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AutoCAD® 2011 & AutoCAD LT® 2011 Bible
book

AutoCAD® 2011 & AutoCAD LT® 2011 Bible

by Ellen Finkelstein
June 2010
Intermediate to advanced
1332 pages
33h 58m
English
Wiley
Content preview from AutoCAD® 2011 & AutoCAD LT® 2011 Bible

Chapter 25. Rendering in 3D

IN THIS CHAPTER

  • Understanding rendering

  • Creating lights and scenes

  • Working with materials

  • Using backgrounds

  • Rendering your drawing

Although 3D drawings are more realistic than those that you create in 2D, they look very artificial — they lack realistic color, shading, and lighting, for example. Rendering enables you to display a 3D drawing more realistically. Some of the more advanced features let you create shadows, make objects transparent, add backgrounds, and map 2D images onto the surface of 3D models. You can shade and render 3D objects. Figure 25.1 shows a whimsical rendering that uses shadows and a background.

Note

AutoCAD LT does not offer any rendering features. This entire chapter applies only to AutoCAD.

This entire chapter assumes that you're in the 3D Modeling (not the 3D Basics) workspace. Change the workspace by clicking the Workspace drop-down list on the Quick Access Toolbar or the Workspace Switching button on the status bar.

This cog has been rendered with shadows and a background of clouds.

Figure 25.1. This cog has been rendered with shadows and a background of clouds.

Understanding Rendering

Rendering is a much more sophisticated means of visualizing a drawing than using visual styles. AutoCAD offers many settings that allow you to fine-tune the results.

Learning the steps

Rendering is a multistep process. It generally requires a good deal of trial and error to get the exact results that you want. Here are the ...

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AutoCAD® 2010 and AutoCAD LT® 2010 Bible

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780470608234Purchase book