3D -from schematic to polished

[archteryx]

I have created a rudimentary assembly detail and would very much appreciate any direction on how to 'polish' it to a more convincing finish. It is not necessary to produce photo-realistic images. I'd like to add some colour and some basic hatch/textures to represent individual materials.

I have attached a jpg of the detail for anyone who can bear to look upon it's hideousness.

[MikeScott]

Nice detail!

 

I wouldn't show the breakaway lines as being parallel or perpendicular to each other or the parts, or it risks being confused as being part of the construction.

 

Other than that.. you can change the colors to match the real world colorations of the items.

 

Or you can open the render materials and assign actual materials to the parts, so that a shaded view, or a rendering will snap out the parts for you. Don't worry about photorealistic, you wont get that "accidentally"..

 

I would consider doing some of the outside surfaces in realistic textures.. it adds interest.

[archteryx]

Good point re: breakaway lines, Mike.

It took me a moment to figure out what you meant by that term, but I think you mean the cut edges of the assembly components...right ?

I have attached a PDF showing details with what I think is an appropriate level of detail.

Image Samples_100324v2.pdf

[MikeScott]

Yes, that's what I was referring to.

 

So, you want something that is more of a line drawing and less of a rendering, to permit the image to withstand multiple faxing/copying?

 

In the world of emails and photo messaging, I don't think that's as big a deal as it used to be, but that's just my opinion.

 

As soon as it's faxed, all color is lost, so if that's your target end use, you can't color it except very lightly because fax shading just doesn't work.

 

I've done that kind of rendering in Blender (freeware) or possibly it was Truspace (some older versions at least, are free.. not sure about the current one).. where you can specify an edge darkening that results in what looks a bit like a "graphic novel" rendering, heading towards cartoonish.

 

To do that in CAD, unless there's been additions to the rendering system in later releases that I'm unaware of, you're not going to get that kind of effect without running it through a graphics program like gimp (freeware?) or photoshop (not free).

 

Some versions of photoshop, or corel draw, will allow you to import a DXF which would be cool because you could union all of it, and each resulting "edge and/or surface" of the DXF could theoretically be manually painted.. you just have to determine the angle of the dxf prior to inserting it. Then add everything else in the art program.

 

To do that mesh in autoCAD, you'd probably do it as a graphic decal added to the next piece of material.. Basically, size the graphic for the next layer.. and draw the mesh onto part of it (stepped back to show it as another construction layer).. then apply the image as a material.

 

Another way would be to skip the rendering totally, and add stuff like that as hatching to the surface in 3d. You can also do gradient hatching that way on whatever surface you want. Then export the jpeg, or use the printscreen button to get it out of CAD.

 

The breaklines on your choice of "best version" in that PDF work great because they are consistent through every layer.. that's why it doesn't get confusing to the eye. Though I should note that the indicator arrows are pointing to the wrong materials.

[archteryx]

that's awesome, Mike. Thx.

I'll test some of what you've suggested