Inventor Rendering Tutorial

Autodesk <strong>Inventor</strong> LT Tips and Tricks<br />

Easily Render any Model in Autodesk<br />

<strong>Inventor</strong> LT<br />

Autodesk <strong>Inventor</strong> LT includes a built-in rendering<br />

application. You can use <strong>Inventor</strong> Studio to create highquality,<br />

photorealistic renderings from within <strong>Inventor</strong>. With<br />

the proper settings, any part model can be easily turned into<br />

a high-quality rendering.<br />

One of the powerful<br />

capabilities of Autodesk<br />

<strong>Inventor</strong> LT is the ability<br />

to create photorealistic<br />

images of proposed<br />

designs. When you can<br />

easily present good<br />

looking renderings of<br />

any part model before<br />

prototyping or production<br />

takes place, you save time<br />

and money, and you are<br />

able to refine concepts<br />

and gain the customer’s<br />

approval to win the<br />

business.<br />

Autodesk <strong>Inventor</strong> LT has<br />

several tools to assist in<br />

the creation of high quality<br />

renderings of parts. With<br />

the settings given in this<br />

document any part can be<br />

turned into a high-quality<br />

rendering by following<br />

these simple steps.<br />

Learning by example: Create Photorealistic <strong>Rendering</strong>s<br />

Imagine that you have designed a new piston for an engine. Creating a photorealistic rendering can<br />

help you express your design to the customer without creating a prototype, saving both time and<br />

money.<br />

Follow these simple steps:<br />

1. On the menu bar, select <strong>Inventor</strong> Studio from<br />

the Applications menu.<br />

2. On the panel bar, select the Lighting Styles<br />

icon.<br />

3. With the Lighting Styles dialog box open, rightclick<br />

the Global Lighting lighting style, and<br />

select Copy Lighting Style.<br />

Figure 1, Launching <strong>Inventor</strong> Studio.<br />

Figure 1, Copying a Lighting Style.

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Easily Render any Model in Autodesk <strong>Inventor</strong> LT<br />

4.To rename the copied lighting style, slowly<br />

double-click on the name, type a new name of<br />

your choice, and then press Enter.<br />

5. Make the new lighting style active by rightclicking<br />

it, and selecting Active from the pop-up<br />

menu.<br />

6. Select the new lighting style and change the<br />

settings on the General tab to:<br />

Brightness = 80<br />

Intensity = 90<br />

7. After making changes to the lighting style<br />

settings, click Save and Done. You can always<br />

change any of these settings at any time to make<br />

this style work best for your needs.<br />

8. From the panel bar, select the Scene Styles icon.<br />

Figure 3, Lighting Style - General tabe settings.<br />

9. On the Scene Styles dialog box you can either<br />

select one of the predefined scenes, or create a<br />

new scene. For simplicity, this example uses one<br />

of the predefined scenes.<br />

10. From the scene styles’ browser right-click XY<br />

Reflective GP and choose Active from the<br />

context menu.<br />

Figure 4, Creating a new scene style.

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Easily Render any Model in Autodesk <strong>Inventor</strong> LT<br />

11. On the Environment tab, change the Ground<br />

Plane Direction & Offset settings so the ground<br />

plane is below your part:<br />

12. After making changes to the scene style settings,<br />

click Save and Done.<br />

Figure 5, Scene Styles - Environmental tab settings.<br />

13. From the panel bar select the Render Image icon.<br />

14. On the Render Image dialog box, on the General<br />

tab, set the width and height of the image that<br />

you want to render, ensure that the Lighting<br />

Style and Scene Style are the ones that were<br />

defined previously, and that the following<br />

options are changed to:<br />

Camera = Current View<br />

Render Type = Realistic<br />

15. On the Output tab, change the Antialiasing<br />

setting to High Antialiasing.<br />

16. On the Style tab, check the True Reflection<br />

option.<br />

Figure 6, Render Image - General tab setting.

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Easily Render any Model in Autodesk <strong>Inventor</strong> LT<br />

17. After configuring the rendering options click<br />

Render at the bottom of the dialog box. A new<br />

dialog box opens, as your rendering is calculated<br />

and displayed.<br />

18. To save the rendered image, click the Save<br />

Rendered Image icon.<br />

19. To save any of the Surface, Lighting, or Scene<br />

style settings so you can easily reuse them again,<br />

click on the Save to Style Library icon.<br />

Figure 7, <strong>Rendering</strong> of the part.<br />

Conclusion<br />

This workflow gives you the steps and settings to use <strong>Inventor</strong> Studio from within <strong>Inventor</strong> LT to very<br />

easily create a photorealistic rendering of any part file. Use the settings given in this Tip to easily create<br />

high-quality renderings for any part file. By adding additional light sources and further tweaking the<br />

various settings, even higher quality results can be obtained.<br />

Autodesk, Autodesk <strong>Inventor</strong>, <strong>Inventor</strong>, and <strong>Inventor</strong> LT are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/<br />

or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the<br />

right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical<br />

errors that may appear in this document.<br />

© 2007 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.