Render Quality

Render quality

In the Render & camera settings, there are different render qualities
to choose from depending on how you plan to use an image. We’ll go through
the render qualities below.

Realtime

This is the fastest and least time consuming render quality because
it is very basic in terms of lighting, shadows, and reflections. Besides
the Normal option, you can click
the down arrow to choose Sketch,
Hidden lines, or Wireframe
to create stylized renderings:




 

Note:

  • When doing a Hidden
    Lines or Wireframe
    rendering, InstantPlanner
    makes all surfaces white. Maximizing the anti-alias will then
    make the rendering look washed out. We therefore recommend
    to set the anti-alias to a low, or even the minimum, value
    to avoid that effect.

 

Fast

This render quality is one step up from the Realtime : Normal option.
It is still quite basic but does generate nicer textures and reflections,
to some extent. This is the default render quality, because it is sufficient
for most simple renderings, or when you don’t want to spend a lot of time
setting up a completely lit scene.

 

Medium

This is the default render quality the very first time the Render &
camera settings dialog is opened because it is often sufficient for generating
a nice rendering that can be used on-screen or in print. Lighting, shadows,
reflections, and textures are in place and the end result can be very
photo realistic.

 

High

The High render quality is for those top notch, deal-breaking images
you may want to produce at times. Lighting, shadows, reflections, and
textures are on point. Bear in mind though that this is the most time
consuming quality to render.

 

Comparison between Medium and High render qualities

While the Fast render quality uses ambient light, both the Medium and
High render qualities use global illumination instead, which enables the
creation of very photo realistic images. They both demand more from the
designer in terms of scene setup, lighting etc, and they are more time
consuming to render.

The differences between Medium and High quality renderings are often
very subtle, which means that keeping the Medium option selected is sufficient
most of the time. Rendering with high quality can take anywhere between
3-20 times longer to render, compared to medium quality.

Compared to a Medium quality rendering, the light spreads better and
shadows surrounding small objects look even better in a High quality rendering,
when examined very closely. In the examples below, we have highlighted
a few area where these small differences can be seen.


 

Anti-aliasing

Using anti-aliasing, regardless of render quality,
is a way of making lines and edges look softer and smoother, which adds
extra quality to an image.


 

Regardless of which render quality you pick, you can go into the other
settings and tweak them according to your wishes before rendering the
image. Follow these links to read more about the options available: Realtime
options, Preset,
Image
dimensions, Lighting
& shadows, Environment,
and Camera
settings.

 

Note:

  • Keep in mind that setting a
    high render quality, anti-alias or a large image dimension,
    as well as adding many light sources to your drawing, are
    all factors that will add to the time it takes to render an
    image.

  • InstantPlanner
    defaults to Medium render quality the first time the dialog
    is opened but will subsequently default to the render quality
    that was selected when the dialog was closed.