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Share via E-mailThis 43 minute tutorial will teach you:
- How to install LuxRender and render your first scene
- The benefits of using external renderers over Blender’s internal renderer
- 3 different environment settings and their use
- How to apply materials to multiple objects at once
- How to pause a render
- How to use lightgroups to adjust lighting in real time
- How to enable real world camera settings in LuxRender
- How to add bloom and glare to a finished render
Last week we finished modelling the kitchen scene, and this week we’re going to render it 
Now when it comes to rendering interiors, the Blender internal engine unfortunately falls a bit short. Global illumination is crucial to achieving realism and that’s something that Blender currently lacks. So for this tutorial, we will be exporting the scene to an external renderer called LuxRender.
If you are new to external renderers, don’t worry! The first 8 minutes is a complete Introduction to External Rendering, which answers the most common questions beginners have.
This 43 minute tutorial will teach you:
- How to install LuxRender and render your first scene
- The benefits of using external renderers over Blender’s internal renderer
- 3 different environment settings and their use
- How to apply materials to multiple objects at once
- How to pause a render
- How to use lightgroups to adjust lighting in real time
- How to enable real world camera settings in LuxRender
- How to add bloom and glare to a finished render
Note: This tutorial is Part 2. Click here to watch Part 1.
Chapter marks
Bored? If you know what you’re doing, feel free to skip ahead!
- 0:28 – Introduction to External Renderers
- 8:33 – How to Install LuxRender
- 10:26 – Rendering your first scene in LuxRender
- 18:07 – Kitchen Tutorial start
- 19:36 – Adding the materials
- 28:44 – Setting up the Lighting and environment
- 36:10 – Adding bloom, glare and playing with LightGroups
Note: The LuxRender script may not be able to locate the floor and bench textures. If so, unpack the textures from the .blend and tell the script to use a directory on your hard drive.
Congratulations on completing the architecture tutorial series! I hope you’ve taken something from it. As usual I’m looking forward to seeing your results
Need some Inspiration?
- 20 Architectural renders that break the mold
- 35 Stunning Interior Renders
- Wicked bachelor pad – The Devoto House (who will be the first to make this in Blender?)
- Slick collection of real life architecture
Further Reading:
- Is freelancing in ArchiViz still worth it?
- Making of Bathroom in House N (3ds Max)
- Making of Bedroom White & Wood (3ds Max)
- Making of Uro House (AutoCAD)
- Making of Kuma, Art Museum of Estonia – Must see! Stunning.
- Architectural Visualization Challenge II – Share in $28,000 in prizes!
@Agata, thanks but I found it then after a long search
Awesome you need to do one a Yafray!!!!!! Love it!
@Micheal & DonProtz
I would suggest adding baseboard on the wall to the left and trim on the window it makes the perfect line from floor/window less obvious and adds some detail. The only other suggestion i have is it looks like the countertop might be like concrete style? While it is a nice counter i would recommend maybe granite or marble to just make it less solid and again add some more detail they have some good textures of marble and other stone on cgtextures.com oh and the faucet i have seen bathtubs on the side but generally for kitchens they are installed in the middle of the sink.
And lastly take out faces on the backsides of things that aren’t going to be seen such as the backs and bottoms of cabinets(if you aren’t going to open them) Happy blending 
lol its a tricky folder =P Don nice render
For faster renders (slightly) leave out some shiny things =P Don’t get me wrong i love shiny things too but the bouncing light adds tons of time the more you have. In 2.5 if you get lux running (haven’t experimented with it in 2.4x) in the sampler tab turn advanced on and change the max consecutive rejections the lower the faster but BE AWARE it will lower the light quality and in some extreme low settings remove nearly all light bounces. And alternatively if you have extra computers lying around(at work, friends family) not doing anything there’s a fantastic network rendering setting that will speed things up to more power and computers you have
This is really one of your best tutorials. Thanks for all the useful information! Really saves people a lot of experimentation.
I noticed that the UV textures used in this seen are not in the blend file. Is there some place where I can download them. For instance, the texture used in Cube.036 is WoodFine0010_M.jpg and it’s in the blend file is given as c:\Textures\WoodFine0010_M.jpg . Where can I get the textures for this blend file.
I performed an Export to X3D operation from blender of this scene. Here is the result it produced in an X3D java applet inside a web page.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5095342/Xj3DApplet/rc1_pack200/X3DKitchen.html
This site contains an X3D viewer to see 3D scenes in a web browser. Once the applet finishes loading you should see the X3D logo. Then click on the sceneA button on the left menu to see the X3D version of this scene generated by blender. It might take a short while to load the Kitchen scene depending on your internet connection speed, since the file is a few meg in size. You can use the navigation buttons on the bottom left of the X3D viewer to navigate around in the Kitchen scene.
The SceneB button will load the Kitchen scene with an avatar included as an added bonus.
I think LuxRender is not the best external renderer for blender…i like yafaray more because its faster..:D anyway, good tutorial!
RenderMan is Disney Pixar’s renderer isn’t it?
@ Lukas
Yes it is. The last time i took a look at it price was about 2000$. Aqis Pixie and POV-ray are free alternatives that you can get to work with blender
Nice tutorial! thanks!!
Luxrender is actually very slow, but i found it has some really awesome network features.
It’s quite easy to setup a extra pc you might have to join the render task.
Best tutorial I have seen! Thank you Andrew for giving of your time to make this tutorial very simple and easy to understand, specially for a newbie like me!
Dude, gimme more!
I’m new to luxRender and i keep getting this error:please specify “default dir:” in System tab prior to export to default lxs file… When I hit render. I see my system setting are exactly like in the video. can any one please help me??
give me image tutorials of every work
@Val
Go to systems tab, go to PATHS and select the second one, just select a file, I’m not really sure what that is for, but I thinks its where the render is saved, so I’d save in the luxrender folder.
Nice tut Andrew!
@Inês Torres
Inês, you need to go to the text editor, select to open a text, and open the luxblend, then youll just need to press Alt+p and the script will open. Isso acontecia comigo também.
Has anyone tried to use 2.49 after starting with 2.5? It’s horrible – I can’t even open a file. I think I’ll wait until luxrender works on 2.5 and some comes up with a tutorial then.
Complete fiasco on my part trying to get luxrender installed on my maching with Blender 2.57. heh
It only took an hour and a half to get rid of the two missing script file messages gone… lolz
Wow, cool tutorial, i like it…
Nice Tutorial Andrew, But one question, ive been trying this for days now but i think i cant figure it out. You see, i have modeled a Classic chair and uv mapped its textures based on the actual chair itself and do a normal map on it. So when i render it Luxrender, i dont think i see the bumpyness of the textures? Am i doing something wrong? im using the latest stable build of blender 2.5x and Luxrender btw.
“Whoa, thats a piece of bread.” I don’t know why I find that funny. Anyway, good tutorial man, too bad it couldn’t be done in 2.5.
Hi andrew great tutorial! i have a question, how long do i have to leave luxblender rendering to get a render like yours on the top of this page? thanks (sorry if english is incorrect)
I don’t really like the .blend file
There are too many mistakes you should never do when using LuxRender.
For example the oil bottles (Cube.061) are only a big, filled piece of vegetable oil
also you used the old “glass”-material, not the glass2-material with volumetric absorption…
The “metallic” things have a glossy-material… o.0 (use either nk-Files or just the “silver”-preset or, if there’s really no other way, use the “shinymetal”-material. But don’t use a glossy-material!)
You have to model things like they are in reality when using LuxRender, otherwise they could look strange (but in your case the final render is looking very good).
Sorry if this critic sounds a bit fussy, but those are some of the essential rules when you are using LuxRender, and you did all of them wrong ;(
For the beginners: binarycortex wrote a really good tutorial about using physically correct models and materials when using a physically correct renderengine, you can find it here:
http://www.luxrender.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=5020
I think both of this tutorials together really help people getting into LuxRender, Andrew’s has some flaws, and binarycortex’ isn’t that nice explaining
regards
Simon
Andrew Price answer! How long do you let your render to get the color of the final result?!
hi great tutorial. luxrender now available for blender 2.57, recreate the tutorial using blender 2.57, or you can recreate the tutorial using yafaray.
Thanks
Andrew,
I must say I was very disappointed. It is really sad that someone with so much Blender knowledge would use a dirty word right in one of their tutorials. It is unnecessary, unprofessional, and offensive. I hope this kind of quality wont be seen in your future tutorials.
Oh, Joshua. Take the rod and the trademark out of your arse. Go through life with that attitude and a sad life it will indeed be. Our friend Andrew just taught you and all of us some cool stuff free, gratis and for nothing. Do stop bitching, bitch. And I say you owe Mr P an apology.
I agree with Joshua and I applaud his boldness to stand for what is right. Foul language is offensive and a sign of ignorance.
Thank you Andrew for another superb tut, and to all the dimbulbs with the inherent negativity, get a friggin’ life.
@Bob…Whilst I agree that boldness in standing up for what one believes is laudable and all that good stuff, the factors to consider go far, faaar beyond prudish nit-picking over language. There are many very much worse things in the world about which to vent one’s spleen. To leave a comment berating Andrew publically for simply pointing out that realistic renders truly are a bitch time-wise (a phrase I consider to be earthily elegant); whilst completely overlooking and ignoring the massive quantity of experience and advice offered for nothing other than the joy and largesse of sharing; displays much more a lack of emotional intelligence than the direct and emotive use of language ever could.
Put simply: grow a pair dude. It’s not the end of the world but that small-minded attitude you applaud brings us closer to it every day as politicians, lawyers and bureaucrats the world over prove on a day-to-day basis.
Does anyone know if it works with the latest version of blender yet? Or do we need to get a copy of an earlier version?
Thanks
Hey Andrew
Would you mind to update this second part of tutorial with the actual release of Luxrender, which seems working pretty well?
I have some trouble to figure out how to adapt your Luxrender settings to the new one…
Greetings
nice tutorial! Vimeo was a little bit buggy and stopped the video in the second when you said “And then you hit sto…” ^^ (17:37)
INSTALL LUXRENDER IN LINUX EXPLANATION HERE :
Hi, Everybody ( sorry for english I’m french ! )
I have had many difficulties to install LUXRENDER on my computer to lost my hair, but it’s ok now. Here I want to give you some explanation to Install Luxrender correctly ON LINUX ( I’m begginer on Linux, sorry ):
First, In 2011 there is a version of Luxrender who works with Blender 2.5. Luxrender 0.8 you could find in Luxrender site.
1-To Install Luxrender 0.8 on Blender 2.5 you must download and Install Luxrender 0.8 and don’t forget to becarefull about the version 32 or 64 bit and about the version if you have Open GL driver or not !
2-Install Luxblender 2.5
3-Then, install Blender 2.5 and go to the file ( in my case I have the 2.59 version ) : blender 2.59…>2.59>script>addons. In the file Addons introduce the file Luxrender that you copy and paste since Luxblender 2.5>src
4-Finally you open Blender 2.5, open “Users preference” in “File”, go to “Render” in “Categories” and check and clic on Luxrender. By this way the choice appear on the top board between “Render” and “Luxrender”. You clic on.
5-You see the Render part on the main board ( at right ) an clic on. It’s not quite the same board. On the Luxrender part, clic on Run Renderer and check “Path to luxrend ” so indicate the path to the content of Luxrender 0.8 file you have install
6 – clic F12 to open the rendering board !
It was work very well for me but the heavy file like my kitchen from this marvellous tutorial don’t works. I don’t know why !!!!!!!!!
_________________________________________________________________
then I was Install the luxrender 0.7 version to Blender 2.49 !
To Install Luxrender 0.7 on Blender 2.49 it’s possibly ( on Linux ) you must have to open Users preference. To find Users preference board very dissimulate in old version of blender you have to grap the top board and slide down it and go directly to Filepaths button and go to the Field Python Script to indicate the path to Luxrender 0.7 File.
It was very hard to find solutions but it’s work and I don’t want you to know such difficulties.
PROBLEM WITH NURBPATH ON LUXRENDER ( resolved )
Hi Everybody,
In my previous message I have said I have installed Luxrender 0.8 on Blender2.5 and Luxrender 0.7 on Blender 2.49 with succes. Now I’m facing a embarrassing choice !
These two installation work very well but I’ve said the heavy file don’t work on it without I could understand this fact ! However, the downloading file “Finished Kitchen” of Andrew Price works very well too !!!! I supposed the problem couldn’t have any relation with the weight of file. Then I beggan my “Sherlock Holmes” investigation :
In my blender file the problem was caused by “NurbPath” element ! I think you would meet the same difficulties.
The “Finished Kitchen” of Andrew Price is very clean but mine contain an unecessary Nurbpath element. It’s cause the error message : Error exporting Geometry
At the blender Menu, go to “File”, go to “Link” ( append or link ) to import elements of your file, go to “Object” and verify you don’t have any NurbPath anywhere. In the case you have it, import all elements but Nurbpath. It will be OK
Here you are my painting work ( waiting my 3D work ) :
http://fr.artquid.com/artist/intes-helene/helene-intes.html
GREAT THANK TO ANDREW PRICE FOR THESE TUTORIAL
Hi Everyone,
I’m proud to show the results of my exercice on this tutorial. ( I obtain these images on Blender 2.49 version because for un unknow reason my Blender 2.5 version associate with Luxrender 0.8 don’t give texture ! I’m looking for it )
http://storage.canalblog.com/79/54/738367/68286085.jpg
http://storage.canalblog.com/86/86/738367/68286094.jpg
http://storage.canalblog.com/78/52/738367/68286106.jpg
http://storage.canalblog.com/90/76/738367/68286124.jpg
http://storage.canalblog.com/70/47/738367/68286128.jpg
Thank you Andrew, yours tutorial are very very amazing
Where can we get the textures?
Good morning,
I was doing the this tutorial and when I needed to do the rendering in luxblend I don’t to do this because this message:
“Please specify “default out dir” in system tab prior to export to default lxs file”
What’s the meaning this phrase?
Thank you.
Sorry for my English
I could do now!!!! hehehe
Thank you
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Exclusive delirium
Hello Andrew thank you for amazing tutorial.
Can you just explane me one tnink please?
Where is hiden the light in the scene in your file (model9-clay)?
I would like to see how you set the lights but i can’t find any light there =)
Thank you
Andrea
hi Andrew,
, and i tried to model the kitchen scene and i finished everything and tried to render in luxrender and its not coming up 
. i tried other smaller scenes and they r working fine. Is it cuz of my processor?, cuz mine is just a dual core (T.T)
i am new to 3d art and your site has been very much helpful to me, thanks to you i m learning things fast
Great tutorial – thanks for spending the time to teach us:)
Do you plan on releasing a Cycles version of this tutorial?
I’d like to see some more renders with cycles as well…
u
Your tutorial are great! You’re a hero! They really helped me a lot!