[Matt Flanagan]

I upgraded to 2020 Design Live recently, and I can’t seem to make EZ render work correctly.  It was advertised as automatically adjusting the lighting to make the renders more realistic, but alot of times it makes my renders so dark you cant see anything.  I attached 2 pictures from the same design, one of them looks good with the lighting, and the other is totally dark.  What am I doing wrong?  I adjusted the ambient lighting to be at the highest setting already.

Attachments:

1. 

   View-1.jpg
   

2. 

   View-2.jpg
   

[Kristopher Papaleo]

Hi Matt,

I’m not sure why your design seems to be this dark when using EZ Render. When putting the ambient lighting to the highest setting it should be brighter than what you are getting. I would suggest to contact our support team to see more about the file and why it seems to be dark. You can reach us by calling 1.866.697.2020.

Regards,

Kris

[Santiago Morales]

Hello Matt and Kristopher,

The reason the View-2 rendering is dark is because there is not enough light in the room.

There are 2 ways to lit up a room:
1) Through a portal (like windows or doors)
2) Lights artefacts (like recessed lights on ceilings and cabinet lighting)

In this specific example, the only source of light is the door entrance at the back (no light is generated from the opening on the right-hand side).

The closer your projects reflect the composition of a real room, the better EZ render will react.

Hope this helps! : )

Thank you,

Santiago

[Ariana Thompson]

Ok – this is good info.  I had understood EZ Render “autolit” the room somehow.

I was looking forward to not having to place all those recessed lights, etc.  Now I know better!

Cheers

[James Wilson]

Hi Ariana, if you design the room outline accurately and place external glass doors and windows at their correct position and with correct dimensions, you should be able to light the room using the sunlight controls without the need to place any ‘fake’ lights. If you do want to give your customers even better results then we do recommend also adding lights that will be installed in the final design. In the latest version of 2020 Design, you can also instantly adjust the overall brightness of the render using the ‘effects’ ribbon – this should enable you to get the exact results you’re looking for.

thanks, James

[Ariana Thompson]

Good info James! Thank you –

I must confess I never light “realistically”. I lower invisible spotlights to 40″ off the floor to cast “just the right light” on the legs of the stools in front of an island, lights pointed directly at a corner or edge to ensure the shape of a piece is visible –

In many ways I am hoisted on my own petard with lighting – lol.

Ariana