Expert beginner...

[Scott Branch]

Hi-

Is there a 'manual' or descriptive help file that details the program?

It's been a while since I used what used to be Accurender...probably 10 years or more. But I'm definitely an expert w/ AutoCAD, etc.  I'm trying to set up a night scene, for a sign I've modeled on a building for a client and want to show the letters as back-lit. Any help would be most appreciated.

I'm attaching the CAD file (exported to plain autocad as it was created in Autodesk Architecture, 2011 and I didn't want to include the proxy objects. Also attached will be a short rendering I did so you can see how I clearly don't understand the settings, etc. I'm aware the sky is on, w/ auto-background and sunlight. I've tried putting lights behind the letters but don't really know how to set the lighting in an of itself.

Thanks,

Scott

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

The basic Lighting Tab is explained here-- to get started with a night scene change the preset to Interior Lighting (even though this is an exterior.)

Lights are always objects in nXt-- draw the object you wish to use as a light source (just to get started you can draw a sphere or something simple) and tag it as a light source.  This is explained here.

Night rendering can be a little tricky-- the tone mapper often gets this wrong so you will likely need to turn the overall brightness down in the scene,  explained here.

There's a lot more on the Advanced Lighting tab-- ask questions once you get a little further.

[Scott Branch]

Thanks for the quick response. I'll futz with it and report back.