Upgrading from 2010 to 2013. Lighting, Materials, Rendering Input?

[Tallans422]

I guess I just want to get some input here on what others have done with their switch from 10 to 13, or what you may recommend.  Currently our office is on ACA 2010 and we take advantage of rendering using default lighting to give us a presentable image without having to incorporate lighting into the model.  This is primarily due to time constraints.  We're putting out roughly 200 plans a month, a good number of which require renderings and currently they only take between one and two minutes to render so not a huge deal.  With the updated render engine in 2013 I know default lighting gives a less-than-desirable effect on the model.  Either adding lighting effects or adding lighting intensity to materials seems to be a must in order to produce a decent image.  I know we don't have time to add lighting to every plan and wait longer for a rendering that I know will look great, but will put everybody behind.  I've already played with adding some distance lights, etc. to our templates which gave good results in isometric view, but lacked when I go to first-person view.  I've also played with adding lighting intensity to materials but that tends to "wash out" materials or images that contain patterns or numerous colors. 

Any thoughts?  Again, our biggest concern is time, unfortunately.  It would be hard to tell the group "Good news, we're upgrading to ACA 2013, Bad News, it will take you longer to do your job!"

Thank You,

TS

[MichaelBussiere2]

Thank you for your post.  In this case there are two parts really from what I see, one bet practice for rendering and the other the changes in the 2013 software for rendering as compared to the 2010 release.  In this case there are a number of documents and third party software that are designed and written around rendering in the products.  Two I often refer to (although refer to 2011 release but still applicable) are listed below.  Additionally there are a number of third party venders that create software built on top of the ACA software that are designed specifically for rendering. These can be found on the web and through your local reseller.

AUGI Rendering: http://www.augi.com/library/autocad-architecture-rendering-basics

Rendering Review: http://www.archidigm.com/Coverpage/cover3-10/lounge-set_render_material_reivew.htm

Additionally if and when you do roll out the 2013 product to take advantages of the new features and functions, please also verify you have all the latest updates and hotfixes applied.  In this his case there was a recent update in the 2013 product that I have listed below.

ACA 2013 update 1: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=20556359&linkID=9240658

I hope this helps.

[ntellery]

Are you referring to internal or external renders? 

I do quick ext all the time (struggle with int) and use the sun with sky + illumination.  I might take an additional hour or 2 to add grass, fences and some planting and then render for 2-5mins.

I generally render to screen and use SAVEIMG to grab the render and then will paste back to sheet as an xpref'd jpg which is down and dirty but reasonable resolution for what I am doing.

[MichaelBussiere2]

Either or should still be applicable (INT versus EXT).  Another good resource is Paul Aubin’s web book,

http://paulaubin.com/_downloads/2010_AU/Book_Samples/AutoCAD_Arch/AutoCAD_Arch_Ch02.pdf 

Additional training resources from Paul can be found at the link below,

http://www.appliedtg.com/techblog/index.php/2013/01/18/3244/