Will it Rend? (Rendering without PhotoView 360)

As an Android fanboy, one of my favorite things to do is watch the latest Apple iGadget or iGizmo get puréed on Will it Blend? We won’t be blending anything today, but we do want to ask the question, “Will it Rend?” If you have SOLIDWORKS Professional or Premium, than you have access to a great rendering tool in PhotoView 360. If you haven’t talked your boss into upgrading you to one of these packages you can still get some decent images out of SOLIDWORKS using a special scene that will allow a self-shadowing effect called “Ambient Occlusion”. Here is what you need to do:

-Turn on RealView Graphics and Shadows in Shaded Mode (it won’t work without the shadows on)

-Turn on Shaded (without Edges)

-Set the Scene to Ambient Occlusion

Now you have nice textures, more realistic lighting and shadows, and you have turned off the cartoon like edge lines. It is starting to look much better than the default settings.

There is one last thing you should do to really make your image stand out.

-Add a Camera. Manipulate the perspective and move the object out of the center of the screen to create a nice composition.

-Set the Camera View

Now we have a good composition with some added perspective along with nice textures and more realistic shadows and lighting. To save the image go to File, Save As, Jpeg.

I think you’ll have fun creating some great images in SolidWorks.

Model courtesy of Ray Keane and GrabCAD