Hi Everyone,

I have designed a very simple Flange - File Attached.
I know that attempting rendering etc is a suck it & see process but I was wondering if the good folk here could enlighten the newbies like myself with some idea's & methods used to create good renderings using LightWorks Materials etc the standard TurboCad Deluxe things only.

I am sure there are many interested people including myself that require a thread like this!

The file attached can be used as the example, it's very basic!

Interested to see some results!

Cheers
David

Sorry for the double post!

Here's my first go, I attempted to use reflection to see the back side as well?

I don't have a very good graphics card in my computer though, it cost about $30, I'm having troubles with some of it as you will see?
Any suggestions welcome.

Cheers
David

Looks like you are on the right track. A little adjustment with lights could help, but I'm not a render pro. I'd suggest you check out Don Cheke's website for free tips and tutorials that are available. They helped me learn a lot about TCAD.
http://www.textualcreations.ca/

BTW, rendering using the Light Works doesn't use a graphics card, it is all done on the CPU. My work PC doesn't have a graphics card, only the integrated on board graphics and renders quite well with LW.

Hi Jason,

Thanks for the comment.
Yes, I have much to learn especially about lighting among many other things.
Thanks for the link I'll have a look at the site.
Goes to show you how much I know about computers etc, I thought all graphics come from integrated on board or graphics cards, interesting to know that LightWorks is CPU driven, thanks for the info.

I would still like to see how others go about rendering the file attached, it's like most things in life, if everybody uses the same technique's then it will all look the same.
I'm sure there are many who have there own style of rendering which is what is needed to look at for learning.
Hopefully we will see some different techniques posted.

Like they say a picture is worth a thousand words, it only takes participants to teach.

Cheers
David

Hi Everybody,
Not much response!

Probably talking to myself

For those like myself being a newbie & starting out with TurboCad Deluxe, rendering among many other things is a little overwhelming.
Today I spent a bit of time on the net reading many complaints about how Deluxe won't do this & won't do that & it has trouble rendering etc etc.
Being entirely new to all this it makes you start thinking about the product itself without personally trying to set the program correctly, of course not knowing how to?

As my first attempt at rendering the Flange file above shows, to forget the lighting, it has rough edges & many flaws that ruin things entirely & this is as good as I could get it at the time not knowing what to do even though I rendered something else that is respectable at least with the factory settings.
I spent some time in the program today & started designing a single cylinder engine that would not render correctly with facets being blacked out & all sorts of rough edges etc & I found with just one click it fixed all the issues & it looks great.

I rendered the same file above with the new setting only & you can see a marked difference between the two renderings, if you compare the first rendering above & the one attached here you will see the differences, forget the lighting & other problems, I have to learn about that & fix that later!.

So, I guess what I am trying to say is don't knock the program until you know how to drive it, personally I think for the minimal price you pay for it, it is great value, I'm impressed with it.

Cheers
David



 

Not ignoring you David but I'm not a rendering expert, I also don't have v21 deluxe so don't know its strengths / weaknesses of rendering.

When I drew a lot of this type of stuff for a works catalogue, things had to be kept basic, realistic colour and not background etc.

If I were to add a little more I would go for something like the attached, just to give it something to sit on.

Hi Andy,
Thanks for the reply.

I see what you are saying with with the addition of other things etc, I have been reading a lot & I guess it's really is a personal preference thing & knowing what can & can't be done with a particular program & also if people want a realistic or surrealistic look or not.

I find it really interesting & the best way to learn things is from people who know & have experience, hence starting this thread to get some idea's.
I realize people have better things to do than to spend valuable time with something like this but it doesn't hurt to ask.

One thing I have learned in life is that the only stupid question is the one you don't ask!

Thanks again.

David

Hi Andy,
Thanks for the reply.

I see what you are saying with with the addition of other things etc, I have been reading a lot & I guess it's really is a personal preference thing & knowing what can & can't be done with a particular program & also if people want a realistic or surrealistic look or not.

I find it really interesting & the best way to learn things is from people who know & have experience, hence starting this thread to get some idea's.
I realize people have better things to do than to spend valuable time with something like this but it doesn't hurt to ask.

One thing I have learned in life is that the only stupid question is the one you don't ask!

Thanks again.

David

I think you can get some decent renders in Deluxe. I suggest that you never use the Smooth option, that is why you get the weird surface issues. See this tip, page 9: http://www.textualcreations.ca/TurboCAD%20Tips/TurboCAD%20Tip%2022.pdf, In the screen capture image I revolved part of your flange and it shows better than the others because smooth is not used.

If you want a white background you can create a ground plane and apply a shadow catcher to catch shadows cast from the parts.

The key to good renders is to use luminance lighting and an image based lighting render scene, taking lots of time to experiment with different HDR images.

The caboose image is made entirely in Deluxe.

EDIT: The attached renderings use LightWorks, not RedSDK.

Hi Don,
Thanks for the reply,

Obviously being a newbie I went straight for the Smooth Button, it sounded to good to refuse haha!
Thanks for the Tip & the link, I actually had a look at your site when Jim mentioned it above & downloaded all your helpful tips, thanks for taking the time & effort to make such things readily available.

Yes, I can see from your renders that the lighting is nice, they look good.
I will take note of your suggestions & see how I go in the future with things, much to learn.

I noticed the nice Radial engine you have done in the Pro version among many other things & it has prompted me to tackle just a single cylinder engine as an exercise in Deluxe which I think will be a challenge due to the tools available but I'll give it a go, I'll post it when finished to see what people think.

Thanks Again
David

"I suggest that you never use the Smooth option"
Hi Don,
See attachments >
some differences with the "smooth" option in Deluxe.
Sometimes it is needed for clear reflections and other times it rounds the edges. Materials and lighting can be adjusted. What's more important is what it actually does. 

"I suggest that you never use the Smooth option"
Hi Don,
See attachments >
some differences with the "smooth" option in Deluxe.
Sometimes it is needed for clear reflections and other times it rounds the edges. Materials and lighting can be adjusted. What's more important is what it actually does. 

You go on using Deluxe, glad it suits your needs and you can beat it into submission. Try putting together a drawing with more than a cylinder and a couple spheres and show me a nice render with the smooth setting. Make a believer out of me.

Personally, I would never recommend Deluxe to anyone since it is limited in so many ways.

Quote from: Dean on June 12, 2016, 08:07:54 AM

"I suggest that you never use the Smooth option"
Hi Don,
See attachments >
some differences with the "smooth" option in Deluxe.
Sometimes it is needed for clear reflections and other times it rounds the edges. Materials and lighting can be adjusted. What's more important is what it actually does. 

You go on using Deluxe, glad it suits your needs and you can beat it into submission. Try putting together a drawing with more than a cylinder and a couple spheres and show me a nice render with the smooth setting. Make a believer out of me.

Personally, I would never recommend Deluxe to anyone since it is limited in so many ways.

Gee Don, what didn’t you understand? The Images  I posted clearly describe the differences when smooth is on and off. Those were rendered with lightworks.
David is using Deluxe so I gave him an example in Deluxe.

> Personally I would recommend Deluxe to children and adults, who want to explore the 3D artist within, learn 3D rendering along with the basics of how to actually draw 3D objects. Deluxe gives a user an opportunity to use their imagination and have fun at a reasonable price. A user can always upgrade to platinum if they ever find it necessary.

I use platinum and Deluxe, I don't limit myself to either program.

Hi Dean,
Thanks for posting the images as a comparison with the smooth option, you can clearly see the differences in your images.

I will let you & Don work out your differences in opinion, I wonder if the smooth option works fine with some objects & not others as Don is suggesting?

I don't know but I am interested to see what can & can't be achieved with the smooth option.

Thanks again.

Cheers
David

Hi Dean,
Thanks for posting the images as a comparison with the smooth option, you can clearly see the differences in your images.

I will let you & Don work out your differences in opinion, I wonder if the smooth option works fine with some objects & not others as Don is suggesting?

I don't know but I am interested to see what can & can't be achieved with the smooth option.

Thanks again.


Cheers
David

Try it for yourself, by all means.

Henry H

re: …I don't know, but I am interested to see what can & can't be achieved with the Smooth option.

See "TC Surface Properties" in the Wiki. It's similar to what Dean posted, but mentions increasing the Approximation or Segment lines to a higher number and bypass using Smooth. 

Hi Dean,
Thanks for posting the images as a comparison with the smooth option, you can clearly see the differences in your images.

I will let you & Don work out your differences in opinion, I wonder if the smooth option works fine with some objects & not others as Don is suggesting?

I don't know but I am interested to see what can & can't be achieved with the smooth option.

Thanks again.

Cheers
David

Hi David,
see attachments
Here is another example using a wrapped image.
As Henry says , try it and experiment with it.
These were rendered in Deluxe using Lightworks.

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for the replies.

Yes, I have been playing with the program to see what I can find with it.

John,
Thanks for the link, I have been adjusting the segmented lines which I found useful.
Just a question on this now that you remind me:

In Deluxe is there a Limit to the number of Segments you can have for some components drawn?
I have noticed on some of the things I have drawn I get a warning saying that the Limit has been exceeded if set to high & it limits some things to say 24 or 38 segments etc which doesn't look good?
It appears that the more defined or complex the component is the less segments are allowed, which is a bit of a bugger.
Is this then when the smooth option is necessary?

Dean,
Thanks for the images once again, I appreciate it.

Cheers
David