About Rendering

About Rendering

A realistic rendering of a 3D model can often give a product team or prospective client a clearer vision of a conceptual design than a plotted drawing. 

Rendering is the process of creating a raster image based on the 3D objects in a scene. A renderer is used to calculate the appearance of the materials attached to the objects in a scene, and how lighting and shadows are calculated based on the lights placed in a scene. Environmental and exposure settings of the renderer can be adjusted to control the final rendered image. 

While the final goal of rendering is to create an artistic or photorealistic presentation-quality image, you might need to create many renderings before you reach that goal. The basic rendering workflow is to attach materials to the 3D objects of a model, place user-defined lights, add a background, and start the renderer with the RENDER command. 

A rendered image can be created for a new model without attaching materials, placing user-defined lights, and adding a background. By default, a default material is added to all 3D objects in a model and the renderer automatically uses two default distant lights when user-defined lights are not placed in a scene. As an alternative to the two default distant lights, you can specify the user a single default distant light that shines from over-the-shoulder. Default lights cannot be moved or adjusted. 
Powered by  AutoCAD ®

    • Related Articles

    • About the Rendering Workflow

      Lights and materials can be added to a 3D model before photorealistic image is rendered with the program's renderer.  The following outlines the basic process of setting up a 3D model and rendering a photorealistic image from a scene.  Task Related ...

    • Basic Rendering Settings

      Basic Render SettingsTo access the render settings, click on the Visual Style menu icon the tool strip, and then click on the Rendering Settings icon. The Render Presets Manager will allow you to change the settings for rendering. Common adjustments ...

    • Add New Rendering Materials in Toolbox

      Rendering materials are customizable. As you can see in the screenshot below, the rendering materials are split into Main and Sub Categories to categorize the materials for manageability.  The material categories with the materials they contain are ...

    • About Rendering a View or Region within a Viewport

      You can render the entire current view or a region within the current viewport.  Render a View The default rendering procedure is to render all objects in the current view of a drawing. While the rendering process is faster when you render an area of ...

    • AutoCAD Keyboard Commands

      Learning how to use AutoCAD keyboard commands can help you work faster and improve your efficiency. This article lists the abbreviated commands that can be used in AutoCAD (Toolbox). Toggle General Features Ctrl+G Toggle Grid Ctrl+E Cycle isometric ...

    • Recent Articles

    • Apply Render Materials

      The Apply Render Materials interface is a Microvellum function that allows one to assign specific render materials to database materials within one’s material library. Using this interface, one can efficiently control and visually align one’s ...

    • Microvellum Release Notes | Build 26.1.0520.641

      The following release notes apply to Microvellum build 26.1.0520.641. Assign Render Material A new option has been added to the Library Specification Groups interface: Assign Render Material. This new interface displays the Microvellum material ...

    • Microvellum Foundation Library Release Notes | Build 26.0430

      The following release notes apply to the Microvellum Foundation Library, build 26.0430. Additions Added new options to Add Interior Label for cross section, plan section, and elevation section. New Global Variables include: “Add Interior Label Cross ...

    • Microvellum Release Notes | Build 26.1.0422.641

      The following release notes apply to Microvellum build 26.1.0422.641. BSB 2026 Microvellum BSB 2026 is now available for download and installation by users with an existing Microvellum BSB subscription. This new version of Microvellum is based on ...

    • Microvellum BSB 2026

      Microvellum BSB 2026 is now available for purchase and download. BSB 2026 introduces the Microvellum software bundled together with the BricsCAD Pro 2026 platform, with all of the accompanying changes and enhancements made after BricsCAD 2025. With ...