zoom in on the im age if re quire d to e x am ine sm alle r se ctions in m ore de tail. He re are som e guide line s to he lp you de te rm ine if the m ap ne e ds scaling: The ave rage value for a cle ar sk y is approx im ate ly 8000 cd/m ^2 The ave rage value for an ove rcast sk y is approx im ate ly 2000 cd/m ^2 The are a around the sun can be quite bright. Value s of 100000 cd/m ^2 or m ore are not unre asonable . The solar disk itse lf can be m uch brighte r than this. For night sce ne s, light source s the m se lve s are bright. Value s of 3000 to 5000 cd/m ^2 are not uncom m on for stre e tlam ps. The lum inance of the m oon is 2500 cd/m ^2. O the r obje cts should be quite dark . Value < 1 cd/m ^2 are com m on for obje cts lit only by e nvironm e ntal light. If you de cide that your HDR I would be ne fit from scaling, use the Inte nsity se tting on the Sk y tab to e nte r your scale factor. R e pe at the re nde ring above to validate your ne w se tting. Alte rnative ly, you can use Lighting C hanne ls to adjust the lighting m ore inte ractive ly.

W ork ing with HDR Is - 4.6

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Lighting Channels - 4.7

nXtRender Lighting Channels Lighting Channels allow you to adjust m any aspe cts of the lighting in your re nde re d im age in re al-tim e , afte r the re nde ring has be e n produce d. This is accom plishe d by allowing you to cre ate up to 8 lighting "channe ls" in the im age . Each light source in the drawing, including the sun and sk y, can be assigne d to a channe l. O nce this im age is re nde re d and save d, e ach channe l can be individually scale d in the Im age Editor . For e x am ple , using this capability, you can produce day and night inte riors with a single re nde ring. The following five ste ps are ne ce ssary to produce and m anipulate a m ulti-channe l im age : You m ust te ll nXtR e nde r how m any channe ls you want. Go to Lighting->Advance d->C hanne ls and se t the num be r de sire d from 1 to 8. Each additional channe l you add re quire s an additional 12 byte s pe r pix e l inte rnally. This is a lot of m e m ory, particularly for high re solution re nde rings. It m ay not be possible to com ple te your re nde ring on a 32 bit syste m .

You m ust turn on all of the participating lights. Lights which are off will not contribute to the im age and will not be scalable . Be cause you are re nde ring with m ore lights, it m ay tak e a little longe r. For e x am ple , to cre ate an inte rior im age which contains both natural and artificial lights:

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Lighting C hanne ls - 4.7

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r 1. Se le ct the Inte rior Daylight pre se t. 2. Se le ct Lighting->Advance d->Lights->O n You m ust te ll e ach light source which channe l it be longs to. By de fault, Sun and Sk y are se t to channe l 0, artificial lights to channe l 1. The re are controls for e ach light source , including sun and sk y. Valid channe ls are 0-7.

Lighting Channel Names Lighting C hanne l Nam e s m ak e it e asie r to k now which channe ls you are m odifying in the nXtIm age Editor. R ight click on a light, se le ct Prope rtie s, The type in a nam e , afte r, or inste ad of a channe l num be r.

Adjusting Lighting Channels Afte r re nde ring, you can m odify the inte nsity of lights in e ach channe l by click ing C hanne ls in the re nde ring window.

Lighting C hanne ls - 4.7

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Lighting Channels - 4.7

As you adjust the channe ls, the tone -ope rator will com pe nsate . All of the tone m apping controls and rule s still apply. For e x am ple , if you're trying to do a night and day e x te rior using the sam e re nde ring, you will alm ost ce rtainly ne e d to adjust the tone -op brightne ss down for the night tim e sce ne .

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Lighting C hanne ls - 4.7

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Using IES (photometric) lights IES files (.ie s) are photom e try file s which de fine the distribution of light from a light source . The se file s are ofte n provide d by lum inaire m anufacture rs. By using the IES file to de fine your distribution, rathe r than one of the standard distributions available (i.e . om ni-dire ctional, diffuse , spot), you can m ore accurate ly de pict your lum inaire . In addition, the IES file can also be use d to de fine the inte nsity of your lum inaire . Use the following ste ps to attach an IES file distribution to a light source : C re ate the light in the usual way. R ight click on the light in the list and se le ct Prope rtie s... from the m e nu C hange the Light Patte rn to Goniom e try File C lick the Browse ... button and se le ct the .ie s file . Norm ally you will want to use the file to de fine the inte nsity of the source as we ll. C lick the From File che ck box unde r Brightne ss to do this. A dditional Notes: The vast m ajority of IES file s are k nown as "Type C " goniom e try file s. The se are supporte d by nXt. Type A file s are occasionally use d by the autom obile industry to de fine he adlights, and type B file s are som e tim e s use d to de fine floodlighting. Type A and B are not supporte d in nXt. IES distributions alre ady include the e ffe cts of lum inaire e le m e nts such as baffle s, re fle ctors, and diffuse rs. It is im portant to e x clude the se e le m e nts from the calculation by prope rly tagging the non-source parts of your lum inaire . IES distributions are ofte n assym e trical, so the proce ss of aim ing the source include s not just a targe t, but a rotation angle as we ll.

Using IES (photom e tric) lights - 4.8

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Rendering Engines - 4.9

nXtRender Rendering Engines The re are thre e re nde ring e ngine s. - Pack e t Mode , the Path Trace r, and the Hybrid Engine . Pack e t Mode is the faste st for cre ating quick re nde rings. I doe s this by tak ing som e shortcuts on how light, re fle ction and transpare ncy are proce sse d. The othe r e ngine s use a m ore pre cise algorithm to proce ss the e nd re sult for e ach pix e l, but start out with a rough look ing im age for the first 100 or m ore passe s until the various calculations for adjace nt pix e ls start to conve rge .

Rendering Engines Packet Mode

Pack e t Mode afte r 68 passe s

The Packet Mode re nde ring e ngine provide s high quality re nde rings quick ly by approx im ating som e things light lighting and re fle ction using 'pack e ts'. Proce sse s pack e ts of rays. This produce s a ve ry good re nde ring in the shorte st tim e . The Pack e t Mode proce sse s pack e ts of rays, while the Path Trace r and Hybrid Engine proce ss individual light paths. Be cause of som e shortcuts, such as Daylight Portals, and othe r aspe cts of the re nde ring proce ss, Pack e t Mode cre ate a usable im age in fe we r passe s. Path Trace r ofte n re quire s m ore passe s be fore the im age ge ts sm ooth.

Path Tracer

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R e nde ring Engine s - 4.9

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Path Trace r afte r 1500 passe s. The Path Tracer proce sse s individual light paths This re quire s m ore passe s, but produce s be tte r re sults. The Path Tracer can provide a be tte r quality finishe d product for m any m ode ls (with a sim ple r se tup), but doe s so at the e x pe nse of a m ore com ple x and tim e -consum ing calculation. The Path Trace r be gins by displaying a ve ry grainy or "noisy" im age which gradually re fine s and be com e s sm ooth. This proce ss is k nown as conve rge nce . Som e sce ne s will conve rge ve ry quick ly, othe rs will tak e m any hours.

The Hybrid Engine

R e nde ring Engine s - 4.9

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Rendering Engines - 4.9

Hybrid Engine ate r 625 passe s. The Hybrid Engine is faste r pe r pass than the Path Trace r, and has spe cial proce ssing of C austics for transpare nt and re fle ctive surface s. This wate r sce ne was re nde re d for 625 passe s - nine hours - with the Hybrid Engine :

Rendering Speed In m any case s individual passe s in Path Trace r or the Hybrid Engine are faste r than Pack e t Mode , howe ve r the ove rall re nde ring proce ss m ay tak e longe r to com ple te , be cause you will ofte n ne e d m any, m any m ore passe s to achie ve a good re sult. As 16-core (or m ore ) proce ssors be com e available , the n it will m ak e m ore se nse to use a m any, m any pass re nde ring solution.

Additional Notes In ge ne ral, im age s re nde re d using the Path Trace r will tak e longe r to conve rge than im age s re nde re d using the Standard m e thod. Inte rior daylight sim ulations, particularly those sce ne s whe re the windows are re lative ly sm all, m ay tak e m uch longe r. O n the othe r hand, the Path Trace r is le ss se nsitive to instancing, plants, and displace m e nt m aps. Mode ls which re ly he avily on the se fe ature s m ay actually conve rge faste r using the Path Trace r. The standard Pack e t Trace r algorithm produce s a ve ry high-quality sim ulation. For m any m ode ls, the diffe re nce in quality be twe e n the Pack e t Trace r m e thod and the Path Trace r can be ve ry subtle , particularly if indire ct lighting is e nable d. The diffe re nce in quality m ay not be worth the e x tra proce ssing tim e . The Path Trace r is alm ost always e asie r to configure and se t up than the Pack e t Trace r m e thod. Advance d se ttings such as re fle ction shade rs, daylight portals, and am bie nt lighting, are not use d whe n the Path Trace r e ngine is se le cte d. C e rtain advance d e ffe cts, such as caustics or blurry transm ission, can be calculate d with be tte r accuracy using the Path Trace r.

Slower Convergence - 63 -

R e nde ring Engine s - 4.9

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r Be cause of som e shortcuts, such as Daylight Portals , and othe r aspe cts of the re nde ring proce ss, Packet Mode cre ate a usable im age in fe we r passe s. Path Tracer ofte n re quire s m ore passe s be fore the im age ge ts sm ooth. In m any case s individual passe s in Path Trace r are faste r, howe ve r the ove rall re nde ring proce ss m ay tak e longe r to com ple te .

R e nde ring Engine s - 4.9

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Controlling tesselation-- smoothing curved objects - 4.10

Controlling tesselation-- smoothing curved objects nXtR e nde r approx im ate s curve d solids with m e she s. You can control the de nsity of the se m e she s by using a com bination of AutoC AD's _FAC ETR ES syste m variable and the Tesselation se tting on nXtR e nde r's O bje ct Prope rtie s tab. The se two value s act toge the r. The product of the two de te rm ine the de nsity of the m e sh. Highe r value s produce de nse r m e she s. The se will appe ar sm oothe r, but will re quire m ore m e m ory and re nde ring tim e .

A dditional Notes _FAC ETR ES ope rate s globally and will affe ct all curve d obje cts in your drawing. The Te sse lation prope rty can be applie d to individual obje cts. The Te sse lation prope rty is use d by nXtR e nde r only and doe s not affe ct the AutoC AD display. nXtR e nde r doe s not re spond to _VIEW R ES e x ce pt for the W alk About display. Se e AutoC AD He lp for m ore inform ation on _FAC ETR ES and _VIEW R ES.

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C ontrolling te sse lation-- sm oothing curve d obje cts - 4.10

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Using Archvision RPC with nXtRender R PC s (®) are im age -base d "e ntourage " obje cts which can be inse rte d into your drawing and re nde re d. Popular R PC obje cts include pe ople , cars, and plants. Som e R PC s are 2D "cutout" obje cts which autom atically orie nt the m se lve s to a vie w. O the rs are 3D te x ture d m ode ls. R PC C ar re nde ring with nXtR e nde r

In orde r to use ArchVision R PC s in nXtR e nde r you m ust download and install the plugin for Autode sk AutoC AD / AutoC AD Archite cture from ArchVision's we bsite . Be sure to install the ve rsion of the plugin which m ost close ly corre sponds to your ve rsion of AutoC AD or AC A. The plugin provide s an inte rface within AutoC AD for downloading, inse rting, and e diting conte nt. A dditional Notes Always use the RPC's "Cast Reflections" switch when working in nXtRender. Shadows and re fle ctions will not be corre ct unle ss this switch is se t. A "post-proce ss" plugin is also available for Adobe Photoshop(r). Since R PC s are pre lit, be tte r re sults can ofte n be obtaine d by inse rting the m into finishe d re nde rings. Pirane si (®) also offe rs dire ct support for R PC s R PC s inse rte d into AutoC AD also work prope rly with the AutoC AD native _R ENDER com m and.

Using Archvision R PC with nXtR e nde r - 4.11

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Using Textured Mesh Files (3DS or OBJ) with nXtRender - 4.12

Using Textured Mesh Files (3DS or OBJ) with nXtRender nXtR e nde r allows you to im port m e she s with te x ture coordinate s we lde d to the ve rtice s. The se type s of m e she s are com m only use d for "e ntourage " obje cts, such as 3D pe ople or plants. Many diffe re nt software pack age s can cre ate the se m e she s, and m any re ady-m ade obje cts are available online . C urre nt file support include s .obj and .3ds. This feature is not available in AutoCAD 2007.

To Import a Textured Mesh Object: Mak e sure your m e sh file , its m ate rial library (if .obj), and any te x ture file s are locate d in the sam e folde r. From the W idge ts m e nu, se le ct Te x ture d Me sh O bje cts->Add... W he n prom pte d, pick a location for the obje cts. Your obje ct, its m ate rials, and its te x ture s will all be im porte d.

Additional Notes: AutoC AD m ay have trouble de aling with large m e she s. It is strongly sugge ste d that you se t _SELEC TIO NPR EVIEW to 0 whe n de aling with the se , since the se le ction pre vie w m e chanism doe s not work we ll with large m e she s. Most m e sh obje cts can be e x plode d once into individual m e she s. You m ay ne e d to scale the m e sh once inse rte d. The se m e she s are nXtR e nde r custom obje cts. Mak e sure nXtR e nde r is loade d whe n conve rting a drawing from 2010 form at to 2007 form at. The se will be prox y obje cts whe n nXtR e nde r is not pre se nt. A single grip and obje ct snap point is provide d. O snap re sponds to "inse rt" or "ne are st".

Te x ture d m e sh obje cts are store d as nXtR e nde r custom obe jcts. The y can be m ove d, scale d, copie d, de le te d-- but the y cannot be othe rwise e dite d and diffe re nt m ate rials cannot be assigne d to diffe re nt m e she s. Using the proce dure be low, you can conve rt this custom nXtR e nde r obje ct to one or m ore native AutoC AD "polyface " m e she s. If you do this, you will lose the ve rte x te x ture coordinate inform ation. This is ge ne rally not advise d for obje cts with com ple x te x ture m apping such as pe ople or plants. Howe ve r, it m ay be advantage ous to do this for othe r m ode ls, such as furniture . O nce conve rte d, you can use native AutoC AD e diting tools, m ate rials and m apping assignm e nts, e tc.. To Convert a Textured Mesh Object: From the W idge ts m e nu, se le ct Te x ture d Me sh O bje cts->C onve rt to AutoC AD Me sh < Se le ct the custom obje cts you would lik e to conve rt A dditional Notes: Me she s in AutoC AD are lim ite d to 65,535 ve rtice s. Any m e sh which e x ce e ds that lim itation will not survive the conve rsion proce ss. This is not a proble m with the 3ds form at, which share s the sam e lim itation, but m ay be a proble m for obj m e she s.

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Using Te x ture d Me sh File s (3DS or O BJ) with nXtR e nde r - 4.12

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

nXtRender Lighting Palette Use the Lighting Palette to e nte r inform ation about the sun, sk y or artificial lights.

Lighting e ffe cts the brightne ss and shading of obje cts in you m ode l, and is use d for highlight re fle ctions on shiny surface s.

Im age by k ingjin

C hapte r 5 - Lighting Pale tte

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The Sun Tab - 5.1

The Sun Tab The Sun tab contains the controls for alte ring the param e te rs of the autom atic sk y pre se t. The sun is a dire ctional light source infinite ly far from the m ode l. The controls for the sun spe cify its dire ction using sphe rical coordinate s. A zimuth is a m e asure of horizontal rotation clock wise from north. A ltitude is a m e asure of ve rtical rotation up and down, whe re ze ro is at the horizon. By che ck ing the Specify A ngles Directly box , the se value s can be input m anually. The othe r option is for nXtR e nde r to autom atically calculate the corre ct angle s base d on date , tim e , and location inform ation. O the r sk y se ttings in the Sun tab are : Cloudiness Sun Intensity Sun Highlight Sun Channel Sky Intensity Skylight Saturation Sky Channel

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The Sun Tab - 5.1

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

The Sky Tab The Sky Tab allows the use r to use a high dynam ic range im age (HDR I) for lighting. For m ore inform ation on how this is done , click he re : W ork ing with HDR Is The Sk y Tab only appe ars whe n Studio Lighting Pre se t is se le cte d. File :NXtR e nde r Sk y Tab.jpg 300px

HDRi Parameters Intensity Saturation - 0.0 for gre y scale , 1.0 for full color For inte rior sce ne s, se t to 0.0 so illum ination from windows is not colore d. Channel - Lighting for the C hanne l for the Sk y Blur A ngle

The Sk y Tab - 5.2

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The Lights Tab - 5.3

The Lights Tab

Use the following proce dure to add an artificial light to your drawing: Draw and position the obje ct which will se rve as your light source . O nce this obje ct is tagge d as a light source , it will e m it light in the patte rn you choose . Use the Ne w Light dropdown button on nXtR e nde r's Lighting tab to se le ct a patte rn for your light. Four patte rns are available : Omnidirectional distribute s light in all dire ctions e qually. The Spot patte rn provide s a be am which you can focus. Diffuse provide s an approx im ation of a re ce sse d light with a diffuse r or baffle s. The Photometric patte rn allows you to use a m anufacture r's .ie s goniom e try file to de scribe the distribution. W he n prom pte d se le ct your obje ct (the Photom e tric patte rn will first prom pt you for your .ie s file .) Provide a nam e for your light. Hit e nte r to acce pt de fault value s for the othe r prom pts.

Additional Notes: By de fault, all lights will dire ct the ir light straight down. De pe nding on your sce ne , you m ay ne e d to aim your light in a diffe re nt dire ction. Be fore you be gin the aim ing proce ss, it is ofte n e asie r to have a targe t obje ct to snap to. R ight click on the light in the list, and se le ct Aim < to aim your light. The diffe re nt patte rns will have diffe re nt prom pts to follow. To change the prope rtie s of your light, right click on the light in the list and se le ct Prope rtie s. C lick he re for additional inform ation on using IES (photom e tric) lights .

Video Tutorial Interior Lights Video

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The Lights Tab - 5.3

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r W atch Vide o www.youtube .com /watch?v=e fA5Z-sPGpg In this Vide o, Danie l will show you how to conve rt e x isting ge om e try in your m ode l to lights, and to place ne w lam ps into your m ode l using nXtR e nde r for AutoC AD. Additional

The Lights Tab - 5.3

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The Backgrounds Tab - 5.4

The Backgrounds Tab Se le ct a back ground im age and se t param e te rs.

Channel: Visible , R e fle cte d or R e fracte d. You can se t the sam e im age for or a diffe re nt im age for e ach. Type: C olor and Im age , HDR i or Sk y - 73 -

The Back grounds Tab - 5.4

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r Intensity Gradient - Solid C olor, 2 C olor Gradie nt or 3 C olor Gradie nt W he n you se le ct a gradie nt type , you can e nte r the colors to use

Color - solid color for back ground

Use Image Im age for Back ground. You can se le ct an im age and se t a scale and offse t to position it. Projection - Planar, C ylindrical, or Sphe rical. For Planar Proje ction, you can se t the scale and offse t to adjust the im age : XScale YScale XOffset YOffset O the r Proje ctions have sim ilar se ttings.

The Back grounds Tab - 5.4

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The Advanced Lighting tab - 5.5

The Advanced Lighting tab The A dvanced Lighting Tab provide s m ore de taile d options for controlling lights.

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The Advance d Lighting tab - 5.5

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

The Advance d Lighting tab - 5.5

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The Advanced Lighting tab - 5.5 Its controls are : Engine - Standard (Pack e t Mode ), Path Trace r, or Hybrid. Se e : nXtR e nde r R e nde ring Engine s Sky. This de fine s a he m isphe rical light source , infinite ly far away from your m ode l. The re are four options for Sk y lighting: O ff, Auto, HDR i , and C olor and Im age . The autom atic Sk y provide s an analytical m ode l base d on re al-world sk y conditions. The param e te rs for autom atic Sk y can be adjuste d on the Sun tab. Sun. The Sun is a dire ctional light source infinite ly far away from the m ode l. The Sun control allows the Sun to be turne d on and off. Studio Brightness. Studio Brightne ss re duce s the brightne ss of the Sun and Sk y by a factor of 20, m im ick ing the inte rior lighting le ve ls of a photographe r's studio. Lights. This e nable s and disable s artificial lighting. Indirect. This is the lighting re fle cte d off of surface s. By de fault, it is on for inte rior lighting pre se ts and off for e x te riors and studio m ode ls. It is also possible to turn on indire ct lighting for e x te rior re nde rings. Indirect Bounces. This controls the num be r of re fle ctions cause d by an indire ct light, ranging from one to four. Color Bleed. C olor Ble e d controls the am ount of color transfe r associate d with e ach indire ct bounce . It varie s from ze ro to one . A mbient. - High, Me dium or Low A utomatic Daylight Portals. A daylight portal is an ope ning for Sun and Sk y lighting for an inte rior re nde ring. Autom atic Daylight Portals se ts all transpare nt m ate rials as daylight portals. Monte Carlo Reflections. This che ck box is inte nde d to re solve blurry re fle ctions containing sm all, bright are as. This com e s at a pe rform ance cost. The standard re fle ction algorithm alm ost always conve rge s faste r, e ve n with blurry re fle ctions. Disable caustics Reflective Bounces. Refractive Bounces. Lights Per Pass. A spe cifie d num be r of lights are re nde re d e ach pass. Incre asing the Lights Pe r Pass incre ase s the inform ation containe d in e ach pass, but re quire s m ore tim e pe r pass. Channels. This controls the num be r of channe ls for m ulti-channe l re nde ring. material Glow Channel

Fog

O nly available with Path Trace r or Hybrid Engine . Enabled Scattering - controls the probability of the light e ncounte ring a particle in the fog boundary. Highe r num be rs produce de nse r fogs. The de fault of 20% is ade quate for m any use s. Scattering Direction - controls how the light is scatte re d. Value s > 0 produce forward scatte ring. Value s < 0 produce back ward scatte ring, sim ilar to re fle ction. The de fault of 0.2 produce s a patte rn which re se m ble s wate r drople ts suspe nde d in air. - 77 -

The Advance d Lighting tab - 5.5

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r A bsorption - is the probability of light be ing absorbe d in the fog boundary. Highe r num be rs produce dark e r fogs. This is norm ally le ft at 0%. Fog Color If Scatte ring or Absorption is too high, the n you m ay just ge t a dark re nde ring with no light passing through.

The Advance d Lighting tab - 5.5

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Chapter 6 - Materials Palette

Materials Palette Use the Materials Palette to e nte r inform ation about the m ate rials - colors, te x ture s, re fle ction, e tc.

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C hapte r 6 - Mate rials Pale tte

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Materials Tab Materials Tab

Icons across the Top: New Material - Se le ct a ne w m ate rial from one of the standard type s. Get Material from File - Browse the disk for a .ArMate rial file to load into the drawing. Save Material to a File - Save the se le cte d m ate rial in the List of Mate rial onto the disk Edit Material - Edit the se le cte d m ate rial using the Advance d Mate rial Editor A ttach Material to Objects - Attach the se le cte d m ate rial to one or m ore obje cts in the drawing. Remove Material from Objects - se le ct an obje ct in the drawing and re m ove any m ate rials from it. Material Mapping - Se le ct an obje ct and de fine spe cial m apping - Box , Planar, C ylindrical, e tc. Quick Mapping - Map m ate rial by origin and ax e s Ne w Mate rial Type s:

Mate rials Tab - 6.1

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Materials Tab - 6.1 Ne w Mate rial Type s

List of Materials in Model The se are the m ate rials you have cre ate d, or loade d from librarie s on the disk . Drag any m ate rial onto an obje ct in the m ode l to place - e ithe r on that obje ct - or on all obje cts in the sam e laye r. Drag any m ate rial onto the Laye r list be low to assign it to that laye r.

Layers and Material Assignments This lists the laye rs in your m ode l, and any m ate rials assigne d to that laye r. Drag any m ate rial from the m ate rial list above onto a laye r nam e to assign it to that laye r.

Video Tutorial In this Vide o, Danie l will show you how to cre ate m ate rials and use m ate rials from librarie s using nXtR e nde r for AutoC AD. C re ate a solid color m ate rial, cre ate a m ate rial with a te x ture , se le ct and place m ate rials from librarie s.

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Mate rials Tab - 6.1

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Advanced Material Editor

The A dvanced Material Editor allows the use r to control m any spe cific characte ristics of the ir m ate rial. It is organize d into four tabs.

Main Tab Color - se t the color or m ate rials without a te x ture . Reflective Finish and Highlight' The two slide rs com bine to de fine the am ount of re fle ction and the sharpne ss of re fle ction. Highlight Color Metallic - highlight are re fle cte d in the color of the re fle ctive m ate rial. White - highlights are in W hite Custom - highlights are in a custom color. Se e : Me tallic R e fle ction Glossy - highlights are othe r re fle ctions are blurry. Se e : * Glossy R e fle ction Intensity of the re fle ction. 1.000 is fully re fle ctive . Sharpness - value s le ss than 1.000 cre ate blurry re fle ctions Fresnel - se ts the am ount of Fre sne l R e fle ction . Advance d Mate rial Editor - 6.2

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Advanced Material Editor - 6.2 The Fre sne l se tting is use ful for glossy m ate rials, not transpare nt one s. The Fre sne l se tting affe cts only re fle ctive m ate rials. It controls an e ffe ct k nown as fre sne l re fle ction of conductors. If your m ate rial is not 100% transpare nt, the n this se tting m ay com e into play Fresnel reflectivity of conductors m ode ls the te nde ncy of m any m ate rials to be com e m ore spe cular (m irror-lik e ) at glancing angle s, while re taining m ore m atte prope rtie s at pe rpe ndicular vie wing angle s. See also Mate rial Se ttings - R e fle ction Highlighting Fre sne l R e fle ction

Transparency Tab

The Transpare ncy tab of the Advance d Mate rial Editor controls a num be r of diffe re nt prope rtie s associate d with light passing through a m ate rial. Intensity. This affe cts how transpare nt the m ate rial is. IOR. Inde x O f R e fraction de te rm ine s both the re fle ctivity of the m ate rial and how re fractive it is. C ontrols the am ount that light is distorte d as it passe s through thick glass. The highe r the IO R , the le ss transpare nt and the m ore re fle ctive the glass is. Lowe r value s of IO R will re sult in m ore light on the inside . Translucency. This is a m e asure of diffusion. High transluce ncy produce s a "sandblaste d" e ffe ct, since m ore light is scatte re d random ly through the m ate rial. Allows light to pass through the m ate rial, but not visibility - as with a lam p shade . A ttenuation. This is a m e asure of the loss of inte nsity of light as it passe s through the m ate rial. Sunglasse s, for e x am ple , have a high atte nuation. Dispersion. This controls how m uch light is split into its com pone nt wave le ngths. Saturation. This de te rm ine s the am ount of dispe rsion. No Daylight Portal. This che ck box pre ve nts the m ate rial from be com ing a source of sunlight for an inte rior re nde ring. Glow. This cre ate s the illusion of illum ination. Se ts Se lf Glow - the face glows, but doe s not illum inate othe r surface s.

Texture Tab

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Advance d Mate rial Editor - 6.2

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

The Te x ture Maps tab contains a num be r of options for alte ring te x ture s as we ll as an orde re d list of the m aps be ing use d. The controls for adding and re m oving m aps, as we ll as re -orde ring the m , are at the top of this list. The four tabs be low the m ap list are : Main. C ontrols for the scale of the tiling, re placing the curre nt m ap, and changing the m ap type , are locate d he re . De pe nding on the choice of m ap type , the re are additional controls. For standard m aps, the use r is able to se t Stre ngth (how cle ar the te x ture is) and Bum p, which use s the m ap's gradie nt to cre ate the appe arance of de pth. Norm al m aps only have a bum p control. For displace m e nt m aps, the use r can alte r he ight, face t size , and z-offse t. Masking. By de fault, the alpha channe l will be m ask e d. By se le cting "C olor" inste ad of "Alpha," it is possible to m ask any R GB value . The Transpare nt che ck box se ts the m ask e d color to transpare nt. The R e ve rse che ck box m ask s e ve rything but the m ask e d color. Blur de te rm ine s the m agnitude of partial m ask ing around the m ask e d color, and Se nsitivity m e asure s the size of the are a around the color that is also m ask e d. Channels. The controls for channe l m anipulation are locate d he re . Inve rt C hanne ls switche s R GB value s, so dark be com e s light, blue be com e s orange , e tc. The C olor che ck box turns all colors on and off. Spe cular Inte nsity m ak e s the m ate rial m ore re fle ctive and m irror-lik e . Spe cular C olor ble nds the highlight color (unde r the Main tab of the m ate rial e ditor) and the te x ture m ap's color for spe cular re fle ctions. Orientation. R otation rotate s the tile s, O ffse t X and Y m ove the tile s around on the surface of the m ate rial.: You can place up to 4 te x ture im age s on your m ate rial. You can spe cify spe cial e ffe cts for additional te x ture s - such as ble nding m ate rials, or using the se cond m ate rial as a Bum p Map

Bumps Tab Advance d Mate rial Editor - 6.2

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Advanced Material Editor - 6.2

Se ts spe cial proce dural bum p type s. Each bum p type has its own param e te rs. The Bum ps tab provide s options for cre ating the appe arance of a spe cific k ind of surface without using displace m e nt m aps or re quiring the use r to provide any additional m aps. The patte rns offe re d are : Sandpape r, R ubble , W rink le d, Marble d, and Pyram id. W he n one of the bum p m aps is che ck e d, additional controls be com e available . Stre ngth controls the appe arance of de pth. Scale controls the proportional size of the bum ps. Se e : Proce dural Bum p Maps

Special Blends

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Advance d Mate rial Editor - 6.2

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Som e m ate rials, such as Solid W ood are cre ate d by ble nding se ve ral sub-te x ture s. This fe ature is m ostly undocum e nte d. The be st way to use it is to choose an e x isting m ate rial and to try to change the se ttings to achie ve the de sire d e ffe ct.

Advance d Mate rial Editor - 6.2

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The Material Tree - 6.3

The Material Tree The Mate rial Tre e allows the use r to com bine two "pare nt" m ate rials base d on a spe cific m e thod, cre ating a com ple x "child" m ate rial. Two "child" m ate rials can be com bine d in the sam e way, yie lding a m ore e laborate m ate rial.

The m e thods for com bining two m ate rials are : Marble. C onsists of alte rnating slabs of ve in and base m ate rials. This is a 3D patte rn de fine d for all points in space . Granite. Produce s a spotte d patte rn. The spots are solid pock e ts of m ate rial e m be dde d in a base m ate rial. Wood. This com bination m e thod produce s conce ntric cylinde rs of alte rnating base and ring m ate rial. For re alistic re sults, it is im portant to m ap corre ctly. Blend. This is a sim ple option to com bine two base m ate rials and control the proportion of e ach one . A ngular Blend. This ble nds two m ate rials from diffe re nt vie wing angle s. It is use ful for m ate rials that are re fle ctive at glancing angle s and not re fle ctive at 90 de gre e s. Howe ve r, Fre sne l e ffe cts are a physically-base d way of producing sim ilar e ffe cts. Tile. This is a 2D proce dure that com bine s two m ate rials - one as a tile and the othe r as the joint be twe e n tile s. Fractal. De pe nding on which proce dure is se le cte d, diffe re nt controls are available to the use r. Marble , W ood, Granite , and Fractal all draw from the sam e se t of controls. The y are :

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The Mate rial Tre e - 6.3

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r Feature. The ratio be twe e n base and stripe , spot, or ring is acce sse d through this control. It varie s be twe e n 0 and 1. Lowe r value s m e an a highe r ratio of base to fe ature . Blend. This controls how m uch partial com bination of the two m ate rials occurs. Bump. C re ate s the appe arance of bum pine ss. It range s from -1 to 1. Ne gative value s m ak e the base appe ar concave , while positive value s m ak e it appe ar to stick out. Turbulence. This is available for only m arble and wood. It de te rm ine s how chaotic the fe ature s are . A value of 0 produce s pe rfe ct rings. Highe r value s distort and twist the se rings. Octaves. A bsolute Value. Veneer. This che ck box applie s a 2D surface ve ne e r inste ad of a 3D ble nd of m ate rials. Scale.:

The Mate rial Tre e - 6.3

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Chapter 7 - Other Palettes

Other Palettes Use the Render Settings Palette to e nte r inform ation about the re nde ring. Use the Object Properties Pallette] to set special rendering properties for objects.

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C hapte r 7 - O the r Pale tte s

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Render Settings

R e nde r Se ttings - 7.1

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Render Settings - 7.1

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R e nde r Se ttings - 7.1

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r The re are thre e options for de te rm ining re solution: Vie wport, Pix e ls, and Print. Vie wport allows the use r to se t the num be r of total pix e ls. nXtR e nde r's de fault se tting of 300,000 pix e ls is ofte n sufficie nt for proofs or im age s going to the we b. 3,000,000 or m ore m ay be re quire d for a final, printe d im age . Pix e ls allows the use r to se t re solution for both X and Y ax e s. Depth of Field This e ffe ct cre ate s a de pth of fie ld blur that m im ics a photographe r's le ns. A le ns can only focus pre cise ly at e x actly one distance , but the de cre ase in sharpne ss is gradual around the focal distance , cre ating an are a that is acce ptably sharp. "Stre ngth" controls the size of this are a. A stre ngth of ze ro m e ans that the e ntire im age is sharp. Incre asing the stre ngth m ak e s the are as outside the focal distance m ore blurry and m ak e s the are a in focus sm alle r. "Focal Distance " se ts the distance for the de pth of fie ld. Use Plants - unche ck to suppre ss the re nde ring of Tre e Editor plants Use Materials - unche ck to re nde r without nXtR e nde r m ate rial te x ture s or colors. Use Object Colors - che ck to re nde r AutoC AD m ate rials using the ir AutoC AD colors. This is only active it Use Materials is che ck e d. Passes - stop re nde ring afte r this m any m asse s if not 0 A utomatically Save Rendering Every - save a re nde ring afte r e ach XXX passe s. Browse - se t path and file nam e for autosave file .

R e nde r Se ttings - 7.1

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Object Properties - 7.2

Object Properties Object Properties

se t spe cial lighting, transpare ncy and re nde ring prope rtie s of groups, com pone nts and face s. O bje ct Prope rtie s can be use d to m ak e any face or obje ct act as a light source , or to se t othe r spe cial prope rtie s.

Object Properties are prope rtie s place d dire ctly on m ode l e ntitie s to spe cify re nde ring prope rtie s of the e ntitie s. Se ttings which are be tte r se t on a m ate rial, are de fine d using the Mate rial W izard To se t obje ct prope rtie s, right click on a face , group, or com pone nts and se le ct IRender Object Properties. The re are two classe s of O bje ct Prope rtie s - Lighting and O the r O bje ct Prope rtie s.

Lighting C ause s this e ntity to act as a light. Light Type None - do not tre at this obje ct as a light. Diffuse / One Sided - all light goe s in one dire ction. This should be use d for ce iling lights and othe r are a lights. Omni-Directional or Isotropic (all dire ctions) Spotlight - should only be use d for the le ns of a spotlight. Light direction (C om pone nt or Group) Spotlight and Diffuse light ne e ds to have a dire ction. For lights assigne d to face s the dire ction will always be a pe rpe ndicular from the front side of the face . For com pone nts and groups, you can assign the dire ction base d on the ax e s of the com pone nt, or the transform ation of the group. If you cre ate a spot light which points down (in the ne gative blue ax is of the com pone nt, the n se le ct Blue for the Light dire ction. Intensity - In watts or lum e ns Spot Lamp Settings Beam A ngle - For Spot lights - se e Be am Angle Field A ngle - For Spot lights - se e Fie ld Angle The color of the light will be de te rm ine d by the color of the Sk e tchUp e ntity.

Other Object Properties Se t the value s de sire d: Daylight Portal - Produce s re alistic sun and daylight e ffe cts from windows. Se e : Daylight Portal Caustics - C re ate s caustic re fraction of light for a transpare nt obje ct. Se e C austic Illum ination Thick - Mark s glass as cre ate d from m ore than just a single face . Se e Thin - Thick Invisible - the obje ct will be se nt to the re nde re r, but m ark e d as invisible . Se e : Invisible - 93 -

O bje ct Prope rtie s - 7.2

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r A lpha - You can m ark obje cts as Alpha C hanne l, and the y will appe ar invisible but shadows cast on the m will appe ar. This can be use d to le t your m ode l cast shadows on walls or ne arby buildings, and the n paste the re nde re d im age and the shadows on top of a photographic back ground. Se e : IR e nde r Alpha Im age s

Ground Cover Se e : Ground C ove r for de fining and assigning Ground C ove r foliage to a surface .

Object Properties vs Material Settings Som e obje ct prope rtie s - such as thin/thick glass can be se t e ithe r on a m ate rial, or dire ctly on an obje ct. The advantage of se tting the prope rty on the m ate rial, is that you can cre ate a m ate rial - e .g. ThinGlass - and place it on all thin glass obje cts. The advantage of se tting the prope rty dire ctly on the face of the glass, is that you can the n se t an Sk e tchUp m ate rial on the glass and it will re nde r as thin glass without having to m ak e a ne w (thin) m ate rial for e ach color of glass which you want to use .

O bje ct Prope rtie s - 7.2

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The Advanced Object Properties Tab - 7.3

The Advanced Object Properties Tab

The A dvanced Object Properties Tab controls a num be r of se ttings that can be turne d on and off, as we ll as a control for te sse llation. Thin Daylight Portal Caustics Alpha Channel Faceted Reverse Normals Monte Carlo Reflections Gather Tessellation controls how m any flat face s are use d to cre ate the appe arance of curvature . A highe r value m e ans m ore face s, re sulting in a be tte r approx im ation of curvature .:

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The Advance d O bje ct Prope rtie s Tab - 7.3

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

WalkAbout The WalkA bout inte rface provide s a varie ty of se rvice s e ncapsulate d into a single nXtR e nde r utility. Its basic functions include : An alte rnative to AutoC AD vie wing and navigation com m ands, including an intuitive walk -through m ode . Fix e d aspe ct ratio vie wports so that e x act vie ws can be re plicate d consiste ntly, e ve n across diffe re nt m achine s. An inte ractive im age back ground inte rface for placing m ode ls into photographs. Som e advance d fe ature s can only be acce sse d through the W alk About inte rface . The se include : Additional proje ctions not found in AutoC AD, such as two-point pe rspe ctive s and panoram as. A batch proce ssor which allows you to calculate and save m ultiple re nde rings in a single se ssion. 3D Slide Show-- an e asy to use ye t sophisticate d anim ation e ngine . A sun study anim ation e ngine . The ability to re nde r a re ctangular re gion of your vie w.:

W alk About - 8.1

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3D slide show animations - 8.2

3D slide show animations 3D slide shows are m ade by re nde ring transitional vie ws be twe e n vie ws that have be e n save d by the use r. The output is a num be r of im age s (.png) that form a slide show anim ation that transitions from one save d vie w to the ne x t. To cre ate a 3D slide show, go to the W alk About inte rface and save at le ast two vie ws of the m ode l. This is done with the "Save C urre nt Vie w" button.\\

O nce m ultiple vie ws have be e n save d, click the "3D Slide Show Anim ation" button, to the right of the "Save C urre nt Vie w" button.

This le ads to the 3D Slide Show dialog box . It contains an orde re d list of the diffe re nt vie ws, as we ll as controls labe le d "Transition (Se conds)" and "De lay (Se conds)." The se affe ct the le ngth of the transitions be twe e n vie ws, and the tim e spe nt at e ach save d vie w, re spe ctive ly. This dialog box also contains thre e additional tabs, which are : Quality. Since 3D Slide Shows re quire m any re nde rings, the de fault re solution is lowe r than for a still im age , as is the num be r of passe s pe r im age . Fram e s pe r se cond controls the fram e rate for the transitions. This m e ans that m ore fram e s will be re nde re d, giving the anim ation a sm oothe r fe e l. Exposure. Output. The "Pre vie w" button shows what the anim ation will look lik e with the curre nt se ttings. "R e nde r" will re nde r the output im age s, and "Farm " use s the nXtR e nde r R e nde r Farm to produce the output im age s.

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3D slide show anim ations - 8.2

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

nXtRender Add-ons The se A dd-ons for nXtRender are available as a se parate download.

Download and Installation Afte r the y are installe d, the y will appe ar on the Plugins R ibbon, or you can type in the com m and dire ctly: RPS_A C_RENDER_REA DY - nXtR e nde r R e nde r R e ady lights and othe r obje cts

C hapte r 9 - nXtR e nde r Add-ons

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Background Wizard - 9.1

nXtRender Background Wizard The nXtRender Background Wizard is use d to e asily position back ground im age s and HDR i sk ie s be hind your Sk e tchUp m ode l be fore re nde ring.

Download and Installation You can download the nXtR e nde r Add-ons from : nXtR e nde r Add-ons Afte r the y are installe d, the y will appe ar on the Plugins R ibbon, or you can type in: RPS_A C_RENDER_REA DY The nXtR e nde r Add-ons can be download from : Add-ons for nXtR e nde r.

Background Positioning The Back ground W izard m ak e s it e asy to position your re nde re d m ode l in a back ground, and to re m e m be r the se ttings for future re nde rings. In this sam ple , we loade d a back ground im age which did not m atch the pe rspe ctive of the curre nt AutoC ASD vie w.\

By loading the back ground wizard, we are able to se e the back ground im age both be hind the AutoC AD vie w, and through the transpare nt windows. By dragging the handle s on the back ground im age , we can ge t the m atching we want.

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Back ground W izard - 9.1

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

And the n, we we re -re nde r the m ode l, we ge t a back ground which aligns with the curre nt vie w.

Back ground W izard - 9.1

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Background Wizard - 9.1

Using Background Wizard First se le ct the vie w and back ground im age you want from the nXtR e nde r pane l

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Back ground W izard - 9.1

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

From the nXtR e nde r R ibbon, se le ct Image Wizard

This will load the Back ground W izard showing the AutoC AD vie w supe rim pose d ove r the back ground im age .

Back ground W izard - 9.1

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Background Wizard - 9.1

Background Positioning The se value s show the offse ts and scale s which are applie d to the re nde ring e ngine whe n positioning the back ground. Maintain A spect Ratio if this is che ck e d, the n the whe n stre tching the im age , the original aspe ct ration will be m aintaine d. Distortion O ff - Back ground is always re ctangular Pe rspe ctive - R ight and Le ft side can be e x pande d or re duce d to product a pe rspe ctive e ffe ct. Full - all four corne r points can be change d inde pe nde ntly Reset Position R e se ts to the de fault scale and offse t background Image filters Apply som e sim ple filte rs to the back ground im age . Zoom Background Images Zoom ,In, Soom O ut, Zoom All, Zoom to re nde re d are a only Show only render area W he n not che ck e d you can se e the full back ground im age , outside of the re nde re d im age , and use the handle s to stre tch or scale the back ground. Show model as Wire-frame This can m ak e it e asie r to se e the back ground im age be hind the m ode l. Opacity

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Back ground W izard - 9.1

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r Mak e s the AutoC AD im age m ore transpare nt so you can se e the back ground be tte r be hind it.

Back ground W izard - 9.1

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Layer Material Schemes - 9.2

Layer Material Schemes

Layer Material Schemes is a fe ature of nXtRender for AutoC AD. It is use d to e asily save and re load assignm e nts of nXtR e nde r Mate rials to m ode ls. Loading The Wizard In ve rsions of AutoC AD with a ribbon, you can load the Laye r Mate rial Sche m e s from the R ibbon. O r you can just type in nXt_Layer_Materials For AutoC AD 2010 and 2011, which do not have a R ibbon, you will ne e d to load one of the se AR X m odule s be fore the functions will work : nXtRender_load_R18.arx or nXtRender_load_R18_x64.arx (for 64 bit m achine s) The se m odule s can be loade d from a sub-folde r nam e d RPS_BIN whe re ve r you have AccuR e nde r nXt installe d, usually: C:\Program Files\A ccuRender nXt\RPS_BIN

Display Panes

Saved Schemes The le ft hand colum n is use d to se le ct e ithe r the C urre nt Drawing, or a Laye r Mate rial Sche m e save d in the Library to apply to the m ode l. Afte r se le cting a save d sche m e , or using Browse to se le ct a sche m e with W indows File Ex plore r, the Laye r Assignm e nts save d in the sche m e , and thum bnails of the m ate rials in the sche m e are displaye d in the two right hand colum ns. - 105 -

Laye r Mate rial Sche m e s - 9.2

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r Browse - se le ct a save d Sche m e from anywhe re on the disk , not just the Laye r Mate rial Sche m e Library. Options - change the location of the library of sche m e s. This is use ful if you want to save sche m e s on a ne twork drive to share with othe r use rs.

Layer Material Scheme The laye rs and m ate rials in the curre nt sche m e are displaye d in the ce nte r pane . You cannot m ak e any change s he re , but you can se e which m ate rials will be applie d to e ach laye r. Show A ll Layers - Norm ally only the laye rs containe d in the sche m e are displaye d. Show A ll Layers will display all laye rs in your m ode l.

Thumbnails The right Hand Pane displays thum bnails of the m ate rials save d in the Sche m e . Save - Afte r click ing A pply, or afte r se le cting Current Drawing in the le ft hand pane , you can save the sche m e to the Laye r Sche m e Library, or anywhe re e lse you lik e . A pply - will apply the se le cte d Laye r Sche m e to the C urre nt Drawing. Mate rials for laye rs not containe d in the sche m e will not be change d, Close - close the W izard without m ak ing additional change s.

Saving a new Scheme Afte r you click Save, whe n the C urre nt Drawing is se le cte d in the le ft hand Pane ), you can e ite r save the sche m e to a library, or use Save As to save it anywhe re on the disk .

Scheme Libraries The initial library location is in the W indows AppData sche m e , unde r nXtRender/Material Schemes, you can use the Settings button or the Change Library Location button on thhe Save dialog, to spe cify a ne w location for the librarie s.

Laye r Mate rial Sche m e s - 9.2

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Layer Material Schemes - 9.2

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Laye r Mate rial Sche m e s - 9.2

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

nXtRender Render Ready nXtRender Ready block s are have light and m ate rial se ttings alre ady save d in the block s so you can place the m in AutoC AD and re nde r the m without having to add lighting and othe r param e te rs.

Download and Installation You can download the nXtR e nde r Add-ons from : nXtR e nde r Add-ons Afte r the y are installe d, the y will appe ar on the Plugins R ibbon, or you can type in: RPS_A C_RENDER_REA DY The nXtR e nde r Add-ons can be download from : Add-ons for nXtR e nde r.

Here are some ceiling lights:

R e nde r R e ady Block s - 9.3

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Render Ready Blocks - 9.3

Here are some other lights:

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R e nde r R e ady Block s - 9.3

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Rendering with nXtRender Afte r click ing Create/Place and re nde ring the m ode l, he re are the download lights in action.

R e nde r R e ady Block s - 9.3

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Render Ready Blocks - 9.3

Notes Som e lights, such as the wall lights will re quire you to se t the AutoC AD UC S to the de sire d wall for place m e nt. C urre ntly, if you re -install nXtR e nde r, you will ne e d to re -install the nXtR e nde r Add-ons as we ll.

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R e nde r R e ady Block s - 9.3

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Using Burn Burn change s the white point of the im age so that le ss than m ax brightne ss obje cts will m ap to white . He re are thre e im age s all with e x actly the sam e lum inance data but diffe re nt e x posure (tone m apping) se ttings. First, with no m odifications to the tone m apping you can se e that the ave rage color m aps to gray:

W ith the brightne ss crank e d up to 0.4 we can ge t rid of som e of the "grayne ss" of the im age . Think of this as inte ntionally ove re x posing a photo a little :

Using Burn - 10.1

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Using Burn - 10.1

Finally, adding som e burn can re ally m ak e a big diffe re nce in the brighte r re gions of the im age -- in this case I use d 0.5.

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Using Burn - 10.1

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

The am ount of burn you'll use varie s quite a bit from sce ne to sce ne - The re are no good rule s of thum b he re .

Using Burn - 10.1

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Image Editor - 10.2

nXtRender Image Editor The nXtR e nde r Im age Editor is a powe rful stand-alone utility which can e dit native im age file s (.nXtIm age ) produce d by any of the nXtR e nde r platform s. The se native file s re tain all of the inform ation gathe re d during re nde ring. Launch the Editor from the Start m e nu's nXtR e nde r folde r. Using the Editor, you can: Adjust the tone ope rator se ttings C hange the inte nsity of any lighting channe l Add spe cial, im age -base d, e ffe cts such as Haze or De pth Blur Save a tone -m appe d im age in a popular form at such as .jpg or .png Save the lum inance inform ation to an HDR form at Vie w and save additional m ask e d channe ls (alpha, distance , m ate rial) for use in advance d com positing Save a Pirane si(c) file form at (*.e px ) which can be use d to cre ate non photo-re alistic re nde ring Use Im age Arithm e tic for task s such as stitching toge the r an im age which has be e n ge ne rate d by se parate node s on the re nde r farm . Save the Lighting Se ttings use d to ge ne rate this re nde ring. The se Lighting Se ttings can the n be use d to ge ne rate m ore re nde rings. Afte r saving your re nde ring re sults as an .nXtIm age , use the File ->O pe n... m e nu to load the im age into the e ditor. As you m ove your cursor ove r the im age , the status bar displays the following inform ation about e ach pix e l: The pix e l coordinate , m e asure d from the lowe r le ft corne r The re sulting color and alpha in R GBA form at of the pix e l afte r tone -m apping The actual lum inance value store d in e ach pix e l as R GB and single channe l Y. This is the dire ct re sult of the lighting calculation. If accurate lighting inform ation was use d to produce the re nde ring, the se value s will have units of cande las/m ^2. The distance of e ach pix e l from the vie we r in m e te rs. Ne gative value s indicate a back ground pix e l. The nam e of the m ate rial use d to re nde r the pix e l. nXtIm age file s contain thre e additional channe ls which can be use d as m ask s for advance d com positing in m ost bitm ap e ditors. The se channe ls carry alpha (transpare ncy), distance , and m ate rial inform ation for e ach pix e l, e ncode d in a gray-scale im age . Each channe l can be vie we d and save d to a .png file . Use the Vie w pulldown to vie w e ach m ask channe l. Use the File ->Save Mask option to save a m ask channe l to a .png im age .

Additional notes: The Alpha channe l can be include d with a tone -m appe d im age by se le cting a file form at w/ Alpha whe n saving a tone -m appe d im age . Distance and Mate rials channe ls are not anti-aliase d and m ay show som e hard-e dge d artifacts. Adding a sm all am ount of Gaussian blur to a m ask be fore using it m ay he lp softe n the se e dge s. The Mate rials channe l will only unique ly e ncode 255 diffe re nt m ate rials. If your drawing contains m ore m ate rials than that, som e m ask colors will re pe at.

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Im age Editor - 10.2

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

nXtRender Batch nXtRender Batch

Batch Rendering is a re nde ring m ode which e x ports the m ode l to a file , and the n re nde rs the file in a se parate proce ss. It has 3 m ain use s and be ne fits. 1. Large Models - Mode ls which are too large to re nde r dire ctly from Sk e tchUp can be re nde re d in batch m ode . 2. A nimation - Batch m ode is use d for anim ation, be cause anim ations ne e d to load and re load the m ode l whe n the re are laye r change s, and be cause anim ations typically tak e a long tim e to re nde r. 3. Network Rendering - The e ntire folde r containing the re nde ring inform ation and file s can be acce sse d across a ne twork , or copie d to a thum b drive or anothe r m achine and use d to re nde r the m ode l.

nXtRender Batch Rendering e x ports the m ode l to a file , and the n re nde rs the file in a se parate proce ss. It has 3 m ain use s and be ne fits. 1. Large Models - Mode ls which are too large to re nde r dire ctly from Sk e tchUp can be re nde re d in batch m ode . Batch R e nde ring can proce ss m ode ls which are 2 to 5 tim e s large r than Dire ct R e nde ring. 2. A nimation - Batch m ode is use d for anim ation, be cause anim ations ne e d to load and re load the m ode l whe n the re are laye r change s, and be cause anim ations typically tak e a long tim e to re nde r. 3. Network Rendering - The e ntire folde r containing the re nde ring inform ation and file s can be acce sse d across a ne twork , or copie d to a thum b drive or anothe r m achine and use d to re nde r the m ode l.

nXtRender Toolbar Functions

These are the functions for each of the buttons on the Render Dialog Toolbar:

- Load the A bout dialog

- Im age Filte rs and Tone O pe rator - Adjust Im age Brightne ss, C ontrast, Burn, and Saturation or apply othe r filte rs.

- Brightness Control - Adjust the brightne ss without loading the Tone O pe rator dialog

Batch re nde ring - 10.3

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Batch rendering - 10.3

- Save the re nde re d im age to a JPEG or PNG file . Se e : Saving R e nde re d Im age

- C opy re nde re d im age to clipboard

- Zoom All - This button will toggle the re nde r display be twe e n showing the actual pix e ls and filling the curre nt window.

- Vie w R otate - C hange Vie w and re -re nde r.

- R e nde r Se tup Dialog - C hange Se tup O ptions be fore re starting the re nde re r.

- R e nde r Mate rial Dialog - C hange Mate rials be fore re starting the re nde re r.

Afte r changing Se tup O ptions or Mate rials, use the Start R e nde r button

to se e the change s.

- Lighting C hanne ls - adjust the inte nsity of sun, sk y or groups of lights dire ctly.

- Im age Effe cts - Switch to nXtIm age Form at for spe cial e ffe cts - R e al Tim e Haze , De pth Blur and Glare

- R e sum e R e nde ring - Use the R e sum e button to add m ore passe s to a re nde ring which has be e n com ple te d. Se e : R e sum e R e nde ring .

- Start R e nde ring - This button is re d while the re nde re r is proce ssing. It will turn gre e n whe n the re nde ring in finishe d. C lick on the re d button to stop the re nde ring. C lick on the gre e n button to re start the re nde ring.

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Batch re nde ring - 10.3

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Settings C lick Batch Rendering Settings pn the R e nde r Se tup W izard to change the de fault folde r or be havior.

Batch re nde ring - 10.3

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Batch rendering - 10.3

Folder to Use Batch R e nde ring store s e ve rything ne e de d to re nde r the drawing in a folde r on your disk . This le ts you re nde r the drawing from a ne twork m achine , or re nde r it late r if de sire d. Standard - the standard folde r is store d in your W indows te m porary folde r. It is re use d e ve ry tim e you start a Batch R e nde ring. The folde r is nXt_Batch. Model Name - the Batch R e nde ring folde r nam e is base d on the nam e of the curre nt Sk e tchUp m ode l. Custom - you can e nte r your own nam e and location for the Batch R e nde ring folde r. For Batch Rendering on a Network Computer, se le ct Custom and save the re nde ring inform ation on a drive on your com pute r which is acce ssible by the ne twork com pute r, or save it dire ctly onto the ne twork com pute r.

Action to tak when batch data complete The se cond two options cause a pause in the re nde ring proce ss so that you can start the re nde ring on a se parate ne twork m achine , or de lay the start of the re nde ring, if de sire d. Start batch rendering - the re nde ring is autom atically starte d afte r the data is e x tracte d from your Sk e tchUp m ode l. Load this dialog before rendering - this dialog is re -loade d be fore re nde ring so that you can se t the Batch R e nde ring folde r. Notify me that data is ready - A m e ssage box is loade d to show that the data is re ady.

Import option changes from Batch Rendering Window W he n you m ak e change s to your re nde ring se ttings, m ate rials, e tc. from the R e nde ring window, the se can be re loade d back into Sk e tchUp. (Assum ing you are still work ing on the sam e m ode l in Sk e tchUp). Load dialog to ask - Sk e tchup will load a dialog ask ing if you want to im port any change s m ade while re nde rings. A lways load changes - Always load the change s into the Sk e tchUp m ode l without ask ing first. Never Load changes - Do not load the dialog and do not load any change s back into Sk e tchUp.

Network Rendering

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Batch re nde ring - 10.3

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

This m e ssage will appe ar if you che ck : Notify me that data is ready on the Batch R e nde ring Se tup Dialog.

R e m ote R e nde ring

External Rendering e x ports the m ode l to a file , and the n re nde rs the file in a se parate proce ss. This allows you to m ak e change s to the Sk e tchUp m ode l wihtout having to wait for the re nde ring to com ple te

Afte r e x tracting the data from the Sk e tchUp m ode l, you can acce ss the e ntire folde r containing the re nde ring inform ation and file s across a ne twork , or copy the folde r to a thum b drive or anothe r m achine and use it to re nde r the m ode l. If you che ck : Notify me that data is ready on the Batch R e nde ring Se tup Dialog you will be prom pte d whe n the batch data is re ad, and you can start the re nde ring on the re m ote m achine . a DO S .BAT file is cre ate d in the batch re nde ring folde r which will start the re nde ring for you. Installations nXtRender: You must install nXtRender in the same location on a network machine if you want to render from the network machine. You do not need to install SketchUp and you do not need to authorize nXtRender for the batch rendering network machine. SketchUp: You do not need to install SketchUp on the remote machine. RPC:: If you are using RPC objects, you will need to install the ArchVision Content Manager on the network machine. Licensing nXtRender: You do not need to license nXtRender of the Remote Machine.

Batch Rendering Editor You can e dit m ate rials or options in the Batch R e nde re r, and re -re nde r the m ode l without re turning to Sk e tchUp and the n re load the change s back into Sk e tchUp. Se e : Batch R e nde ring Editor

Licensing for Batch Rendering You do not ne e d a lice nse for a Batch R e nde ring m achine . You ne e d a lice nse for e ach m achine which is running the 3D Mode lle r and wants to acce ss nXtR e nde r from within the 3D Batch re nde ring - 10.3

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Batch rendering - 10.3 Mode l. You do not ne e d a lice nse for m achine s which are use d only to pe rform the re nde rings using the Batch R e nde ring proce ss. As long as the se m achine s do not ne e d to acce ss nXtR e nde r from within AutoC AD, Sk e tchUp or R e vit - the y do not ne e d a lice nse .

Render Farms A R e nde r Farm consists of a group of ne twork e d com pute rs work ing toge the r to com ple te large re nde ring task s. R e nde r farm s proce e d sile ntly, without graphically displaying the re nde rings as the y progre ss, or you can run the R e nde r Farm Display tool to display parts of the im age as the y are com ple te d. Using the R e nde r Farm allows you to use m ore com pute powe r for le ngthy task s at the e x pe nse of som e inte ractivity. Se e : R e nde r Farm

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Batch re nde ring - 10.3

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

nXtRender Render Farm A R e nde r Farm consists of a group of ne twork e d com pute rs work ing toge the r to com ple te large re nde ring task s. Norm ally, re nde r farm s proce e d sile ntly, without graphically displaying the re nde rings as the y progre ss. R e nde ring in this m anne r allows you to use m ore com pute r powe r for le ngthy task s at the e x pe nse of som e inte ractivity.\\ Many third-party re nde r farm products are curre ntly available . The nXtR e nde r R e nde r Farm Software allows you to work with one of the se , or you can se t up a sim ple re nde r farm just using the software provide d. The nXtRender Render Farm Software is sold separately from the nXtR e nde r platform plugins, such as AccuR e nde r nXt. The software itse lf is platform inde pe nde nt; AutoC AD is not re quire d on com pute rs which will only be use d for re nde ring farm ing. The nXtR e nde r R e nde r Farm include s two basic pie ce s of software : nXtFarm e r.e x e (nXtFarm e r64.e x e ) is a sm all program that runs on e ach ne twork re nde ring station and waits for jobs to be ge ne rate d. nXtFarm Monitor.e x e (nXtFarm Monitor64.e x e ) is an apple t that shows you the state of your re nde r farm and provide s som e sim ple control tools. The following proce dure s apply to nXtR e nde r's include d re nde r farm . If you are planning to use third-party re nde r farm software , som e of the se proce dure s will be diffe re nt. C re ate a share d folde r for use by the re nde r farm . All of the ne twork re nde ring com pute rs m ust have re ad/write acce ss to this folde r. The share d folde r should have a lot of available disk space to store both data (input) and im age s (output.) 20 - 200 GB of available storage are re com m e nde d. You m ust pe rform the following four ste ps on each com pute r you plan to use in the re nde r farm , including any nXtR e nde r work stations which will subm it jobs to the re nde r farm : Install the nXtR e nde r R e nde r Farm Software . From the Start m e nu, run the R e nde r Farm e r on e ach m achine . The R e nde r Farm e r will appe ar as an icon in the syste m tray. R ight click on the icon and se le ct R e store . A window title nXtR e nde r Farm e r should appe ar. Se le ct O ptions->Path... from the m e nu and se le ct the path to the re nde r farm . The Farm e r window can now be m inim ize d to the tray. The R e nde r Farm is now configure d. To ve rify that the farm e r m achine s are re sponding run the R e nde r Farm Monitor from the Start m e nu on any of the work stations. The m achine s should appe ar in the uppe r list box . If you wish to e x clude a m achine from participating in the re nde r farm , you can se le ct it, right click , and choose Suspe nd. Updating the Render Farm Software All participating com pute rs m ust be update d be fore a ne w job can be subm itte d to the farm . Use the following proce dure : W ait for any active farm jobs to com ple te be fore be ginning your update . For e ach participating com pute r: - If the render farm is currently running, close down the Render Farmer by

right-clicking on the tray icon and se

- Install the nXtR e nde r R e nde r Farm Software . - R un the R e nde r Farm e r from the Start Me nu. The tray icon should appe ar.

C urre ntly, thre e type s of jobs can be subm itte d to the re nde r farm for proce ssing by m ultiple com pute rs: Single Im age s from W alk About, Batch Jobs, and 3D Slide Shows.

Single Images Single vie ws can be split into "slice s" and distribute d to m ultiple m achine s. O nce the job is com ple te , the se slice s can be re constructe d into a single im age using the nXtR e nde r Im age Editor. Pe rform the following ste ps to subm it a single im age job to the re nde r farm : Launch W alk About and configure your re nde ring and vie w. Pre ss the R e nde r Farm button on the W alk About toolbar. Nam e the job or acce pt the de fault. The date and tim e is autom atically pre -pe nde d to the nam e you choose . A subfolde r for the job is cre ate d in the R e nde r Farm share d folde r. An O utput folde r is also cre ate d in the ne w job folde r. C hoose to e ithe r run the job "now", "late r", or "afte r" a sche dule d tim e . If you choose "late r" you will ne e d to use the R e nde r Farm - 10.4

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Render Farm - 10.4 nXtR e nde r R e nde r Farm Monitor to m anually start the job. Afte r the job is com ple te , output can be found in the job's O utput folde r. To re construct the output into a single im age use the following ste ps: O pe n the nXtR e nde r Im age Editor. Load the first im age of the se que nce , 000000.nXtIm age From the m e nu, se le ct Im age ->Arithm e tic->Add Se le ct all of the othe r im age s in the se que nce (do not se le ct 000000.nXtIm age again or it will be counte d twice )

Batch Jobs Each batch task will be re nde re d by a single m achine . Pe rform the following ste ps to subm it a Batch job to the re nde r farm : C onfigure your Batch task s in the usual way. Pre ss the Farm ... button on the Batch DB. Nam e the job or acce pt the de fault. The date and tim e is autom atically pre -pe nde d to the nam e you choose . A subfolde r for the job is cre ate d in the R e nde r Farm share d folde r. An O utput folde r is also cre ate d in the ne w job folde r. C hoose to e ithe r run the job "now", "late r", or "afte r" a sche dule d tim e . If you choose "late r" you will ne e d to use the nXtR e nde r R e nde r Farm Monitor to m anually start the job. Afte r the job is com ple te , output can be found in the job's O utput folde r. The output form at from Batch jobs is always .nXtIm age .

Slide Show Each transition be twe e n two slide s will be re nde re d by a single m achine . For e x am ple , a slide show with five slide s will have four transitions and will produce four task s for the re nde r farm . Pe rform the following ste ps to subm it a 3D Slide Show job to the re nde r farm : C onfigure your 3D Slide Show in the usual way. Pre ss the Farm ... button on the 3D Slide Show DB. Nam e the job or acce pt the de fault. The date and tim e is autom atically pre -pe nde d to the nam e you choose . A subfolde r for the job is cre ate d in the R e nde r Farm share d folde r. An O utput folde r is also cre ate d in the ne w job folde r. C hoose to e ithe r run the job "now", "late r", or "afte r" a sche dule d tim e . If you choose "late r" you will ne e d to use the nXtR e nde r R e nde r Farm Monitor to m anually start the job. Afte r the job is com ple te , output can be found in the job's O utput folde r. The output form at from 3D Slide Show jobs is always png. Your alpha channe l choice will be pre se rve d.

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R e nde r Farm - 10.4

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Converting legacy (AR3 - AR4) material libraries O nline he lp hom e

Converting Legacy AR3/AR4 Libraries Mate rial librarie s use d by the AccuR e nde r 3 and 4 fam ily of products cannot be use d by nXt dire ctly. The se m ust be conve rte d to folde rs and .nXtMate rial file s be fore the y can im porte d into nXt.

Standard AR3/AR4 Libraries The standard librarie s have be e n conve rte d and are available for download He re . http://nx tre nde r.com /download/

Your custom AR3/AR4 Libraries To conve rt your custom AR 3/AR 4 m ate rial librarie s use the tool provide d on the W idge ts m e nu of the AutoC AD pale tte

calle d Convert Legacy AR Material Library. This tool will conve rt your m ate rial library file into standard folde rs and e le m e ntal m ate rial file s, which can the n be im porte d into your drawing. Be cause the nXt e ngine is ve ry diffe re nt than pre vious AR e ngine s, som e m ate rials m ay re quire som e additional m anual work .

Additional Notes If a AR 3/AR 4 ve rsion of AccuR e nde r has ne ve r be e n installe d on your m achine , you will ne e d to te ll nXt whe re it can find the te x ture s use d by your AR 3/AR 4 m ate rials. This is ofte n the case with ne w 64-bit m achine s. Pre ssing the O ptions button on the nXt pale tte will allow you to e nte r the se arch path to your te x ture s.

C onve rting Le gacy AR 3/AR 4 Mate rial Librarie s - 10.5

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Using Legacy AR3/AR4 Plants - 10.6

Using Legacy AR3-AR4 Plants Using Legacy AR3/AR4 Plants Plants cre ate d in AccuR e nde r 3 or 4 m ay be adde d to a drawing by using the Add Legacy Plant... option in the Widgets->Plants pulldown.

Navigate to a folde r which contains an AR 3/AR 4 .plib file . C lick on the file nam e to load the library.

Se le ct a plant, and click OK. Se le ct a location for your plant. The plant will be place d in the drawing as a wire fram e , stick figure .

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Using Le gacy AR 3/AR 4 Plants - 10.6

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

O nce your AR 3/AR 4 plant has be e n inse rte d, you can e dit a fe w se ttings of the plant using the Edit Legacy Plant option.

Additional notes on AR3/AR4 Plants Groundcover and Vines AR 3/AR 4 groundcove r and vine s are not available in nXtR e nde r.

Search Paths for images, etc. If you are using AR 3/AR 4 plants and do not have AccuR e nde r 3 or 4 installe d, you will ne e d to m anually add all of the se arch paths ne ce ssary for your plants. (Use the O ptions ite m on the m e nu bar to add se arch paths.) The ne ce ssary paths include the path to the plant library, the path to the plant m ate rial library, and the paths to any te x ture s or opacity m aps re quire d by the AR 3/AR 4 plant. Missing AR 3/AR 4 plant m ate rials during re nde ring is alm ost always due to m issing se arch path inform ation. This issue is particularly re le vant for 64 bit syste m s, since the se will not have had pre vious installations of AccuR e nde r.

Existing Drawings AR 3/AR 4 drawings with plants alre ady inse rte d should work subje ct to the re strictions above .

No Library Conversion AR 3/AR 4 plants are ve ry diffe re nt than the ne w nXtR e nde r plants. C urre ntly you cannot conve rt AR 3/AR 4 plants to nXtR e nde r plants.

Using Le gacy AR 3/AR 4 Plants - 10.6

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Volumetric Fog - 10.7

Volumetric Fog Volumetric fog allows the atm osphe re surrounding your m ode l to participate in the lighting calculation. Effe cts such as "sun stre ak s" or "light be am s" can be accurate ly m ode le d using this e ffe ct. Tips on achie ving both of the se spe cific phe nom e na are discusse d be low.

Nighttim e fog sce ne - se e Nighttim e Fog Tips be low. (It took about 1,000 passe s for this re nde ring to conve rge and sm ooth out C hick Inn Mode l courte sy of Muse um Mak e r - Se e : Sk e tching Ypsi

FAQ - Why can't I see any fog W he n we first use d fog, we didn't se e any e ithe r. W e have fix e d, or adde d warnings, for m any of the thing we ran into. But this list m ay he lp. Most of the se ite m s are discusse d late r in the Volumetric Fog Article

1. Enable Volumetric Fog on the Fog Setup Tab If you forge t this ste p you will not ge t any fog. 2. Use the Path Tracer Engine W e have adde d som e warnings if you try to re nde r with Fog e nable d, but not the Path Trace r Engine . 3. Don't use Section Planes The re is curre ntly a bug whe re Fog doe s not work whe n vie we d through a se ction plane . You will ne e d to hide or de le te ge om e try inste ad if you want to se e through walls, e tc. until we ge t this fix e d. 4. Wait long enough so that the lights creating the fog appear The de fault is for only 1/3 of the lights to appe ar in e ach pass, so wait 6 to 10 passe s be fore you give up on the fog. 5. Make sure Scattering is set properly Scatte ring is the am oun that light is scatte re d by the fog. If you don't se e any fog, se t it to 50%. You can raise or lowe r it late r once you are able to se e the fog. 6. Don't set values too high - If Scatte ring or Absorption is too high, the n you m ay just ge t a dark re nde ring with no light passing through.

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Volum e tric Fog - 10.7

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r 7. Check the Fog Boundary For m y first re nde ring I did not se t the fog boundary. Since the n we have adde d som e de fault boundarie s - such as the m ode l boundary. 8. Make sure the fog boundary does not intersect any other faces. W e have m ade the de fault boundary 5% large r than the m ode l. If you se t your own boundary, m ak e sure the re are not any coplanar face s in th m ode l which inte rse ct the boundary.

To enable volumetric fog Volum e tric fog re quire s the Path Trace r , it is not available in the standard e ngine . O n the Lights Tab , click the Enable box in the Fog group. Afte r you e nable fog a box will appe ar in your m ode l. This box controls the e x te nt of the fog. It can be stre tche d using grip points, scale d, rotate d, and m ove d.

Path Tracer Engine Volum e tric Fog re quire s the nXt Path Trace r e ngine . This e ngine can cre ate spe cial e ffe cts lik e fog, but doe s so at the e x pe nse of a m ore com ple x and tim e -consum ing calculation. The Path Trace r be gins by displaying a ve ry grainy or "noisy" im age which gradually re fine s and be com e s sm ooth. This proce ss is k nown as conve rge nce . Som e sce ne s will conve rge ve ry quick ly, othe rs will tak e m any hours. Afte r just a fe w passe s, the im age appe ars quite noisy, but m ay be sufficie nt to de te rm ine if the sce ne is se t up prope rly. I will usually tak e 100's 0r 1,000's of passe s to ge t a good final im age . Each pass is faste r than with the Pack e t Mode Engine , but it will still usually tak e longe r to ge t a use able re sult with the Patch Trace r.

10 passe s - e arly on the re nde ring has a lot of unre solve d pix e ls. The final im age is be ginning to tak e shape but will ne e d m any m ore passe s be fore it is com ple te .

250 passe s - you can se e how this is going to work , Volum e tric Fog - 10.7

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Volumetric Fog - 10.7 and stop the re nde ring if you want to m ak e change s. But it will probably tak e about 1,000 passe s to ge t a good im age with fog.

1000 passe s - afte r about 1,000 passe s the sce ne has conve rge d fairly we ll.

Smoothness Filters Use of the sm oothne ss filte rs, include d in IR e nde r nXt, can also he lp re solve the im age . This two im age s are spot lights in haze , afte r 250 passe s. The one the le ft is the im age s as re nde re d, the one on the right has a 3x 3 Gaussian Sm oothne ss filte r applie d. The sm oothne ss he lps conve rge the pix e ls, and the slight blurrine ss it adds is acce ptable in a foggy sce ne .

250 passe s - original im age

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Volum e tric Fog - 10.7

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

250 passe s with Gaussian 3x 3 Sm oothne ss filte r applie d.

This is the sam e sce ne , re nde re d for 1,000 passe s without a sm oothne ss filte r. The e x tra passe s de finite ly cre ate a sm oothe r, m ore com ple te im age .

Fog Boundary The Fog calculations re quire a boundary to de te rm ine whe re to apply the fog e ffe ct. A radio button is supplie d for two sim ple case s - se tting the boundary to the database e x tre m a, and se tting the boundary to the e x tre m a plus cam e ra. In this lighthouse e x am ple , the database e x tre m a do not work we ll - be cause the database itse lf was so sm all:

Volum e tric Fog - 10.7

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Volumetric Fog - 10.7

Boundary se t to database e x tre m a (plus 10%) afte r 50 passe s. This doe s not achie ve the e ffe ct de sire d.

Face adde d to Sk e tchUp to de fine ne w m ode l e x tre m a for fog.

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Volum e tric Fog - 10.7

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Boundary se t to database e x tre m a - with adde d are a to de fine the fog boundary.

Settings

Enable Volumetric Fog - re m e m be r to also se le ct the Path Trace r Engine . Fog Color - The C olor Swatch allows you to change the scatte ring color, norm ally se t to white . Scattering - controls the probability of the light e ncounte ring a particle in the fog boundary. Highe r num be rs produce Volum e tric Fog - 10.7

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Volumetric Fog - 10.7 de nse r fogs. The de fault of 20% is ade quate for m any use s. A bsorption - is the probability of light be ing absorbe d in the fog boundary. Highe r num be rs produce dark e r fogs. This is norm ally le ft at 0%. Scattering Direction - controls how the light is scatte re d. Value s > 0 produce forward scatte ring. Value s < 0 produce back ward scatte ring, sim ilar to re fle ction. The de fault of 0.2 produce s a patte rn which re se m ble s wate r drople ts suspe nde d in air.

Tips for various conditions Nighttime Fog

For this im age , we se t: Scatte ring: 40% Absorption: 5% Scatte r Dire ction: 0.15 Lighting channe ls we re use d to adjust the inte nsity of the stre e t light and signs while re nde rings. The sign on top of the building and the sign at the right we re illum inate d as lights (using O bje ct Prope rtie s or Mate ril Illum ination) The othe r signs we re illum inate d using se lf-glow.

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Volum e tric Fog - 10.7

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Lighting Channels O ne of the othe r nice fe ature s for a nighttim e sce ne lik e this was the use of Lighting C hanne ls . I was able to assign se parate channe ls to groups of lights, and the n balance the m while re nde ring and afte r the re nde ring was com ple te . This is m uch e asie r than having to change the inte nsity of the lights and re -re nde r to se e the e ffe ct.

Exterior 'Sun Streaks'

Ex te rior Volum e tric Fog

C re ate a m ulti-channe l re nde ring and place the sun on one channe l and the sk y on anothe r. Volum e tric Fog - 10.7

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Volumetric Fog - 10.7 Using the C hanne ls dialog box , turn the sk y down to 0.2. (The particle s in the air will act as your "sk y". The standard sk y m ode l is not accurate whe n re pre se nting ve ry "low" sk ie s.) C hange the sun dire ction so your m ode l is lit from be hind. Sun stre ak s will usually only be visible in the dark are as of your m ode l. Add tre e s or othe r shade producing obje cts.

Interior Light through Window Use lighting channe ls to lowe r sk y inte nsity - to e m phasize the sun stre ak s. Se t scatte ring to 40% and the n raise or lowe r if ne e de d

Staine d Glass e x am ple

Interior "Light Beams" This effect often requires a long time to properly resolve. It m ay be im practical for som e sce ne s. Use low de nsity fog. Se t Scatte ring to 20% as a start. Use focuse d lighting, such as spot lights with narrow cone s.

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Volum e tric Fog - 10.7

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Inte rior Volum e tric Fog

Volum e tric Fog - 10.7

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Sub-surface Scattering - 10.8

Sub-surface Scattering Sub-surface Scattering is an advance d m ate rial prope rty found only in the Advance d Mate rial Editor on the Transpare ncy Page . Using this e ffe ct, light is pe rm itte d to pe ne trate the surface of your obje ct and scatte r in any dire ction. Many transluce nt m ate rials can be m ode le d using this e ffe ct. C e rtain surface s, such as stone or sk in can be re alistically "softe ne d" by allowing the light to pe ne trate a short distance . The lighting in nXtR e nde r norm ally occurs only at the surface of obje cts. Subsurface scatte ring is e sse ntially a volum e tric te chnique , whe re inte ractions also occur within the m e dium . It's re quire d to accurate ly m ode l m ate rials which we think of as "transluce nt". It's also he lpful with m ate rials whe re the light pe ne trate s the surface a little bit-- such as the m arble dragons-and the n scatte rs on its way out. The fe e l of the im age s above would be ve ry difficult to achie ve without this te chnology.

Dragon O bje cts with varying le ve ls of Sub-surface Scatte ring

Settings Sub-surface Scatte ring re quire s the Path Trace r to fully re alize this e ffe ct. It is only partially im ple m e nte d in the standard e ngine . Scatte ring controls the probability of the light e ncounte ring a particle pe r unit le ngth. Units can be ce ntim e te rs (de fault), m e te rs, or m illim te rs. Highe r num be rs produce m ore scatte ring. Scatte ring Dire ction controls how the light is scatte re d. Value s > 0 produce forward scatte ring. Value s < 0 produce back ward scatte ring, sim ilar to re fle ction. The de fault of 0.0 produce s an isotropic scatte ring patte rn which. Absorption is the probability of light be ing absorbe d pe r unit le ngth. Highe r num be rs produce dark e r m ate rials.

Additional Notes The m ate rial m ust have som e transpare ncy in orde r for sub-surface scatte ring to tak e place . This is a volum e tric e ffe ct. The obje cts with this m ate rial attache d m ust be solid or "space e nclosing" for this to work prope rly. "Thin" obje cts should be tagge d using O bje ct Prope rtie s. O bje cts tagge d as thin will use standard transluce ncy as de fine d by the Scatte ring se tting (unitle ss in this case .)

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Sub-surface Scatte ring - 10.8

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Speckle Artifacts Speckle A rtifacts Bright spot, or speckle artifacts som e tim e occur during the re nde ring proce ss. Two com m on cause s of this artifact, and the ir solutions, are discusse d be low.

Blurry Reflection of Light Sources This proble m is usually associate d with inte rior re nde rings whe re the light source s are sm all. The surface s e x hibiting the artifact typically have blurry re fle ctions. The re are thre e ste ps you can tak e to m itigate or e lim inate this artifact: You can tag the m ate rial in que stion as Glossy in the Material Wizard . This will pre ve nt the surface from having any ray-caste d re fle ctions at all and should e lim inate the proble m and provide be tte r ove rall pe rform ance . Using this switch m ay cause som e loss of subtle ty. For m any sce ne s, howe ve r, this is not notice able . It m ay be he lpful to incre ase re fle ctive Sharpne ss som e what afte r che ck ing the Glossy box . Se e : Glossy R e fle ction You can tag the m ate rial as No Light Source Reflections. This will allow ray-caste d re fle ctions, but will e x clude light source s from appe aring in the re fle ctions. This solution will not im prove pe rform ance , but will allow the surface to re tain m ore subtle re fle ctions than if you we re to use the Glossy switch. You can use the Monte-Carlo re fle ction se tting, e ithe r globally or locally in O bje ct Prope rtie s. This option will be slowe r and re quire m ore proce ssing to re solve .

Solar Highlights This proble m is typically se e n on e x te rior re nde rings whe n the Sun Highlight se tting is use d. You can m itigate or e lim inate the artifact by se tting this to a sm alle r value . Se e : Sk y Se tup Tab and Sun Highlight

R e nde ring has som e bright spots or "spe ck le " artifacts - 11.1

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Materials assigned by layer are not appearing in the rendering - 11.2

Materials assigned by layer are not appearing in the rendering If you assign a m ate rial to an obje ct's laye r, but the obje ct continue s to re nde r as if it doe s not have a m ate rial assignm e nt (or as if it has a diffe re nt m ate rial assignm e nt) use the following proce dure : Se le ct the offe nding obje ct(s) C lick the "R e m ove Mate rial from O bje cts" button on the nXtR e nde r Mate rial Tab R e pe at the re nde ring The by-laye r m ate rial assignm e nt should now appe ar. A dditional Notes O lde r m ode ls, or m ode ls cre ate d by 3rd party software , ofte n contain obje cts or sub-obje cts whose m ate rial is liste d as "Global" inste ad of "ByLaye r". The proce dure above must be use d on the se obje cts be fore a laye r assignm e nt will be visible . The syste m variable _C MATER IAL controls the de fault m ate rial for ne wly cre ate d obje cts. It should be se t to "ByLaye r". Using the AutoC AD com m m and for re m oving m ate rials from obje cts (locate d on the AutoC AD Mate rials Pale tte ), will also work .

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Mate rials assigne d by laye r are not appe aring in the re nde ring - 11.2

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

Crash occurs on 32-bit system (hi-res or complex model) nXtR e nde r is a m e m ory-inte nsive application which m ay e x ce e d the lim itations of a 32- bit syste m unde r ce rtain situations. W he n the se lim itations are approache d or e x ce e de d nXtR e nde r m ay be com e unstable . The se situations include , but are not lim ite d to: C om ple x ge om e try (e ithe r a lot of obje cts or obje cts which ge ne rate m any face s) nXtR e nde r Plants High re solution re nde ring Use of Lighting C hanne ls High re solution te x ture s Avoiding or re ducing som e of the se case s m ay allow you to re nde r your sce ne .

64 Bit Considerations nXtR e nde r, will on 32 bit syste m s. But will work m uch be tte r on a 64 bit syste m with at le ast 4 GB R AM

Speed Most m ode ls will re nde r faste r and be tte r on a 64-bit syste m . Note : The Vide o card is not use d for re nde ring in nXtR e nde r and will not e ffe ct re nde ring spe e d or pe rform ance . 64 bit syste m s allow you to add m ore than 4GB of physical m e m ory to a m achine -- this will re sult in pe rform ance be ne fits for all of your apps., including 32 bit one s.

Model Size 64 bit syste m s can run m uch large r data se ts (m ore de taile d m ode ls-- hi-re s re nde rings, e tc.). The y are not subje ct to the 2GB pe r-proce ss addre ss space proble m . This proble m is so significant in the Sk e tchUp, AutoC AD and R hino worlds that we wouldn't re com m e nd a 32 bit syste m to anyone look ing for a ne w m achine for the se purpose s. The Sk e tchUp world is m ore com plicate d since Sk e tchUp doe s not have a 64 bit ve rsion.

File Locations Program s, such as Sk e tchUp, which norm ally install into Program Files on 32 bit systems, install into Program Files (x86) on 32 bit syste m s. So m any re fe re nce s in the docum e ntation which re fe r to typical installation locations, such as C:\Program Files\ will be locate d in a diffe re nt location on the 64-bit syste m s. (Usually C:\Program Files (x86)) A dditional Notes Incre asing physical m e m ory or swap file space will have no effect on this proble m . The lim itation is inhe re nt to 32-bit syste m s. 64-bit syste m s do not have this proble m . nXtR e nde r is m ore m e m ory-inte nsive than pre vious ve rsions. Som e m ode ls which re nde re d using le gacy ve rsions m ay not re nde r using nXt.:

C rash occurs on 32-bit syste m (hi-re s or com ple x m ode l) - 11.3

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Technical Specifications - 12.1

Technical Specifications Core Physically-base d lum inance calculation C hoice of Pack e t Mode , Path Trace r or Hybrid [[nXtR e nde r R e nde ring Engine s|R e nde ring Engine s] Progre ssive re fine m e nt algorithm 64-bit ve rsion for m assive data se ts Multiprocessing Paralle l algorithm s e fficie ntly use all available core s Ne ar-line ar pe rform ance incre ase W R T num be r of core s Ve ctor-base d calculation using SSE R e nde r farm support (single and m ultiple im age s) Lighting Analytical sk y and sun HDR i im age -base d lighting Up to e ight Lighting C hanne ls IES file support Lum inance value s available for all surface s R e fractive and re fle ctive caustics Autom atic daylight portals for e fficie nt inte rior daylight sim ulations Materials Efficie nt displace m e nt m apping with low m e m ory ove rhe ad Norm al and bum p m apping Te x ture se t support Proce dural te x ture s and bum ps Blurry transpare ncy and glossy re fle ction Fully assignable to AC A com pone nts Entourage 3D plant e ditor and library Te x ture d m e sh obje ct support (O BJ and 3DS form at) R PC ™ support

Ready-made Content Fractal Tre e s Mate rial Library HDR i Back grounds Camera Pe rspe ctive 2-Point Pe rspe ctive O rthographic Panoram ic Accurate de pth of fie ld Image Editor and Output Lighting channe l m anipulation Post-proce ss fx lik e re al-tim e de pth of fie ld, haze , and ve iling glare . Im age arithm e tic Pirane si™ support HDR and EXR high dynam ic range output Mask , m ate rial, and distance channe ls Autom atic alpha-com positing A nimation - 141 -

Te chnical Spe cifications - 12.1

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r Easy to use 3D slide show anim ation Path-base d anim ation

Te chnical Spe cifications - 12.1

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nXtRender Platforms - 12.2

nXtRender Platforms The nXtR e nde r Engine - base d on AccuR e nde r nXt - is available for the se platofrm s: nXtR e nde r for AutoC AD IR e nde r nXt for Sk e tchUp AccuR e nde r nXt for R e vit Flam ingo nXt for R hino

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nXtR e nde r Platform s - 12.2

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

nXtRender Contact Information nXtRender is a re nde ring e ngine de ve lope d by R e nde r Plus Syste m s and R oy Hirsk owitz and Associate s for cre ating PhotoR e alistic Im age s from 3D Mode ls. nXtR e nde r is curre ntly offe re d for: Sk e tchUp , AutoC AD , and R e vit For Support, visit our Forum at nXtR e nde r.com Render Plus Systems, Inc. 6436 S. Q ue be c St Suite 260 C e nte nnial, C o 80111 Em ail: support@re nde rplus.com W e bsite : nXtR e nde r for AutoC AD: nXtR e nde r.com W e bsite : Sk e tchUp Products: re nde rplus.com

C ontact Inform ation - 12.3

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Index

Index -- 3 -3D slide show animations, 8.2

-- A -Absorption, 5.5, 10.7 Add-ons nXtRender, Chapter 9 Adding and assigning materials, 3.4 indirect lighting exterior rendering, 4.4 lights, 3.6 Advanced Material Editor, 6.2 Alpha, 7.2 Altitude, 5.1 Always load changes, 10.3 Ambient., 5.5 Angle, 5.2 Animation, 10.3 Walkabout and, Chapter 8 animations 3D slide show, 8.2 appear Wait long enough so that lights creating fog, 10.7 area Show only render, 9.1 artifacts Rendering has some bright spots or "speckle", 11.1 ask Load dialog, 10.3 Attach Material Objects, 6.1 Attenuation., 6.2 AutoCAD Rendering, 2.1 Automatic Daylight Portals., 5.5 Automatically Save Rendering Every, 7.1 Azimuth, 5.1

-- B -background Image filters, 9.1 Positioning, 9.1 Wizard, 9.1 Balanced, 4.3 Basics Beyond, Chapter 4 The, Chapter 3 Batch rendering, 10.3 Beyond Basics, Chapter 4 Bleed. Color, 5.5 Blocks Render Ready, 9.3 Blur, 5.2 Bounces. Indirect, 5.5 Reflective, 5.5 Refractive, 5.5 Boundary Check Fog, 10.7 Brightness, 3.2 Brightness. Studio, 5.5 Browse, 7.1 Burn, 3.2 Using, 10.1

-- C -Carlo Monte, 4.3 Caustics, 7.2 Disable, 5.5 changes Always load, 10.3 Never Load, 10.3 Channel, 5.2, 5.4 material Glow, 5.5 Sky, 5.1

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Inde x

R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r Sun, 5.1 Channels Lighting, 4.7 Channels., 5.5 Check Fog Boundary, 10.7 Cloudiness, 5.1 Color, 5.4 Bleed., 5.5 Fog, 5.5, 10.7 Maps, 3.3 Colors Use Object, 7.1 Combining daylighting and artificial lighting for interior rendering, 4.5 Contact Information, 12.3 Controlling tesselation-- smoothing curved objects, 4.10 Converting Legacy AR3/AR4 Material Libraries, 10.5 Crash occurs on 32-bit system (hi-res or complex model), 11.3 Custom, 10.3

-- D -Daylight Portal, 7.2 decals Working, 4.2 Diffuse, 5.3 direction Light, 7.2 Scattering, 5.5, 10.7 Disable caustics, 5.5 Dispersion., 6.2 Distortion, 9.1 Don't set values too high, 10.7 use Section Planes, 10.7 Download and Installation, 1.2

-- E -Edit Material, 6.1 Editor Advanced Material, 6.2 Image, 10.2 Enable Volumetric Fog, 10.7 Volumetric Fog on Fog Setup Tab, 10.7 Enabled, 5.5 Engine, 5.5 Use Path Tracer, 10.7 Engines Rendering, 4.9 Every Automatically Save Rendering, 7.1

-- F -faces. Make sure fog boundary does not intersect any other, 10.7 Farm Render, 10.4 File Get Material from, 6.1 Save Material, 6.1 filters background Image, 9.1 Fog Color, 5.5, 10.7 Enable Volumetric, 10.7 Volumetric, 10.7

-- G -Get Material from File, 6.1 Getting Started, Chapter 1 Glossy, 4.3 Glow., 6.2 Gradient, 5.4

-- H -Inde x

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Index

HDRIs Working, 4.6 high Don't set values too, 10.7 Highlight Sun, 5.1 Highlights No, 4.3 No Light Source Reflections and No, 4.3

-- I -Image Editor, 10.2 Images Zoom Background, 9.1 Indirect Bounces., 5.5 Indirect., 5.5 Information Contact, 12.3 Installation Download and, 1.2 Video, 2.2 Intensity, 5.2, 5.4, 7.2 Sky, 5.1 Sun, 5.1 Intensity., 6.2 Interior Lights Tutorial, 2.4 Invisible, 7.2 IOR., 6.2

-- L -Large Models, 10.3 Layer Material Schemes, 9.2 Libraries Converting Legacy AR3/AR4 Material, 10.5 Licensing, 1.3 Light direction, 7.2 Type, 7.2 Lighting, 3.5 Basics Tutorial, 2.3 Channels, 4.7 Palette, Chapter 5 lights Adding, 3.6 Per Pass., 5.5 Using IES (photometric), 4.8 Lights., 5.5 Load dialog ask, 10.3 this dialog before rendering, 10.3

-- M -Maintain Aspect Ratio, 9.1 Make sure fog boundary does not intersect any other faces., 10.7 sure Scattering is set properly, 10.7 Mapping Material, 6.1 Quick, 6.1 Tone, 3.2 Maps Color, 3.3 Material Edit, 6.1 Glow Channel, 5.5 Mapping, 6.1 New, 6.1 materials Adding and assigning, 3.4 assigned by layer are not appearing in rendering, 11.2 Palette, Chapter 6 Tab, 6.1 Use, 7.1 Miscellaneous, Chapter 12 Model Name, 10.3 model) Crash occurs on 32-bit system (hi-res or complex, 11.3 Models Large, 10.3 Monte Carlo, 4.3 Carlo Reflections., 5.5 Multipass rendering Video, 2.6

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R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r

-- N -Name Model, 10.3 Network Rendering, 10.3 Never Load changes, 10.3 New Material, 6.1 No Daylight Portal., 6.2 Highlights, 4.3 Light Source Reflections, 4.3 Light Source Reflections and No Highlights, 4.3 Notify me that data is ready, 10.3 nXtRender Add-ons, Chapter 9 Basic Materials Tutorial, 2.5 Platforms, 12.2 Using Archvision RPC, 4.11 Using Textured Mesh Files (3DS or OBJ), 4.12

-- O -Object Properties, 7.2 Objects Attach Material, 6.1 Controlling tesselation-- smoothing curved, 4.10 Remove Material from, 6.1 Omnidirectional, 5.3 Opacity, 9.1 Other Advanced Topics, Chapter 10 Palettes, Chapter 7 Overview Rendering, 1.1

-- P -Palette Lighting, Chapter 5 Materials, Chapter 6 Palettes Other, Chapter 7 Pass. Lights Per, 5.5 Passes, 7.1 Planes Don't use Section, 10.7 Plants Use, 7.1 Using Legacy AR3/AR4, 10.6 Working, 3.7 Platforms nXtRender, 12.2 Portal Daylight, 7.2 Portal. No Daylight, 6.2 Portals. Automatic Daylight, 5.5 Position Reset, 9.1 Positioning Background, 9.1 Projection, 5.4 properly Make sure Scattering is set, 10.7 Properties Object, 7.2

-- Q -Quick Mapping, 6.1

-- R -Ratio Maintain Aspect, 9.1 ready Notify me that data is, 10.3 Reflections No Light Source, 4.3 Reflections. Monte Carlo, 5.5 Reflective Bounces., 5.5 Refractive Bounces., 5.5

Inde x

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Index Remove Material from Objects, 6.1 Render Farm, 10.4 Ready Blocks, 9.3 Settings, 7.1 Rendering, 3.1 Adding indirect lighting exterior, 4.4 AutoCAD, 2.1 Batch, 10.3 Combining daylighting and artificial lighting for interior, 4.5 Engines, 4.9 has some bright spots or "speckle" artifacts, 11.1 Load this dialog before, 10.3 Materials assigned by layer are not appearing in, 11.2 Network, 10.3 Overview, 1.1 Start batch, 10.3 Reset Position, 9.1 resolve. This effect often requires long time properly, 10.7 RPS_AC_RENDER_READY, Chapter 9

-- S -Saturation, 3.2, 5.2 Skylight, 5.1 Saturation., 6.2 Save Material File, 6.1 Scattering, 5.5, 10.7 Direction, 5.5, 10.7 Sub-surface, 10.8 Schemes Layer Material, 9.2 Settings Render, 7.1 Spot Lamp, 7.2 Shaders Working Reflection, 4.3 Show model as Wire-frame, 9.1 only render area, 9.1 Sky Channel, 5.1 Intensity, 5.1 Sky., 5.5 Skylight Saturation, 5.1 Specifications Technical, 12.1 Spot Lamp Settings, 7.2 Standard, 10.3 Start batch rendering, 10.3 Started Getting, Chapter 1 Studio Brightness., 5.5 Sub-surface Scattering, 10.8 Sun Channel, 5.1 Highlight, 5.1 Intensity, 5.1 Sun., 5.5

-- T -Tab Enable Volumetric Fog on Fog Setup, 10.7 Materials, 6.1 The Advanced Lighting, 5.5 The Advanced Object Properties, 7.3 The Backgrounds, 5.4 The Lights, 5.3 The Sky, 5.2 The Sun, 5.1 Technical Specifications, 12.1 textures Working, 4.1 The Advanced Lighting tab, 5.5 Advanced Object Properties Tab, 7.3 Backgrounds Tab, 5.4 Basics, Chapter 3 Lights Tab, 5.3 Material Tree, 6.3 Sky Tab, 5.2 Sun Tab, 5.1 Thick, 7.2 This effect often requires long time properly resolve., 10.7

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R e nde ring with AutoC AD using nXtR e nde r Tone Mapping, 3.2 Topics Other Advanced, Chapter 10 Translucency., 6.2 Tree The Material, 6.3 Troubleshooting, Chapter 11 Tutorial Interior Lights, 2.4 Lighting Basics, 2.3 nXtRender Basic Materials, 2.5 Tutorials and Videos, Chapter 2 Type, 5.4 Light, 7.2

-- U -Use Materials, 7.1 Object Colors, 7.1 Path Tracer Engine, 10.7 Plants, 7.1 Using Archvision RPC nXtRender, 4.11 Burn, 10.1 IES (photometric) lights, 4.8 Legacy AR3/AR4 Plants, 10.6 Textured Mesh Files (3DS or OBJ) nXtRender, 4.12

-- V -Video Installation, 2.2 Multipass rendering, 2.6 Videos Tutorials and, Chapter 2 Volumetric Fog, 10.7

-- W -Wait long enough so that lights creating fog appear, 10.7 WalkAbout, 8.1 and Animation, Chapter 8 Wire-frame Show model as, 9.1 Wizard Background, 9.1 Working decals, 4.2 HDRIs, 4.6 Plants, 3.7 Reflection Shaders, 4.3 textures, 4.1

-- X -XOffset, 5.4 XScale, 5.4

-- Y -YOffset, 5.4 YScale, 5.4

-- Z -Zoom Background Images, 9.1

Inde x

- 150 -