Rendering

[zdas04]

I jumped from AutoCad V6 to V8 and in V6 there was no "rendering" and in V8 it is a big deal. It is a big deal that I can't make work.

I just rendered a model into a viewport and it came in with a black background laying over top of my dimensions. When I plot it, the black background turns transparent and I can see my dimensions and annotations, but if I need to change a dimension I can't see where it is.

Anyone have a tip on how to get rid of the black background in the "render" process?

David

 

[francesca]

What is this AutoCAD V8 of which you speak? They went from R14 to 2000, 2002, 2004 and then annual increments, so do you mean 2008?

In AutoCAD Black and White are interchangeable. The color of your background is a manual preference. Here's a class from AU 2007 that will give you an intro to rendering in ACAD 2008.

http://au.autodesk.com/?nd=class&session_id=911

 

[zdas04]

Yes, I meant 2008, sorry about the confusion. I couldn't get the link to work. I'll try again later.

David

 

[zdas04]

Worked the second time. I watched the whole thing. I guess I'm using "render" wrong (pipe fabrication without a background), it looked so easy in the video, but none of what he talked about worked on my drawings.

David

 

[francesca]

So by "render" you mean 3D solid modeling rather than "making something look pretty?"

If you're trying to control the way 3D objects display in a viewport, in a layout tab, then you have to set the viewport shading properties. Try this link.

 

[zdas04]

Yes I'm talking about 3D solid modeling.

I followed the link to a 2010 help screen that didn't mention "viewport shading". I went into 2008 and there was a "viewport shading" option that had all the visual styles plus "render". I turned it to that and got the rendered plot to show up in the ouptut without the black background. I just wish that it would render the model to look like it does on the screen (conceptual) instead of the visual style it picks (realistic).

The drawing package has 12 11X17 drawings. Half look the way I want them to look. 1/4 have large green squares of color, and 1/4 are rendered with too little contrast and it is hard to tell what anything is. I'm thinking I've spent too much time on this.

David

 

[ATSE]

Is this green square in AutoCAD, or on pdfs after plotting?
I have also seen green blocks on the my 3-D plots, but that was due to my pdf writer. Using a different pdf plot utility (Adobe), the green blocks went away.

 

[zdas04]

Just in the output. If I plot-preview, no green blocks. If I go straight to the plotter, no green blocks sometimes, green blocks other times. No way to predict. Is AutoDesk using Adobe print drivers or has Adobe compromised system print drivers?

I'm using Acrobat X and wondering how badly I screwed up by going to it. Adobe has a history of rushing to press. It would take several hours that I don't have to roll back.

David

 

[francesca]

The embedded AutoCAD pdf creator is not Adobe. It's pretty good, but I've never printed 3D models. You could try exporting to DWF and then printing to pdf from Design Review.

 

[zdas04]

Well, it took 7 hours to roll back to Acrobat 9.2 and now I remember why I went to X--because I was getting the green blocks in 9.2.

I think I'll go find a beer and a drawing table. Nothing is worth this much hassle.

David

 

[cfee]

Yeah, sounds like your experience was similar to mine. Up to 2006 I got CONSISTENTLY STUNNING results using ACAD's internal renderer and its internal material library which I routinely tweaked to create new custom materials, from various polished or brushed metals to stonework, green marble, gold, etc, to water and sky. I was COMPLETELY SOLD on ACAd's included internal renderer. It even included time- season and LONG/LAT controls for lighting if you wanted ! This was HUGELY useful when I was modeling Swimming pools and inserting perspective renders (including water features and ALL !!!!) into photographs of customers' homes with back yards and existing or subsequent landscaping... I'm sure you can see why I was SUCH a fan ! I also had huge successes with it modeling Mechanical Industrial and Consumer products, INCLUDING steel, copper, gold, black and colored rubber, colored plastics AND transparent materials... !

And imagine the value of running ACAD-2006 on a machine not far removed from today's available equipment ! Relatively low software "weight" on a fairy robust platform even by today's standards. AUTOCAD NIRVANNA (almost !)

Then came the "Improvements". I abandoned ACAD with 2008, and have only used it under duress since. ACAD 2010 saw some significant return to sanity, with more improvements at 2011, but they're still struggling (monster sized legacy icons anyone ?!???). I expect 2012 (out now) and further releases to make things better. Who knows- maybe in a another few releases we'll be up to where we were before the improvements of 2008 !

BTW- I long ago replaced the included PDF generator with PDF995. Superior and far more consistent results. AND there are others out there that may be even better !

I'd SERIOUSLY look into anti-aliasing settings and screen-capture as a port-out for your work. You can take the results out to any bitmap editor, tweak the results as you see fit, insert the resulting image ino ANY page manager (I us MS-WORD for consistency and broad compatibility purposes) and THEN output to PDF. Seems like an extra step or 2 but that impression is FALSE, especially when compared to the VERY REAL circumstance prompting the initial post in the first place !

Good luck and post back here with results -
C.F.