Advice on Rendering

Support Modeling
#1

Old man with free time and a Workstation running Linux Windows and Blender.

Ambition: to eventually create a ‘’walkthrough’’ ship (like the ones I navigated at sea).

Progress: Managed to create a hull using V2.79 but found it so complicated and I had only created the outer shell!
Purchased a 3D model of a real ship and it is a .blend file of 90mb with textures etc and I can manipulate it and change things while learning all the time about computer graphics.

Seriously stiff learning curve, but fascinating, yet there is something about which I am very confused and have not been able to find the answer to.

Rendering ! When I am moving, zooming, changing, WHY, my ship model showing on my screen, is it not ‘’rendering’’ in real time?

I can modify the model, paint it, move the anchors, operate the winch and see it all happening on my screen and if I remember correctly I am doing this in ‘’look dev’’ mode.
I can add a background of a harbour, and I have still not ‘’rendered’’ anything.

At what point must I ‘’render’’ this blend file and why ?
Thanks for your time. :smiley:

#2

Hi, can you please show a screen shoot of your view port? You can render an image at any stage to see what the finish product looks like, or if you have animations you can render the animations. You should also be able to see the render in view port. It could be that your materials/textures have not been assigned to the object yet.

#3

If you want a walkthrough and are happy with OpenGL rendering of Workbench, you don’t need to produce an EEVEE or Cycles render.

With those engines, in rendered mode, you will add shadows and more accuracy to your scene and can have advanced effects like bloom, mist, etc…

Cycles is used to produce movies. Camera and 3D objects can be animated. EEVEE is used to produce movies, too, or to prototype look of a game asset.
You can be satisfied to demo your ship inside Blender.
But you can also export your 3D Scene to a game engine like Godot or UPBGE, in order to produce a walkthrough application.

#4

Thanks for your reply but I cannot send a screenshot at present because I am not in front of my workstation however, I can see the render in the viewport and (if I remember correctly) with the materials assigned.
To put it another way, I can see the ship on my screen with all materials etc and I have not yet rendered anything! Which makes me wonder why I should need to ‘‘render’’. ?

#5

Hello zeauro
My thanks for troubling to reply and **yes I think I am happy with the Workbench rendering (although I have not done a Workbench render yet!.
I understand what you are saying re exporting but that is not my intention or desire (and I will not live long enough to be able to learn how to do it anyway) :wink:

Quote ‘‘With those engines, in rendered mode, you will add shadows and more accuracy to your scene and can have advanced effects like bloom, mist, etc…’’
Does this mean that when I see my model before having ‘‘rendered’’ it, that it will not show certain lighting effects such as shadows, or the material maps I would like ?

#6

OK

Edit: OK here is a screenshot (hopefully)

Ship
Ship3840×2160 1.33 MB

#7

Each render engine has its proper limits.

Workbench corresponds to options in Viewport Shading popover in Solid Mode.
So, you can have a unique directional source of shadows by using it.

When you are using lookdev mode, you are using EEVEE.
When EEVEE is selected as Render Engine, same options are available in LookDev mode and Rendered mode.
Difference is just that scene lights are disabled and presets of HDRI are available in LookDev mode.
But materials, textures should look the same.
LookDev mode is there to test reaction of material to different environments.
But you can enable lights of scene and see shadows projected by those lights.

But when Cycles is used Render Engine, Solid mode is Workbench. LookDev mode is EEVEE. And only Rendered mode is Cycles.
Cycles offers mode accurate renders than EEVEE. Materials reflections, refractions are more accurate.
Indirect Lighting is more easy to set-up and give a more realistic look. Shadows are more accurate and bounces of light are making color of one object reflecting on its closed neighbors.
For example, you can load IES profiles for lamps in Cycles.

#8

HI, the purpose of rendering is to have a sequence of images or one final still image of what you have created in your view port. if you are using blender to just look and manipulate your object in the view port without wanting to create an finish animated clip of your animation or still image then you don’t need to render it. i hope i am on the right track on this.
I am not getting any younger either. :wink:

#9

Gentlemen,
Sincere thanks to both of you for telling me exactly what I needed to know and this information has helped me in another direction because I have been having performance problems with my workstation (since adding a 4K monitor) but I now know what I need as a replacement graphics card to achieve my end goal.
Most grateful for your time and for clearing away the fog. :wink:

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