I like adding 3D views of the major facades on my cover sheets. I first did this about 3 years ago using the sketch rendering engine. I knew it was a good move when in a client meeting we hardly left the cover sheet while discussing the exterior of the house. I use 11_Tech_Pencil and turn down all the noise settings to zero. It makes a nice black and white hidden line rendering.

Today I started playing around with the 3D document. I think I’ll use that to create my black and white hidden line perspectives from now on. It’s very easy to set everything to a uniform thin pen, turn off materials, and tweak the darkness of shadows. The lines are cleaner, the shadows are crisper, I can add some lines or fills fairly easily if I need to do some cheating, and it’s still linked to the model. And perhaps just as important, the view regenerates much much faster than the sketch rendering engine. The sketch rendering engine is great, and I need to find some time to investigate all its other uses. It’s just time to start testing a more appropriate solution for my standard cover page renderings.

Sketch Rendering Engine

3D Document

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