render basics

so you've completed a project that you think is pretty cool and want to print it on high quality photo paper for your portfolio or just to impress the pants off someone ...


well here are a few tips:

• at the file menu, go to document" and click once on it.

• scroll down to "creative imaging" and wait for the flyout menu to appear.

• click once on "PhotoRendering Settings...", at the top

• a new window will pop up

• in this window, from top to bottom,

• be sure "lightworks rendering engine" is selected and showing in the "engine" field.
• uncheck "keep proportions of 3D window" and
• set the "size" to "inches", instead of "pixels"
• now change the horizontal arrow box to "16" and the vertical arrow box to "9". this is the ideal size for both printing to 11x17 and for DVDs, if you want to make a slideshow or something else in the future.

• just to the right of this area, set the "resolution" from "72" to "150". "300" is best, but it takes an extra long time to render at this resolution. "150" is plenty good.



• now under "lightworks effects":

• under "method", click "best".

• under "effects", check "reflection", "transparency" and "smooth surface". if "reflection"and "transparency" are already checked, just check "smooth surface".

• set "shadow casting" to "by lamp settings".

• set "antialiasing" to "best", by sliding the scale all the way to the right.

• under "light sources", check all, "sun", "ambient", "camera" and "lamps". for now, leave "sun" and "ambient" at "100%" and "camera" at "40%".


• under "background":

• under "background image" either select "colors" or "picture"
• if you select "colors", then click on the "sky color..." box.
• now select the lightest blue color, top row, 5th over to the right, and move the color bar, at the right, that will now appear, almost to the very top; 2-3 sections from the top. click "ok".

• if you click "picture", then click the "change picture..." box. select a photo image from the list. open and search in different folders within the library as needed. note: you can add your own picture here. just search for while in this window. it must be on your hard drive, preferrably in an archicad library folder. now click "ok".
• if you change the "resolution", the image will get smaller.


• under "brightness", check "darken all surfaces".

• now click "ok" at the bottom of the window.


• go back to the "documen"t pull-down menu.

• scroll down to "creative imaging".

• and click once on "photo render projection". it will take a few minutes or maybe even an hour to render the image.

• once archicad has finished rendering the image, save it as a "tiff" and you will be set to print out a high-quality image.