Lighting advice needed

[S. Jaisimha]

Hi,

I'm trying to render the attached layout in AutoCAD using nXtRender and I am not sure how to get the lighting right. The drawing is Zipped to keep it within forum upload limits. I have attached a reference render generated in 3DS Max for the same layout.

The aim here is to get as close as possible to the lighting that is present in the 3DS Max render. Please ignore all props shown in the reference, as well as the lack of proper materials in the drawing. I'm only interested in getting the lighting right here.

Any help from you people will be greatly appreciated.

I'm not sure if this should be posted in the AutoCAD sub-forum, mods may please move it if necessary.

[S. Jaisimha]

Wow, some good tips and tricks there. Thanks George and Garret. I'll put this in use and update the result here. 

Garret, you have mentioned that better materials affect lighting. Are you referring to the quality of the texture map image or are you referring to the texture settings? What settings have you used in the second (better) image for say the wooden shutter material?

[Jan Verzelen]

Maybe i got the wrong file but in this drawing the door is half open and the front wall layer is off. Shouldn't one use clipping planes to simulate realistic lighting instead of turning the wall layer off, or am i missing something here?