TABLE OF CONTENTS So far in this book, you have worked with wireframe, hidden-line, and shaded viewing modes. Now, you will begin to work with renderings, which are shaded, realistic images of 3D objects. In creating renderings, you can simulate the effects of both natural and artificial lighting, and you can transform surfaces into bricks, tile, and other patterned material, as well as create transparent and reflective surfaces.
This chapter
gives you an overview of rendering what it is, what you can do with it, and what its limitations are;
describes bitmap files, the various formats they come in, and their relationships to renderings;
introduces you to the steps and processes in making renderings.
Rendering in AutoCAD is handled by render.arx, an external program that is automatically activated the first time a command related to rendering is called. Rendering is a model space operation. None of the rendering commands are allowed in paper space, although you can render within a floating viewport. Also, rendering works only on surface and solid models wireframe objects vanish during a rendering.
Although the Gouraud Shading option of the SHADEMODE command can make rendering-like images in that surfaces become smooth and shaded and mesh lines disappear, the rendering commands go far beyond making smooth surfaces. Here is a list of some of their capabilities:
A variety of light types for obtaining different effects are supported. You can control the position, intensity, and color of these lights, and they also can cast shadows.
You can enhance...
