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P.R.S. Sivakumar
21st Sep 2003, 09:52 am
Hello everybody,

I am a SOHO Architect practising in a a small city in India. Apart from using AutoCad for design & drafting, every now and then I do modelling & photorealistic renderings within AutoCad itself. I have been in search of an answer for the last few years for the following question: When there is built-in photorealistic rendering capabilities within AutoCad itself, why are many of the visualisers resorting to Viz or Max for rendering? I do not need animation nor any fancy lighting effects. Many of my friends advised me to switch over to Viz or Max for rendering.So I attended a course (in an Autodesk authorised center)in Viz. Even after that I am still convinced that my AutoCad rendered images (which do contain lot of textures, background, landscape objects, people, etc. including reflections, shadows etc. at 3600 x 2700 resolutions) are as good as Viz rendered images. So why switch over to Viz? Are many of the users biased against AutoCad renderings just because they learnt renderings in Viz/Max right from the start without ever exploring the possibilities within AutoCad itself? Software is frightfully expensive to us Indians. As a legal user of AutoCad I would like to stick to this single package for rendering also. Am I wrong? Please guide me to take a decision. Hope I am not troubling with a very long question. Thanks in advance for everyone.

PRSS
Orbit
21st Sep 2003, 05:21 pm
Actually, your question is short and I have a question for you, if you do not mind. You made me curious to see how it looks a good render in autocad.

Can you post one of your the very best render you have done in autocad, only for my peace of mind? Maybe I will change my opinion about autocad render.
robfowler
21st Sep 2003, 07:21 pm
Hello P.R.S. and welcome to the forum.

I think you have answered your own question! If AutoCAD is doing all the things you need and the rendering is of a standard which suits you and your clients then there is no need to move to another redering package.

I happen to think that AutoCAD is fairly good at rendering once you get used to it and it is certainly all we need in school to get the pupils to make their models look realsitic with materials and lights added.

Sure I have looked at Bryce, Max and Viz but when our school gets only so much money for software then we made the decision to stick with plain old AutoCAD which does all we need and more. I suspect you are in the same position.

Rob.
gcp310
21st Sep 2003, 10:12 pm
I agree with you R.P.S, Autocad,when set up properly can acheive excellent results when rendering.

I would look into Accurender, a plug in rendering program for autocad.
Its excellent and easy to use, with great results, at a third of the price of viz or max.

they are realeasing version 4 soon, and the raytracing results are great.

G
P.R.S. Sivakumar
22nd Sep 2003, 03:34 pm
Hello everybody and dear Orbit,

Thanks for asking me to post one of my Acad images. But how do I post it? I don't have a URL. I would certainly like to get more feedback on this.Ill be really thankful to get more replies and views on this subject - positive or negative. Thanks once again.

PRSS
hendie
22nd Sep 2003, 04:18 pm
if I have to do any rendering, I take my model into Viz

that's not to say you can't do a decent rendering in Acad but it's much easier and faster to apply mapping, materials etc in Viz. Also, if you've ever had to muck about with lighting in acad, then Viz is a sheer delight after trying to do anything but the most basic lighting in acad.

so, there's no reason not to do it in autocad and you can end up with just as impressive a rendering, but.... Viz will do it much much faster
superjari
22nd Sep 2003, 04:23 pm
Hello everybody and dear Orbit,

Thanks for asking me to post one of my Acad images. But how do I post it? I don't have a URL. I would certainly like to get more feedback on this.Ill be really thankful to get more replies and views on this subject - positive or negative. Thanks once again.

PRSS

http://www.picserver.tk or the direct link http://picserver.student.utwente.nl/?action=news
Mr T
22nd Sep 2003, 11:21 pm
Hello everybody and dear Orbit,

Thanks for asking me to post one of my Acad images. But how do I post it? I don't have a URL. I would certainly like to get more feedback on this.Ill be really thankful to get more replies and views on this subject - positive or negative. Thanks once again.

PRSS

Here is a twenty min render lesson I do with kids
http://www.eezylearn.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/tutorials/cad/3d/trolley_wheel/sg_trolly_render.jpg

Email it to me I'll put an image up for you. My Email to you via a private message.

Nick
P.R.S. Sivakumar
23rd Sep 2003, 06:53 pm
Dear Mr T,
Thanks a lot for your offer. I have mailed to you the images. Please kindly do the needful. Thanks again.
PRSS