Exterior elevations with zip

[GeneDavis]

I searched here but couldn't find.  
 

What techniques or settings make these pop?  

[Chrisb222]

1 hour ago, GeneDavis said:

I searched here but couldn't find.  
 

What techniques or settings make these pop?  

 

Depends largely on what one considers "pop" and how much resource they want to put into achieving it.

 

For myself, I find I'm satisfied with a quick simple approach that gets me 80% of where I'd like to be. To get another 10 or 15 percent isn't worth the effort IMO. 

 

The techniques I use are, shadows on in Vector View, add some grayscale trees, send to Layout as Plot Lines with "Use Edge Line Defaults" and "Use Pattern Line Defaults" both checked, 20 and 10 line weight respectively. Once in layout, open the object view and change Pattern Line Defaults line color to a light gray.

 

For myself, this got me to a point where I didn't need to develop my technique any more. It's fast, easy, and I like the result.

 

[GeneDavis]

Thanks.  

 

Do you change sun angle for each elevation to get the shadow effects you want, i.e., change north to south so a building's north elevation gets sun?

 

Do you bother clipping the tree images somehow so as to get 2D trees behind the building so foliage appears above the roof?

 

Edit:  Send those trees to the back drawing group!  Duh.

 

How do you get your foundation to be lines only and no color?  Have you just done the walls in white, or is there a setting for my concrete gray walls to go white in elevations.

[Chrisb222]

1 hour ago, GeneDavis said:

Thanks.  

 

Do you change sun angle for each elevation to get the shadow effects you want, i.e., change north to south so a building's north elevation gets sun?

 

Do you bother clipping the tree images somehow so as to get 2D trees behind the building so foliage appears above the roof?

 

Edit:  Send those trees to the back drawing group!  Duh.

 

How do you get your foundation to be lines only and no color?  Have you just done the walls in white, or is there a setting for my concrete gray walls to go white in elevations.

 

I typically show shadows on the front elevation only, but yeah when I've shown them on all elevations I use Sun Follows Camera.

 

I don't send color plot lines, so everything including the foundation is black and white.

 

 

[Alaskan_Son]

5 hours ago, Chrisb222 said:

 

Depends largely on what one considers "pop" and how much resource they want to put into achieving it.

 

For myself, I find I'm satisfied with a quick simple approach that gets me 80% of where I'd like to be. To get another 10 or 15 percent isn't worth the effort IMO. 

 

The techniques I use are, shadows on in Vector View, add some grayscale trees, send to Layout as Plot Lines with "Use Edge Line Defaults" and "Use Pattern Line Defaults" both checked, 20 and 10 line weight respectively. Once in layout, open the object view and change Pattern Line Defaults line color to a light gray.

 

For myself, this got me to a point where I didn't need to develop my technique any more. It's fast, easy, and I like the result.

 

 

Looks nice Chris.  I do very similar except that:

1. I don't typically add any plants myself...Might look better, but it's just not something I do.  It's extra work and I tend to be super picky so I would end up spending an inordinate amount of time trying to get them all positioned just so.  Just not worth it to me personally.
2. I don't use Edge Line Defaults.  I prefer to have a little more control over the lines being produced for the various objects.  I don't necessarily want them all to use the same line weight or color.  Pattern Lines?  Yes, usually...but not the edge lines.
3. I've taken to just covering everything underground with a semi-transparent filled polyline.

Nothing fancy, but it does what I want it to...

[robdyck]

It's definitely subjective but the 'pop' comes from you. Personally, I like my elevations to look 'cartoonish', just like my renderings!

I use color, so that really helps. I prefer notes and schedules for materials instead of text. I like subtle shadows, especially on the FRONT. I never use edge or pattern line defaults; always by layer and by material. Customized fonts, never 'arial' or whatever Chief's font is.

[Ridge_Runner]

2 hours ago, Alaskan_Son said:

• I don't use Edge Line Defaults.  I prefer to have a little more control over the lines being produced for the various objects.  I don't necessarily want them all to use the same line weight or color.  Pattern Lines?  Yes, usually...but not the edge lines.
• I've taken to just covering everything underground with a semi-transparent filled polyline.

Pretty much my method also like Michael and Chris. I do add the 2D trees as I like the look and I guess my OCD may not be as bad as Michael's. I like some of the color views like Rob shows as well as some others but the cost of color printing is a non-starter in my location.

[GeneDavis]

Hey, thanks all!

 

I am liking that lighter approach that Chris and Michael have shown, but am stumped as to how to get the pattern lines lightened in color from black.

 

Roofs and siding are far too busy to use black in these black and white renders for my goal in elevation views.  I am able to change the color of the pattern lines to whatever I want but when I turn color off I am getting black.

 

What is the secret here?  Does Chief have a tutorial about how to change all this style stuff when going to elevation views in layout?

[Alaskan_Son]

37 minutes ago, GeneDavis said:

Hey, thanks all!

 

I am liking that lighter approach that Chris and Michael have shown, but am stumped as to how to get the pattern lines lightened in color from black.

 

Roofs and siding are far too busy to use black in these black and white renders for my goal in elevation views.  I am able to change the color of the pattern lines to whatever I want but when I turn color off I am getting black. 

 

What is the secret here?  Does Chief have a tutorial about how to change all this style stuff when going to elevation views in layout?

 

2 key things:

 

1.  Chris and I are using Pattern Line Defaults.  This is a setting at the bottom of the Send To Layout dialog and it must be set when initially sending the view to layout.  When this setting is selected, the patterns no longer get their definitions from the material definition; rather, they use a single generic pattern line definition that you can set right in the layout box dialog.

 

2.  In Preferences, you need to go to Appearance>Display and make sure your Color Off is setting is set to Grayscale.

[GeneDavis]

Thanks!  Got it.