Hello people, welcome to this video! Let's see how to apply materials
on 3D objects and how to render your project!
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In the previous videos we have seen the Hatch command, used to add
filling and patterns on 2D objects, laying on the ground plane or any
plane parallel to it. Whereas, if you need to fill 3D objects with
their volume, you need to use other tools.
Any 3D object is composed by two main parts: the wireframes, such as
the sides and the vertices, that you can check by using the Wireframe
or the 2D Wireframe view; and the 3D faces, that compose the solid.
Both wireframes and faces can be colored as you like, by using the
Properties section under the Home tab.
If you select the whole 3D object, you will change the color for the
overall solid, so both wireframes and faces. If you want to color just
its edges, go to Color edges inside the Solid Editing section under
the 3D Tools tab. Select the edges interested, apply with the Enter
key, and then pick the right color: choose under Index Color to use
standard colors; or go to True Color, to pick the color you like most.
Make sure to use a Wireframe view to check the sides color.
If you want to color faces, go to Color faces instead. Select the
faces, and choose the right color. Use a 3D point of view to check the
faces.
Each time you use the Color edges or the Color faces tool, you will
apply a single uniform color. To apply multiple colors on the object
edges or faces, you have to use the tools more than once.
In professional projects, 3D objects are usually filled with the
Materials, able to render grass, glass, bricks and other materials for
a more professional and realistic preview.
All Materials are inside the Visualize tab, usually hidden by default.
To show it, just right-click on a vacant space on top, go to Show Tabs,
and then to Visualize.
Inside this tab, there is a section called Materials. The first button
opens the Materials Browser, used to import and check all the materials
related to your project.
Before adding any material on your objects, you have to import them
into your overall project first. By default, your project has a unique
material available, called Global, as you can see from the list of the
imported materials inside the Materials Browser. Below, you have the
whole list of the materials available, from the Autodesk Library
folder. If you want to import other materials on your project, just
drag and drop them on the list above.
Once the materials are imported, just select the interested object,
and click once on the material you want to apply to it from the
Materials Browser. Remember to use a 3D view that show objects volume,
or you won't see any material on them. This material will cover any
color applied with the Color faces tool. Nothing will be applied on
the wireframes, that will stay colored according to the Color
edges tool.
You can also apply materials face-by-face. Hold CTRL down to select
faces singularly, and then choose the material from the list.
Each of these materials can be edited by double-clicking on them.
The Materials Editor appears, in order to change color, pattern and
other properties related to the selected material. Often check the
sample above, that you can change through its down arrow. When you
finish, just close the Editor. All the changes will be saved.
To rename or remove a material from the list, just right-click on it.
Let's see how to render your project. This is useful to check your
project in progress in detail.
To check a good preview of your project, you can use the Realistic
view. However, this does not include all the details, especially when
checking materials and shadows. For this reason you need to render
your project. To do so, click on the Tea button under the Visualize
tab. This opens the Render window, that shows you a preview of your
project rendered. Depending on the chosen quality, you will have to
wait some time to see the render completed. Check the Render Progress
Bar to know its status.
The render will be done on the whole workspace on the point of view
chosen and fixed when you click on the Render button.
The render done will be shown completely on the Render Window open.
You can zoom in and out by using your mouse wheel. Below, if you click
on the down arrow on the left, you can check the history of all
the renderings done, in a chronological order from the most recent one.
You can click on one to select and check it again, and eventually save
or print it by clicking on the buttons above.
Under the Render section, you can also decide the render quality: the
higher the quality is, the better the render will be, but the longer
the time you have to wait to see it finished. Right below the Render
button, you can also set the render resolution in pixels. For more
advanced settings, click on the arrow on the right to show the Render
Presets Manager.
There are other ways to render your project. The default one is the
Window one just seen, which sends the render to a new window, in order
to save and print it if you need. But, through the second bar next to
the Render button, you can also render as Viewport or Region. If you
choose Viewport, you will directly render on your workspace your whole
project. If you choose Region, you will render just a selected part
on your workspace, by fixing two points on it.
Remember that you will lose the render as soon as you change the point
of view of your workspace, if you choose the Viewport or the Region
render. For this reason you need the Window rendering to save it.
To make your render more realistic, you can add any light, sky or
environment.
To add the sunlight, just go to Sun & Location and click on Sun Status.
Accept the recommended settings, and the Render Environment & Exposure
panel appears. Here you can turn on the Environment light, and adjust
the Exposure and the White Balance values. To see the true effect of
the sunlight, just render a Region to see the difference.
The effect of the sunlight can be edited through the Image Based
Lighting section, or the settings inside Sun & Location, adjusting the
Sun direction by choosing the date and the hour.
Besides the sunlight, you can also add secondary light sources, all
listed under the Lights section.
The Point light adds light coming from a fixed point and spreads in
any direction. To fix it, just click on your workspace. This is shown
with an orange sphere, and can be moved just like a 3D object through
its own Gizmo. You can also regulate its light by selecting it and
using the options inside the Lights section.
If you choose Spot, you can add a directed light on your workspace,
just like a torch, shown in your workspace. Fix an anchor point, and
then fix its target by fixing a second point. A part from adjusting
the light quality from the Lights section, you can also adjust the
Spot light as you like. If you select it, you can adjust its target,
by clicking and dragging the square in the center; adjust its radius,
through the external blue arrows, or adjust the external feather
through the inner blue arrows.
You can also move the Spot light by using its Gizmo system. But this
won't stop following its target, and will change direction according
to it.
There are other light sources, like Distant and Weblight. Check them
out when you get practice!
Let's see how to add environment and sky. To add horizon, turn off
Environment from the Sun Status panel, and choose the Perspective view
by clicking on the button in the bottom right corner of the 3D
ViewCube. At this point, you can add sky through Sun & Location.
If you want to add anything regarding the ground, like pavements, grass
and so on, you have to add them by using Mesh Objects or 3D solids.
Let's see how to add Shadows. Under the Lights section you can add
two kinds of shadows: choose Ground Shadows to add all shadows
related to the basic sunlight. If you choose Full Shadows, you will
apply both shadow caused by sunlight and by artificial secondary
light sources.
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