I have 20 years of experience with AutoCAD (to V.2009) and am only now beginning to learn to use the 3D functionality. I have created a rudimentary assembly detail and would very much appreciate any direction on how to 'polish' it to a more convincing finish.  It is not necessary to produce photo-realistic images. I'd like to add some colour and some basic hatch/textures to represent individual materials.
I have a jpg of the detail which I could send to anyone who can bear to look upon it's horrendousness. archteryx2010-04-23 22:51:51

Hi archteryx,

Send me the .jpg and/or the cad file, let me know exactly what you want and maybe i can help.

nameci

i can't seem to figure how to upload pics ...

Some functionality is limited for the "Newbie" level. Please use any image hosting service and post a link. Higher level users can upload files and images using the full reply (see the Reply button).

I've tried with a couple of image hosting services (free) and was getting quite a pixelated result.
Can you suggest a service ?
Or perhaps I could email it to you ?

e.g. http://imageshack.us/ - it is quite popular for such functionality

ok.  Here's the link to the file:
http://yfrog.com/5he41final14uploadj