Heidi Hewett's Blog

Good Question: Sun Properties

Today's good question comes from Ivana, who asked why she could no longer edit the Sun Properties Color in AutoCAD 2008. The color is displayed in the Properties window but it is greyed out.

A new variable, LIGHTINGUNITS, was added in AutoCAD 2008 to support photometric lighting. When that variable is enabled, the Sun color can not be edited. If you change the value of LIGHTINGUNITS to 0, photometric lighting is disabled and you can specify the Sun color as you did in the past.

Here is more information from the AutoCAD 2008 Help system:

LIGHTINGUNITS

Controls whether generic or photometric lights are used, and indicates the current lighting units
When this system variable is set to 1 or 2, photometric lighting is enabled; otherwise standard (generic) lighting is used.

0  No lighting units are used and standard (generic) lighting is enabled
1  International lighting units are used and photometric lighting is enabled
2  American lighting units are used and photometric lighting is enabled

Thanks to Ivana for the good question and Lance (from the AutoCAD team) for helping find the answer.

Good Question: Animation Paths

Today’s good question comes from Binoy. He asked how you can create an animation of an AutoCAD model using a path.

You can use the ANIPATH command, which was introduced in AutoCAD 2007. It is only accessible from the View menu (View>Motion Path Animations) or by typing the command name. Using ANIPATH, you can specify a point or a path for both the camera and the target (where the camera is looking). For example, the camera could be located on a fountain in the middle of a park and the target path could be a circle that goes around the park. The resulting animation would show the park as the camera swivels around a stationary point on the fountain. If, on the other hand, you used the circle as the camera path and the point as the target, the resulting animation would show the fountain as the camera traveled around it.

If you plan on using a path for either the camera or the target (or both), you’ll need to create the path geometry before launching the ANIPATH command. You can use just about logical object for a path (circle, line, polyline, ellipse, spline, etc). You don’t have to define a “point” object in order to specify a point as the camera or target. You can simply snap to an existing object or enter coordinate values.

Kitchen Remodel: Realistic versus Reality

If you've attended any of my AutoCAD 2007 presentations, you've probably heard me talk about our recent kitchen remodel. This is what the kitchen looked like when we bought our house last summer.

Construction began late last fall and the design decisions were sometimes overwhelming. Fortunately, we were able to use the new conceptual design and visualization tools in AutoCAD 2007 (pre-release) to help us make decisions that would satisfy our wants and needs.

Soon after construction began and (fortunately) before the cabinets were ordered, we decided to modify the kitchen layout based on our appliance choices. Imagine that... clients changing their minds! That never happens! Right? Using the modeling tools in AutoCAD 2007 my husband and I were able to rearrange the design based on our new appliance sizes and feel confident that the space and flow of the kitchen would still meet our needs. In addition, we used the visualization tools to help us choose the tile design, cabinet and granite colors, floor covering, and, let's not forget, the wall color. I wanted to paint some accent walls burgundy but I wasn't about to take the heat from my husband if it was "too pink", "too red", "too dark" or "too much"! So, I painted the walls using AutoCAD first!

For realistic images of the space, I used the Render tool, which takes into consideration lighting and special material properties such as reflectivity.

However, I did most of my visualization work using the Realistic visual style (or a slightly customized version of it). It was easy for us to switch between visual styles. We could assign different visual styles to the many different named views. And, it gave us a good sense of how the space would look using various materials.

And now for reality! So, what do you think?

Yes... we still have our 15-year-old dinette set (above). Do you recognize it from the AutoCAD Release 12 Reference Manual? One of these days we'll have time to shop for a new dinette set.

But wait, there are more burgundy walls to consider. While remodeling the kitchen, we also remodeled the family room and updated the entry way.  But those images will have to wait for another time!  :-)

Enhancing your views!

In AutoCAD 2007 you can quickly add realism to your model by associating background images with your named views.

Which view do you think looks more realistic?

It’s easy to associate background images with your named views!

First find (or take) a digital photo of the scene you want to use as the background. I took this photo out the back door of my house.

Use the navigation tools to set an appropriate viewpoint for your model. The Walk tool as well as the Camera and Target Positions are very useful for setting the viewpoint. You can access these tools from the 3D Navigate control panel of the Dashboard.

Some other things to consider when creating your named views include layer visibility, materials, and visual styles. However, you can always change these properties later.

After setting the appropriate view point (and other properties), use the View Manager to create or edit a named view.  You can access the View Manager using the VIEW command or by selecting Manage Views from the view drop-down list in the Dashboard.

In the View Manager, choose New to access the New View dialog box. In the New View dialog box, enter the view name. You can set the background image in the New View dialog box when you create the new view or you can set it in the View Manager after you’ve created the view. Choose OK in the New View dialog box to finish creating the named view. I’ll show you how to add an image to an existing named view.

In the View Manager, select the named view to which you want to add a background image. By default, the Background Override is set to <None>. From the drop-down list, select Image. If an image was not previously assigned, the Background dialog box will automatically display, if an image has already been assigned to the view, you can select Edit to access the Background dialog box.

In the Background dialog box, choose Browse and navigate to the digital photo that you want to use. You can choose Adjust Image to change the scale and position (offset) of the image in relation to the view. For example, I used the same photo for both of these views out the back of the house. By adjusting the scale and offset, I was able to position the image for the most interesting effect in each view.