High-quality rendering in cabinet design software.

Some time ago the user sent an email about the photo realistic rendering qualities within SketchList 3D cabinet design software.

He was satisfied – just satisfied and asked if we couldn’t look into making the renderings have a little more snap to them.

But we did that and found within the software module that generates there are all sorts of variables that can be adjusted. Being a big fan of simpler is usually better I wanted to start adding these adjustments a few at a time and see what impact they might have the quality of the imaging.

Being a fan of listening to my users I wanted to put this software “out there” and let people use the adjustments and see how they feel about that.  I have been playing with it quite a bit and we are making tweaks as we go along.

This is a sample of some bedroom furniture the user is producing.  I found that the adjustment of reflectivity by material type gives a lot of flexibility in what the final output is for the rendering. For example in this rendering the mattress material is of the type other and if you set the reflectivity for material type other to be very high it really puts a lot of light and color into the mattress.  I think probably on this rendering I may have set the reflectivity of the walls a little bit too high but decided to leave it that way to show you what is possible.

Other possibilities include perhaps multiple light sources that are movable. I think this could quickly cast a shadow on your work (sorry about the pun).  There might be the possibility of making the reflectivity to be really shiny and reflective on its highest and. That way you could do things like a mirror, real reflective glass, or high-gloss finish.

As always the challenge remains in the trade-off of more functionality, more complexity, and maintaining a user interface that is intuitive and easy to use.

So as we move along in this direction – probably taking a few months anyway – try things out see what results. You have images you want to share please send them to me happy to put them on the webpage. If you have ideas or make discoveries let me know about those as well. Maybe you’ve had experience with other rendering images or design programs and know exactly how this should be done!