When creating rendered images in 3CAD Next, setting lighting represents a crucial step. Finding appropriate lighting setups emphasizes realistic images, defines their mood, and helps highlight textures and materials. Lighting influences the scene's brightness, shadows, and reflections.
During the design phase, the entire scene is illuminated by a fictitious light leaving no shadows or reflections. This light is unsuitable for rendered images, requiring more realistic lighting systems.
The available ones in 3CAD Next are:
- HDR (preferred option)
- Sunlight
HDR lighting and sunlight should be used alternatively and it is preferable to choose HDR lighting as a first option. While sunlight requires multiple adjustments and might lead to uneven lighting and dark shadows, HDR lighting generally allows a more homogeneous scene illumination and requires less effort in setting options.
Note: Rendered image lighting options cannot be previewed on the planner so it is essential to understand their functioning beforehand.
HDR
HDR is the primary lighting system in the 3CAD Next rendering tool. It benefits from a photography technology called HDR (High Dynamic Range) that allows you to create images lightened by multiple light sources in a few simple steps, bringing well-balanced lighting to the design, appealing reflections, and low-impact shadows.
HDR technology combines the design’s image with a background image, resulting in a single rendered picture. The combined image has all the design elements, illuminated by the light sources existing in the background image, which also defines shadows and reflections.
Users can choose among 6 background images preloaded in 3CAD Next, each one characterized by a different lighting setting.
HDR is disabled by default and can be enabled in the second tab of the Render menu, in the section HDR - Background settings. Once enabled, the HDR settings appear.
There are 4 settings to help you adjust the HDR light effects.
- Enable HDR
This option enables or disables HDR. It is disabled by default, but you can toggle it on to enable HDR by clicking on the slider.
Note: If you want your design to be illuminated by HDR lighting only, remember to toggle off the Active Sunlight option in the first tab (it is on by default).
- Transparent background HDR
This option controls the visibility of the background image. It is transparent by default, as it is generally desirable to obtain only the lighting information from the background image and not to have the image itself visible in the final picture. Nevertheless, it can be made visible if needed.
Background strength HDR
It controls the strength of the HDR lighting, and therefore, the brightness of the resulting image. Like for sunlight intensity, it ranges from 1 to 10, where 1 represents the lowest strength and 10 is the highest.A too-low intensity will result in a dark picture (underexposed image), while a too-high intensity will result in a too-bright image (overexposed image).
Like for sunlight, HDR lighting is influenced by objects, cannot pass through walls and ceilings, and only partially through windows and glass doors. Therefore, depending on the design setting and HDR background chosen, different HDR lighting strengths may be needed.
Note: The only exception to the realism of light-blocking walls is represented by walls that are automatically hidden when your observation point is close to the scene. In this case, the hidden wall will be missing from the rendered image too, and HDR lighting will behave as if the wall were non-existent and filter through it. If other elements, like ceilings, are hidden from a given observation point, they will still be visible in the final picture, and they will behave as light-blocking elements.
There are three ways to set HDR lighting strength:
- by using the slider,
- by clicking on the keys in the Value box,
- by typing the figure in the Value box.
HDR - Library
In this section, the 6 HDR background alternatives are listed, each one of them having a specific natural or artificial lighting setting. You need to click on one of them to select it.
How do I choose the most appropriate background for my design?
The first 3 backgrounds (HDR - Sample 1, 2, and 3) are internal environment backgrounds (rooms and internal spaces) and might be more suitable for enlightening entire rooms and multiple-article designs such as bathroom, kitchen, or wardrobe designs.
HDR SAMPLE 1
Sunlight intensity = 0
HDR lighting = Sample 1
HDR lighting strength = 1
HDR SAMPLE 2
Sunlight intensity = 0
HDR lighting = Sample 2
HDR lighting strength = 2
HDR SAMPLE 3
Sunlight intensity = 0
HDR lighting = Sample 3
HDR lighting strength = 7
The last 3 backgrounds (HDR - Sample 4, 5, and 6) are photo studio backgrounds with different combinations of artificial lights. They are generally the best alternative for illuminating single design objects or articles in an empty environment. This allows the creation of high-quality images that are easy to crop and edit, to be inserted in catalogs, flyers, or other material.
HDR SAMPLE 4
Sunlight intensity = 0
HDR lighting = Sample 4
HDR lighting strength = 3
HDR SAMPLE 5
Sunlight intensity = 0
HDR lighting = Sample 5
HDR lighting strength = 2
HDR SAMPLE 6
Sunlight intensity = 0
HDR lighting = Sample 6
HDR lighting strength = 5
Note: Due to the unpredictability of the final lighting intensity and overall effect in the design, it is advisable to attempt more HDR backgrounds and lighting strengths on the same design to understand the HDR impact in terms of lighting, reflections, and shadows. The picture mood can dramatically change from one setting to another, as you can see in the following examples.
Sunlight
Sunlight represents a more advanced lighting option compared to HDR lighting. It is characterized by a single light source creating a monodirectional light beam, and it usually generates deeper and uneven illumination, and well-defined shadows, making the mood of the design more dramatic. It can be adjusted in height, position, and intensity.
The first tab of the Render menu is dedicated to it.
Four settings help you define the sunlight effect quickly and effectively.
- Active Sunlight
This option activates or deactivates sunlight. It is active by default, but you can toggle it off if you want your design to be enlightened by HDR lighting only.
Intensity
Light intensity determines the brightness of the final image. It ranges from 1 to 10, where 1 represents the lowest intensity and 10 is the highest.There are three ways to set sunlight intensity:
- by using the slider,
- by clicking on the keys in the Value box,
- by typing the figure in the Value box.
A too-low intensity will result in a dark picture (underexposed image), while a too-high intensity will result in a too-bright image (overexposed image).
Like in the real world, sunlight is blocked by objects. It cannot pass through walls and ceilings, and only partially through windows and glass doors. Therefore, depending on the specific setting of the scene and the inclination of the sunlight, a lower or higher light intensity might be needed.
Example
A design with only the back wall might need a light intensity figure between 2.5 and 3.5, having HDR lighting disabled; a design with 3 walls might require higher-intensity sunlight. Furthermore, if you add HDR lighting to a sun-lit image, a lower sunlight intensity will be needed.
ONE WALL (BACK WALL) DESIGN
Sunlight intensity = 3
Horizontal angle = 0
Vertical angle = 35
HDR lighting = off
THREE WALLS DESIGN
Sunlight intensity = 3
Horizontal angle = 0
Vertical angle = 35
HDR lighting = off
Note: The only exception to the realism of light-blocking walls is represented by walls that are automatically hidden when your observation point is close to the scene. In this case, the hidden wall will be missing from the rendered image too, and sunlight will behave as if the wall were non-existent and pass through it. If other elements, like ceilings, are hidden from a given observation point, they are still visible in the final picture and behave as sunlight-blocking elements.
Horizontal angle
The horizontal angle represents the bearing angle of the light on the horizontal plane. It controls the direction of the sunlight around your design, based on a 360-degree angle. Setting a figure between 0 and 360 will affect the direction from which the sunlight will shine.The desired figure can be set using either the slider or the Value box next to it, where values can be typed or selected by clicking on the keys.
A simplified representation of the scene updating in real-time will help you better project which direction the light will be coming from.
Note: The sunlight-bearing angle is always counted starting from the design's frontal positioning on the planner.
Vertical angle The vertical angle represents the sunlight elevation (or height) on the plan. It is based on a 90-degree angle format where the floor of the design is 0, and the highest point is 90. The more the figures get closer to 90, the more the sunlight source will be high on the plan.
The desired figure can be set using either the slider or the Value box next to it, where figures can be typed or selected by clicking on the keys.
A simplified representation of the scene updating in real-time will help you better project which height the light will be coming from.