warrenwest

Awesome Shane. Now for the fun to start

You guys are awesome. Thanks. I couldn't open your file Shane but perhaps it looks something like this?

Now that I have your attention I need to create the iconic design used on the set of Star Wars for a customer. I would like to use this for some cabinet fronts as well as a wall panel in the entrance hall. How do I even begin t create something like this? Thanks for any input.

True story. I have been hard at work trying to 'perfect' ray tracing over the last 2 years of using this product and Im still learning something new every single day. Keep at it !

Im using a track pad with my 27' iMac with no issues to report. However I have noticed my icons rearranging themselves even when I have the tools bars locked. I thought it was just me going mad !

Thanks Robert, I guess I will have to spend some time learning GIMP then. -Mark, tried following your instructions regarding grout color but it doesn't show up in 3D view?

Thanks chaps. A designer friend of mine recommended Pixplant3 for bump maps. Looks quite user friendly but having some scaling issues. So back to the youtube tutorials for me. Anyone familiar with it? Cant afford SSA so sure as hell can't afford Sketch Up pro at this moment in time.

Hi Folks, As an interior designer I really need to step up my game with regards to rendering. If anyone can point me in the right direction it would be very much appreciated. Attached is a sample render using materials I would like to use in a real job so my questions are: 1) to make the tiles more realistic I would like to create a bump map for them. How is this done? 2) I can't seem to find a way to change only the color of the grout? I need the black tile to have a dark grey grout not white? 3) Realistic accessories for eg. shampoo bottles, toothpaste tubes, sops etc. I can find brand name items in 3dwarehouse but when I import them into CA I loose all the 'branding' and they just look like generic items.Whats up with that? I only have X7. No photoshop or other software like Lumion etc. Looking forward to any new ideas

ok, got it. I didn't realize that even after setting the time and day you could still keep those settings and just rotate the North pointer. So much to learn......

As this thread is ray trace questions here goes another: Im doing a render test for practice. See the image attached. Im trying to get the sun to cast all the way over the bed as it would ( I think ) in real life. Cant get it. Been trying to mess with sun angles, time of day and other settings ( sometimes blindly ) to no avail. The bed is a SKP download from 3Dwarehouse. Could it be a factor?

Thank you Kevin. Your link above came in really useful today

Sweet johnny!

Applied the advice Michael and the result is below. I did change the upper cabinet color to a darker shade of grey and the render did come out better overall. However I still have the white 'glow' where there should be a dark shadow in the gaps of the cabinets in the sink area. 221 passes. Can anyone help me get rid of this pesky issue? ( without recommending additional software like lumion ) Any ideas are welcome

Aye aye Capitan. Will get right on it. Thanks !

and on that topic I am busy with a small kitchen for a client and just when you think you are getting the hang of it the ray trace Gods decide otherwise. Below you can see that even with ambient lighting turned up and natural sunlight flooding in, it still seems 'dark' to me. I would also like to see more definition between the doors and drawers ( gaps) to make it more realistic. It still seems so artificial. I ran this for 18 passes only. Any other advice?

Awesome response. Thanks guys !

I'm considering a restaurant interior design project that has been offered to me however I have never done anything like this and don't really know where to start. Im assuming by your post that you found the software capable of everything that was needed?

Jonathan, Im looking into Thea right now as they have a special running. Which version do you use? I don't see one for CA.

Thanks guys. Im really trying to maximize the ray trace function of CA to its fullest. I can't justify ( for now ) investing another $2000 odd for a program like Lumion. Does the level of 'realism' it offer really aid the sale of your product as much? Will the regular client even notice a difference? Your feedback and experience will be appreciated as always.

Thank you master Jintu

I have been concentrating on renders this last couple of weeks and its been a steep learning curve even with all the great advice here. Every room seems to have its own unique characteristics ( at least mine do ) and i have not found a "rule" that applies to all. Both Dennis and Micheal offer sound advise but also try playing with natural sunlight as you have a large window in the shot. It takes a bit of messing around to get the sun angle just right but it really added a level of realism to some of my renders that I didn't think possible. The attached image is one of my early attempts

I use a 27" iMac for my design. Love it. The trackpad is really useful too when designing. I also use a macbook Air for client presentations. No problems with file transfers ( everything is on the iCloud ). Wont be going back to a PC ever again

Thanks for the help. Yep, in final view they disappeared

Hi, I have been struggling with these settings to no avail. I have a puck light that shines right through 2 layers of counter top all the way to the floor. The counter top material is set to 'general material' and I have tried other settings to stop this issue but it hasn't helped. What am I doing wrong?

thanks guys. Now why didn't I think of that?