Rendering generates high-quality, realistic render images based on the materials and lighting effects applied in your project.
Surfee's Rendering Modes
Surfee provides three rendering modes for visualizing 3D models:
Default: Raster-based rendering
Basic: Path Trace rendering for high-quality output
Light: Optimized Path Trace rendering for speed and quality

By default, rendering is turned off.
You can enable rendering and choose either Basic or Light mode to start rendering.
Feature | Default | Basic | Light (Beta) |
---|---|---|---|
Purpose | Real-time 3D review | High-quality final rendering | Fast high-quality review |
Quality | Low to Medium | High to Very High | Medium to High |
Speed | Very fast (real-time) | Slow (precise) | Fast (optimized) |
Lighting Processing | Precomputed lighting. Reflections and shadows require separate maps. | Physically accurate reflection and shadow calculations based on light paths. | Optimized, physically-based reflection and shadow calculations. |
Advantages | Lightweight, real-time rendering. | Realistic, high-quality results | Faster rendering with good visual quality |
Disadvantages | Less accurate lighting and materials representation; relies on texture maps | Higher computational load, slower rendering | No physical lighting; requires emissive materials as a substitute |
How Does Surfee’s Rendering Work?
How does light work in the real world?
Light travels in a straight line and interacts with objects by reflecting, transmitting, or being absorbed.
These interactions depend on the material of the object, the intensity and direction of the light, and the viewers’s position. The colors, lighting, and shadows we see are the result of this process.

Surfee’s rendering system uses Path Trace rendering to calculate and simulate how light behaviors, producing realistic and natural results. It accurately simulates how light interacts with objects—reflecting, refracting, and scattering—to create physically accurate lighting and shadows.
For high-quality results, use Basic Rendering. For a faster, optimized output, use Light Rendering.
Choose the mode that best fits your workflow.
Getting Started with Rendering
Press the Render button in the top menu to toggle real-time rendering On/Off.
Shortcut for toggling rendering ON/OFF:
Alt + P
Click Render in the top menu to adjust the project's render settings.
Render Mode: Choose between Basic and Light.
Quality: Select from presets ranging from fast speed to high quality, or manually input sample values.
Once rendering starts, the system calculates the light paths based on the current viewport.
If the viewport changes due to Move, Orbit, or Dolly, rendering restarts with recalculated light paths instantly.
For enhanced depth and focus, add a camera and adjust focus settings.
Additionally, combining Textures, Materials, and Lighting will help enhance the final output.

Constraints
Please note the following limitations when using rendering:
By default, Raster Mode simplifies the display of materials, lighting, and shadows.
To view accurate visual effects, you must enable rendering.

If the scene lacks lighting or reflective surfaces, the rendering quality may degrade,
or the output may not appear as intended.

Performance issues may occur under the following conditions:
High material, texture, and light counts increase computational load and memory usage.
PC specs below minimum requirements limits rendering functionality.
Modifying the browser window while rendering (minimizing, resizing) forces rendering to restart from the beginning.
Rendering time may increase in the following situations:
The scene contains many light sources.
Too many reflective materials (Reflection, Refractive Index, Attenuation)
High-resolution textures (4K) are applied to multiple objects.