Rendering Workflow

Lights and materials can be added to a 3D model before a photorealistic image is rendered with the program's renderer.

The following outlines the basic process of setting up a 3D model and rendering a photorealistic image from a scene.

For information on rendering drawings that were originally setup in AutoCAD 2015-based products and earlier, see "About the Differences Between Rendering In the Current and An Earlier Release."

Task	Related Commands
1. Create a 3D model containing the objects to be rendered with 3D solids, surfaces, meshes, and 3D faces.	3DFACE, 3DMESH, BOX, CONE, CYLINDER, EDGESURF, EXTRUDE, LOFT, MESH, PFACE, PLANESURF, POLYSOLID, PRESSPULL, PYRAMID, REVOLVE, REVSURF, RULESURF, SPHERE, SURFBLEND, SURFNETWORK, SURFOFFSET, SURFPATCH, SWEEP, TABSURF, TORUS, WEDGE
2. Define the views of the 3D model to render. Use named views for consistency and to make switching views easier.	VIEW
3. Assign a background to the current view.	BACKGROUND, VIEW
4. Create materials to be attached to 3D objects.	MATBROWSEROPEN, MATEDITOROPEN
5. Attach materials to 3D objects directly or by layer.	MATERIALASSIGN, MATERIALATTACH
6. Add user-defined lights or use default lighting. Note: The LIGHTINGUNITS system variable must be set to 1 or 2. Enable image-based lighting as an alternative to default lighting, or to fill an entire scene with light and eliminate dark areas.	DISTANTLIGHT, FREESPOT, FREEWEB, LIGHT, POINTLIGHT, SPOTLIGHT, TARGETPOINT, WEBLIGHT, RENDEREXPOSURE
7. Optionally, enable and define settings for the Sun & Sky based lighting when rendering indoor or outdoor architectural scenes. Note: The LIGHTINGUNITS system variable must be set to 1 or 2.	SUNPROPERTIES
8. Set the Low render preset current.	RENDERPRESETS
9. Render a region of the 3D model to test the attached materials and lighting.	RENDERCROP
10. Adjust the materials and lighting in the scene based on the results of the test rendering.
11. Set the rendering environment and exposure settings.	RENDEREXPOSURE
12. Create another test rendering; make any desired changes to the materials, lighting, and general rendering environment settings.
13. Set a render preset with the best rendering quality desired current and create the final rendered image.	RENDER, RENDERPRESETS
14. Save the rendered image to a raster image file.	RENDER, SAVEIMG