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Rendering 2D Objects in AutoCAD 2007 - June 2006

(Discuss this Article! in AUGI's new Discussion Forums.)

One huge advantage of 3D modeling over 2D drawing is the ability to render. Having a drawing that
looks exactly (or as closely as possible) like the real McCoy.

It’s unfortunate that all of those new materials included in the new AutoCAD® 2007 package are
useless to 2D users. To be honest, much of the cost of upgrading to 2007 is justified by having these
new materials and the ability to manipulate them. Suppose we could render a 2D object? Boy that sure
would open up a whole new world.

Pssssst! We can. All of the materials CAN be applied to any 2D drawing. And it’s very easy. In fact,
it’s so easy it can be configured to work from a tool pallet, almost like a typical hatch.

Procedures

 Creating a region using the boundary command

 The Dashboard
 Setting the render environment
 Finding the materials
 Adjusting the materials
 Attaching the materials
 Saving the materials

Creating a region using the boundary command

Ok, the secret’s exposed in the first procedure. Creating a 2D region is the bridge that crosses you
from the world of basic run-of-the-mill 2D innocuous drawings to real life renderings.

For this article, I will be using an elevation of an interior stone wall with a concrete cap, and a clear
coated cherry base. As you follow along, you can either get my drawing in the discussion group, or use
your own drawing. The procedures are similar for any materials you choose.

Boundary
This command works similar to the hatch command whereas you pick an internal point to create the
boundary. (Hint: this is a wonderful way to create a polyline segment based on difficult geometry.)

1. Zoom in on the “model” that you want to work with.

2. Type boundary
 For Object type, select Region.

3. Select the Pick Points button.

4. Pick the area(s) you want the subsequent materials attached to. For the article’s example, the
counter, body, and base are all selected.

This will leave the initial objects intact. (Lines, arcs, circles…..). I like to get rid of them. This is
entirely up to you. I never liked to have regions on top of other objects. Hey, come on! I’m a drafter
just like you…..I’m allowed my little pet-peeves.

The Dashboard
Only for 3D users? I don’t think so! Who said you have to be in a 3D model to use the dashboard? I
never said that. The book never said that. Come to think of it, I never got a book. What happened to
the book you used to get? Sorry. I digress.

The dashboard comprises “Control Panels.” Each control panel can be expanded to reveal additional
functions.

We will be dealing with the:

 Visual Styles control panel

Materials Control Panel

Render Control Panel

1. Type dashboard at the command prompt.

Note: we could spend an entire ATP lesson on covering the Dashboard. For this article, we will
jump to the rendering and materials prompt.

2. Focus on the Visual Style Control Panel

Notice that 2D Wireframe is selected by default. That actually serves as a clue that we are
ALWAYS in some kind of “visual environment.”

3. Select the dropdown, and pick conceptual.

Materials Control Panel

This is another display control panel. It controls how materials are displayed. We can also access the
materials dialog from here.

Select the “shiny ball” dropdown, and select the

bottom orb. Materials and Textures on. This will
actually set the previous setting to *current.*

Advanced Render Options The render control panel can be expanded to show more procedures.

1. Click on the Render icon. This will expand the panel.

2. Set the dropdown to presentation.
 3. Click on the Advanced Render Settings… button.

4. Be sure the procedure is set to view, and the destination is set to viewport.

The stage is set. Literally. The little thing we just triggered is a huge leap over AutoCAD 2006. We can
now keep a constant, rendered view of our drawing. Something we have never been able to do. Now
for the fun part. It’s time to assign some materials to our wall.

Materials

1. Click the materials button. The first time I opened this I was depressed. I thought I was
going to have to re-learn everything I knew about rendering. But I quickly found out this is
 simply not the case. There is just so much control now. The render package is simply bursting at
the seams with flavor. Yeah…ok. That’s what it’s doing.

There is so much to look at. Simply way more than we are going to cover here.

2. At the top of the dialog, select the Create New Material button.

3. Label it as I have labeled mine and click ok.

4. Close your eyes, and ignore all of those tempting sliders.
5. Jump down to the Diffuse map. Click it on if it is not.

6. Click the Select button.

Ok, I need to pause for a second. The fact that we can browse for a material (.jpg) is a wonderful
thing. Suppose you were working on a building with an existing façade? Go, take a picture of
the face, and use it in a drawing!

7. Browse to C:\Documents and Settings\<>\Application Data\Autodesk\AutoCAD

2007\enu\Textures
 8. Select Masonry.Stone.Ashlar.Random.Broken Coursed

Look at all of those wonderful patterns. Architectural Desktop users can no longer brag!

9. Select open
10. Notice the Icon at the top of the pallet now reflects (basically) the stone pattern.

Adjust Bitmap

1. Select the properties button adjacent to the Masonry… button.

This is where some “massaging” needs to occur.

2. Working from the top down, select the Scale radio button.
3. Set the Units to Inches.
4. Set the width and height to 100 (These numbers are relative to the overall scale rather than the
actual size of the stones).
5. Set the Preview size under Interactive Adjustment to around 32.
 6. Select the Close button.

Attaching the Material

1. Select the Attach Materials button near the top of the dialog.
2. Pick an area inside the large face of the elevation.
 Now that’s what I’m talking about right there. A 2D rendering right out of the base AutoCAD
2007 box. No tricks or gimmicks. Nothing up my sleeve.

Saving the Material to a tool palette

Since we did all that work, it’d be a shame to have to keep redoing it.

1. Open the tool paletes (ctrl+3) and make a new palette.

2. With the materials palette open, simply drag the image of the material over to the new tool
palette.

On your own

1. Create a concrete material, and a wood material.

2. Apply it to the cap and the base of the stone wall.

With just a brush by the rendering options, you can make a drawing literally come to life. We have
skipped many new controls available for applying materials to a 2D (and 3D) drawing. Click the
“discuss this” button to collaborate with the author, and others reading this article who would like to
learn more about this amazing new direction AutoCAD is taking.