Matrix 5 PRIMARY TUTORIALS

Learning Render Builder: Page 1

Learning Render Builder 3 The metal color of the button will change to
In this example, the Ski Tip Ring is used to demonstrate reflect the selected metal, as will the name beside it.
several different uses of Render Builder, from simply adding a With the shank still selected, click on the green GO
simple metal and gems to the relevant parts of a ring through to arrow to apply the metal to this part of the model.
creating a high-quality, realistic-looking render using many of Wait for just a moment: when the pink selection color
the “bells and whistles” found in this builder. disappears, de-selecting the shank, it means the
metal has been applied to the shank. Do not forget to
Primary-Level click the green arrow!!
Render of Finished Model
Skills

Render
Builder
4 Next, highlight the bezel only and click on the
same metal selection button again. Because the
metal was already applied to the shank in the
previous step using the GO arrow, you don’t have to
worry about somehow “overwriting” the shank metal
color. This time, select 14K White from the list. With
1 Start by placing the object to render in the the bezel highlighted and the metal selection shown
viewports: in this case, the Ski Tip ring that was in the box, click the green GO arrow and wait for the
made in an earlier tutorial. If you do not have one bezel to de-select, indicating that the metal was
already made, you can open up the file found on the applied to the bezel.
tutorial disk by inserting this disk into your CD Rom
drive, clicking the Open button found in the File flyout
menu, and navigating to “My Computer” > CD Rom
Drive > “Models” > “Day 3” > “Ski Tip Ring.3dm”.

5 Finally, highlight the gem and click on the

To begin with, we’ll learn how to apply simple Diamond selection window. Select the standard
materials to a ring & its background setting through diamond from the menu and click on the green GO
the standard process used in render builder. arrow to apply the diamond material to the gem. Wait
for the diamond to de-select.

2 Enter the Render Builder found in the

Render flyout menu. Highlight the shank of the ring
and click on the first button in the upper right-hand
corner of the builder menu to select a metal color for
the shank. This will open up the Matrix Library
Browser at the bottom of the screen. From this menu,
select the 14K Yellow metal material.

6 To add a “ground plane”, or, the color of the

surface on which the model appears to sit in the
render, click on this selection window to open the
Matrix Library Browser full of possibilities. In this
Matrix 5 PRIMARY TUTORIALS
Learning Render Builder: Page 2

example, we’ll use the “Bump White 2” selection to

create a mottled white ground plane for the ring.

10 To create a high-quality image, it is always a

good idea to raise the Shade setting at the top of your
screen to SuperFine by clicking on the yellow arrow
on the shade button and selecting the shade globe
with the finest “grid” from the menu. With this
Don’t forget to click on the green arrow to apply the
selected, Shade the model.
ground plane to the scene!!!

11 Finally, “pose” the model in the Perspective

viewport, making certain it is at the angle and zoom
7 There are a few more steps before the render distance you want for the render. To zoom in on the
can be processed. First, turn ON the Force Render model more smoothly during this step, right mouse-
Perspective option to cause the builder to render click while holding down the Ctrl button on the
only what it sees in the Perspective viewport. keyboard. With the view just the way you want it,
click on the Render button in the builder. You may
need to wait just a moment for the render to
complete.

About Force Render Perspective: This feature

causes the builder to render the model at the angle it
appears in the Perspective viewport. With this option
OFF, the builder will render the view of the model as
seen in whichever viewport is active at the time.

8 Next, click on the Calculate Ground Plane

Height arrow. This tool calculates the distance below
(or above, when that is the case) the standard 12 To save the image file, click the File > Save
Looking Down grid that the ring extends, in order to button in the render window that appears. Or, click on
make the ring appear as though it is sitting on a Exit to close the window.
“tabletop” during the rendering process. When this is
set to “0”, the ground plane (what the ring sits upon)
appears at F4, chopping a standard ring in half.

9 Select a Resolution for the picture from the

drop-down menu at the bottom. Unless you need a
particularly low- or high-resolution image for a
specific marketing need (such as web- or print- use,
respectively), the defaults should work fine for you
(640X480).
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Learning Render Builder: Page 3

match the color of the real-life gem you’re using in

your design to get the best render possible.

Next, we’ll practice creating a higher-quality render.

Higher-quality renders take a little bit longer to
complete and can look more photo-realistic when
they are done. At its most advanced, rendering takes
a lot of trial- and-error, and just because it takes a
long time to complete a render doesn’t mean it will
Select the gem you like best and click on the Set Gem
look more realistic – or any better than a render that
Material button in the Gem interface. Next, be sure to
didn’t take quite so long. But we’ll take you through a
click on GO , with the gem still highlighted, to change
few easy steps to make a higher-quality render that
the gem to the color you chose above.
does look more realistic.

13 The first thing to change is the metals. More

photo-realistic metals that take a bit longer
processing time are known in the program as the
“Less Specular” (meaning “less reflective”) metals.
In this example, select the shank of the ring and
select the 14 K White Less Specular option from the
list. Click on the GO arrow, with the shank selected, to
place the shank in this metal.

16 To continue, go to the Next screen in the builder.

Here, we will explore the Environment Elements
menu. Click on the preview window to open this menu
and select the Ocean Side environment. Click on GO
14 In the same way, select the bezel and use the to add the environment.
GO arrow to apply 14 K Gold Less Specular to it.

15 Another feature that can make the ring look more

realistic is the color-matching interactive controls About Environments: This feature automatically puts
available in the colored gems section. Click on the a pre-set ground plane and lights into the model to
rainbow button next to the colored gems option and create a certain style for the render. Many
an interactive gems menu will appear. Slide the slider environments also add Soft Shadows, which
control along the bottom of the menu left to right to eliminates the fake-looking, hard edges seen in the
change the color of the gem. Then, slide the right- shadows in the previous render.
hand slider control up and down to change the
brightness / darkness of the gem. In this way, try to
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Learning Render Builder: Page 4

After using an environment, you can continue to

tweak the render settings to customize it; however,
do so with care. This can quickly add complexity –
and sometimes undesirable effects – to the render
you are creating. For instance, to keep the lights but
overwrite the ground plane with one of your own
selection, be sure and set the new ground plane
AFTER setting the environment. However, keep in
mind that you MUST calculate the ground plane
location before selecting the environment, since
some environments place lights in such a way as to
throw off the ground plane calculations.

If you wish, for example, to place the render as

though it is sitting on a plain white sheet of paper, use
Calculate Ground Plane first!! Then, select the
White Sky environment and apply it with the green
arrow. Next, return to the previous screen in the
builder menu and select the Matte White
background from the Ground Plane selection and
click GO.

17 Finally, to further increase the quality of a render

(and the time it takes to render!), select the 16X
Antialiasing option from the second screen in the
Render Builder. The higher value you select in this
portion of the menu, the better quality your render will
be – but, the longer it will take to wait for your render
to process.

18 With all the advanced settings arranged as you’d

like them, make sure the scene is configured
correctly in the Perspective viewport and click on
Render to see the results: