Rendering and Materials - AutoCAD 2011 and AutoCAD LT 2011: No Experience Required - page 928

FiGuRE 17.19 The properties for the point light
7. Switch back to the Cam Southeast view if necessary and render the
scene again.
As you can see in Figure 17.20, this time the shadows on the right
side of the cabin are not as stark as they were previously, but the over-
all appearance is still pretty dark. We need to add some ambient light.
8. Open the Advanced Render Settings palette again, and then click the
lightbulb icon next to Global Illumination in the Indirect Illumination
drop-down list (see Figure 17.21).
This will add a measure of ambient light into your scene without
washing it out.
9. This rendering looks a bit better than the last.
The Render window maintains a history of the recent renderings,
and you can compare them by clicking on any of the renderings listed
in the pane at the bottom of the Render window. To delete a render-
ing, select it, right-click, and then choose Remove From The List.
You can continue to tweak the lighting as you want. For indoor proj-
ects that require rendering, a good rule of thumb is to expect to dedi-
cate 15 to 25 percent of the total project time to creating an excellent
lighting scheme. For outdoor scenes, dedicating 5 to 10 percent should
be sufficient.