Rendering in Blender

Deborah Schmidt

Sep 25, 2024

Slides available at https://ida-mdc.github.io/workshop-visualization/2-2_mesh-rendering-blender/

Create a New Blender Scene

Install Blender from the official website: https://www.blender.org/download/
Launch Blender and create a new scene.

Blender Online Community. Blender - a 3D modelling and rendering package, Stichting Blender Foundation, Amsterdam.

General Usage

Import Mesh Files

Go to File > Import > STL (.stl)
Imported objects might be scaled too large or small. To adjust, go to the Layout tab, select the object, and press n to open the options for scaling.

General Usage

Toggle Quad View

To enable Quad View, go to View > Area > Toggle Quad View

General Usage

View from the Camera

Go to View > Viewpoint > Camera for switching to camera view
Go to View > Align View > Align Active Camera to View for adjusting the camera to the current view

Blender Documentation: Cameras

Performance

Set View Parameters

Use the Viewport Shading buttons in the top right corner to change shading modes:
Rendered mode for full previews.
Material preview mode for a balance between performance and detail.

Blender Documentation: Viewport Shading

Performance

Adjust GPU Settings

Blender requires a GPU with at least 2GB of VRAM.
To configure your GPU, go to Edit > Preferences... > System > Cycles Render Devices
Ensure that GPU Compute is selected under Cycles as the Render Engine.

Blender Documentation: GPU Rendering

Performance

Adjust Render Parameters

In the Rendering tab, under Render Properties, increase values in the Light Paths section with glass or glossy materials, or decrease these values to improve performance.
In Output Properties, Adjust the resolution percentage for fast preview renderings or detailed print renderings.

Blender Documentation: Rendering

Object appearance

Smooth Shading for Objects

Right-click the object and select Shade Smooth to apply smooth shading.

Blender Documentation: Shading

Object appearance

Apply Material to Object

Blender’s Shading Tab allows you to apply complex materials to your objects, including gloss, transparency, and other physical properties. Experimenting with the Principled BSDF shader can give you a wide range of effects.

Go to the Shading tab and select Use Nodes.
Explore the options under Principled BSDF:
Increase Subsurface to make materials look soft.
Use the Add > Search function to find shaders like Glass for transparency effects.

Blender Documentation: Materials

Denoising the Render

In the Rendering Tab, under View Layer Properties:
Under Passes > Data, select Denoising Data.
In the Compositing Tab:
Check the Use Nodes checkbox.
Add a Denoise node (Add > Search > Denoise) and connect the nodes as follows:
- Connect Render Denoising Normal and Denoising Albedo to Normal and Albedo of the Denoise node.
- Connect Image from the Denoise node to Image of the Composite node.

Blender Documentation: Reducing Noise

Happy rendering!