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Rendering With AutoCAD Using nXtRender - Albert Hart PDF
Rendering With AutoCAD Using nXtRender - Albert Hart PDF
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
R e nde ring
Tone Mapping
C olor Maps
Adding and assigning m ate rials
Lighting
Adding lights
W ork ing with Plants
The
The
The
The
The
Sun Tab
Sk y Tab
Lights Tab
Back grounds Tab
Advance d Lighting tab
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
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Title Page
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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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.
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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
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Licensing - 1.3
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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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)
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Installation Vide o
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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
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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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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
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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.
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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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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
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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
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 .
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C lick on the gray or colore d square . This brings up the color whe e l.
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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.
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The scale should re fle ct the re al world size that you ne e d for your bitm ap.
This will incre ase the 3D e ffe ct of the te x ture d m ate rial.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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 .
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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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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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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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Lighting - 3.5
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
Tutorials
Se e : nXtR e nde r Lighting Basics Tutorial
Lighting - 3.5
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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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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
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).
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Trunk Settings
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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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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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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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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Rendering Engines
Packet Mode
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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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
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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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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.
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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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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
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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
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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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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.
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Fog
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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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Materials Tab
Materials Tab
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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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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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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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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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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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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.
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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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Render Settings
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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.
Ground Cover
Se e : Ground C ove r for de fining and assigning Ground C ove r foliage to a surface .
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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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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.:
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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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nXtRender Add-ons
The se A dd-ons for nXtRender are available as a se parate download.
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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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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.
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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 .
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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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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.
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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.
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.
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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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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 :
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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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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 .
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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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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.
These are the functions for each of the buttons on the Render Dialog Toolbar:
- 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
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- Save the re nde re d im age to a JPEG or PNG file . Se e : Saving R e nde re d Im age
- 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.
- 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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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.
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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.
Network Rendering
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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.
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.
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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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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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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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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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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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
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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 .
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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:
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Settings
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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.
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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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.
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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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.
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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Mate rials assigne d by laye r are not appe aring in the re nde ring - 11.2
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.:
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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
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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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Index
Index
-- 3 -3D slide show animations, 8.2
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Inde x
-- 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
-- H -Inde x
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Index
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Inde x
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
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Inde x
-- X -XOffset, 5.4
XScale, 5.4
-- Y -YOffset, 5.4
YScale, 5.4
Inde x
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