Rendering can be a very tricky and time-consuming phase of a project. In the past, you might waste more time generate a rendering than you spent actually building the 3D model. Additionally, when you work with several light resources, each of which casts shadows, the computer calculations demands a substantial amount of horsepower!

Rendering generates a 2D image based on your 3D model. It shades the model or scene’s geometry using the materials you’ve used, the lighting you’ve set up and surrounding settings such as fog and background. There have been rendering tools present in AutoCAD for many years, allowing users to create photo-realistic images encompassing multiple light sources, materials and entourage objects such as people and trees, with constant revisions (2008, 2009, etc) to make it better for the rendering community since its release.

The new AutoCAD rendering tools make it easier than ever before to add lights and materials to your 3D models so that you can produce realistic renderings. There are also additional commands that make it easy to walk or fly through your 3D models, something that was not possible at all in earlier releases.

The process of creating a rendering using AutoCAD requires four steps:

- Create the actual 3D model
- Position lights
- Affix materials to objects in the model
- Render the 2D image

Other than generating the model, these procedures are conceptual rather than separate sequential steps and mostly performed as an iterative process. For example, you may position some lights and generate a test rendering. Then, after analyzing the results of the test, you may alter some of the lights and render new 2D image again.

AutoCAD can now display 3D models with realistic lighting, materials and shadows. AutoCAD has five pre-defined visual styles – 2D wireframe, 3D wireframe, 3D hidden, Conceptual and Realistic – and you can add and produce your own custom visual styles. When you choose the realistic visual style, AutoCAD displays your model with shadows and materials. AutoCAd Rendering adds more realism to those materials as well as showing reflection, refraction and the true effects of lighting bringing your vision to life!