Tips and Tricks
General Tips
When assigning appearances to a robot with colors that are hard to distinguish from each other, it is best to separate each appearance by setting it to a vibrant color and changing it afterwards. For example, Team 9's robot in the CCC was mostly dark; as such the appearances were first set like below and then converted to shades of black and gray.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Instead of navigating to the Appearances tab, you can press the A key on your keyboard. This is one of the most useful keyboard shortcuts to know when rendering.
Tables
Creating a table and placing your models on it in your renders can add another level of depth and realism to your renders. A simple extruded sketch with a wood appearance is all that is needed for this. You can refer to Commonly Used Appearances for some of the wood appearances that we like to use.
"Custom" Lighting
Sometimes, the HDRI or environment you are using just doesn't focus enough light on a certain area, no matter how much you rotate it. If this is the case, you can try creating "custom" lighting. This is done by creating three-dimensional bodies in an area that will not be visible in the render (usually above the camera's position) and applying an emissive appearance to them.
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