Beautiful Chief Architect Rendering using an Image instead of the Backdrop X15 & X16

[stevenyhof]

On 8/8/2024 at 5:08 PM, blueriver said:

Stevenyhof, i came across this thread looking for brick downloads - thank you for posting this - beautiful renderings and super helpful!! i am looking for more realistic light colored brick downloads (i do a terrible job importing!) do you by chance have any?

I use the brick in Chief mainly for simple jobs, but for remodeling, I take a picture of the clients brick wall and put it into Pix Plant 5 and create my own materials. That is the best way to show off your model to a client - who has brick.

 

https://www.pixplant.com/

 

 

[blueriver]

i'll check out pix plant, thanks for the recommendation! 

[decorators3]

On 3/16/2024 at 11:32 PM, stevenyhof said:

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.

Hi Steve

 

I really like your renderings and techniques you use plus the hints and tips you offer is amazing thank you so much for sharing.  I've been using CA for a few years and now have upgraded to X16 several months ago.  However I had a virus in my computer a few days ago and lost lots of file etc including my X16.   I had to redownload x16 and for some reason  the tools and template are a little different from the X16 I had a week ago

Anyway my renderings are not as precise and clear as yours - this is the system I have

Chief Architect Premier X 16 

ALIENWARE LAPTOP

NVIDIA GRAPHICS 3070 laptop GPU - DIRECT X12

AMD RYZEN 7

Chief Architect Premier x15

Chief  Architect Premier X 11

Chief Architect Premier x 10

home designer pro

 

.....and before the virus I had pretty good renderings- but not near as clear as yours. I had downloaded your 3D images etc  and backdrops to my system and lots of other interesting info ( all lost)  now I don't know how I did your  downloads nor how I got them in to my user library

if you have any suggestions   -  also how do  you get such good great finishes.  the white house above looks amazing!!! love the tree shadows and how the scenery image  works for you

 

thank you again its really good to see only CA renderings as opposed to adding another software.. If I seem like I'm all over the place I probably am!!!

 

Many thanks

Levina 

[stevenyhof]

Hi Levina,

 

By the time you read this you probably have figured some things out. Any libraries I offer can be downloaded and dragged into your CA to load them into your library. Then just rename them to what you want.

 

Highly recommend that as you build up your library that you back them up. Typically one by one to a folder so you can always put it back if something goes wrong. As you make changes to the libraries, back them up again. Typically you cannot back up the whole User Library, so back them up as individual folders with their respective subfolders.

 

Your system seems fine for power to do nice renderings. Laptops are often slower than desktops.

 

I spent a lot of time fine tuning my camera, so make sure to download my template and copy the exterior camera to your template. Then fine tune the camera if you need for your graphics card and update your template with it so you are always fine tuning your template with what works and looks the best.

 

Now that we are in X16, I am focusing more on using the HDRi backdrops. But as you can see above, my image backgrounds work and look great too. You will get a more realistic rendering with HDRi backdrops. But it depends on what you are looking for.

 

I do not use the 2D trees for shadows. The 3D trees just make a more realistic shadow.

 

Follow my steps in the beginning of this thread for changing some settings, like on Glass. Also on concrete, I often change the properties so I get a little reflection. Also mess with your grass. I have grass in my template that matches the backgrounds, but I have since made my grass 2 and 4 for height because I use terrain features to cut out the grass.

 

Position the placement of the house first as it represents the house the best. Then mess with the sun for the best looking shadows. Then place your trees to make sure they are covering the yard and onto the house a bit. I typically do not show the trees in the image, only the shadows. When CA makes some realistic looking trees I will start to put them into the foreground.

 

Thank you,

Steve

 

[decorators3]

On 9/23/2024 at 4:55 PM, stevenyhof said:

Hi Levina,

 

By the time you read this you probably have figured some things out. Any libraries I offer can be downloaded and dragged into your CA to load them into your library. Then just rename them to what you want.

 

Highly recommend that as you build up your library that you back them up. Typically one by one to a folder so you can always put it back if something goes wrong. As you make changes to the libraries, back them up again. Typically you cannot back up the whole User Library, so back them up as individual folders with their respective subfolders.

 

Your system seems fine for power to do nice renderings. Laptops are often slower than desktops.

 

I spent a lot of time fine tuning my camera, so make sure to download my template and copy the exterior camera to your template. Then fine tune the camera if you need for your graphics card and update your template with it so you are always fine tuning your template with what works and looks the best.

 

Now that we are in X16, I am focusing more on using the HDRi backdrops. But as you can see above, my image backgrounds work and look great too. You will get a more realistic rendering with HDRi backdrops. But it depends on what you are looking for.

 

I do not use the 2D trees for shadows. The 3D trees just make a more realistic shadow.

 

Follow my steps in the beginning of this thread for changing some settings, like on Glass. Also on concrete, I often change the properties so I get a little reflection. Also mess with your grass. I have grass in my template that matches the backgrounds, but I have since made my grass 2 and 4 for height because I use terrain features to cut out the grass.

 

Position the placement of the house first as it represent the house the best. Then mess with the sun for the best looking shadows. Then place your trees to make sure they are covering the yard and onto the house a bit. I typically do not show the trees in the image, only the shadows. When CA makes some realistic looking trees I will start to put them into the foreground.

 

Thank you,

Steve

 

thank you soo much !.. Ive printed all your info

[stevenyhof]

I got a nice google review this morning from a client who uploaded a black and white copy of a 3D image from the construction docs - so I spent 30 minutes copying and pasting some landscaping from another plan, crudely made my dirt landscape spaces next to the house, added a few trees for shadows, used my camera I include in this thread (from my template) and put an HDRi backdrop in. It took me 30 minutes. Could I fuss with more details, of course. As you update materials, save them as your defaults in your template. Each time you draw a new house you have things already in place within your template, including your camera(s). Drop in a backdrop, add your landscaping, bam!

 

 

[decorators3]

you are amazing steve.. thanks for sharing