Let's talk about D5
Render tips and tricks. I've compiled the 10 most useful
ones I know will change the way you create images in D5. Whether you're just learning this
program or you're an advanced user, I'm certain there are valuable
insights in this video for you. Now this video is sponsored by D5 and
I'm super happy to be partnering up with them once again for a new video
with a tool that I use on a daily basis. Now this is a custom project I designed
myself specifically for this video and if you want to get your hands on the
3d model and see the images in detail. There will be links in
the video description. Okay, if you have any questions,
just drop them below as always and let's dive into the list. One, how to handle heavy models. Real time rendering has many
advantages and it can achieve high quality results really fast. But that also comes at a price. It's much more demanding on your
computer and it's a constant requirement while you're setting up the render and
modifying the elements and not just when the final render is being generated. So learning how to work with heavy
models and optimize your scene is one of the most important moves I would say. We all kind of wished we had a more
powerful setup to do archviz work. So here are a few things I do to ensure
I'm working as smoothly as possible. You gotta learn these shortcuts,
F1 to the high quality real time visualization and F2 for a lower quality. In D5's words, that is F1 for precise
and F2 for smooth, and I'm constantly, constantly switching back and forth
between these modes, it mostly stays on F2 to be honest while I'm
adding assets such as vegetation and F1 to get a really high quality
preview when I'm setting up materials and testing environment lighting. Also, you gotta understand
this object's filter here. I often like to group all of the
vegetation or even switch them to a new layer so that I can
turn them off when not in use. This helps to make D5 runs much quicker
when I don't need the vegetation. For example, to set up some
interior materials, I don't need the trees out there. Now, these scatter assets
are not found here. If you want to turn them off, you
need to select the imported model. I like to disable them as well and only
switch them back on, on the final render. And lastly, make sure
you're in static mode. Unless you're setting up video scenes,
there's no need to have leaves or water moving while you're editing basic things. So, these things allows me to
handle heavy scenes like this one, with tons of vegetation, scattered
grass, displacement materials, and many more things, much faster. 2. Custom Materials Now the material
asset library from D5 is fantastic, but it only gets you so far. If you want to truly get a unique result
with the maximum quality possible, you have to learn how to take advantage
of the custom PBR material workflow. There are plenty of libraries
out there, free and paid. All you need are these texture maps. And D5 gives you full control
while setting up materials, so take advantage of it. Same goes for the material template. Each one of them gives you a new set
of sliders that allow you to take the material creation even further. These settings, and material creation as
a whole, are essential for you to learn. Now if you don't know what all
of these sliders do and how to work with them to get the result
you want, here's the third tip. 3. Museum of Materials This file
that DE5 offers allows you to fully immerse yourself in material
creation and understand the sliders and learn everything there is
to know about materials in DE5. I mean, if you had previous
knowledge of what normals, roughness, displacement, and these sort of maps
do in other render engines, you'll probably figure it out here in DE5. Just by playing with the sliders
while you're creating a scene. But if you're starting from zero
or haven't fully understood how PBR material works, this is going to help
you a lot in your archivist journey, so you understand subtle but important
things that DE5 has, especially when compared to other render engines. You can learn about some advanced
moves in material creation here. For example, using the subsurface
scattering can help to increase the level of realism in your renderings. Also, look at how many types
of glass you can achieve just by using different normal maps. All of that can be seen in real
time with correct reflections while you are setting up the render. Now you can find this file in the
explore area before starting a new file. It is quite heavy, but I highly
recommend checking it out. 4. Mastering scene creation I've
talked about this briefly in my last video on D5, but cameras have
improved since I last covered it. Now there's no need to place custom
cameras as a separate object to take full control over the scene creation step. It is a bit easier now, but
just as powerful or even more. And there are a few key things to note. So let me show you. When you create a scene, this camera
button will appear next to the scene name. Click on it. And now you're in control of the camera. You can pin this preview to continue
editing the framing of your scene while you're moving objects around. Quite handy to perfect that scene framing. And while editing the camera, you also
have the aspect ratio controls here that allow you to really craft your scene. Over the image export area, you can
do different proportions, but it's only a crop of your standard view. Meaning, fewer pixels and a less accurate
display of your custom aspect ratio. Not really ideal to set up through here. So click on this camera, and set up your
aspect ratio, update the scene so that you get that saved, and now you can go into
the image export and render the image with the accuracy of a custom aspect ratio. A total game changer for me. And as a bonus tip inside scenes, don't
forget to use all of the weather effects the real time visualization of DE5 has. Each scene holds these
environment settings. So you can play with wind to increase
the realism when doing video. And if you're using geo and sky, you then
have the full control of the clouds, and you can even animate them in a video. And then my favorite of
them all, precipitation. You can choose between rain and snow,
and this is fantastic to create that moody image, as if it had just rained. It helps to make the exterior flooring
feel way more real and complex. Not to mention that if you increase
the puddle slider, You also get rain streaks on the glass. 5. Render Elements, 3D People, and
Photoshop Now, you all know how I'm not a big fan of 3D people. I mean, they can work when used far from
the camera, but in a space like this, I personally feel that it would be too
distracting to have a 3D like person. Not all scenes need people, but
they help you give a sense of scale that is often much needed. Now, render channels or elements,
as they are often called, are vital in a visualization workflow. It enables you to do some serious
post production in Photoshop. So whenever exporting an image with
D5, make sure to enable them here. It's always handy to have them ready
when doing post production work. And then we can render two images, one
with the 3D person and one without it. And then use the Material ID
channel to duplicate this person. So we have it in a separate layer. We can convert it to a smart object,
so we can do this non destructively, and apply a subtle motion blur effect. The exact value here usually depends
on how the photo was taken and how much time the lens was kept open. I mean, obviously this is virtual
and there's no actual lens, but if we looked at this as a
virtual architectural photograph. That's how it would work. So I encourage you to take a look at
real photographers to learn how people are portrayed in architectural images. By the way, if you're enjoying
this content, that's what this channel is all about. Architectural visualization
and representation. So be sure to subscribe to not miss
any more tips and tricks in the future. Let's take a look at tip number six. AI tools. Out of all of the render engines
out there, we could say that D5 has the lead on implementing AI
tools into the Archviz workflow. Not with the idea of just converting
a basic model into a realism with one click, that sort of stuff, but rather
help us achieve certain tasks faster. It is still with more basic things
for now, but with the rhythm that they are pushing out updates. This category will get more and more
present in future versions, I'm sure. I encourage you to get a look at all of
the AI implementations they already did, but the AI generated texture maps are,
in my opinion, such a valuable addition. Sure, they have the ready to use
materials from the D5 library, or you can do the custom PBR materials
you downloaded from a website, but sometimes you need that specific texture. Let's say from a specific supplier or
from a photo you took from a site visit. So you can simply import the texture
on the BaseColorMaps slot and let D5's AI generate the maps for you. They might not be 100 percent correct,
but it's certainly better than no maps. And then you use the sliders and options
to fine tune the results even more. The AI Atmosphere match can also be quite
handy to quickly test different results. You grab an image as a
reference, one you like the mood. And then you can use that image and
ask D5's AI to analyze it and translate it into environment panel settings. From here you can always
tweak the settings even further if you feel the need. 7. Imperfections To achieve realism,
you need to make your renders look worn out, imperfect. Too perfect 3Ds have the
tendency to look video game like. Surfaces that are too even, edges
that are too sharp, reflections that are too straight, they make
your renders look flat and fake. So to take the realism up a notch
on my images, I like to use D calls. They help to make the surfaces
feel dirty and stained. It all needs to be very subtle here, so
don't forget to play with the opacity. You can find D calls in
D five's asset library. Under models, you'll find many
different categories of D calls and they are super useful. Round edges is essential
to almost cyber material. It's not the same as having
actual round geometry on the edges back in your 3D model. But this sure gets the result without
weighing down your model even more with extra vertices and faces. And then, as I mentioned with the last
DFI video I did, add some normals to the glass to make it slightly uneven. I'm hoping in a future update
we even get the option to add imperfections directly to materials. Or even get some sliders to really
take control over weathering, smudges, scratches and more. 8. Interior Parallax One of those things
I wish I had this back when I started. Sometimes you need to fill in
commercial spaces, high rises, or anything really, with life. No time to model a random interior
that's just only gonna simulate life, that's not really that important. So you use interior parallaxes. On this specific model, it
doesn't really justify that much. I would say it works mostly for bigger
models and especially commercials, but in a typical workflow inside
an architectural firm, where time is a major factor in creating
visualizations, this can be a lifesaver. Interior parallaxes are lightweight
and allows you even a little bit of control over the lighting and
positioning of some elements. And then when combined with glass
reflections or even some curtains, this is enough to populate interiors
that are not the focus of the image. I used to try to do this type of stuff
in Photoshop, but it was always a big headache because the images never
lined up or match the perspective and interior parallaxes solve all of that. 9. Local exposure A new addition
to D5 that has been my favorite slider before exporting images. Now instead of going directly to the
whole exposure slider and sometimes even changing the entire scene
view, you can maintain the overall lighting and just gain back some vital
information from blown out areas. Photoshop is fantastic for post
production and fine tuning some exposure settings, but if it's blown
out, there's nothing you can do. So before this feature existed, you
had to rely And this is the main thing that I like about Photoshop. These are not that powerful. But these two new sliders, if used
correctly, can be a real superpower. You dial down the highlights
to have even more control over post production in Photoshop. 10. Most useful shortcuts Let's finalize
this list with a quick shortcut list of what I often use in D5. Now, D5 is not a program that relies
heavily on shortcuts, but still, there are some important ones that
can definitely speed up your work. We saw the F1 and F2 to
change the real time quality. I mean, that's one of
the most important ones. Then we got F8 to enable
two point perspective. and P to go back to normal perspective. The P shortcut is quite handy when you're
in a side view mode and just want to go back to the normal perspective view. Now while in fly mode, which is my
preferred way of navigating around D5, hold shift to accelerate. And space to slow it down. Then one of the most common ones,
instead of coming here to pick a material, you can click I to do
the material pick and edit it. And then O to paste that
material onto another surface. Just keep in mind that they will stay
as different instances of the material. They are not linked. If you want to apply the exact
same material but linked, then it needs to be done back in the 3D. V to switch the gizmos from move to scale. Control D to duplicate a selected object. And then lastly, when applying
a scattered and want to quickly erase it, just hold alt. While on the tool and what I often do is
I apply with the settings see if it works and then alt click To delete everything
and go again until I achieve the result. I'm looking for I mean, this is minor But
it saves me a few seconds every time I want to redo the scattered because control
Z doesn't work for this specific tool I don't know why it does for everything
else only not Alright, after all of these tips, hopefully you came out of this video
with more knowledge on rendering with D5. Don't forget that it's really
easy to start using D5 with the free community version. Get in now with the first
link in the video description. And if you stayed until the end of the
video, I want to let you know that I'm currently working on a D5 premium course. And if you want to be the first one to
hear about it when it comes out, there's also a link in the video description
to sign up for the waiting list. This link will be updated to
the actual course link once the lessons are finished and published. The finished this. Now let me know what other tips would
you add to this list, just comment them down below to help other students
and if you haven't seen my review on D5 which also includes some other
tips, just click here to watch it.
