SOLIDWORKS Visualize User Spotlight: Stephan Tobias
The Visualize Featured User Spotlight has now launched. Join us here for a monthly Q&A highlighting how one of your peers uses SOLIDWORKS Visualize in their daily workflow. This month’s featured Visualize user is Stephan Tobias from Germany.
What you are seeing are not photographs. They’re images created in SOLIDWORKS Visualize.
Q: How did you became a Visualize user?
A: In 2008, I began to work with SOLIDWORKS, with more or less self-instructions. Over the time, I was truly impressed by the renderings and models of some 3D Studio Max users. However, I did not want to learn another program only for the creation of photorealistic renderings and very detailed car models. At this, point I was starting surface modelling in SOLIDWORKS and the rendering work in PhotoView360.
In the beginning, the results were nothing special. Since my goal was the creation of renders without post-processing, the topic post-processing was completely out of my sight. After many frustrations, I was started working with GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) to refine the renderings, but there was a big effort to create a photorealistic renderings. At the beginning of 2016, I was informed by the SOLIDWORKS forum about a new rendering software called SOLIDWORKS Visualize.
Q: Your images created in Visualize are fantastic. How long have you been using Visualize?
A: I’ve only been using Visualize since it was released at SOLIDWORKS World this past February.
Q: That’s impressive for such a short time. How are you currently using Visualize in your daily workflow?
A: I’m using SOLIDWORKS Visualize for quick shots of industrial products for the sales or marketing department in our company. The time you can save with Visualize for rendering is significant. This is also a great way to show the virtual prototypes of our products in a real environment. Also the effort it takes to create nearly photorealistic renderings, without using post processing, is much less than in PhotoView360.
Q: What features do you use the most in Visualize?
A: The ability to move the every part of a model is great. It’s much easier than in SOLIDWORKS, because in SOLIDWORKS every part is linked together; that means the positioning of the parts itself is difficult to change. Another great feature is to modify the materials in a very easy way. That means the possibility to add different bump mapping texture and so on is quite easy and fast in Visualize.
Q: What tip would you share with all the new Visualize users out there?
A: The illumination [lighting] of your scene is most important. The composition between environment and how that environment illuminates your model is the key to creating high-class renderings. Also the quality of the models itself is important, but I think everyone knows this already.
SOLIDWORKS Visualize is free for SOLIDWORKS Professional and Premium users on subscription
If you have SOLIDWORKS CAD Professional or Premium and are on active Subscription, then you get SOLIDWORKS Visualize Standard for free! And, this free seat of Visualize Standard can be given to anyone in your company…even a different department. Visualize is a separate stand-alone product and does not occupy the SOLIDWORKS CAD license. Sign into your SOLIDWORKS Customer Portal and click any of the “Download Visualize” links to get started.
Want to be spotlighted in this monthly blog post? Simply post your Visualize content to this Forum link for consideration.
Here are a few more examples of Stephan’s amazing work. Thanks for sharing, Stephan, and happy rendering!
Brian Hillner
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