AccuRender Studio

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

Here's the latest version of the new stuff.  If you're interested, try it at your leisure and let me know what you find.  It's a work in progress, so please be kind.  We'll likely have some bugs and certainly have some missing features.

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Some highlights:

Standalone renderer which accepts input from Rhino, Sketchup, Obj and FBX.

Plugins for AutoCAD and other CAD applications.

Online material and plant libs.

Single advanced engine with fewer compromises and biases.  Similar to current hybrid engine but noisier.

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AccuRender Studio is 64 bit only and will not run on 32 bit machines.
On older machines, the installation may require updating .net versions which can be a lengthy process. Windows 10 is recommended (but not required.)

The AutoCAD plugin can be run with or without a recent version of nXtRender loaded.
If you run the plugin without nXtRender, you will get only AutoCAD information in the ArScene file. If nXtRender is loaded some conversion of nXt information will occur.

Instructions:

1. Download and install AccuRender Studio.
2. Open an AutoCAD session.
3. Load the correct .net AccuRender Studio plugin for your version of AutoCAD by typing           netload at the command prompt (not appload!) and navigating to

    c:\program files\AccuRender Studio.  The plugin versions are:

    ArStudioAcadPluginR19.dll (AutoCAD 2013-2014)

    ArStudioAcadPluginR20.dll (AutoCAD 2015-2016)
    ArStudioAcadPluginR21.dll (AutoCAD 2017)
    ArStudioAcadPluginR22.dll (AutoCAD 2018)

    You should only have to do this step once. The file will be demand loaded after that.

4. Optionally load nXtRender (by typing nxt at the command line, for example).
5. Type arstudio at the command line to run the command. It will inform you if the correct         version of nXtRender was found. If not, an update from RenderPlus may be required.

[John Prentice]

Yes the standalone runs - I don't have many scenes to open in it, but the file Material.ArScene seems to open OK.

[John Prentice]

I ran a vanilla version of 2018 Mechanical, just to see if it was different, and Arstudio runs OK. So... presumably there is something loading or a setting causing the problem in my day-to-day Acad set-up!

I loaded my custom routines into the vanilla version, but that didn't make it fall over - any thoughts?

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

I'm really interested in this-- if you're willing to help.  I'll need to send you a version that writes a log file to see where it fails, and whether I can do anything about it.

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

The latest version of AccuRender Studio is available here.  This product will be about 10 times faster than the nXt versions for most users, and will render at higher quality with fewer settings required.  It does use more memory and may overwhelm older systems.

It's been significantly altered over these last few months to operate in a modeless way. Translation: it permits you to work in AutoCAD while ArStudio is active.  You can use it with or without the interactive preview running.   You can also continue to work in AutoCAD when a "final" rendering is running.  It's still free while in development.

The dlls mentioned above have been renamed to match the AutoCAD versions-- for example ArStudioAcadPlugin-2015-2016.dll.  The 2019 version should work for the latest versions of AutoCAD.  The other instructions 

Try it and let me know.

[Peter Milner]

I've just run a very quick initial test.

It appears that decals within blocks don't show up (see the books on the shelf).

[Peter Milner]

I've also got an issue with aspect ratio.

I set it to 1920x1358 (first image). Then when I run the preview render, it defaults to 1:1 1920x1920 (second image).

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

I'll take a look-- can you send the model?

[Peter Milner]

I've sent it to your mcneel email address via WeTransfer.

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

Looks like a different model-- open staircase, etc.  I can see the aspect ratio issue, I'll fix that this morning.  I may need the decal bitmaps to examine that issue.

[Peter Milner]

Sorry Roy. I've just sent you the correct one.

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

Perfect-- when you get a chance, if you could send some of the decals, particularly the book ones, that would be helpful.

[Peter Milner]

A few more observations/questions:

Objects with decals when mirrored no longer show the decal.

Is there an option for a ground plane?

Decal properties such as transparency and colour masking don't seem to exist.