CompuServe Messages

Dave, AA Doors render fine; windows are less successful – not enough detail if the window is in the foreground. I've recently been using the Marvin Windows software to generate 3D windows that are pretty nice. Nice software, and the best of the window manufacterer's free stuff, for sure. AA will fillet walls in plan very nicely, but a filleted 3D-face wall element turns into a block that you might want to explode before bringing over. Filleted wall lines are true arcs that render fine. You can also do things like, say, curve the top of a wall in a tight radius by simulating the curve with straight 3D-face elements. Another nice feature is the ability to draw a polyline to define a wall shape in plan and convert it to a wall style of your choice. This allows you to do free-form, curved walls. You need to smooth some of this stuff in the rendering software… AA 3D blocks are a mixed bag for rendering. Some of them are pretty good, like appliances, but most of the furniture is not quite suitable for a rendering, if it features the furniture. Some of the couches and chairs are okay if they are just to provide some context and scale in space, and you can soften them some with the material you assign… The 3D beds are a joke… <g> As you suggest, rendering really needs some specially purchased or constructed meshes or blocks, and I don't expect to find a lot of that kind of thing in an AutoCAD architectural application, yet. You want fluffy, or highly detailed fittings and plumbing fixtures, you're gonna have to do it yourself… <g> Michael