Render Me, Baker - Visualizing 3D Models

Alfa Romeo: Rendering of Mesh-Model (by ToPa 3D)

It is becoming almost impossible to tell what is visually real or computer graphic (CG) generated today. This is made possible by incredible advances in both hardware and software to process millions of pixels into something that mimics what our eyes interpret as ‘real’. It has been said that the human eye can register up to 10 million colors and some believe that number is higher. There is a reason computers can simulate reality with the power to display over 16 million colors.

Enter Rendering…

Like all of the great movements of our collective visualization history, artists and artisans have utilized technologies that were available to document their ideas and realities. From the Renaissance to the Baroque, Romanticism, Modern and Contemporary art periods, these innovators have held the world in aesthetic wonder. With the invention of computers and the laser scanner, we have collectively taken our place in history and propelled the art and science of 3D documentation. Where once the term ‘render’ was used for an artist creating a sketch or painting, now many would associate this term with CG-based visualizations and not give traditional art a second thought.

    Ambient Occlusion Rendering- by ToPa 3D

Computer render technology is such that particles of light can be calculated using complex optics formulas that consider light bouncing and refracting, changing values and hues, and showing themselves as pixels of color so subtle as to mimic the real-world as we see it. And based on clever programming, this virtual, algorithmic light show is optimized (dumbed down) to our human perception to create a visual within our lifetime. Otherwise the “cost” in time for calculating every particle of light would be tremendous.

Kitchen Rendering - ToPa 3D

CG software, by its nature renders graphics on your monitor. These graphics can include simple lines, polygons or a complex series of polygons called ‘meshes’ that comprise a 3D computer model. But some software goes the extra mile and provides tools to make a computer graphics pop. Developers of this type of software go to great lengths to incorporate tools to allow users to make their 3D drawings/models photorealistic. These tools all follow a fairly standard set of guidelines and names. They will usually have a tool/button set aside named “render” with a series of sub-tools that allow one to tweak the way the 3D model displays on the screen and create more realism to the scene.

Some advanced animation software platforms have another function called “baking”. This allows one to essentially store the rendered information such as ‘materials’ (photos or images pasted on a 3D surface) and lighting into the polygon surfaces from and infinite number of angles; the final ‘baked’ model can then be used for video games or similar applications where the scene is rendered in real-time rather than from a single camera angle. Top software for baking includes 3DS Max and its open-source twin, Blender.

So here’s an open-source workflow for you who are new to this gig and would like to give it a try. You will not need an amazingly fast computer or spend a dime on software.

*Note: You will need some computer experience…*

1) Via the internet, download 2 software platforms: “SketchUp” and “Kerkythea Rendering System”

2) Install both platforms. Kerkythea will be a plug-in for SketchUp. There are online manuals for setting this up.

3) Open SketchUp and under the File menu, select “3D Warehouse -> Get Models…”

4) Pick a model that gets your blood flowing and select “Download Model”

5) Using the “Orbit” and zoom tools in SketchUp, select your favorite angle

6) From the Kerkythea Rendering toolbar...

...select “Export Model to Kerkythea.” This will prompt you to save an .XML file somewhere.

7) Open an instance of Kerkythea and then open your .XML file.

8) Without changing any of the render settings, click the little green running man icon. 

(hovering over it will reveal the words “Start Render” at the top of the Kerkythea screen.)

When the little blue ZZzzz button goes away, click the tree icon next to the running man to display your final rendered image.

This process, from start to finish (after all installations) took about 5 minutes. Render time = 1 minute.

AT-AT: Rendered in Kerkythea - by ToPa 3D

The more practice, the better and eventually, terms like texture mapping, normals, specular reflections, etc. will be collaborative communication tools that will support higher levels of photo-realism to your renderings.

Our hope at ToPa for this blog is to simply get some of you new to this 3D Rendering/Baking world interested in starting with a relatively easy and free entry point. It's a wondrous and often exciting industry and in the coming weeks, we will be showcasing some high-end commercial projects that we have contributed to with our 3D scanning and modeling tech. Once you see the work, you may not even notice that a complex workflow was being realized behind these visualizations - with ToPa computers smoking as they crunched the lighting effects... More to come!

ToPa 3D~