stevenyhof

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About stevenyhof

  • Birthday 03/19/1962

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    Male
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    Holland Michigan
  • Interests
    Home design, family fun and fishing

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  1. I am including a library of 2D trees that you can use for shadow trees instead of 3D trees. I want to give Rob Dyck a shout out for showing me how to make 2D material images with a solid vertical face and 2D tree images as a way to cast shadows without the added file size of 3D trees. Here is the Library for the 2D Tree Shadows https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XJo7gJ9_KXpR-Pp0COgzfKdpmXtVjPE_/view?usp=sharing Here you can see I am including both deciduous and evergreen trees. Rotate, resize and/or double them up to get the affect you want. The red rectangle shows where you would capture the image on the screen.
  2. I made a new post on step by step rendering within Chief Architect on X15... New backgrounds
  3. I made a new post on rendering within Chief Architect on X15...
  4. Hi Viki, I made a new post on rendering within Chief on X15...
  5. Using this method, you can create beautiful renderings in less than an hour. Everything you need, including my 3D modeled background images are below. Here is a brief overview explaining the steps below... https://my-plan.stevenyhofdesigns.com/v/iwg6TRh5GxnwXhQwmWLA Step by Step on how to render a fast and beautiful image in Chief Architect I am using an image only for the background image instead of the Backdrop which gives me more control over the placement and look I am after. I made up 7 background images for you to use. As an image you can move it around easily, scale it and even reverse it for another rendering. These are the grass settings... You can of course mess with these, but I am matching my background images. This shows the placement of the camera and the background image. In my model I am taking a picture from the rear corner. How to capture a proper and realistic perspective... set your horizon about 1/4 to 1/3 of the total height from the bottom set your camera height at eye level. It can be lower for a neat effect, but never higher as it will make the person looking at the house feel like they are 10' tall. Only birds see houses from 10' high. (Unless you are being intentional to show off the roofs) Your house should be top priority. I have seen renderings where the designer wants to show off a beautiful mountain scape, etc. When a person is searching for what they like in a house they don't care about your background. The background should enhance the house. in camera view, move the model/view up a bit on your screen so that the side walls of the exterior of the house are vertical or leaning in just a little. In chief if the model is too low it will lean in vertically too much and lose a realistic perspective. Moving the model up will encroach on the sky so not too much. When possible, there should be more sky above the model than grade below the model in your captured final image. This is difficult with Chief and I have a ticket in with them to look into lowering the floor line (0 level) in the camera to below center screen. Now knowing some of these things, spend some time looking at google images of exterior renderings and begin to note which homes really stand out because of the horizon placement (sky vs grade), and the model angle (eye view). The tree I am using only as shadow trees. I will have some nice 3d trees available in the future that will look more realistic to place in the foreground and in your scene. Carpinus caroliniana 2 - see the size in the DBX below Camera PBR Settings Camera Specs The sunlight I am using - set the angle of sunlight until shadows looks good for the house and the trees. I am using the tree shadows to hide the edge of my grass/terrain. Not too much shadow on the house. Set the Backdrop image from the Library included. This image is used for the window glass reflection only. You can control the Horizontal Offset to get the tree reflection you like in the windows. Change the glass material properties on the windows to 2.5 Index of Refraction. This will allow some view through the glass and into the rooms but also create reflection of the Backdrop image trees. This shows the view of the software and the different elements involved before the screen capture. (I like my menu on the left - not important here) This is what the rendering can look like when complete and after placing Chiefs plants... I do not mind Chiefs plants, they look pretty nice. The most time you will spend on this is on the plants and shadow trees. Now that I have this all in place I will need to test my time, but I think I can pull this off in less than 30 minutes. Here is the Library of background and backdrop images https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DAyFz76wks-jABoMGXbjmxryAAhI9axB/view?usp=sharing Here is the plan template where I have the camera and backdrop all set up... Open the drawing and copy the camera in the circle and paste it into your plan/template. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H24RNzj_vEOkgn2-XkWc_KzdzxVyGq02/view?usp=sharing I would love to see some renderings that you create using this method Steve
  6. Hi Viki, I've done a lot in Twinmotion, but it is a bit time consuming and the builders I draw for do not want to pay for my time for a nice rendering. So I have been working back in Chief the last two weekends working on a solution you may like. One thing that is very important is that your eye is at around 5 to 6 feet off the ground. Place yourself in front of the house and move the camera until your front door is about the level of you walking through it of a bit less. You should barely see the bottom side of the porch header.
  7. Very nice! I really enjoy using TM
  8. The builder I drew this plan for is putting it in the parade of homes here in Michigan. They did not want to pay me $1k for a rendering done in Twin Motion, so I again went on a 2D .png plant image spree. I rendered the house in Chief and brought the image into Photoshop. Added the plants and a few trees, used the paint brush to add some shadows and ran it through the Camera Raw filter. Maybe 30 mins of work. 2D Plants and small trees... https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QsYlfVmD4-l68YTTF6sk3ErXJMhZGPnf/view?usp=sharing
  9. The best is always to go to the software forum and spend a few minutes there. I did that with Softplan - https://softplan.com/forum/ - Helped me to like Chief better. I couldn't find a forum for Cedreo - that says a lot
  10. Thank you, Steve! That is exactly what I was looking for - just in time too as I was just completing the plan
  11. I need some help on changing my roof label text and marker size. I am showing my roof at 1/8 scale and the text is too small to read
  12. I rarely draw monoslab footings so I am not the expert on this. I was helping Larry Belk (https://www.larrybelk.com/) with some optional ways to pull off mono slabs with CA using Stem Walls and Footings, mainly on the wall design where your footing is poured first and is used as the brick ledge. The bottom two videos are a way to make the wall in section view look like a monoslab. Section idea detail by Larry Belk Mono Slab with Stem Wall using Footing Ledge https://my-plan.stevenyhofdesigns.com/v/HAW98BrXWHD1j2Mm0ZQF Section idea by Larry Belk Mono Slab using Stem Wall and 4" Ledge https://my-plan.stevenyhofdesigns.com/v/vzBeuNHWADnGIlpfIilf Mono Slab using Stem Wall and 1.5" Ledge https://my-plan.stevenyhofdesigns.com/v/YVNuUZ3AdseRG0ThHfCs
  13. Hello, I have made some changes and added a few cameras to my template to help show a client their home in different settings while in a meeting. These are not an end all for beautiful renderings, but a way to quickly show a client what their house will look like. By default my template uses the grass and the surround background (spherical) to work on the plan. Video of details... https://my-plan.stevenyhofdesigns.com/v/0nfRF5mhuFpBYqrb5qn2 Here are the two library backgrounds I use for interior and exterior... https://drive.google.com/file/d/17Gzk88qqJgK43QK7tOzF6oBo_K0Tp5B4/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eahCtzZr5uBsraRT6gIUrwz_R0Up3x8q/view?usp=sharing My plan template with the cameras... (Make sure to unzip the file, find and open the SND_D_Residential Template.plan file in the zip folder) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u2cQxUOQt6pJPN0a6Kd-ZA8rsewaZxBE/view?usp=sharing Just to note that I have my sun at 100 for interior and exterior renderings Exterior Rendering with lines... Exterior at night scene... (you need to add your lighting to the interior, I did not fuss with this plan but you could take this further with landscaping and more exterior lighting). Again, I'm not spending any time with details other than place ceiling lights inside and outside where it makes sense, but only to show an idea of the clients house which they are overjoyed to see. A click of the mouse and happy and impressed customer! Interior Rendering... Cameras in the template... Leave a like and show a screen shot if you tested these cameras and background out, and/or use them. Thank you, Steve These are other threads where we got into grass and backgrounds...