AccuRender nXt - Work in progress?

[Sean Casey]

Hi Roy,

I note that you are continually rebuilding AccuRender nXt – Is AccuRender nXt work in progress? Will you get to a point where it will be complete? Should I be continually downloading the latest build?

Also are there any plans in future to produce a comprehensive user’s manual? Don’t get me wrong the forum is a great resource for a newbie like me but I am not comfortable having to constantly ask for help. Most of your members seem very advanced and I wonder how they have come to be so proficient?

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

No completion, it will be continuously updated for the life-cycle of the product.  Your choice on whether you want to update to the latest "experimental".  You can always "downgrade" if you don't like what's happening-- just hold on to your previous download package (or ask me for a link to an older one.)

 

I'm planning on releasing a new "Stable Build" soon-- still working on some thorny problems, though.

 

The wiki will be continuously updated as well and will serve as our manual.  It's not very complete right now, but I will get to work on it at some point.  It's a public wiki, so if you or any other users want to contribute an article let me know-- I'll get you an account.

 

****

 

Best way to get help is just to ask here.

[Sean Casey]

Thanks Roy for your feedback - I have seen some AccuRender nXt tutorials on YouTube which look interesting but unfortunately are in Spanish. If any members would like to post some tutorials in English that would be really useful for a beginner like me as I learn best from actually seeing.

[George Ioannidis]

For me the whole learning process includes two main parts: 1. reading of news group threads and all the information available here (from users and from McNeal) and 2. "try and error" process until resulting image satisfies me enough and looks good to my eye :D (that means that there is always long period of experimenting).

[Sean Casey]

Hi George, You commended Peter recently on his rendering and how you could 'practically smell the coffee' - wouldn't you like to produce rendering of this quality? What if you had step by step instructions of each stage of its production then you would be able to replicate images of this quality! rather have to go through the labourious process of trial and error and as you comment long periods of experimenting. I don't have the luxury of time and commerically need to be up and running fast. What initally attracted me to AccuRender nXt was the quality of the rendering in the forum gallery - I want to produce images like that without having to spend hours tearing my hair out in the process (What left anyway - see photo :)

[George Ioannidis]

Of course I would Sean! Peter is nXt interior master and did contribute many of his setups here. You can try for instance this to see what settings Peter used to produce the particular lighting conditions of the interior. But, that is not enough. Materials are the second main part where you have to concentrate your efforts. It is the biggest field of personal "customization" of the nXt, as most of materials are "hand made" by users and they could be available only if the author would be willing to share them with us. Good material definition and use of good bitmaps and textures is essential for realistic renderings. If you do not have high quality materials, you can not achieve realistic renderings.

[Peter Milner]

Absolutely right George.

The lighting I use is pretty much straight out the box, but it's the quality of the materials that makes all the difference.

I give nearly all my materials some reflective qualities and make sure there are no obvious repeating patterns where there shouldn't be any.

Fabric and carpet is never perfectly uniform so add a bit of random "dirt" to the mix.

Play with the reflection controls (reflectivity, sharpness, fresnel) until you're comfortable with how they affect the material.

Always test render your bare interior before you start adding the dressing to make sure the lighting works well.

I use back lighting a lot as it creates more reflection on surfaces and heightens the realism.

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

We'll schedule some more webinars as well-- probably after the summer.

[akinlolu olugboji]

http://www.accurender.com/page/mixed-content-libraries

[Sean Casey]

Hi Akinlolu,

 

Thanks for this link, I tried and failed in the past to open Peter’s sample office. I’ve just tried again and unfortunately had the same result – first I downloaded and installed the most recent nXt build then Peters  compressed drawing folder, complete with materials etc which I extracted to my desktop then launched AutoCAD 2011. I was able to open the drawing but when I launch nXt the application hangs and I have to reboot the PC. When I tried launching AutoCAD then nXt again this was fine but when I tried to open the file it opens to 83% then the PC freezes! As the drawing is a 2007/2007 LT format I do get a Proxy information warning stating

‘The drawing you have opened or referenced contains custom objects created by an unavailable ObjectARX application. You do not need the original application to display proxy representations of objects that were saved in the drawing. However, many manufacturers, including Autodesk provide object enablers that also allow you to edit these custom objects...’

And so on see attached screen shot. This must be happening because I’m trying to open a 2007 format drawing with AutoCAD 2011 – Any suggestions on how to resolve this would be appreciated.

Many thanks Sean

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

Hmmm.  Just tried it here-- no problems.  32 or 64 bit?

[Sean Casey]

I am able to open Peter's testdecal.zip with no problem! and launch nXt and produce a render but not with this particular file..

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

32 or 64 bit?