autocad 2014 raster materials and rendering.pdf

8/10/2019 AutoCAD 2014 Raster Materials and Rendering.pdf

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AutoCAD 2014 Materials & Rendering

This step-by-step tutorial is designed to help you create, attach and render a new rastermaterial in AutoCAD 2014. This tutorial is compatible with 2013 (using the 3D Modelingworkspace) but not with earlier versions of AutoCAD. There are 3 prerequisites for this

tutorial.a. You must have a jpeg image ready to use as the basis for your new material.

b. You must be able to see (so that you can pick) the object to which the new materialwill be applied in the current viewport.

c. Both the object and the image must have the same aspect ratio. For example, if the

object is square, the image must also be square. If the image and object havediffering aspect ratios, the image will be stretched to fit the object and may appear

distorted.

Setting up your workspacea. Make sure that you are using the 3D Basicsworkspace.


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b. Using the in-canvas viewport controls, set the visual style to Realistic .

c. On the Rendertab, click the Materials Editorbutton (small arrow in bottom-right of

panel) on the Materials panel to display the Materials Editor palette.


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Creating the material1. Click the Create New Materialbutton in the Materials Editor, and select New Generic

Materialfrom the pull-down menu.


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2. Replace the Default Genericname with something more specific for your newmaterial in the Nametext box.

3. Next, click the small down-arrow next to the Imagelist and select Imagefrom the

pull-down menu.


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4. Use the Open File dialogue box to select the image to use for the new material andclick the Openbutton.

5. You should see that the materialpreview now shows the selectedimage.


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6. Using the slider to set the Glossinessto 0 (zero).

7. Select Edit Image...from the Imagepull-down menu to display the Texture Editorpanel (if it does not automatically appear).


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8. In the Texture Editorpanel, click the Transforms down arrow and then the Scaledown arrow to reveal the Sample Size settings. Set both the Widthand Height1200.

That completes the creation of the new material. You can close the Texture Editor

and Materials Editorpanels.


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Attaching the material

1. Click the Materials Browserbutton on the Materials panel on the Ribbon.

2. Drag-and-drop your new material from the Materials Browseron to the front face of

your panel and hold down the Control key(Ctrl) on the keyboard as you do it. Thecontrol key causes the material to be applied only to the face and not to the wholeobject.


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3. You should see your material applied to the panel object.

4. If your material doesnt look quite right, you may need to adjust the Mapping. Try

setting the mapping to Planarusing the Material Mappingoptions on the Materials panel. Hold down the Control key as you select the face you applied the material to.


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Rendering the model to a fileBefore rendering, make sure that the view you want to render is set up in the current

viewport. For example, if you are matching a photograph, check that the angle andperspective are correct. You may find it easier to add a camera to the drawing in order tosave your view.

1. Click the Rendertab on the Ribbon and click the Advanced Render Settingsbutton

(small arrow in bottom-right of panel) to display the Render panel.

2. Click the small render to file button in the Render Context bar.

3. Click on Output file name and then on the ellipsis (3 dots) to display the RenderOutput Filedialogue box.


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4. Set the save location by clicking on the My Documents icon then give the file a nameand select PNG from the Files of type drop-down list.

5. Click the Savebutton to display the PNG Image

Options dialogue box.

6. Click the 32 Bitsradio button in the PNG Image

Options dialogue box. This option saves a selection

with the rendered image, making it easier to workwith in Photoshop. Click the OKbutton.

7. Set the Output sizefor your render. This should beat least as big as the background image you will beadding the render to. Use the Specify OutputSizeoption for larger or non-standard sizes.

8. Finally, click the Render button at the top-right ofthe Advanced Render Settings panel.


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9. You can follow the progress of your render in the render window it should take nomore than a couple of minutes. Once you see a small red tick against the file name,the render is complete and the image file can be opened in Photoshop.

For best results, you could also render the scene with sunlight and with Sky andBackground Illuminationturned on. If you do this, be sure to set the date and time too.

David Watson - January 2014