VRED 2015 Fundamentals

Autodesk® VRED™ Professional 2015 Fundamentals Cover Page

© 2014 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved. Autodesk® VRED™ Professional 2015 Fundamentals Copyright

Except as otherwise permitted by Autodesk, Inc., this publication, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form, by any method, for any purpose. Certain materials included in this publication are reprinted with the permission of the copyright holder.

Trademarks The following are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and other countries: 123D, 3ds Max, Algor, Alias, AliasStudio, ATC, AutoCAD LT, AutoCAD, Autodesk, the Autodesk logo, Autodesk 123D, Autodesk Homestyler, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk MapGuide, Autodesk Streamline, AutoLISP, AutoSketch, AutoSnap, AutoTrack, Backburner, Backdraft, Beast, BIM 360, Burn, Buzzsaw, CADmep, CAiCE, CAMduct, CFdesign, Civil 3D, Cleaner, Combustion, Communication Specification, Constructware, Content Explorer, Creative Bridge, Dancing Baby (image), DesignCenter, DesignKids, DesignStudio, Discreet, DWF, DWG, DWG (design/logo), DWG Extreme, DWG TrueConvert, DWG TrueView, DWGX, DXF, Ecotect, ESTmep, Evolver, FABmep, Face Robot, FBX, Fempro, Fire, Flame, Flare, Flint, FMDesktop, ForceEffect, FormIt, Freewheel, Fusion 360, Glue, Green Building Studio, Heidi, Homestyler, HumanIK, i-drop, ImageModeler, Incinerator, Inferno, InfraWorks, Instructables, Instructables (stylized robot design/logo), Inventor LT, Inventor, Kynapse, Kynogon, LandXplorer, Lustre, MatchMover, Maya, Maya LT, Mechanical Desktop, MIMI, Mockup 360, Moldflow Plastics Advisers, Moldflow Plastics Insight, Moldflow, Moondust, MotionBuilder, Movimento, MPA (design/logo), MPA, MPI (design/logo), MPX (design/logo), MPX, Mudbox, Navisworks, ObjectARX, ObjectDBX, Opticore, Pipeplus, Pixlr, Pixlr-o-matic, Productstream, RasterDWG, RealDWG, ReCap, Remote, Revit LT, Revit, RiverCAD, Robot, Scaleform, Showcase, ShowMotion, Sim 360, SketchBook, Smoke, Socialcam, Softimage, Sparks, SteeringWheels, Stitcher, Stone, StormNET, TinkerBox, ToolClip, Topobase, Toxik, TrustedDWG, T-Splines, ViewCube, Visual LISP, Visual, VRED, Wire, Wiretap, WiretapCentral, XSI. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

Disclaimer THIS PUBLICATION AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS MADE AVAILABLE BY AUTODESK, INC. "AS IS." AUTODESK, INC. DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE REGARDING THESE MATERIALS. Published by: ASCENT Center for Technical Knowledge 630 Peter Jefferson Parkway, Suite 175 Charlottesville, VA 22911 866-527-2368 www.ascented.com

Table of Contents

Table of Contents Preface ...................................................................................................v Class Files ........................................................................................... vii Chapter 1 Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional ...............1-1 1.1 Overview of Autodesk VRED Professional .........................1-3 1.2 Overview of the Interface ......................................................1-6 1. Menu Bar .............................................................................1-7 2. Icons Bar..............................................................................1-9 3. Quick Access Toolbar........................................................1-14 4. Modules .............................................................................1-15 5. Render Window .................................................................1-19 6. Status Bar ..........................................................................1-23 1.3 Navigating a Scene..............................................................1-24 1.4 Opening Files .......................................................................1-27 Import Options .......................................................................1-30 1.5 Preferences ..........................................................................1-32 FileIO .....................................................................................1-33 Main Window .........................................................................1-34 Navigator ...............................................................................1-35 Render Options......................................................................1-35 Selection ................................................................................1-37 Transform ..............................................................................1-37 1.6 Saving Files..........................................................................1-38 Practice 1a Working with the Autodesk VRED Professional Interface................................................................................ 1-42 Chapter 2 Data Preparation...............................................................2-1 2.1 Selecting Objects...................................................................2-3 Selection Display Styles ..........................................................2-4 Selection Methods ...................................................................2-5 2.2 Scenegraph ............................................................................2-8 Scenegraph Hierarchy .............................................................2-9 Node Types ...........................................................................2-10 Scenegraph Shortcut Menu ...................................................2-11 Working in the Scenegraph ...................................................2-12 2.3 Adjust a Model .....................................................................2-18 Surface Normals ....................................................................2-18

i

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

2.4 Transforming Geometry......................................................2-22 Using the Transform Manipulator ..........................................2-22 Using the Transform Module .................................................2-25 Practice 2a Selecting and Organizing the Scene ................. 2-26 Practice 2b Adjusting and Transforming Objects in the Scene.................................................................................... 2-42 Chapter 3 Materials ............................................................................3-1 3.1 Introduction to Materials.......................................................3-3 3.2 Managing Materials ...............................................................3-5 Groups, Tags Section ..............................................................3-7 Preview Section .....................................................................3-12 Attributes Section...................................................................3-13 Material Editor Toolbar ..........................................................3-14 3.3 Assigning Materials.............................................................3-16 3.4 Autodesk VRED Truelight Materials ..................................3-19 Common Truelight Material Attributes ...................................3-21 Texture Channels ..................................................................3-21 Truelight Materials .................................................................3-24 3.5 Ambient Occlusion ..............................................................3-32 Practice 3a Converting Materials.......................................... 3-35 Practice 3b Creating New Materials ..................................... 3-48 Practice 3c Calculating Ambient Occlusion .......................... 3-58 Chapter 4 Camera and Lighting........................................................4-1 4.1 Cameras..................................................................................4-3 Camera Attributes....................................................................4-6 Viewpoint .................................................................................4-9 Practice 4a Working with the Camera .................................. 4-10 4.2 Environments.......................................................................4-19 Practice 4b Creating the Environment .................................. 4-23 4.3 Lights ....................................................................................4-32 Light Sources and the Scenegraph .......................................4-33 Types of Lights ......................................................................4-34 Light Attributes.......................................................................4-37 Practice 4c Working with Lights............................................ 4-41 Chapter 5 Rendering..........................................................................5-1 5.1 Rendering ...............................................................................5-3 OpenGL Rendering..................................................................5-3 Raytracing................................................................................5-4 5.2 Rendering Modes...................................................................5-6

ii

Table of Contents

5.3 Render Settings ...................................................................5-11 File Output Tab ......................................................................5-12 General Settings Tab.............................................................5-14 Raytracing Quality Tab ..........................................................5-17 Practice 5a Creating Renderings with OpenGL.................... 5-20 Practice 5b Creating Renderings with Raytracing ................ 5-28 Appendix A Simple User Interface .................................................. A-1 A.1 Simple User Interface ........................................................... A-3 Menu Bar ................................................................................ A-4 Icons Bar................................................................................. A-4 Quick Access Bar ................................................................... A-4 Status Bar ............................................................................... A-5 Render Window ...................................................................... A-5 Scene Module......................................................................... A-5 A.2 Scene Module........................................................................ A-6 Scenegraph Tab ..................................................................... A-6 Materials Tab .......................................................................... A-9 Environments Tab................................................................. A-12 Camera Tab.......................................................................... A-14 Lights Tab ............................................................................. A-17 Settings Tab.......................................................................... A-19

iii

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

iv

Preface

Preface The Autodesk® VRED™ Professional software is a visualization, analysis, and presentation tool for automotive and industrial designs. The software enables you to create high-quality, real-time renderings to realistically visualize, evaluate, and review your design ideas, and present the rendered models as design prototypes. The Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals training guide covers the essential core topics that will enable you to import 3D CAD data, optimize geometry, assign Autodesk VRED Truelight materials, add cameras and lights, and create rendered images in both the OpenGL and Raytracing rendering modes. The topics in this training guide include the following: •

Understanding the Autodesk VRED Professional interface and navigating the scene.

•

Open 3D CAD data to display it as a real-time rendering.

•

Organizing the parts and optimizing the geometry in the Scenegraph.

•

Adjusting the model and transforming the parts.

•

Working with Truelight materials and assigning them to enhance the visual display of the objects.

•

Adding cameras and viewpoints to a scene.

•

Setting environments and using HDR images as a scene background.

•

Adding light sources for additional illumination.

•

Creating rendered images using the OpenGL render mode.

•

Working with the Raytracing render mode to produce high-quality visualizations.

•

Creating rendered images using the Raytracing render mode.

v

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Icon Reference Chart The following icons are used throughout this training guide to help you to quickly and easily find helpful information. Indicates the Learning Objectives that are covered in the current chapter or section of the training guide.

Students and Educators can Access Free Autodesk Software and Resources Free products are subject to the terms and conditions of the end-user license and services agreement that accompanies the software. The software is for personal use for education purposes and is not intended for classroom or lab use.

vi

Autodesk challenges you to get started with free educational licenses for professional software and creativity apps used by millions of architects, engineers, designers, and hobbyists today. Bring Autodesk software into your classroom, studio, or workshop to learn, teach, and explore real-world design challenges the way professionals do. Get started today - register at the Autodesk Education Community and download one of the many Autodesk software applications available. Visit www.autodesk.com/joinedu/

Class Files

Class Files To download the Class Files that are required for this training guide, use the following steps: 1. Type the ftp address shown at the bottom of the page into the address bar of your internet browser. If you are using an ASCENT ebook you can select the link instead. The ftp address must be typed exactly as shown. Address bar

ftp://ftp.ascented.com/cware/vulpes1.zip

2. Press and follow the instructions to download the zip file that contains the Class Files. 3. The zip file contains an .exe file that you need to extract. To extract the files, double-click on the .exe file and follow the instructions to unzip the file. Once unzipped, a Class Files folder is automatically added to the C:\ drive on your computer. Do not change the location in which the Class Files folder is created. Doing so can prevent the practices in the training guide from working correctly. 4. Repeat Steps 1 to 3 for each of the .zip files listed below. You must have all of the files to complete the practices in this training guide.

ftp://ftp.ascented.com/cware/vulpes1.zip ftp://ftp.ascented.com/cware/vulpes2.zip ftp://ftp.ascented.com/cware/vulpes3.zip ftp://ftp.ascented.com/cware/vulpes4.zip ftp://ftp.ascented.com/cware/vulpes5.zip

vii

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

viii

Chapter 1 Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional In this chapter you learn how to plan presentation projects, start the Autodesk® VRED™ Professional software, and become familiar with the software interface. You also learn how to open 3D scene files, import files, and save files.

This chapter contains the following topics:

• • • • • •

Overview of Autodesk VRED Professional Overview of the Interface Navigating a Scene Opening Files Preferences Saving Files

1–1

1–2

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

1.1 Overview of Autodesk VRED Professional Learning Objective • Understand how the Autodesk VRED Professional software can be used for design visualization and presentations.

The Autodesk VRED Professional software is a visualization, analysis, and presentation tool for automotive and industrial designs. The software enables you to create real-time graphic renderings using realistic materials and physical camera settings. The software also offers surface analysis tools for data quality verification. The high quality, real-time renderings enable you to realistically visualize, evaluate, and review your design ideas. The completed models can be used as design prototypes or marketing material. A rendering of an automotive design in the Autodesk VRED Professional software is shown in Figure 1–1.

Figure 1–1

1–3

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

There are three versions of the Autodesk VRED software: This training guide is designed for the Autodesk VRED Professional software.

•

Autodesk® VRED™: The standard version of the software, which can be used by designers, engineers, and marketing professionals to create high quality renderings of 3D CAD designs and present design animations.

•

Autodesk® VRED™ Design: In addition to creating high quality renderings, the Autodesk VRED Design software has capability to create Variants and Variant sets for effective presentation and communication.

•

Autodesk® VRED™ Professional: The Autodesk VRED Professional software is the most advanced of the three versions and includes high-end analytical capabilities. In addition to creating high quality renderings, this version can be used for surface and gap analysis. This version also enables you to create stunning presentations by creating Variants and Variant sets along with various display options. In the Professional version, the Powerwall display and Immersive display capabilities are included as well.

Input into Autodesk VRED Professional As Autodesk VRED Professional is visualization software and not a modeling tool, the initial creation of the geometry in a scene is always an imported 3D CAD data file that has been created in a 3D modeling tool. These 3D CAD data files can be imported into the Autodesk VRED Professional software from multiple data sources, including:

1–4

•

AutoCAD® drawing files (.DWG and .DXF), including objects created in vertical applications, such as the AutoCAD® Architecture software.

•

Autodesk® Inventor® files (.IPT and .IAM).

•

Autodesk® Alias® files (.WIRE).

•

Scene files from the Autodesk® Maya® (.MA, .MB), Autodesk® Showcase® (.A3S), Autodesk® 3ds Max®, or Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design (.3DS) applications.

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

•

Files from other Autodesk applications, such as Autodesk® Revit® or Autodesk® Simulation designs, must be exported as .FBX files before they can be imported into the Autodesk VRED Professional software.

•

Other major CAD data applications and visualization software, such as CATIA, Creo Elements/Pro, SolidWorks, STEP, IGES, Deltagen, and Stereolithography (.STL) files.

•

The exchange files format, such as .OBJ and .FBX, is the recommended file format to use for importing because they can include the animation and camera data.

1–5

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

1.2 Overview of the Interface Learning Objective • Understand and work with the various components of the Autodesk VRED Professional interface.

To launch the Autodesk VRED Professional software, double-click on

(VRED Pro) on your desktop.

Once you open the Autodesk VRED Professional software, the screen consists of the main rendering window, with the interface tools along the top and the bottom of the application screen. The Autodesk VRED Professional interface is designed for intuitive and efficient access to commands and actions. The interface includes the Menu Bar, Icons Bar, Quick Access Bar, Modules, Render Window, and Status Bar. The interface (shown in Figure 1–2) displays a rendered image of a car model in the rendering window with a Scenegraph module along the left side of the screen. The background of the Render Window has been set to white for printing clarity throughout this training guide. 1 2

4

5

3 6 Figure 1–2 1–6

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

The components of the interface are:

1. Menu Bar

1. Menu Bar

4. Modules

2. Icons Bar

5. Render Window

3. Quick Access Bar

6. Status Bar

The Menu Bar is displayed along the top edge of the software window, directly under the software title heading. Working commands are grouped together in each of the menus. Some commands open a sub-menu, which contain options for that command. An example of this is shown in Figure 1–3 for the File>Import menu option.

Figure 1–3

The menus that are available in the Menu Bar are: File

Contains the New, Import, Export, Publish and various versions of the Open and Save commands. The Open Recent command provides you with a list of recently opened files to select from. The Open Examples command opens the Open File dialog box in the Autodesk VREDPro/examples folder, where you can open one of the example files that are provided with the software. The Save and Save As commands enables you to save the current scene as various type of VRED files, such as .VPE, .VPB, and .VPF.

Edit

Contains Undo and Redo commands. You can also open the Preferences window to set the preferences, or the Script Editor to write and run customization scripts that have been written in Python the coding language.

1–7

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals View

Contains toggles for controlling the display of various utility tools (such as grid, ruler, clipping plane, etc.) in the Render Window. The Toolbars menu option opens a sub-menu that contains a list of all of the toolbars, and enabling you to display the selected toolbars in the Icons Bar. You can also open a window that displays the list of shortcuts, routes, and Undo/Redo history. The Terminal menu option opens the Terminal module, where you can enter an input command in the Python coding language for providing feedback for any command, as well as display errors and warnings. You can also save the Terminal module output to a file.

1–8

Visualization

Contains tools to set the different rendering modes, such as Raytracing, Ambient Occlusion, Surface Analysis, etc. The menu provides options for selecting among the different renderpasses and controlling the OpenGL settings. You can also control the Raytracing Downscale, Antialiasing, and other rendering options. By default, the scene is displayed as Realistic Rendering in OpenGL.

Scene

Contains options that enable you to create objects, such as 3D geometry, 2D shapes, cameras, and lights. It also provides you with a list of various modules included with the software, enabling you to open and close the modules as required.

Animation

Contains options for opening the modules, enabling you to control the settings for creating and playing animations.

Interaction

Contains options that enables you to set the type of navigation that is being used in the Render Window. You can also open the modules for controlling the settings of the utility tools, such as Annotation, Clipping, Measurement, etc. The toggles for controlling the display of these utility tools are provided in the View menu.

Rendering

Contains options that enables you to open the module for setting the render options. You can also access modules for setting the special render settings, such as render layers or clustering.

Window

Contains options that enables you to set and customize the display settings of the Render Window and the layout of the software interface.

Help

Enables you to access the general information of the software. The Documentation option connects you to the online Autodesk VRED Professional Help documentation. The Python Documentation option opens the Python Help documentation, which provides you with a list and description of python commands and algorithms. The Help menu also contains options for providing you with information about the software version, license, features, and improvements.

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

2. Icons Bar

The Icons Bar is located directly below the Menu Bar, as shown in Figure 1–4. The toolbars contain icons that are logically grouped together, providing easy access to commonly used commands.

Render Options toolbar

File toolbar

View toolbar

Synchronisation toolbar

Mode toolbar

Materials toolbar

Figure 1–4

The display of the icon name below each icon can be toggled on or off. In the Preferences dialog box, in the Main Window node, clear or select the Show Toolbutton Text option. This option is turned on by default.

•

The name of the icon is displayed below each icon to easily identify it. Hovering the cursor over an icon also displays its name, as shown for Toggle Statistics in Figure 1–5. The icons in the File toolbar open specific dialog boxes, while most of the commands on the other toolbars work as toggles, performing an action when selected.

•

Click an icon to toggle the command. The currently active command is indicated using an orange icon, as shown for Boundings and Headlight in Figure 1–5. Click again on an active command to toggle it off, changing the icon to display as gray, as shown for Wireframe in Figure 1–5. Active commands

Inactive command

Figure 1–5

1–9

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

•

Some of the tools display a small arrow near the bottom right corner and above the name text. This indicates that the icon has a drop-down list that contains various options and settings for the command. Click and hold on an icon (for at least two seconds) to open the drop-down list, as shown for the Transform tool in Figure 1–6.

Figure 1–6

The top portion of the shortcut menu displays a list of all of the Modules and the bottom portion displays the list of all of the toolbars.

•

The software provides you with options for displaying the toolbars in the Icons Bar. In the View>Toolbars menu (shown on the left in Figure 1–7), you can select the specific toolbars you want to be displayed in the Icons bar. Clearing a toolbar option removes the toolbar from the Icons Bar. You can also right-click anywhere in the Icon Bars, Menu Bar, or the Quick Access Bar to open a shortcut menu, as shown on the right in Figure 1–7. A list of available toolbars is provided near the bottom of this shortcut menu, which also enables you to select the toolbars that display in the Icons Bar. The toolbars that are enabled have a checkmark in front of them.

Figure 1–7

1–10

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

File Toolbar The File toolbar contains the following: Icon

Description Opens a dialog box where you can select a file to open.

Open Opens a dialog box where you can select a file to combine with the current scene. Add

Save

Enables you to quickly save a scene. If the current scene is an unnamed file or is not a native file, then a dialog box opens that enables you to save it as an Autodesk VRED Professional file.

Render Options Toolbar The Render Options toolbar contains the following: Icon

Antialias

Description Toggles antialiasing on and off for still frames. You can also enable Downscale Antialiasing or Raytraced Antialiasing. Toggles raytracing on and off.

Raytracing Toggles raytracing downscale on and off. When on, you can select between Low, Medium, and High. Downscale

Region

Isolate

Toggles region rendering on and off. When on, hold and click to create a region window around a specified region to calculate rendering for it. Only works with the Raytracing rendering mode. Toggles isolation on and off. Select objects and toggle on to display only the selected objects in the Render Window. Turning it off displays the complete model in the Render Window. Toggles the backplate on and off. When on, the backplate is displayed in the scene.

Backplate

Wireframe

Toggles the wireframe display on and off. When on, the selected objects display as a wireframe in the Render Window.

1–11

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Boundings

Toggles the boundings display on and off. When on, a bounding box encloses the selected objects in the Render Window. Toggles the headlight on and off.

Headlight

Statistics

Toggles the Statistics window on and off. The Statistics window displays various specifications, such as Frames per second, Occlusion culling, triangles and lines drawn, etc.

View Toolbar The View toolbar contains the following: Icon

Fullscreen

Description Toggles the full screen display on and off. When on, the Render Window fills the entire screen, without displaying the interface components. Press to revert back to the regular display. If you are you are using multiple screens, you can use the Multi-display fullscreen option to display the Render Window on several screens Toggles the presentation mode on and off. Only the hotkeys present in the Variants module become available.

Presentation Displays the complete scene. Show All

Zoom To

Grid

Ruler

Transform

1–12

When on, the selected objects are completely zoomed in to fill the Render Window. If no selection is made, the Initial camera view is displayed. Toggles the display of grid on and off. When on, you can select the grid in xy, xz, and yz directions. You also have the options for displaying or hiding the grid labels and modifying the settings. Toggles the display of the ruler on and off. When on, you can display the manipulator handles to select the position of the ruler. You can also display the grid and lock the axes. Toggles the display of the transform manipulator on and off. You can display the Translation, Rotation, and Scale manipulators.

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

Synchronisation Toolbar The Synchronisation toolbar contains the following: Icon

Description Enables you to connect to another Autodesk VRED Professional software.

Connect Toggle for a cluster. Cluster Toggle for tracking. Tracking

Materials Toolbar The Materials toolbar contains the following: Icon

Texturing

Description Toggles the texturing mode to on and off. Also provides you with the option for modifying the Planar Projection and the Tire Projection manipulators.

Mode Toolbar The option for displaying or removing the Mode toolbar in the Icons Bar is not available in the View menu, and can only be accessed from the shortcut menu.

The Mode toolbar contains the following: Icon

Description

Simple UI

Toggles the Simple UI on and off. When on, the options in all of the interface components (Menu Bar, Icons Bar, Quick Access Bar, Modules) are simplified.

1–13

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

3. Quick Access Toolbar

The Quick Access toolbar (shown in Figure 1–8) displays below the Autodesk VRED Professional Render Window. It enables you to easily access the modules used for creating realistic, high-quality renderings. By default, the Quick Access Bar contains icons for the main modules only, which are listed in a logical order for creating a final presentation.

Figure 1–8

The Quick Access Bar is easily customizable and you can add, delete, or reorder the module icons.

How To: Add a Module Icon to the Quick Access Toolbar 1. Open a module that is not currently present in the Quick Access Bar from either the Menu Bar or the shortcut menu. 2. Click and hold the module icon present at the upper-left corner of the module (e.g., for the Animation module). 3. Drag it anywhere over the Quick Access Bar and notice that the selected module icon is attached to the cursor, as shown in Figure 1–9.

Figure 1–9

4. Release the mouse button to drop the module icon anywhere in the Quick Access toolbar. The module icon is added as the right-most icon in the Quick Access Bar, as shown in Figure 1–10.

Figure 1–10

1–14

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

How To: Move or Delete a Module Icon on the Quick Access Toolbar 1. Click and hold (around 3 seconds) on any of the icons in the Quick Access Bar until a is displayed on the upper right corner of all of the icons, as shown in Figure 1–11.

Figure 1–11

2. To move the icon, drag the icon to the required position in the Quick Access Bar. The new position of the icon is displayed as an orange bar. Drop the icon to move the module icon. 3. To delete the module icon, click

.

4. Save the new arrangement by clicking the right of the Quick Access Bar.

4. Modules

, located on

Modules are special dialog boxes that contain information and the setting parameters of different processes. For example, the Material Editor (shown in Figure 1–12) contains a list of the materials used in the scene, and specific details about these materials.

Figure 1–12 1–15

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

The top portion of the shortcut menu displays a list of all of the Modules and the bottom portion displays the list of all of the toolbars.

•

The Modules are modeless special dialog boxes which can remain open while other commands are active.

•

You can manipulate and modify the parameters in the modules to make changes as required. The affect of the modifications and the settings that you select in the modules are interactively displayed in the Render Window.

•

You can open the modules from the Menu Bar by clicking Scene>Material Editor, as shown on the left in Figure 1–13. You can also open the modules by right-clicking anywhere in the Icon Bar, Menu Bar, or the Quick Access Bar, which lists all of the available modules, as shown on the right in Figure 1–13. Alternatively, the modules can also be opened by clicking on its icon in the Quick Access Bar.

•

The modules that are open in the scene display a checkmark in front of them in both the drop-down list and the shortcut menu, as shown in Figure 1–13.

Figure 1–13

1–16

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

•

You can dock and undock all of the open modules in a scene. If a module is undocked, click and hold on its title bar. Drag it to either the side or bottom of the Render Window until the Render Window shifts and a white place holder rectangle is displayed. Drop the module and it automatically docks itself in the place holder rectangle. To undock the module, drag it by its title bar, and drop it somewhere in the middle of the screen. Alternatively, in the top right corner of the module, click

to undock the module or dock it back to its previous

docking position (left, right, or bottom). Clearing module and makes the module undockable. Click the module. •

locks the to close

When undocked, the modules can be moved by clicking and dragging on the title bar. You can also change the size of a module by hovering the cursor over an edge until the cursor changes into a double sided arrow. You can then move the edge to change the module size.

1–17

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Hint: Dialog Boxes In addition to the modules, two types of dialog boxes are used in the Autodesk VRED Professional software. The regular modal dialog boxes require a response before you can exit the dialog box and resume work in the software. Figure 1–14 displays a warning dialog box, where you are required to either accept the selection by clicking

, or cancel the

command to exit the dialog box by clicking

.

Figure 1–14

The other type of dialog box that is used in the software are modeless, but require a response to implement any selections that have been made in the dialog box. Figure 1–15 shows the Import Options dialog box, where you can click to implement the changes, or cancel the command by clicking . You can minimize this dialog box by clicking , maximize it to cover the full screen by clicking it by clicking

.

Figure 1–15

1–18

, or close

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

5. Render Window

By default, the Render Window covers the major portion of the screen. It provides you with the rendered visual display of the scene objects by calculating all of the render settings for the selected render mode. •

The Render Window’s size and resolution is set in the Window>Render Window Size menu. By default, the size of the Render Window is set to Use Preferences, as shown in Figure 1–16. This option is dependent on the Use Fixed Resolution option in the Render Options tab of the Preferences dialog box. By default, the Use Fixed Resolution option is turned off, and therefore, the size of the Render Window is dynamic and dependent on the interface layout and screen resolution. This means that the Render Window automatically adjusts itself to completely cover the available area after the regular interface components take their place.

Figure 1–16

1–19

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

In Figure 1–17, notice that in addition to the regular interface components (Menu Bar, Icons Bar, Quick Access Bar, and Status Bar), only the Scenegraph module is docked at the left side of the screen. The rest of the screen is filled with the Render Window.

Figure 1–17

In Figure 1–18, three different modules are docked along the left, right, and bottom edges of the screen. The Render Window automatically adjusts itself to fill the remaining area.

Figure 1–18

1–20

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

•

You can specify an exact render resolution by selecting any of the preset resolutions that is provided with the software. You can select a preset render resolution in the Window> Render Window Size menu. On the top in Figure 1–19, the render resolution is set to 640X480 (VGA 4:3 ratio). On the bottom in Figure 1–19, notice how the Render Window size is fixed to the selected resolution, and does not fill the empty space on the screen.

Figure 1–19

•

You can also provide your own specific values in the Preferences dialog box, in the Render Options tab to customize the Render Window size.

1–21

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

•

The software enables you to create and work in multiple Render Windows, as shown in Figure 1–20, using the New Render Window option in the Window menu. Each Render Window can be set up independently by defining different cameras, viewpoints, and different rendering modes.

Figure 1–20

Hint: Saving Custom Layouts Once you have made changes to the various interface features or you have docked your commonly used Modules in a logical manner, you can save the changes as a customized layout. Use the save options (Save and Save As) in the Window> Layout menu, as shown in Figure 1–21. The newly saved layout is listed below the Default option. You can create an unlimited number of layouts, and delete layouts that are no longer needed using Edit.

Figure 1–21

1–22

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

6. Status Bar

The Status Bar displays along the bottom of the software screen, as shown in Figure 1–22. The Status Bar provides information about the software’s memory usage, and enables you to modify the viewing information in the scene.

. Figure 1–22

The features provided in the Status Bar are: Icon

Description Provides information about the current memory usage and render mode that is being used in the scene. Opens the Terminal module window where all messages are listed. You can run commands that have been programmed in the Script Editor, or you can run python commands which are already programmed by default (these commands are listed in the python documentation). Provides you with startup information. The last line in the Terminal window is always displayed here. Clicking inside this box enables you to input a command in Python language. Opens the Connector module. Enables you to select the units of measurement. Enables you to specify the Up vector of the model to ensure that the model displays in the correct orientation. The Near Clip Plane value defines how close you can zoom in the Render Window. A smaller value is used when you want to zoom in to the smaller parts in the model. The Far Clip Plane value defines how far you can zoom out in the Render Window. The Field of View value defines an angular measurement of how much of the horizon can be seen. Human vision is often approximated with a 45 degree FOV. Enables you to save the current view as the Initial Camera View (ICV), ensuring that the scene always opens in the specified view.

1–23

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

1.3 Navigating a Scene Learning Objective • Understand how to use the navigation features to move around in a scene.

The basic navigation tool in the VRED Professional software is the mouse. There are various ways to use the mouse buttons for navigating in the Render Window: •

Zoom: In the Render Window, roll the mouse wheel away from you to zoom out and roll it toward you to zoom in. Alternatively, you can right-click and drag forward and backward in the Render Window.

•

Pan: In the Render Window, hold the mouse wheel and move the mouse to pan. Alternatively, hold and then click and drag the left mouse button to pan.

•

Orbit: In the Render Window, click and drag the left mouse button to orbit around a pivot point.

Center of Interest By default, when you dynamically zoom and orbit in the Render Window, you do so around the center of the model’s geometry, known as the Center of Interest (CI). If you want to zoom or orbit around a different point in the geometry, you can change the CI using any of the following methods: •

Double right-click at the new location on the model geometry. This sets the CI at the selected point and centers the Render Window on the new CI. You can then orbit around the new CI point.

•

Double-click at the new location. This sets the center of interest at the selected point without centering the Render Window or relocating the model geometry.

•

If you want the center of interest to be positioned at the center of the model geometry, click (Home) in the top right corner of the Navigation Cube. This returns the model to its original position, focusing the camera’s CI to be the center of the model.

1–24

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

Navigation Modes There are several options available that can change how you navigate in the Render Window. In the Menu Bar, select Interaction>Navigation to display the various navigation modes, as shown in Figure 1–23.

Figure 1–23

The available navigation modes are as follows: Enabled

Enables you to control the navigation with the mouse. Clearing this option disables the mouse for navigation, but enables the use of the arrow keys to navigate the model.

Trackball

Enables you to navigate the model in all three axes. This mode can be used when using a trackball mouse which has three axes navigation.

TwoAxis

Enables you to navigate the model in two axes. This mode is the standard mode that is used with the regular mouse.

Fly

Selecting this enables you to navigate seamlessly in the Render Window. Click and hold your left mouse button to move forward. Click and hold the right mouse button to move backwards.

Orientation

Enables you to set the virtual camera position. For example, you can use this to set the virtual camera at the driver’s seat in a car, and then explore the interior of the car from the driver’s point of view.

Auto Center

Sets the center of the model as the pivot point and CI. This means that the model always orbits or zooms around its center.

Motion Factor

Enables you to set the sensitivity of the movement in the Fly mode.

1–25

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Navigation Cube The Navigation Cube or the ViewCube (shown in Figure 1–24) provides visual clues as to where you are in a 3D scene, and makes it easier to navigate to standard views (such as the top, front, right, corner, and directional views). In the Navigation Cube, click one of the faces, corners, or edges to change the Render Window to the selected view. The Navigation Cube navigation affects the selected objects in the scene. If you have nothing selected, the Navigation Cube affects the complete scene including the environment. Home

Figure 1–24

•

Click over any labeled orthographic view, such as Front, Left, etc., to orient the selected object or the complete scene to the selected view.

•

Click on a corner or edge of the Navigation Cube to orient the selected object or the complete scene to a perspective view.

•

Click and drag the Navigation Cube to orbit around the geometry in the Render Window. When orbiting around using the cursor, note that the Navigation Cube orbits to match the view in the Render Window.

•

Click (Home) in the top right corner of the Navigation Cube to return the model to its Initial Camera View (ICV) position.

Hint: Zoom To The (Zoom To) tool is located in the Icons Bar, in the View toolbar. This tool enables you to zoom to the extents of the selected object in the Render Window. By selecting an object and then clicking (Zoom To), the view in the Render Window zooms to the model extents. If no selection is made, (Zoom To) works similar to (Home) in Navigation Cube, returning the model to its original ICV position.

1–26

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

1.4 Opening Files Learning Objectives • Open 3D CAD data files in the Autodesk VRED Professional software. • Review and modify the import settings for files. • Control the settings while importing a model or scene using the Import Options dialog box.

The Autodesk VRED Professional software enables you to open 3D CAD geometry from a wide range of CAD design software programs. You can open a file or multiple files by selecting File>Open, or by clicking (Open) in the Icons Bar. The Open File dialog box opens, as shown in Figure 1–25.

Figure 1–25

•

The Open File dialog box opens in the default VRED\Examples folder, which is typically saved in the C:\Program Files\Autodesk\ folder. Once you open a file from a different folder, that folder becomes the new default folder. The next time you use the Open command, the Open File dialog box will begin from the selected folder.

1–27

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

•

The Open command enables you to open and edit a new or existing file as a new 3D scene. You can only have one scene open at a time. If you have a scene open with unsaved changes and try to open a new or existing scene, the software prompts you to save or discard the unsaved changes or cancel the Open command, as shown in Figure 1–26.

Figure 1–26

•

You can either import a complete scene which has already been compiled in the originating CAD software, or you can import multiple files as separate files and combine them in the Autodesk VRED Professional software. To import multiple files, place the files into a single folder, hold , and select all of the required files.

•

The types of files that can be opened into the Autodesk VRED Professional software are listed in the All Supported File Types drop-down list in the Open File dialog box. A large number of 3D CAD data types are supported by the Autodesk VRED Professional software, as shown in Figure 1–27.

Figure 1–27

•

1–28

Files that have recently been opened can be reopened quickly using the File>Open Recent menu option, which lists all of the recently opened files, as shown in Figure 1–28.

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

Figure 1–28

•

You can use the File>Open Examples menu option to open the example files that are provided with the software, such as armchair.vpb and tracking-art.vpb. The Open Examples command always opens the Open File dialog box in the VRED/examples folder.

•

You can combine other files into the currently open scene by selecting File>Add. Alternatively, you can click the Icons Bar.

•

(Add) in

Although the majority of file types are opened using the Open command, there are a few file types which cannot be opened using this command, such as the xml files for Variants and Sequences. Select File>Import and select the specified option to open that particular type of file, as shown in Figure 1–29.

Figure 1–29

1–29

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

How To: Open a Scene 1. Click (Open) in the Icons Bar, or select File>Open. 2. In the Open File dialog box, locate the required folder. 3. Select a file from the list. 4. Click , or double-click on the file. • If the currently open scene contains unsaved changes, a dialog box opens prompting you to save or discard the unsaved changes, or to cancel the Open command. 5. If the type of file that you selected is not a VRED native file type (i.e., .VPB, .VPE, or .VPF), then the Import Options dialog box opens, as shown in Figure 1–30. Specify how you want the file to be opened. 6. Once the options have been set, click

Import Options

The Import Options dialog box (shown in Figure 1–30) enables you to set options so that the software can convert and correctly process a file’s data. The dialog box is only available for files that are not a native Autodesk VRED file format.

Figure 1–30

1–30

.

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

The options in the Import Options dialog box are as follows:

Tesselation Keep Surface Data

Preserves all of the surface data that comes along with the imported geometry

Merge Geometries

Enables you to merge the imported geometry.

Create Groups for Layers

Enables you to create groups.

Remove Empty Groups

Simplifies the geometry structure by removing empty groups.

Tessellation Quality

Sets the tessellation quality as Coarse, Low, Medium, High, or Custom.

Chord Deviation

Enables you to set the distance from the middle point of the tessellated edge to the geometry.

Normal Tolerance

Enables you to set the normal deviation that can be permitted between the normals of the tessellated edge.

Max Chord Length

Enables you to set the maximum length of a tessellated edge.

Enable Stitching

Stitches adjacent edges.

Stitching Tolerance

Enables you to set the tolerance value that controls when adjacent edges are stitched together.

Scene Apply Materials from Asset Manager

Replaces each imported material with the similarly-named material that is found in the Asset Manager. Opens the Asset Manager, where you can set the material folder.

Center in Origin

Moves the imported geometry so that its center is placed at the center of the environment.

Put onto the Ground

Moves the imported geometry so that it placed on the ground surface.

Adjust Object Size

Activates the Which size fits your object best? slider bar. You are able to assign the correct size to the model. This helps to realistically render the model and gives you better quality. If you want to add a file to the current scene, you must know the size that was originally selected to ensure that the objects fit correctly.

1–31

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

1.5 Preferences Learning Objective • Understand the function of the tabs in the Preferences dialog box.

You can use the Preferences dialog box (shown in Figure 1–31) to control many important operational settings for the Autodesk VRED Professional software. To open the Preferences dialog box, select Edit>Preferences.

Figure 1–31

1–32

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

The Preferences dialog box enables you to control the display and operational settings for every aspect of the Autodesk VRED software. The dialog box contains a list of nodes along the left side, and selecting a node from the list opens the settings which are specific to it. In Figure 1–31, notice that the node FileIO has been selected to display the preferences that are used to set the global settings for importing. You can either set the preference before you open a file (so that the file opens with all your preferred settings), or you can adjust the settings while you are working on a model. If you want to revert to the default settings, click node, or click default settings.

FileIO

to reset the parameters of the selected to reset all of the nodes to their

This node enables you to set the options for opening data in the software, as shown in Figure 1–31. These settings are: •

Base rollout: Options that enable you to verify that the geometry structure is suitable for rendering, rebuild the geometry, convert the materials to Truelight plastic materials, and set the temporary path.

•

Import Dialog rollout: Options that enable you to control the display of the Import dialog box, add a skydome environment, and place imported geometry at the origin of the scene or on the ground.

•

Texture Compression rollout: Options that enable you to control the texture compression. The Auto option compresses textures if they exceed the memory limit, while Always compresses the file whenever the model is loaded. You can also use None to never compress the file.

In the FileIO node, there is a list of file format sub-nodes. Selecting a file format opens its associated preferences. Some of the file types import settings include: •

Maya: Sets the installation path and units that will be used for imported and exported Maya data, as shown in Figure 1–32.

Figure 1–32

1–33

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Main Window

•

OSB / VPB: Enables you to set the file and texture compression, as well as set the incremental save function and the number of backup steps used.

•

Rhino: Enables you to set the geometry merging and NURBS import settings for importing Rhino files.

This node enables you to control the settings for some of the interface components, as shown in Figure 1–33.

Figure 1–33

1–34

•

Show FPS in Status bar: Toggles the display of the current frame rate in the lower left corner of the Render Window.

•

Show Rendering Log Messages in Terminal: During rendering, the Terminal Window displays all of the log messages.

•

Show Internal Nodes in Scenegraph: The internal nodes are displayed in the Scenegraph.

•

Show Toolbutton Text: Toggles the display of the name below the icons in the Icons Bar and the Quick Access Bar.

•

Window Opacity: Controls the opacity of the module windows.

•

Disable Docking: Toggles the ability to dock the module windows.

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

Navigator

This node enables you to control the settings for various navigation modes, as shown in Figure 1–34.

Figure 1–34

Render Options

•

Navigation Mode: Enables you to change the default Navigation Mode from Two Axis to Trackball, Fly, or, Orientation.

•

Invert Zoom: You can invert the zooming in and zooming out with the direction of rolling the mouse wheel.

•

Auto Center: Sets the rotation pivot to the center of the object.

This node enables you to control the settings for the Render Window parameters, as shown in Figure 1–35.

Figure 1–35

1–35

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

•

Pixel Resolution: Enables you to set a custom pixel resolution for the Render Window.

•

Use Fixed Resolution: Sets the use of a custom size for the Render Window.

•

Enable Downscale: Enables or disables downscale, which affects the visual quality and is available while using Raytracing render mode.

•

Downscale Quality: Sets the downscale quality to Low, Medium, or High. For efficient interactivity of complex scenes, it is recommended to have a reduced display quality (i.e., a medium or high level of downscale quality). •

• • •

Enable Realtime Antialiasing: Enables or disables realtime antialiasing for the OpenGL render mode.

•

Antialiasing Quality: Sets the quality of antialiasing for OpenGL render mode. • • •

1–36

Low: Every second pixel in the Render Window is processed for rendering, resulting in the clearest rendering. Medium: Every fourth pixel in the Render Window is processed. High: Every eighth pixel in the Render Window is processed, resulting in the most reduced visual quality.

Low: One and half times (1.5x) the original resolution is calculated. Medium: Double (2x) the original resolution is calculated. High: Four times (4x) the original resolution is calculated.

•

Enable Stillframe Antialiasing: Toggles antialiasing for still rendering in both OpenGL and Raytracing modes.

•

Stillframe AA After: Sets the time (in seconds) before the calculations for stillframe antialiasing starts.

•

Lighting rollout: Options that enable you to set the headlight behavior state for all new scenes.

•

Wireframe rollout: Sets the display of selected objects as a wireframe, and enables you to set the color of the wireframe and bounding box.

•

Navigation Help rollout: Contains options that enable you to control the display of the Navigation Cube, and use the Z-Up coordinate system.

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

•

Selection

Visualization Advanced tab: Enables you to set the background color of the Render Window. To display the background color, you must disable the Environment material in the Material Editor module.

This node enables you to control the settings for selection display and working in the Render Window, as shown in Figure 1–36.

Figure 1–36

Transform

•

Bounding Box Visualization Size: Sets a minimum bounding box size for objects.

•

Auto Scroll to Selected Node: When you select geometry in the Render Window, the associated node is automatically scrolled to and displayed in the Scenegraph.

This node enables you to control the precision settings for the transform tool, as shown in Figure 1–37.

Figure 1–37

•

Translation Step Size: Sets the default precision range when moving the geometry.

•

Rotation Step Size: Sets the default precision range when rotating the geometry.

•

Scale Step Size: Sets the default precision range when scaling the geometry.

1–37

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

1.6 Saving Files Learning Objective • Understand the various save options available in the software.

In the Autodesk VRED Professional software, files are saved in the native .VPB file format (VRED Project Binary) by default. You can also save the files as .VPE (VRED Essentials Project Binary) or .VPF (VRED Project File) file formats. There are a number of ways in which you can save the files in the software. The available save commands are located in the File menu, as shown in Figure 1–38.

Figure 1–38

•

Save: The default save command, which enables you to quickly save any changes you made in the scene. The command can also be started by clicking (Save) in the Icons Bar, or by using the shortcut +. This command quickly saves the current scene as an Autodesk VRED Professional native file (i.e., .VPB, .VPE, or .VPF). If the file that you opened is a not a VRED Professional native file, this command works as a Save As command, and opens the Save As dialog box.

1–38

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

•

Save As: Opens the Save As dialog box, as shown in Figure 1–39. Alternatively, you can use the shortcut ++ to open this dialog box. In the dialog box, browse to the folder where you want to save the file, specify the filename, and select the file format that you want to save the file as. The available file formats are .VPB (Autodesk VRED Professional binary file), .VPE (Autodesk VRED file used in the Autodesk VRED Essentials software), and .VPF (Autodesk VRED Project file). Click save the file.

to

Figure 1–39

•

Save Selected: Saves only the selected objects in a scene. Alternatively, you can use the shortcut ++ to open the Save Selected As dialog box. This dialog box (similar to the Save As dialog box) enables you to browse to the required folder, enter the filename, and select the required file format.

1–39

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

•

Publish: Enables you to publish a copy of the file. As with the other save dialog boxes, the Publish dialog box enables you to browse to the required folder, enter the filename, and select the file format. Clicking opens the Period of Validity dialog box (shown in Figure 1–40), which enables you to limit the period in which the file is accessible, if required.

Figure 1–40

•

Save Package: Saves the file and creates a new folder named images (as shown in Figure 1–41), which contains all of the textures and maps associated with the file.

Figure 1–41

•

Export: Enables you to export the scene as a scene, image, sequencer batch, or variants, as shown in Figure 1–42.

Figure 1–42

1–40

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

Using the Export options, you can save an Autodesk VRED Professional file in various file formats, such as .FBX, .OBJ, .MA, .STL, etc., as shown in Figure 1–43.

Figure 1–43

1–41

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Practice 1a

Working with the Autodesk VRED Professional Interface Learning Objectives • Open a 3D data file. • Navigate the user interface. • Customize the user interface and save the new layout. • Save the .VPB file and open it in the new, customized layout.

Estimated time for completion: 50 minutes

In this practice you will import a .WIRE file, save it as a .VPB file, and navigate and customize the software interface. Task 1 - Opening 3D data file. 1. Launch the Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 software. 2. In the Menu Bar, select File>Open, or in the Icons Bar, click (Open) to open the Open File dialog box.

The Mainville file design is courtesy of Marc Mainville.

3. In the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 1\ folder, select Mainville_Auto.wire. Click the Import Options dialog box.

to open

•

By default, all imported materials are converted into Truelight plastic materials. This option is set in FileIO tab of the Preferences dialog box. The VRED materials display the best shader quality in OpenGL and Raytracing render modes.

1–42

If you have an open scene, a dialog box prompts you for confirmation whether you want to close the scene or cancel the Open command. • If you have an open, unsaved scene, you are prompted to either save the scene, close the scene without saving, or cancel the Open command. 4. In the Import Options dialog box, expand the Scene rollout, if required. By default, all of the options are cleared. ensure that Apply Materials from Asset Manager is cleared, as shown in Figure 1–44. 5. Select the Center in Origin and Put onto Ground options (as shown in Figure 1–44) to place the model in the center of the scene and on the ground surface.

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

•

If you are expecting additional parts to be added to the model at a later stage, then leave the Center in Origin, Put onto Ground, and Adjust Object Size options cleared. This will ensure that any additional parts fit perfectly with the model, as they are built using the original point of origin.

6. Select Adjust Object Size. Notice that the Which size fits your object best? area is enabled. Click and drag the slider bar and place it under the picture of the car, as shown in Figure 1–44.

Figure 1–44

7. In the Tessellation rollout, in Tessellation Quality, select High. Leave all other options at the default settings. The dialog box should display as shown in Figure 1–45.

Figure 1–45

1–43

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

8. Click . The Loading bar (shown in Figure 1–46) displays in the Render Window while the software calculates the shaders and other associated parameters. In the Status Bar, the input box displays the processes that are being calculated, as shown in the highlighted area in Figure 1–47.

Figure 1–46

The model of the car inside the environment dome is loaded in the Render Window, as shown in Figure 1–47. Also notice that in the Status Bar, the input box now displays that the scene is ready.

Figure 1–47

1–44

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

Task 2 - Navigating the scene. 1. If you have a mouse wheel, scroll the wheel towards you to zoom into the car. Alternatively, right-click, hold, and drag the mouse to zoom in and out. 2. Press the mouse wheel and drag the mouse to pan until the car is somewhere in the middle of the Render Window. 3. Click the left mouse button and drag to orbit around the pivot point, which is the center of the car. 4. Orbit (click and drag) around the car and notice that the Navigation Cube, at the top right corner of the Render Window, moves to match the camera view. 5. Orbit until the Left label is visible in the Navigation Cube. Click on Left. This automatically places the car and the environment dome in the Left view, and zooms out completely, as shown in Figure 1–48.

Figure 1–48

6. In the Navigation Cube, click (Home) to orient the camera to the original saved position. 7. Using the mouse, zoom out and pan to place the car in the center of the Render Window. 8. Orbit to the back of the car. Notice that the pivot point while orbiting is the center of the car.

1–45

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

9. Orbit to the front of the car. In the Navigation Cube, click (Home). 10. Double-click on the front right wheel of the car (as shown in Figure 1–49) and then orbit the car. Notice that you are now orbiting around the front right wheel. The background color of the scene has been changed to white for printing clarity.

Figure 1–49

11. Double right-click on the back right wheel of the car. Notice how the back right wheel moves to the center of the Render Window. The model will display similar to that shown in Figure 1–50. Orbit around again and notice that the pivot point is now the back right wheel.

Figure 1–50

1–46

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

12. In the Navigation Cube, explore the other orientation views, including corner and edge positions. 13. When finished, click (Home) to orient the car to the Initial Camera View (ICV), as shown in Figure 1–51.

Figure 1–51

14. Orbit around until the car is in a position similar to that shown in Figure 1–52.

Figure 1–52

1–47

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

15. In the Status Bar, click new home position.

to save the current view as the

16. Zoom out, orbit around, and pan to different view positions. 17. Click (Home) and notice the car orients to the newly saved ICV position. Task 3 - Customizing the layout. 1. In the Menu Bar, select View>Toolbars and clear Render Options. Select View>Toolbars again and verify that the toolbars are selected or clear to match those shown in Figure 1–53.

Figure 1–53

Notice that the Icons Bar now displays only the active toolbars, as shown in Figure 1–54. The tools for the Render Options and Synchronisation toolbars have been are removed.

Figure 1–54

2. Right-click on the Icons Bar to open the shortcut menu. Select Light Editor in the Modules list to open the Light Editor module. 3. Notice that in the Quick Access Bar, there is no Light Editor icon. In the Light Editor module, click its icon in the top left corner and drag it over to the Quick Access Bar. Notice that the Light icon is attached to the cursor, as shown on the left in Figure 1–55. Release the mouse button to add the Lights icon to the end of the Quick Access Bar, as shown on the right in Figure 1–55.

1–48

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

Figure 1–55

4. Click and hold anywhere in the title bar of the Light Editor module. Drag it towards the right edge of the Render Window until the Render Window shifts and a white placement rectangle is displayed, as shown in Figure 1–56. Release the mouse button. The Light Editor module docks along the right edge of the screen.

Figure 1–56

5. Notice that the Lights icon in the Quick Access Bar has turned orange, indicating that the module is currently displayed on the screen. 6. Click in the Light Editor module to close it. Notice that the Lights icon in the Quick Access Bar has turned gray, and the Render Window expands to cover the available space. 7. Click and hold on any icon in the Quick Access Bar until is displayed at the upper right corner of each icon. 8. In the Quick Access Bar, click the icon.

on

(VSets) to delete

1–49

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

9. Click and hold

(Lights) and drag it between

(Cameras) and (Clips). An orange bar is displayed as shown in Figure 1–57. Release the mouse button to place the icon at this new location. Orange bar

Figure 1–57

10. At the right side of the Quick Access Bar, click accept and save the changes.

to

11. In the Quick Access Bar, click (Graph). The Scenegraph module opens and is automatically docked at the left side of the Render Window. Also notice that the icon turns orange in the Quick Access Bar. 12. In the Quick Access Bar, click (Lights). The Light Editor module opens and is docked at the right side of the Render Window. Also notice that the icon turns orange in the Quick Access Bar. 13. In the Light Editor module, click If you are past the bottom edge and a place holder rectangle does not display, move the module slowly back up towards the Quick Access Bar to open the docking place holder.

14. Click and hold anywhere in the title bar of the Light Editor module. Drag it towards the bottom edge of the Render Window until the main render window shifts and a place holder rectangle is displayed. Release the mouse button to dock the Light Editor module at the bottom edge of the screen. 15. In the Quick Access Bar, click Transform module. Click the

1–50

to undock it.

turns gray, and

(Transform) to open the

to lock the module. Notice that becomes unavailable.

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

16. Click the Transform module title bar and drag it along all three edges of the screen (i.e., left, right, and bottom). Notice that the white place holder rectangle does not display, indicating that the module is currently a non-docking window. 17. Click on

. Notice how it turns orange and

is enabled.

Click and the Transform module is docked to the right side of the Render Window. Also notice that the Render Window adjusts and becomes smaller to accommodate the Transform module on the right side. Click to close the Transform module and notice that the Render Window stretches to fill that space. 18. Hover the cursor over the top edge (dotted line) of the Light Editor until the cursor changes to . Click and hold this cursor and move it up and down to make the Light Editor bigger or smaller. Notice that the Render Window and model adjusts in size to fill up the rest of the space on the screen. 19. In the Menu Bar, expand Window>Render Window Size and select 640X482 (VGA 4:3 Ratio). Notice how the Render Window changes size, similar to that shown in Figure 1–58.

Figure 1–58

1–51

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

20. Hover the cursor over the top edge (dotted line) of the Light Editor until the cursor changes to . Click and hold this cursor and move it up and down. Notice that this has no effect on the size of the Render Window, which remains locked at the 640X482 resolution. 21. Similarly hover the cursor over the right edge (dotted line) of the Scenegraph until the cursor changes to . Click and hold this cursor and move it right and left. Again, notice that this has no effect on the size of the Render Window. 22. In the Menu Bar, expand Window>Layout and select Save, as shown on the left in Figure 1–59. A Warning dialog box opens (as shown on the right in Figure 1–59) informing you that you are making changes to the default layout, which is not permitted. Close this dialog box.

Figure 1–59

23. In the Menu Bar, expand Window>Layout and select Save As. The Store Current Layout dialog box opens. 24. In the Name field, type My_Layout (as shown on the left in Figure 1–60), and click

.

25. In the Menu Bar, expand Window>Layout. Notice that My_Layout is added to the list, and is the currently active layout, as shown on the right in Figure 1–60.

Figure 1–60 1–52

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

26. In the Menu Bar, select Window>Layout>Default to change it to the default layout. Notice that the Render Window remains at 640X482 resolution, as the Render Window size does not get saved with the layout. The order in the Icons Bar and the Quick Access Bar reverts to the default settings. Also, all of the modules are back to the closed, default position. Task 4 - Saving and opening the scene. Before saving the file, you will set the Preferences for optimum size and speed. 1. In the Menu Bar, select Edit>Preferences to open the Preferences dialog box. 2. Expand the FileIO node and select OSB / VPB to open the global settings for opening the native .VPB file type. In the Writer rollout, set File Compression to Best. This has the fastest saving time and minimal file size. Ensure that the Use Inline Textures option is selected. This saves the textures along with the .VPB file. Set the Texture Compression as Lossless, as shown in Figure 1–61. Click accept the changes.

to

Figure 1–61

1–53

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

3. In the Menu Bar, select File>Save, or click (Save) in the Icons Bar. Normally, this command quickly saves over the opened file, however because the opened file is a .WIRE file, it must be saved as a new Autodesk VRED Professional native file. 4. The Save As dialog box opens in the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 1\ folder because the .WIRE file was opened from this folder, and so is the default folder. In the File name field, enter MyMainville_interface. Note that the file will be saved as an Autodesk VRED Professional binary file (.VPB) by default, as shown in Figure 1–62. Click

.

Figure 1–62

5. In the Menu Bar, select File>New to open a new blank scene. 6. In the warning dialog box, confirm that you want to close the current scene by clicking opened.

. A blank scene is

(Open), or in the Menu Bar, 7. In the Icons Bar, click select File>Open to open the Open File dialog box. It automatically opens 8. In the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 1 folder, select MyMainville_interface.VPB, and click . 9. The mainville car opens in the Render Window in the ICV or (Home) position, as shown in Figure 1–63. Notice that all of the interface components are in the default position, but that the Render Window is still showing in a 640X482 resolution.

1–54

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

Figure 1–63

10. In the Menu Bar, select Window>Layout>My_Layout to make it current. Notice that the Icons Bar displays only some of the toolbars. Also notice the order of the Quick Access Bar and the modules in custom docking position. The location and custom interface components were saved with My_Layout custom layout, but the Render Window size is still 640X482, as shown in Figure 1–64.

Figure 1–64

1–55

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

11. Select Edit>Preferences, to open the Preferences dialog box. Click to ensure that you revert back to the default preferences. This sets the Render Window size back to Use Preferences (dynamic resolution). Close the dialog box. 12. Set the layout as default by selecting Window>Layout> Default. 13. In the Menu Bar, select File>Save Package to open the Save Package dialog box. Save the scene as MyMainville_interface_package.VPB. 14. In Windows Explorer, open the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 1\ folder. Notice that an images folder has been created, as shown in Figure 1–65. Open this folder and notice that the environment map is saved. If any textures are present in the file, they are also saved in this folder.

Figure 1–65

15. In the Menu Bar, select File>Quit to close the Autodesk VRED Professional software.

1–56

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

Chapter Review Questions 1. Match the name for the following interface components with the numbers shown in Figure 1–66. 1 2

5

3

4 6 Figure 1–66 Interface Component

Number

Quick Access Bar Menu Bar Render Window Icons Bar Status Bar Module

1–57

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

2. How can you make a module window undockable? a. Click b. Click c. Click d. Click 3. In the Quick Access Bar, how do you get a to display on the upper right corner of each icon, so that the icons can be deleted or rearranged? a. Hold and click on the Quick Access Bar. b. Click and hold for few seconds on the Quick Access Bar. c. Right-click and hold for few seconds on the Quick Access Bar. d. Hold and click on the Quick Access Bar. 4. How do you set the pivot point to a selected point and center the point in the Render Window? a. Hold and click b. Hold and click c. Double-click d. Double right-click 5. In the Status Bar, the Input box (shown in Figure 1–67) always displays the last line that was displayed in the Terminal module window.

Figure 1–67

a. True b. False 6. Which command saves a file and creates a new folder that contains all of the textures associated with that file? a. .Save As b. .Publish c. .Save Package d. .Export 1–58

Introduction to Autodesk VRED Professional

Command Summary Button

Action / Command

Location

Add

• Icons Bar • Menu Bar: File>Add

N/A

Import

• Menu Bar: File>Import

Open

• Icons Bar • Menu Bar: File>Open

N/A

Open Examples

• Menu Bar: File>Open Examples

N/A

Open Recent

• Menu Bar: File>Open Recent

N/A

Preferences

• Menu Bar: Edit>Preferences

N/A

Publish

• Menu Bar: File>Publish

Save

• Icons Bar • Menu Bar: File>Save • Shortcut: +

N/A

Save As

• Menu Bar: File>Save As • Shortcut: ++

N/A

Save Package

• Menu Bar: File>Save Package

N/A

Save Selected

• Menu Bar: File>Save Selected • Shortcut: ++

1–59

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

1–60

Chapter 2 Data Preparation In this chapter you learn how to select objects, organize parts using the Scenegraph, transform and duplicate objects, and adjust geometry by fixing an object’s normals. You also learn how to optimize a model.

This chapter contains the following topics:

• • • •

Selecting Objects Scenegraph Adjust a Model Transforming Geometry

2–1

2–2

Data Preparation

2.1 Selecting Objects Learning Objectives • Identify and set the selection display styles to display the selected objects in the Render Window. • Select objects in the Render Window using various selection methods.

Once the model has been opened, you need to select objects or geometry to modify the features and change the settings of the geometry. The Autodesk® VRED™ Professional software enables you to select geometry using a variety of methods. The most common method is to use the cursor to select objects in the Render Window. The display option must be selected in order to display and identify the selected objects in the Render Window, as shown in Figure 2–1.

Figure 2–1

2–3

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Selection Display Styles

You can control how the selected geometry is displayed in the Render Window using the Wireframe and Boundings options. •

The toggle for the Wireframe and Boundings options are available in the Render Options toolbar, as shown in Figure 2–2.

Figure 2–2

•

You can select either of the display options individually, or select both of them to display at the same time.

•

If neither of the display tools are used when an object has been selected, no visual indication of the selection will display in the Render Window. There is no change to the behavior of transforms, commands, or other modifications that are applied to invisibly-selected objects.

Wireframe In the Icons Bar, click (Wireframe). When a selection is made, the selected part is displayed as an orange wireframe in the Render Window, as shown on the left in Figure 2–3.

Boundings In the Icons Bar, click (Boundings). When a selection is made, the selected part is enclosed in an orange bounding box, as shown on the right in Figure 2–3.

Figure 2–3

2–4

Data Preparation

Hint: Changing the Wireframe and Bounding Box Color The default color of the wireframe and bounding box can be changed in the Preferences dialog box. Select Edit>Preferences. In the Preferences dialog box, select Render Options. In the Visualisation tab, in the Wireframe rollout (shown in Figure 2–4), click on the color swatch to the right of the Wireframe Color slider to open the Choose a Color dialog box. Select the color that you want to use and click . Use the Wireframe Color slider to set the brightness of the color. Click color.

to accept the new

Figure 2–4

Selection Methods

Selection of objects in the Render Window is accomplished using in combination with the mouse. The different methods that can be used for selecting objects in the Render Window are as follows:

Using the Mouse To display the selection in the Render Window, select the Wireframe or Boundings option in the Icons Bar.

•

Hold . Note that a square is attached to the cursor (as shown in Figure 2–5), indicating that you have entered selection mode. Click on the object or geometry you want to select.

Figure 2–5

•

Hold + and click on additional parts in the scene to select multiple geometry.

•

Hold + and right-click on selected parts in the scene to remove them from selection.

•

Hold and right-click anywhere in the Render Window to clear the current selection. 2–5

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Using the Frame Rectangle Two selection modes use the frame rectangle: Window and Crossing. When you hold , you can use the mouse to drag a rectangular selection frame around the objects that you want to select. The direction in which you create the selection frame determines the selection mode that is used, as follows: •

If you drag the selection frame from left to right, you automatically enter the Window selection mode.

•

If you drag the selection frame from right to left, you automatically enter the Crossing selection mode.

•

Starting from the top or bottom of the selection frame does not affect the mode that is used.

Window: In this mode, only those objects that are completely enclosed in the selection frame are selected. •

While holding , click and hold in empty space in the upper left corner of the objects you want to select. Drag the cursor towards the lower right corner of the objects to create a rectangular, dashed window, as shown on the left in Figure 2–6. Release the mouse button to select the fully-enclosed objects, as shown on the right in Figure 2–6.

•

To add additional objects to the current selection, hold + and click to create another window (from left to right) around another group of objects. The objects that are completely enclosed by the new selection frame are added to the selection.

Figure 2–6

2–6

Data Preparation

Crossing: In this mode, all of the objects inside the selection frame are selected. This includes objects that are underneath other objects, and objects that are touching (but not completely enclosed by) the window. •

While holding , click and hold in empty space in the lower right corner of the objects you want to select. Drag the cursor towards the upper left corner of the objects to create a rectangular, dashed window, as shown on the left in Figure 2–7. Release the mouse button to select all of the objects that are present inside the rectangular crossing window. This includes objects that are underneath other objects, and objects that are touching (but not enclosed by) the window, as shown on the right in Figure 2–7.

•

To add additional objects to the selection, hold + and click to create another crossing window (from right to left) around another group of objects. The objects that are underneath other objects and objects that are touching the new selection frame are added to the selection.

Figure 2–7

Using the Scenegraph If geometry is created using many separate and small parts, selecting individual parts in the Render Window can be difficult. You can use the Scenegraph module to easily select, modify, and edit individual parts.

2–7

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

2.2 Scenegraph Learning Objectives • View object hierarchy and understand the types of nodes that are available in the Scenegraph module. • Select objects and perform various editing operations on objects using the Scenegraph module.

The Scenegraph is the brain of the software, which lists all of the parts and geometry that are included in an Autodesk VRED Professional scene. The list is organized in the form of a tree structure, as shown in Figure 2–8. Each geometric part is called a node. In the Scenegraph you can perform actions and modifications on these nodes. The Scenegraph can be toggled open or closed by clicking (Graph) in the Quick Access Bar, by selecting Scene>Scenegraph, or by selecting Scenegraph from the shortcut menu. As with other modules, the Scenegraph is a modeless dialog box and remains open regardless of the task that you are performing. By default, the Scenegraph is docked on the left side of the Render Window, but it can be undocked or moved as required.

Figure 2–8 2–8

Data Preparation

Scenegraph Hierarchy

The tree structure in the Scenegraph is organized in the form of nodes. The Root node (shown on the left in Figure 2–9) is present at the top of the tree structure with all of the other nodes and geometry listed under it. By default, the Root node lists the four camera views and the Environment node. Once you open a scene or import geometry into an empty scene, another main node under the Root node is listed, as shown for Armchair on the right in Figure 2–9. This main node lists all of the geometry used for the imported scene. The main Root node cannot be edited or deleted.

Figure 2–9

Click

next to a node to expand its subordinate node list, or

click to collapse the node, as shown on the left in Figure 2–10. You can also double-click on a node to expand or collapse it. Near the bottom of the Scenegraph, a slider bar enables you to expand or collapse the Scenegraph hierarchy, as shown on the right in Figure 2–10. •

When the slider is all of the way to the left, the tree structure collapses to the Root node

•

When the slider is all of the way to the right, the tree structure expands fully.

•

If a group node is selected in the hierarchy of the tree, moving the slider expands or collapses only that subtree.

Figure 2–10

2–9

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Node Types

In the Scenegraph, different icons display to indicate the characteristics of the node. The nodes that are available in the Autodesk VRED Professional software are as follows: Icon

Description A group of objects is placed inside this node.

(Regular group node)

(Cloned group node)

An exact copy of the parent regular group node’s contents. If any changes are made to the group node, it is reflected in its cloned group node as well. A transformation (i.e., move, rotate, or scale) has been applied to the objects in this node.

(Transform group node) Contains material information. (Material node) Animation has been applied to the objects in this node. (Animation group node)

(Geometry node)

The polygonal geometry inside of a group node. The geometry is the last hierarchy node of a group. Transformation has been applied to the geometry only.

(Geometry node with Transformation)

(Nurbs geometry node)

A nurbs geometry inside a group node. This node stores all of the information about the mathematical nurbs calculations of the geometry and ensures that physically correct visualization results are produced. This significantly increases the amount of data stored in the node. To reduce the amount of data to improve performance, convert the nurbs surface into polygons. This deletes the nurbs information by tessellating the surfaces and building an individual polygon structure that is based on the provided tessellation quality. Contains information about the environment used in the scene.

(Environment node)

(Light Transform node)

2–10

Enables you to add transformations to light sources that have been created in a scene.

Data Preparation

Scenegraph Shortcut Menu

You can perform a large number of editing and creating actions using the nodes and the Scenegraph shortcut menu, shown in Figure 2–11. When you right-click on a node and select an option in the shortcut menu, the selected action is performed on all of the subordinate nodes of the selected node.

Figure 2–11

In addition to the regular commands to change the tree structure, the shortcut menu also contains the Create, Edit, and Convert tools, which are provided in sub-menus. •

Create: Contains options that enable you to create standard geometry, lights, and camera views. The objects are created under the node that you right-clicked on.

•

Edit: Contains options that enable you change or modify the geometry, such as Rename, Duplicate, Clone, etc.

•

Convert To: Contains options that enable you to convert existing nodes into groups, material nodes, etc.

2–11

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Working in the Scenegraph

When you import a file from another CAD application, there might be a large number of nodes present in the Scenegraph. It is important to work in the Scenegraph to sort and group the objects together, complete the model by cloning objects, and optimize the geometry. Tools have been provided in the Scenegraph to enable you to clean up and organize the geometry. The following are common actions that can enable you to organize the Scenegraph:

Select Objects To display your selection in the Render Window, select the Wireframe or Boundings display option(s) in the Icons Bar.

You can use the Scenegraph to easily select objects. •

Click on a node in the Scenegraph to select it. Once selected, the node is highlighted in a light gray, as shown on the left in Figure 2–12. If the node has subordinate nodes or objects, they are also included in the selection.

•

You can also select individual objects inside node, as shown on the right in Figure 2–12.

Figure 2–12

2–12

•

To select multiple nodes, hold and select the required nodes.

•

To select a list or range of nodes, hold , select the first node in the list, and then select the last node in the list.

•

To search for a specific node, enter the name of the node in the Search bar at the top of the Scenegraph. Nodes that match the search term are automatically selected, as shown on the left in Figure 2–13.

•

To select a single geometry, all objects, a parent, a subtree, etc., use the various selection options provided in the shortcut menu, as shown on the right in Figure 2–13.

Data Preparation

Figure 2–13

•

If you do not know the name of an object in a scene, select it in the Render Window. The object’s node(s) are automatically highlighted in the Scenegraph.

Display Visibility To hide the object(s) associated with a node in the Render Window, click

in front of the node. The node turns gray, and

the icon changes to

, as shown on the left in Figure 2–14.

Click to display the associated object(s) in the Render Window. You can use the Scenegraph shortcut menu to perform various hide or unhide actions, as shown on the right in Figure 2–14.

Figure 2–14

2–13

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Reorder Nodes and Objects You can reorganize the hierarchy in the Scenegraph by clicking and dragging nodes to a new location. You can also move subordinate geometry from one node to another by dragging and dropping it into another node.

Split the Scenegraph Splitting the Scenegraph makes it easier to see separate sections of a large node tree, or drag and drop nodes from one location to another. At the bottom of the Scenegraph, just above the Scenegraph toolbar, hover the cursor over the separator (i.e., the dotted line) until it changes into a splitting cursor, as shown on the left in Figure 2–15. Click and drag the separator up into the Scenegraph to duplicate it. You can now expand to two different locations in the upper and lower Scenegraph, enabling you to drag a node from the upper portion of the Scenegraph and drop it at a different location in the lower portion of the Scenegraph (or vice versa). An example is shown on the right in Figure 2–15, where obj_02 geometry is dragged from the upper Scenegraph and then dropped over the obj_10 node in the lower Scenegraph.

Figure 2–15

2–14

Data Preparation

Rename Nodes You can rename a node by selecting it and then clicking on its name. The name field will convert into an edit box, as shown on the left in Figure 2–16. You can then type the new name directly into the edit box, as shown on the right in Figure 2–16. Press to accept the new name.

Figure 2–16

Group Objects Grouping enables multiple objects to be treated as a single unit, but still retain the ability to control each object separately. In the Scenegraph, right-click on the node under which you want to create the group. In the shortcut menu, select Create>Group, or use the shortcut +. A new folder called Group is created with the cursor in the edit box for naming, as shown on the left in Figure 2–17. Name the group, and then drag and drop the nodes that you want to be the part of the group. You can also initially select all of the nodes that you want to be grouped together and use the shortcut ++. A new node with the name Grouped_Nodes is automatically created which contains all of the nodes that were selected, as shown on the right in Figure 2–17.

Figure 2–17

2–15

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Optimize the Model You can also open the Optimize module by using Scene>Optimize, or by selecting Optimize from the shortcut menu of the Icons or Quick Access Bar.

Optimizing the model enhances the render capabilities and speeds up the rendering process. Right-click on the node that you want to optimize and select Edit>Show Optimize Module to open the Optimize module, shown in Figure 2–18. Using the default settings for optimizing does not make any significant difference to the Scenegraph, but improves back end calculations and rendering speed.

Figure 2–18

The default settings of the Optimize module are:

2–16

•

Flush Material Group Nodes: The selected material group nodes and all subordinate material group nodes are deleted and converted into a regular group node.

•

TriangulateReIndex: Splits all of the faces of polygon meshes that have four or more edges into triangles, and reassigns the vertex indices.

•

Unify Vertices: Welds all of the identical vertices in the geometry.

•

Optimize Indices and Sort Indices: All of the vertices of the triangular faces are streamlined reordering and sorting them.

Data Preparation

Isolate View Selection Using the Scenegraph, you can display individual objects separately in the Render Window. This can be useful while working in large or complex scenes that have overlapping geometry. For example, you can isolate the interior objects and display them separately, which making it easier to work on only those objects. •

In the Scenegraph, select the object or objects that you want to display separately. Drag and drop them into the Render Window, or right-click on the selected object and select Isolate View Selected. Alternatively, after selecting an object for isolation, click (Isolate) in the Icons Bar, or press . Only the isolated objects are displayed in the Render Window, and an Isolate View label specifying the object name is displayed near the upper left corner of the Render Window, as shown in Figure 2–19.

Figure 2–19

•

Drag and drop a different object from the Scenegraph onto the Render Window. The previous display is automatically cleared and the new objects are displayed in isolation.

•

If you want to return to the complete scene geometry display in the Render Window, drag and drop the Root node into the Render Window, or click

(Isolate) in the Icons Bar, or

press . Both (Isolate) and toggle between the isolated view of selected objects, or the complete scene view. •

If you do not know the name of the geometry you want to display, select it in the Render Window. This highlights the name of the object in the Scenegraph. You can then drag and drop the node to display the object’s isolated view. 2–17

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

2.3 Adjust a Model Learning Objective • Check and fix the surface normals of the imported geometry.

After you import geometry into the Autodesk VRED Professional software from other CAD programs, there might be discrepancies in the geometry or in the placement of the geometry. It is recommended that you resolve those issues before you modify the scene or manipulate the design for presentation.

Surface Normals

The surface of an object consists of polygonal faces. The orientation of these faces depends on the direction of the surface normals. Normals are imaginary vectors that are located perpendicular to one side of each face. The normals should face toward the viewer (or camera) for the applied materials to display correctly. The imported geometry should automatically have its surface normal direction pointing towards the camera, but sometimes it needs to be corrected.

Checking the Surface Normals It is important that you verify that all of the normals are facing towards the camera and correct the surfaces that have reversed normals before applying materials or editing the geometry. In the Menu Bar, select Visualization>Vertex/Face Normal Rendering, or press to turn on the Vertex/Face Normal rendering mode. The surfaces can display in four different colors, which can indicate different problems with the geometry, as shown in Figure 2–20.

Violet Gold

Green

Blue

Figure 2–20 2–18

Data Preparation

Green surfaces render correctly, but surfaces that display in blue, gold, or violet have issues that must to be corrected, as described below: •

Green: Indicates that the faces and the vertices are consistent, as well as their normals are facing towards the camera. Green surfaces render correctly.

•

Blue: Indicates that the faces and vertices of the geometry are consistent, but that all of their normals are pointing away from the camera.

•

Gold: Indicates that the faces and vertices of the geometry are inconsistent. The face normals are turned away from the camera, and the vertex normals are pointing towards the camera.

•

Violet: Indicates that the faces and vertices of the geometry are inconsistent. the face normals pointing towards the camera, and the vertex normals turned away from the camera.

Correcting the Surface Normals You can correct issues with the surface normals using the Geometry Editor module, as shown in Figure 2–21. To open the Geometry Editor module, in the Menu Bar, select Scene> Geometry Editor. or use the Icons or Quick Access Bar’s shortcut menu. In the Normals tab, in the Normal Calculations rollout, the Flip Normals area provides you with the options for correcting the orientation of the surface normals.

Figure 2–21 2–19

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

The options in the Flip Normals area are as follows: Option

Description Use this to repair surfaces that display as blue. This reverses the normals for all of the faces and vertices so that they point towards the camera. Use this to repair surfaces that display as gold. This reverses the face normals so that they point towards the camera. Use this to repair surfaces that display as violet. This reverses the normals of the vertices so that they point towards the camera.

Correcting the Surface Normals for Portions of a Single Geometry There are times when some geometry portions of an object are not green and requires correcting. Selecting the part selects the complete object, including the parts that are already green and do not need correcting. In situations like those, you cannot use the Flip Normal options available in the Geometry Editor. You can correct the surface normals of those geometry portions by holding and then right-clicking on the portion that needs correcting. and right-clicking cycles through all of the colors. While holding , continue right-clicking on the portion of the object until it becomes green. Hint: Using the Adjacency Selection>Crease Angle option to Correct Surface Normals If the colors consistently change to other colors except green, even after using the and right-click option many times, use the Crease Angle in the Adjacency Selection rollout of the Geometry Editor, as shown in Figure 2–22. Reduce the number in small increments (i.e., change it to 40, then 35, etc.) and with each reduction step try the and right-click option on the faulty geometry. Continue to reduce the Crease Angle until all of the geometry is green, and then return Crease Angle to the default value of 45.00.

Figure 2–22

2–20

Data Preparation

How To: Fix Surface Normals 1. Check the normals by selecting Visualization>Vertex/Face Normal Rendering, or press , to enter the Vertex/Face Normal rendering mode. 2. Select Scene>Geometry Editor to open the Geometry Editor module. 3. In the Render Window, select the geometry which is not green in color. 4. Depending on the color, click on the appropriate button in the Geometry Editor module, in the Flip Normals area. If a portion of a single object needs correction, use the + right-click option. 5. Select Visualization>Realistic Rendering, or press , to return to the Realisitic Rendering mode. Hint: Using the Normal Calculations>Crease Angle Option In the Geometry Editor module, in the Normals tab, in the Normal Calculations rollout, you can set the Crease Angle, as shown in Figure 2–23. This is an evaluation angle, which defines the smooth angle for the vertices. A higher Crease Angle value creates a smoother surface, while as a lower number makes the geometry more faceted. Changing this value overwrites the original vertex information, and should be changed with caution.

Figure 2–23

2–21

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

2.4 Transforming Geometry Learning Objective • Move, rotate, or scale objects using the transform manipulator handles or by entering exact values.

Transforms are used to move, rotate, or scale objects to fit with other objects in the scene. You might want to relocate objects with respect to other objects in the scene, or change the size or orientation of an object to display a different side of the object in the scene. You can use the Transform tools to make these changes. To transform objects, you can use either of the following methods:

Using the Transform Manipulator

•

Use the transform handles to graphically transform objects in the Render Window.

•

Enter exact values to transform an object for all of the axes using the Transform module.

To display the transform handles in the Render Window, click (Transform) in the Icons Bar, or select View>Show Manipulator in the Menu Bar. To display the transform handles, you must select an object in the Render Window. By default, the transform handles that are displayed are the Translation (move) manipulators, displayed at the pivot point of the selected object, as shown in Figure 2–24. The transformations are applied relative to the pivot point. Translation handles

Figure 2–24

On the tool’s icon, a small arrow near the bottom right corner indicates that it has a drop-down list. 2–22

In the Icons Bar, click and hold (Transform) to open the drop-down list, as shown in Figure 2–25.

Data Preparation

Figure 2–25

The available transform options are as follows: •

Translation Manipulator: This manipulator is displayed as three direction arrows pointing towards the X (red), Y (green), and Z (blue) axes. These enable you to move the selected object on the required axis in the Render Window. Hold and hover the cursor over any of the direction arrows until its color changes to yellow, as shown in Figure 2–26. Click and drag the required arrow to move the selected object on the specific axis. You can also move the object in 2 axes by clicking and dragging one of the square planes.

Figure 2–26

•

Rotation Manipulator: This manipulator is displayed as three circles (red, blue, and green), which represents rotation in three axes, as shown in Figure 2–27. This enables you to rotate the selected object in the required axis in the Render Window. Hold and hover the cursor over any of the rotation circles until its color changes to yellow. Click and drag to rotate the selected object on the specific axis.

Figure 2–27

2–23

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

•

Scale Manipulator: This manipulator is displayed as three cubes (red, blue, and green) which represents scaling in three axes, as well as an additional yellow cube at the intersection of the three axis lines, as shown in Figure 2–28. Hold and hover the cursor on any of the scaling lines or cubes until its color changes to yellow. Click and drag to scale the selected object on the specific axis. Click and drag the central yellow cube to scale the selected object constantly on all three axes.

Figure 2–28

•

Universal Manipulator: This manipulator (shown in Figure 2–29) displays the Translation manipulator, Rotation manipulator, and Scale manipulator together. You can perform all three manipulations using the specific manipulator without having to switch between the different transform modes.

Figure 2–29

•

Pivot Transform Manipulator: This manipulator (shown in Figure 2–30) is used to move the pivot point of the selected object.

Figure 2–30

2–24

Data Preparation

Keyboard Shortcuts Use the following shortcut keys to display the Manipulator handles:

Using the Transform Module

•

+: Displays the Translator Manipulator.

•

+: Displays the Rotation Manipulator.

•

+: Displays the Scale Manipulator.

•

+: Displays the Pivot Transform Manipulator.

You can transform objects and the pivot point in all of the axes at the same time by entering the exact values in the Transform Module, shown in Figure 2–31. In the Quick Access Bar, click (Transform), or select Interaction>Transform in the Menu Bar, to open the Transform Module. As with all other modules, you can open this module through the shortcut menu of the Icons Bar and the Quick Access Bar. The Basic tab of the module provides options for moving, rotating, scaling and transforming the pivot point.

Figure 2–31

2–25

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Practice 2a

Selecting and Organizing the Scene Learning Objectives • Select objects using the various selection methods that are available in the software. • Organize the parts and group them separately using the Organizer. • Optimize the model using various settings in the Optimize module.

Estimated time for completion: 45 minutes

In this practice you will select objects using the various selection methods. You will also reorganize parts by grouping them together, and then optimize the scene in the Scenegraph. Task 1 - Selecting objects. The tools that display in the Icons Bar depends on the layout that you have set in the software. If you have the Autodesk VRED Professional software open and have been working in it, it is recommended that you close and relaunch the software, and then select Window>Layout>Default to ensure that the tools are in the default position. If you have an open scene with unsaved data, a dialog box prompts you to save or discard the scene, as required. 1. In the Icons Bar, click (Open), or in the Menu Bar, select File>Open to open the Open File dialog box.

The background has been changed to white for printing clarity.

2. In the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 2\ folder, select Mainville_Organize.vpb, and click . The mainville car opens in the Render Window in the Initial Camera View (ICV) position, as shown in Figure 2–32.

Figure 2–32 2–26

Data Preparation

3. In the Icons Bar, click (Wireframe) to activate it. Ensure that the icon turns orange. 4. In the Icons Bar, click that the icon turns gray.

(Boundings) to clear it. Ensure

5. Zoom into the car using the mouse wheel. 6. Hold . Note that a square is attached to the cursor, which indicates that you are is in the selection mode. Click on the outer rubber portion of the front wheel of the car and release . Notice that the selected portion is displayed as an orange wireframe in the Render Window, as shown in Figure 2–33.

Figure 2–33

7. In the Icons Bar, click (Boundings) to make it active. In the Render Window, note that a bounding box now encloses the selected wireframe wheel portion.

8. In the Icons Bar, click (Wireframe) to make it inactive. In the Render Window, note that the selected wheel portion now displays just the bounding box, and that the wireframe selection has been removed from the Render Window. 9. Click (Wireframe) to activate it so that both the Wireframe and Boundings options are displayed.

10. In the Icons Bar, click (Zoom To). The selected wheel is zoomed in to the center of the Render Window. 2–27

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

11. In the Navigation Cube, click Right. The side view of the selected wheel fills the Render Window, as shown in Figure 2–34.

Figure 2–34

12. Hold and right-click anywhere to clear the selection. 13. Hold and click and hold in the empty space inside the front wheel near the upper left side of the logo, as shown on the left in Figure 2–35. Drag the cursor down towards the opposite corner to create a red dashed window around the logo of the wheel, as shown on the left in Figure 2–35. Release the cursor. Notice that only the logo object is selected (as shown on the right in Figure 2–35) as it was completely enclosed by the selection frame. First click

Release click

Figure 2–35

14. Hold and right-click anywhere to clear the selection.

2–28

Data Preparation

15. Hold and click and hold near the bottom right portion of the front wheel close to the logo. Drag the cursor up towards the opposite corner to create a red dashed crossing window halfway over the logo, as shown in Figure 2–36. Release the cursor. Note that most of the parts around the logo is selected, including the floor and the rubber area of the wheel. This is because the objects that are just touching the crossing window have been selected as well. Release click

First click

Figure 2–36

16. Hold and right-click anywhere to clear the selection. 17. In the Navigation Cube, click ICV view.

(Home) to go back to the

Task 2 - Investigate the nodes in the Scenegraph. In this task you will review the Scenegraph to determine whether you can optimize the nodes to reduce the number of levels of hierarchy, and have a fewer number of overall nodes.

1. In the Quick Access Bar, click (Graph) to open the Scenegraph module. By default, the Scenegraph is docked to the left edge of the Render Window. 2. In the Scenegraph, drag the slider at the bottom of the module to the left most position, as shown on the left in Figure 2–37. Note that the Root node is listed, as shown on the right in Figure 2–37.

Figure 2–37 2–29

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

3. Click next to the Root node to expand its subordinate node list, as shown in Figure 2–38. Notice that under the Root node, there are the default four camera views, along with the AliasWorld-MainvilleHyperRod node, and the EnvironmentTransform node. The AliasWorldMainvilleHyperRod node is a regular group node (

).

Figure 2–38

4. Select the AliasWorld-MainvilleHyperRod node. Note that the complete car is selected. The selection is displayed in the Render Window as both Wireframe and Boundings selection options are active. 5. Click next to the AliasWorld-MainvilleHyperRod node to open the geometry tree structure. Notice that it has two nodes: exterior and interior. Both of these nodes are regular group nodes. Depending on the group node that is selected, moving the slider will expand or collapse only that subtree.

6. Ensure that the AliasWorld-MainvilleHyperRod node is still selected. Near the bottom of the Scenegraph, click and drag the slider all of the way to the right. This expands the tree structure to the last level of hierarchy. This enables you to investigate the nodes and the hierarchy. 7. Hover you cursor on the dotted line in the right edge of the Scenegraph so that the cursor changes to . Click and drag the edge to the right to stretch the Scenegraph display to make the full part names display, as shown in Figure 2–39.

2–30

Data Preparation

Figure 2–39

8. Using the cursor, drag

to scroll down in the Scenegraph.

9. Investigate all of the nodes types that are listed. Notice that there are

(Regular group node),

group node), and a few instances of

(Transformation

(Geometry mesh node). There are also

(Nurbs Geometry node) and

(Material nodes) that are not required and unnecessarily add complexity to the scene. These should be removed and the tree structure optimized. 10. Hold and right-click anywhere in the Render Window to clear the selection. 11. Near the bottom of the Scenegraph, drag the slider to the left to collapse the hierarchy. Leave the hierarchy expanded to the third level of hierarchy, so that the subordinate nodes under exterior and interior are visible, as shown in Figure 2–40.

Figure 2–40 2–31

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Alternatively, click (Isolate) in the Icons Bar after selecting the object(s).

12. Drag and drop the wheels node onto the Render Window so that only the wheels are displayed. Note that displays near the upper-left corner of the Render Window. 13. Click next to the wheels node to open its subordinate nodes.

14. In the Icons Bar, click Cube, select Right.

(Zoom To). In the Navigation

15. In the Scenegraph, click next to the back node. Note that rotate and fix are the two subordinate nodes, as shown in Figure 2–41. The rotate node contains the rotating parts of the back wheel, and the fix node contains the fixed parts of the back wheel.

Figure 2–41

16. Expand the rotate node and notice that there are three group nodes and one transform group node. 17. Under rotate, expand the revolve#3523 subordinate node to display the polygonal mesh geometry that is located under it, as shown in Figure 2–42. This is correct, and does not need to be changed. Collapse the node.

Figure 2–42

2–32

Data Preparation

18. Expand the subordinate nodes revolve#3522, skin#7806, and node#5524. The revolve#3522 and skin#7806 nodes are correctly grouped and do not require any modifications. Collapse them. 19. Expand the two subordinate nodes under node#5524, as shown in Figure 2–43. This node requires optimization and cleaning. It is a transform node that has two subordinate nodes and three meshes which can be merged.

Figure 2–43

20. Hold and right-click anywhere in the Render Window to clear the selection. Task 3 - Optimize the model. 1. Hold . In the Scenegraph, select the revolve#3475, revolve#3495, and revolve#3343. In the Render Window, note that the nodes are parts of the rear wheel’s inner rim. 2. In the Scenegraph, drag and drop the three selected nodes into the main node#5524, as shown on the left in Figure 2–44. The two subordinate group nodes are now empty, and the three geometry meshes are at the same hierarchy level, as shown on the right in Figure 2–44.

Figure 2–44

3. Optimize the node by right-clicking on the main node#5524 and selecting Edit>Show Optimize Module.

2–33

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

4. In the Optimize module, click to apply the default settings. In the Optimizations area, select Cleanup Group Nodes. In the Flush/Unflush area, select Flush Transformation Nodes, as shown on the left in Figure 2–45. Click •

, and then close the Optimize module.

Notice that node#5524 has been converted into a regular group node, and that the two empty subordinate nodes have been removed, as shown on the right in Figure 2–45.

Figure 2–45

5. In the Scenegraph, expand the nodes under the fix group nodes. All of those nodes are sorted correctly. Select the wheels node and collapse the tree structure using the slider. This collapses all of the nodes under the wheels node hierarchy. 6. Expand wheels and select skin#7661. Hold and select node#5672 to select the complete list of subordinate nodes (except the back subordinate node) in the wheels node, as shown in Figure 2–46.

2–34

Data Preparation

Figure 2–46

7. Drag and drop the selected list into the Render Window. In the Icons Bar, click (Zoom To) and in the Navigation Cube click Right. The front wheel is zoomed into the Render Window, indicating that the selected list are parts of the front wheel. If you click anywhere, the name Group is accepted. Click on the name again to convert it into an edit box.

8. Right-click on wheels group node and select Create>Group. A new group node with the name Group is created at the bottom of the front wheel parts list. Rename the group node as front_wheel, as shown in Figure 2–47. Press .

Figure 2–47

9. You will divide this group into two subordinate groups: front_rotate and front_fix. Right-click on front_wheel and then select Create>Group. A new group node with the name Group is created. Rename the new group node to front_rotate. Create another subordinate group node under front_wheel and name it front_fix, as shown in Figure 2–48.

Figure 2–48 2–35

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

10. Select skin#7661. In the Render Window, note that the red band in the rubber portion of the wheel is selected. Hold and select fillet#10855, fillet#10856, and node#5457. In the Render Window, note that these nodes are the rotating parts of the front wheel, as shown in Figure 2–49.

Figure 2–49

11. Drag and drop the selected nodes on the front_rotate node, as shown on the left in Figure 2–50. These nodes are now listed under front_rotate, as shown on the right in Figure 2–50.

Figure 2–50 2–36

Data Preparation

12. Select fillet_srf#1432. Hold and select node#5672 to select the list of nodes. Drag and drop the selected nodes on the front_fix subordinate node. 13. Expand both the front_rotate and front_fix subordinate group nodes. 14. In the front_rotate node, expand skin#7661, fillet#10855, and fillet#10856. Although all of these nodes have a correct hierarchy structure, they are Transformation nodes and should be changed. Collapse the nodes. 15. In the front_fix node, expand fillet_srf#1432, node#5306 (which has four meshes grouped under it), fillet_group#213, node#5651, revolve#2623, and trimsurface#38. All of these nodes have a correct hierarchy structure as well. Collapse all of them. 16. In the front_rotate node, expand node#5457. Note that there are a number of subordinate group and transform nodes under it. Expand subordinate node#5430 and note that it which has further subordinate group nodes under it. Expand revolve#2947. Notice that it has a nurbs geometry node under it, as shown in Figure 2–51.

Figure 2–51

2–37

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

17. Expand the rest of the subordinate nodes under node#5457. Select node#5457 and the drag the slider to the right most location. It expands the complete tree structure under node#5457. Note that all of them have further group nodes and nurbs geometry nodes, as shown in Figure 2–52. All of these nodes need to be optimized so that they have a simple hierarchy and mesh geometry, instead of nurb surface geometry. Collapse the nodes to the node#5457 level by clicking

.

Figure 2–52

18. In the front_fix node, expand node#5672 and notice that it has a MaterialGroup node (as shown in Figure 2–53), which is not required. Expand it further and notice that It has another group node node#5672 which has the mesh geometry under it. This also needs cleaning and merging of geometry nodes to make it simpler. Leave it expanded.

Figure 2–53 2–38

Data Preparation

19. To optimize, right-click on front_wheel node and select Edit>Show Optimize Module. In the Optimize module, click to get the default settings. Notice that Flush Material Group Nodes is already set by default, which removes the material node. Click •

.

The MaterialGroup node is converted to a regular group node, as shown in Figure 2–54.

Figure 2–54

20. In the Optimize module, in the Flush/Unflush area, select Flush Transformation Nodes and click •

.

The Transformation nodes are converted to regular group nodes.

21. In the Scenegraph, expand node#5672, MaterialGroup, and the subordinate node#5672. Select SHELL_Blend_ piece#812 and SHELL_revolve#3165. Drag and drop the nodes into MaterialGroup, leaving the subordinate node#5672 empty, as shown in Figure 2–55.

Figure 2–55

2–39

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

22. Select the main node#5672 node. In the Optimize module, click . In the Optimizations area, select Merge Geometry Nodes and Cleanup Group Nodes. Click . •

MaterialGroup is removed, and the node is cleaned up and optimized. The empty group node is also removed and the mesh nodes are merged, as shown in Figure 2–56.

Figure 2–56

23. In the front_rotate node, expand node#5457 and note that there are a number of subordinate group nodes under it. Also note that node#5430 has further subordinate group nodes containing nurb geometry nodes, as shown on the left in Figure 2–57. Scroll down to display the 12 nurb geometry nodes under node#5457. 24. Right-click on node#5457 and select Edit>Surfaces> Convert to Mesh. In the Warning dialog box, click . This

converts all of the nurb surfaces to polygonal mesh geometry, as shown on the right in Figure 2–57.

Figure 2–57

2–40

Data Preparation

25. Hold and select all of the newly converted polygonal geometry (12 parts). Scroll down in the Scenegraph to select all of the geometry and drag and drop them into node#5457, as shown in Figure 2–58.

Figure 2–58

26. Select node#5457. In the Optimize module, click , and then select Merge Geometry Nodes and Cleanup Group Nodes. Click close the Optimize module. •

and then

The empty group nodes are removed, and the mesh nodes are merged together to form three geometry nodes, as shown in Figure 2–59.

Figure 2–59

27. Collapse the tree structure and close the Scenegraph. 28. In the Icons Bar, click click

(Isolate). In the Navigation Cube,

(Home) to return to the ICV view.

29. Save the file as My_Mainville_Organize.vpb.

2–41

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Practice 2b

Adjusting and Transforming Objects in the Scene Learning Objectives • Check and fix the surface normals of the imported geometry. • Create clones of the wheels using the Scenegraph. • Use the Transform options to change the scene geometry.

Estimated time for completion: 20 minutes

In this practice you will check the surface normals and fix any issues you discover. You will then duplicate a part, position it at the required location using the Clone options in the Scenegraph, and use the Transform tools to modify the geometry. Task 1 - Checking and correcting normals.

The steps in the practice are based on the default interface options. To return to the default interface, close and reopen the software and select Window> Layout>Default.

1. In the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 2\ folder, select Mainville_Normals.vpb, and click 2. In the Menu Bar, select Visualization>Vertex/Face Normal Rendering to display the model in the Vertex/Face Normal rendering mode. Alternatively, you can press to enter the mode. The scene is displayed in the Normal rendering mode, as shown in Figure 2–60.

Figure 2–60

2–42

.

Data Preparation

The environment dome should display as blue to render correctly. You might also see some blue color bleeding through the ground surface. This is due to the graphics card of the computer and can be ignored.

•

All of the object surfaces should display in green for them to render correctly. Notice that the front wheel displays other colors, such as violet, gold, and blue, as shown in Figure 2–61. Those must be corrected.

3. Zoom into the front wheel, as shown in Figure 2–61. Violet

Blue

Yellow

Figure 2–61

You can also open the Geometry Editor module by selecting Geometry Editor in the shortcut menu of the Icons Bar and the Quick Access Bar.

4. In the Menu Bar, select Scene>Geometry Editor to open the Geometry Editor module. Ensure that the Normals tab is selected, as shown in Figure 2–62.

Figure 2–62

2–43

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

To display the selection as an orange mesh in the Render Window (as shown on the left in Figure 2–63) verify that (Wireframe) is selected in the Icons Bar.

5. In the Render Window, hold and click on the blue rim portion of the wheel to select it, as shown on the left in Figure 2–63. In the Flip Normals area of the Geometry Editor, click . Hold and right-click to clear the selection. The blue rim portion has turned green, as shown on the right in Figure 2–63. Blue rim selected

Figure 2–63

6. Select the two violet portions of the tire by using + and click to select multiple objects. In the Geometry Editor, click , and then clear the selection. Note that the violet portions have turned green. 7. Select the gold band in the sidewall of the tire. In the Geometry Editor, click , and then clear the selection. Note that the gold band has turned green. 8. Zoom further into the wheel and notice that there is some blue geometry at the top and the bottom of the logo, as shown in Figure 2–64.

Blue

Figure 2–64

2–44

Data Preparation

9. Select the top blue portion of the logo. Notice that the complete logo is selected because it is a single object, as shown on the left in Figure 2–65. 10. In the Geometry Editor, click , and then clear the selection. Notice that the blue portion of the logo has turned green but the green portion has turned blue, as shown on the right in Figure 2–65.

Blue

Figure 2–65

11. To correct a part of an object, press and hold and then right-click on the M (blue) portion of the logo. Notice how only the M portion changes color, as shown in Figure 2–66. Blue

Green

Figure 2–66

12. Similarly, hold and right-click on the remaining blue portions of the logo to make them green. 13. In the Navigation Cube, click Geometry Editor.

(Home) and close the

14. In the Menu Bar, select Visualization>Realistic Rendering, or press , to display the scene in the realistic rendering mode. Task 2 - Cloning the geometry. 1. In the Render Window, orbit to the other side of the vehicle. Note that both the front and rear wheels are missing. 2. In the Navigation Cube, click

(Home). 2–45

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

3. In the Quick Access Bar, click Scenegraph module.

(Graph) to open the

4. Ensure that nothing is selected. In the Scenegraph, collapse the Scenegraph tree if it is open by moving the slider all of the way to the left. 5. Expand Root>AliasWorld_MainvilleHyperRod>exterior >wheels, as shown in Figure 2–67.

Figure 2–67

6. Right-click on back and select Edit>Clone>Clone Mirror Y. In the Scenegraph, back_mirrored1 is created, as shown in Figure 2–68. Note that the back node is underlined, which indicates that it is now a reference node.

Figure 2–68

7. In the Render Window, clear the selection and notice that the back wheel has been created, as shown in Figure 2–69.

Figure 2–69

8. In the Scenegraph, right-click on front_wheel and select Edit>Clone>Clone Mirror Y. In the Scenegraph, front_wheel_mirrored is created, and front_wheel is underlined. In the Render Window, note that the missing front wheel is created. 2–46

Data Preparation

9. In the Render Window, clear the selection. In the Navigation Cube, click

(Home).

Task 3 - Applying transforms. 1. In the Scenegraph, select AliasWorld_MainvilleHyperRod. In the Navigation Cube, click Right to display the car in the right view, as shown in Figure 2–70. Clear the selection.

Figure 2–70

2. In the Scenegraph, expand front_wheel and select front_rotate. Notice that the rotating parts of the original front wheel are selected in the Render Window. 3. In the Icons Bar, click and hold (Transform) to open the drop-down list. Select Rotation Manipulator. The rotation manipulator is displayed in the Render Window.

To open the Transform module, you can also select Interaction> Transform in the Menu Bar or select Transform in the shortcut menu of the Icons or Quick Access Bar.

(Transform) to open the 4. In the Quick Access Bar, click Transform module, and then dock the module to the right side of the screen. In the Rotation Pivot panel, the Position X, Y, and Z fields display as 0.00, as shown in Figure 2–71.

Figure 2–71

5. In the Render Window, zoom out until the complete car is displayed.

2–47

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

You might have to select another node in the Scenegraph and then select the front_rotate again to display the new values in the Position X, Y, Z fields in the Transform module.

6. With front_rotate selected, in the Transform module, in the Rotation Pivot panel, click . In the Render Window, the Rotation Manipulator is now moved to the center of the selected wheel parts, as shown on the left in Figure 2–72. Also notice that the Position X, Y, and Z fields have changed to display the new location of the pivot point, as shown on the right in Figure 2–72.

Figure 2–72

7. Hold and click on the green rotation manipulator. The green circle will turn orange, as shown on the left in Figure 2–73. Drag the cursor down so that the wheel rotates right until the Position Y displays as approximately -40 in the Rotation panel of the Transform module, as shown on the right in Figure 2–73.

Figure 2–73

2–48

Data Preparation

8. In the Scenegraph, expand front_wheel_mirrored> front_wheel and select front_rotate, as shown on the left in Figure 2–74. In the Render Window, orbit around and notice that the rotate portion of the cloned front wheel is selected, as shown on the right in Figure 2–74. In the Rotation panel of the Transform module, the value in Position Y is exactly the same as the original front_rotate node. This is because any changes made to the original reference node are reflected in the clone node (and vice versa).

Figure 2–74

9. In the Transform module, in the Rotation panel, in the Position Y edit box, enter 0.0, and press . In the Render Window, the front_rotate parts in both front wheels rotate back to their original positions. 10. Clear the selection. Close the Transform module and the Scenegraph. 11. In the Navigation Cube, click

(Home).

12. Save the file as My_Mainville_Normals.vpb.

2–49

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Chapter Review Questions 1. Match the following names to the node icons below. a. Material node

e. Nurbs geometry node

b. Geometry node

f. Clone group node

c. Animation group node

g. Transformation node

d. Group node Icon

Name

2. How can you display an individual object(s) separately from the rest of the model in the Render Window? (Select all that apply.) a. Double-clicking on the object in the Scenegraph. b. Selecting the object(s) in the Scenegraph and dragging and dropping them onto the Render Window.

2–50

c. Selecting the object(s) and clicking Icons Bar.

(Isolate) in the

d. Selecting the object(s) and clicking Icons Bar.

(Zoom To) in the

Data Preparation

3. Selection of objects in the Render Window is accomplished using the mouse and which key on the keyboard? a. b. c. d. 4. In the Vertex/Face Normal Rendering mode, why might an object display in the color violet? a. The faces and vertices are consistent, and its normals are facing towards the camera. b. The faces and vertices are inconsistent: the vertex normals are turned away from the camera, and the face normals are pointing towards the camera. c. The faces and vertices are inconsistent: the face normals are turned away from the camera, and the vertex normals are pointing towards the camera. d. The faces and vertices are consistent, but its normals are pointing away from the camera. 5. In the Geometry Editor module, in the Normals tab, which of the Flip Normals options (shown in Figure 2–75) can be used to correct the surface normals if the surface displays as gold?

Figure 2–75

a. b. c. 2–51

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

6. How can you correct the surface normals of a geometry that is a part of a single object? a. and right-clicking on the part. b. and right-clicking on the part. c. and right-clicking on the part. d. and right-clicking on the part. 7. Which keyboard shortcut enables the Scale Manipulator? a. + b. + c. + d. +

2–52

Data Preparation

Command Summary Button

N/A

Action / Command

Location

Boundings

• Icons Bar

Wireframe

• Icons Bar

Geometry Editor

• Menu Bar: Scene>Geometry Editor • Shortcut Menu (on the Icons Bar or Quick Access Bar): Geometry Editor

N/A

N/A

Isolate Selection

• Icons Bar

Normal Render Display in Render Window

• Menu Bar: Visualization>Vertex/Face Normal Rendering

Realistic Render Display in Render Window

• Menu Bar: Visualization>Realistic Rendering

Scenegraph

• Quick Access Bar

• Shortcut:

• Shortcut: for OpenGL, for Raytracing • Menu Bar: Scene>Scenegraph • Shortcut Menu (on the Icons Bar or Quick Access Bar): Scenegraoh

Transform Manipulator

• Icons Bar

Transform Module

• Quick Access Bar • Menu Bar: Interaction>Transform • Shortcut Menu (on the Icons Bar or Quick Access Bar): Transform

Zoom To

• Icons Bar

2–53

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

2–54

Chapter 3 Materials In this chapter you learn how to create, edit, and manage materials using the Material Editor module. You learn how to convert the materials into Autodesk VRED Truelight materials, and edit their attributes to customize them. You also learn how to calculate shadows using Ambient Occlusion.

This chapter contains the following topics:

• • • • •

Introduction to Materials Managing Materials Assigning Materials Autodesk VRED Truelight Materials Ambient Occlusion

3–1

3–2

Materials

3.1 Introduction to Materials Learning Objectives • Understand the components of materials. • Understand the textures that can be used to add realism to materials.

Creating believable visualizations almost always involves adding materials to geometry so that they resemble real-world objects. Materials control the color, texture, transparency, and other physical properties of the geometry. Materials also control how light interacts with surfaces in 3D models. The surfaces of the models in the Render Window interact with the light sources based on the material assignments. For example, if an object is shiny, it reflects light; while if transparency is applied, light passes through the object. Materials play an important role in the 3D visualization process. The image in the Render Window is created by the renderer used by the software. In the Autodesk® VRED™ Professional software, the image displayed in the Render Window is created using the default OpenGL renderer. Materials are interconnected with the renderer to create a real-time, interactive display of the objects in the scene. Materials have different attributes associated with them that change the way they display the geometry in the Render Window. Based on the material type, shaders, and map channels, the color, transparency, shininess, texture, reflection, bumpiness, and other values are defined for the selected material. Different material types use different material shaders to generate their work. Shaders are algorithms that create the display of the image in the Render Window. Each shader has its own unique set of attributes. •

The Diffuse Color represents the contributing color to all faces in the scene.

•

The Glossy Color is the color for reflection. It is based on the law of reflection, where the angle of the incoming light (incident ray) is equal to the angle of the outgoing light (reflected ray).

3–3

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

In addition to the physical attributes, most materials contain maps (textures) as a key component. •

Maps are based on either a 2D image file (bitmaps), or are based on formulas which create computer-generated images.

•

Materials can include multiple maps on different attributes, such as Diffuse Texture, Glossy Texture, Roughness Texture, Bump Texture, etc. The image files for the various attributes serve different purposes, and combine to give a realistic affect to an object.

•

Beyond the materials, a map can be used for other purposes, such as the environment background.

There are two material attributes where textures are most commonly used:

3–4

•

Diffuse color textures are often the most important consideration in creating realistic materials. It defines the color of an object under normal lighting.

•

The Textures on Bump attribute defines an object’s indentations, relief, and roughness. This makes the objects seem to have a texture without actually modifying the surface geometry. In bump maps the lighter colored areas display projected above the surface, creating a raised effect, while the darker areas display recessed, creating a valley.

Materials

3.2 Managing Materials Learning Objectives • Manage and work with materials that are used in a scene. • Assign and replace materials to enhance the visual display of objects. • Adjust the individual properties of materials.

Materials in the Autodesk VRED Professional software are managed by the Material Editor module. To open the Material Editor, select Scene>Material Editor, or in the Quick Access Bar, click (Materials). Alternatively, you can also access the module from the shortcut menu of the Icons or Quick Access Bars. The Material Editor (shown in Figure 3–1) is an interface for listing, creating, converting, modifying, and assigning different kinds of materials. It enables you to create a new material from a list of base materials by modifying its attributes. It also enables you to convert existing materials to different types of Autodesk VRED Truelight materials, and modify those materials as required.

Figure 3–1

3–5

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

As with other modules, the Material Editor is modeless and remains open regardless of the task that you are currently performing. By default, the Material Editor is undocked, but you can dock it using . The Material Editor contains a Menu Bar at the top, a toolbar at the bottom, and a central area that contains the sections. When you open the Material Editor for the first time, the main area only contains the Groups, Tags section. You can customize the main area to divide it into the following three sections: •

Groups, Tags

•

Preview

•

Attributes

To customize the main area, in the Material Editor, in the Window menu, select or clear the required section in the list, as shown on the left in Figure 3–2. Selecting a section in the list displays it in the main area. You can display any combination of the sections. You can also increase or decrease the space allocated to each section by hovering the cursor over the dividing dotted line between the sections until it displays as . Hold and drag the divider to increase or decrease the size of the section window, as shown on the right in Figure 3–2. Each section window can be decreased to a preset minimum size. The maximum size of each section window is defined by the total size of the Material Editor, which can be increased or decreased as required.

Figure 3–2

3–6

Materials

Groups, Tags Section

The Groups, Tags section is located along the left side of the Material Editor. This section is further divided into two areas, as shown on the left in Figure 3–3. •

The Materials area contains a list of all of the materials that are present in the current scene, while the Tags area contains the list of tags that are available in the scene materials. You can completely remove the Tags area by dragging the dotted divider to the bottom of the window. You can make the lower area visible again by dragging the divider back up. You can also increase or decrease the size of the both the areas by pulling the divider up or down.

•

You can display Materials or Tags in either the upper or lower area, or in both areas by clicking next to the area name and selecting the required option, as shown on the right in Figure 3–3. This enables you to reorganize materials by moving them from one list to another, or from one node to another.

Materials area

Tags area

Figure 3–3

•

The materials can also be organized into group nodes. You can create a group node and then drag and drop materials into the nodes to restructure the materials list as required.

3–7

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

•

Any material or group node can be renamed by clicking on the name once to highlight it and then clicking again to change it into an edit box. Enter the new name in the edit box and press to accept the new name.

•

You can search and filter for a material in either section, by typing in the in Search box.The list of materials will automatically be filtered as you type in the Search box, as shown on the left in Figure 3–4.

•

You can also filter the list based on the material type. In the Search box, click (Filter), which displays a list that contains the material types. Click on a type of material to limit the list to only those materials which belong to the selected type in the Materials area. For example, selecting Plastic and Triplanar filters the list to display only three materials used in the current scene, as shown on the right in Figure 3–4.

Figure 3–4

Materials By default, all of the materials that are used in the scene are displayed in this area. You can create a new material from a list of base materials provided, or convert existing materials into various Truelight materials. Right-click anywhere in the Materials area, or right-click on a specific material, to display the Materials shortcut menu, as shown in Figure 3–5. When you right-click in an empty space in the Materials area, some shortcut menu options are unavailable, such as the Convert>To Truelight material, Edit>Copy/Duplicate, Save Material(s), etc.

3–8

Materials

Figure 3–5

All of the options in the Materials shortcut menu are also available in the Material Editor menu bar. Some of the options are also available in the Material Editor toolbar.

The options available in the Materials shortcut menu are as follows: Create Material

Contains a list of Truelight materials that have attributes best for each type of material. These can be used as a base for creating your own materials, or you can edit the attributes to customize them for your own specific requirements. In addition to creating the Truelight materials, you can create measured materials, multipass materials, and material switches. Some of the important Truelight materials provided In the Autodesk VRED Professional software include: Chrome, Brushed Metal, Carpaint, Glass, Tire, and Triplanar.

Create Environment

Enables you to create a new environment, skylight, or an environment switch.

Create OpenGL Material

Enables you to create materials that can work well with OpenGL. The Simple and Phong OpenGL materials do not support any HDRI lighting and are visible when the scene is illuminated by a standard light source. It also has options for creating Chunk material, which is an empty node that enables you to create materials with additional chunk attributes. The CGFX scripts can be loaded into the CGFX material node.

Edit

Enables you to Copy, Paste, Duplicate, Delete, Lock, and Unlock a selected material.

Convert

Contains a list of all of the Truelight materials, enabling you to convert the selected material into a Truelight material, or a Truelight Phong material. Also enables you to convert a skylight to Sphere Environment, or vice versa.

Load Material(s)...

Opens a dialog box that enables you to load previously saved materials.

Save Material(s)...

Opens a dialog box that enables you to save your edited or new materials for use in other models.

3–9

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals Create Group

Creates an empty group node.

Create Group from Selection

Creates a new group node which contains the selected item(s) (e.g., materials, environments, skylights, etc.).

Create Switch from Selection

Creates a switch node with the selected item (material environment, skylight).

Select Nodes

Selects the geometry nodes to which the currently selected material is assigned to.

Add Nodes to Selection

Adds all of the geometry nodes which has the selected material to the currently selected objects.

Apply to Selected Nodes

Assigns selected material to all of the selected geometry nodes.

Tags By default, all of the tags that are found in the scene are displayed in this area. In this area, you can create a new tag or assign materials to a tag. By selecting a tag, the preview lists only the materials that are associated with that tag. You can assign tags to materials by dragging and dropping the materials onto a tag. Right-click anywhere in the Tags area, or right-click on a specific tag to display the Tags shortcut menu, as shown in Figure 3–6. By default, all of the materials in a scene are assigned the Scene tag.

Figure 3–6

The options available in the Tags shortcut menu are as follows:

3–10

New Tag

Creates a new tag with the name Tag. Click on the new Tag to rename the tag.

Add to Selected Materials

The selected tag is applied to the selected materials.

Remove Tag from Material

Only available when you select a material. The tag is removed from the selected material.

Remove Tag

Removes the tag from all materials.

Remove all Tags

Removes all tags from all materials in the scene, except for the default Scene tag.

Materials

Hint: Converting Materials While importing a file, the materials assigned in the originating software are automatically converted into Truelight Plastic materials by default. This is controlled by the default settings in the FileIO tab of the Preferences dialog box. By default, the Convert Materials to Truelight materials option is selected, as shown in Figure 3–7.

Figure 3–7

You should convert each plastic material into a specific Truelight material once it has been imported. For example, the car exterior is converted into a Truelight Plastic material when imported. Once in the Autodesk VRED Professional software, you should convert it into a Unicolor, Metallic, or a Flipflop Carpaint material by selecting the car exterior’s Plastic material in the materials list and selecting the required material from the Convert>To Truelight Material menu, as shown in Figure 3–8.

Figure 3–8

3–11

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Preview Section Hiding the Preview section can help in allocating more space to the Attributes section which also contains a preview ball.

The Preview section offers you a visual preview of the available materials. By default, this section is not displayed in the Material Editor. To display the Preview section, in the Material Editor, in the Window menu, select Preview. •

The Preview section is located between the Group, Tags section and the Attributes section (when all of the three sections are displayed), as shown on the left in Figure 3–10. It contains the list of all of the materials in the scene along with a 3D preview of the material in the form of a preview ball, as shown in Figure 3–9. The name of the material is listed below its preview ball.

Figure 3–9

•

The slider at the bottom of the Preview section controls the size of the preview balls that are displayed. Move the slider all of the way to the left to change the preview ball to a list, as shown on the right in Figure 3–10. Move the slider right to gradually increase the preview ball size. As you increase the preview ball icon size, the number of columns is decreased, until the preview ball is maximized and displayed in a single column.

Figure 3–10

3–12

Materials

Attributes Section

Each material can be modified by adjusting its attributes. All of the attributes of any material are displayed in the Attributes section, as shown in Figure 3–11.

Figure 3–11

If no material or multiple materials are selected, the Attributes section remains blank.

•

Select a material in the Group, Tags section or in the Preview section. The material is highlighted, and its various attributes are displayed in the Attributes section.

•

The name of the material and its preview ball is displayed near the top of the Attributes section. You can rename the material by entering a new name in the Name field. Any tags that are assigned to the material are listed below its name.

•

A material’s attributes are grouped in rollouts. Clicking on a rollout bar expands it to display the parameters. The first rollout displays the base material from which the material was created. In Figure 3–11, the Aluminium material was created using the Brushed Metal as its base material.

3–13

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

•

There are 3 tabs on the right of the Attributes section: Realistic, Analytic, and NPR. By default, the attributes of the material are displayed in the Realistic rendering mode. Selecting Analytic or NPR opens the attributes to set the shading settings for the Analytic or NPR rendering mode, as shown for the NPR rendering mode in Figure 3–12.

Figure 3–12

Material Editor Toolbar

The Material Editor toolbar (shown in Figure 3–13) displays at the bottom left corner of the module window. It contains tools related to materials, and enables you to manage the materials. All of the actions available on this toolbar can also be performed using the Material shortcut menu and the Material Editor menu bar. The toolbar provides you with easy access to the most commonly used tools.

Figure 3–13

3–14

Materials

The tools available in the Material Editor toolbar are as follows: Icon

(Create)

Description Enables you to create a new Truelight material. It provides you with the Truelight material list for creating a new material. You can also create environments or skylights. Duplicates the selected material(s).

(Duplicate) Creates a new group node from the selected material(s). (Group from Selection) Selects all geometry nodes to which the selected material is assigned. (Select Nodes) Assigns selected material to all of the selected nodes. (Apply to Selected Nodes) Any unused materials are deleted from the scene. Remove Unused) Deletes the selected material. (Delete)

3–15

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

3.3 Assigning Materials Learning Objective • Understand the different methods of assigning materials.

After materials have been created, you need to assign them to the geometry so that they are visible in the Render Window. There are various methods of assigning materials to the geometry: •

Drag and drop in the Render Window

•

Drag and drop in the Scenegraph

•

Copy and paste material

•

Using the Material Editor

How To: Drag and Drop Materials into the Render Window 1. In the Material Editor, in the Group, Tags section, select the material that you want to assign to an object in the scene. 2. Drag the material into the Render Window. Notice that the selected material’s preview ball is attached to the cursor, as shown on the left in Figure 3–14. 3. Hover the cursor over the geometry you want to assign the selected material to. Note that the geometry is previewed with the selected material is applied, as shown on the right in Figure 3–14.

Figure 3–14

4. Release the cursor to assign the material to the geometry.

3–16

Materials

Hint: Deactivating the Material Preview In the Menu Bar, clear the Visualization>Interactive Material Preview option. This deactivates the material preview in the Render Window when you drag a material over an object.

How To: Drag and Drop Materials into the Scenegraph 1. Open the Scenegraph and expand the nodes to access the node to which you want to assign the material. 2. In the Material Editor, in the Group, Tags section, select the material that you want to assign. 3. Click and drag the material and drop it onto the geometry node in the Scenegraph, as shown in Figure 3–15.

Figure 3–15

•

•

In the Render Window, note that the material has been assigned to the geometry. If you drop the material onto a group node in the Scenegraph, the material is assigned to all of its dependent geometry nodes.

How To: Copy and Paste Materials 1. Hold . Note that the cursor has changed to a selection cursor. In the Render Window, click on the geometry whose material you want to copy.

3–17

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

2. Hold and move the cursor to notice that the material preview ball is attached to the cursor, as shown on the left in Figure 3–16. 3. While still holding , right-click on the geometry where you want to paste the material, as shown on the right in Figure 3–16. • Holding continues to keep the copied material saved to the cursor. As long as you are holding , you can right-click on multiple geometry objects to continue to apply the copied the material.

and click and right-click

Figure 3–16

How To: Assign Materials Using the Material Editor 1. Select an object(s) in the Render Window. 2. In the Material Editor, right-click on the material you want to assign. 3. Select Apply to Selected Nodes to assign the material to the selected nodes, as shown in Figure 3–17. Alternatively, use the shortcut +, or click Nodes) in the Material Editor toolbar.

Figure 3–17

3–18

(Apply to Selected

Materials

3.4 Autodesk VRED Truelight Materials Learning Objectives • Understand the types of Truelight materials provided with the Autodesk VRED Professional software. • Understand the attributes of different types of Truelight materials.

The Autodesk VRED Truelight materials are provided with the software and contain attributes that are best suited for each type of material. You can achieve high-quality renderings using the Truelight materials as they have the capability of generating accurate lighting effects. By using your own texture maps with these base materials and by tweaking the various parameters, you can achieve an unlimited variety of materials. The Truelight material list (shown in Figure 3–18) can be accessed in the Material Editor, as follows: •

In the Create/Convert menu, select Create Material or Convert>To Truelight material.

•

In the shortcut menu, select Create Material or Convert>To Truelight material.

•

Click

(Create) in the Material Editor toolbar.

Figure 3–18 3–19

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

There are 17 Truelight materials available in the Autodesk VRED Professional software. Each material contains attributes that are specific to the selected material for detail enhancement, as well as other attributes that are common to all of the Truelight materials. The Truelight materials are designed specifically for automobile visualization, and include the following: • Brushed Metal

• Line Chrome

• Tire

• Carbon

• Metallic Carpaint

• Triplanar

• Carbon 2D

• Phong

• Unicolor Carpaint

• Chrome

• Plastic

• Velvet

• Flipflop Carpaint

• Reflective Plastic

• Woven Cloth

• Glass

• Reflective Triplanar

Each Truelight material has specific attributes that enable you to enhance and customize them as required. The first rollout provides attributes that are specific to the Truelight material that was used as a base material, while others are common to all of the Truelight materials, as shown for the Chrome Truelight material in Figure 3–19.

Figure 3–19

3–20

Materials

Common Truelight Material Attributes

Texture Channels

The common Truelight material attributes are grouped into the following rollouts: Incandescence

Enables you to set a material to have self-illuminating properties. In this rollout you can set the color and intensity of self illumination, and select a texture file to be used for illumination intensity and area. If you are using a texture, a series of options can be used to set how the texture UV should be repeated, mirrored, rotated, or offset. The Use as Light Source option enables you to set the geometry to be used as a light source, and is only available with Raytracing.

Transparency

Enables you to set the transparency of the material. For complete transparency, use the See Through option. You can also use a texture file for providing transparency or opacity. If you are using a texture, a series of options can be used to set how the texture UV should be repeated, mirrored, rotated, or offset.

Displacement

Displacement works with a 2D image which does not have any height information. The details (based on the resolution of the image) in the image are mapped onto a geometry and interpreted as height information. You can create detailed structures by displacing the selected geometry along the vertex normals using the height information, which produces accurate reflection and shadows. The rollout provides you with the option for defining the displacement height. You can also use a texture file for defining a pattern on the surface. If you are using a texture, a series of options can be used to set how the texture UV should be repeated, mirrored, rotated, or offset.

Raytracing

Provides you with options to be used with Raytracing. You can set the material id number and tube radius when applied to a line geometry. Also enables you to override the illumination mode, sampling quality for IBL and Reflection/Refraction, and override the maximum Raytrace depth.

Common

Provides you with options that control the Occlusion color, intensity, and lighting mode.

Many of the Truelight materials have different channels on which you can apply the Texture Maps. The options for the different texture channels are grouped under the Diffuse Texture, Glossy Texture, Roughness Texture, and Bump Texture rollouts.

3–21

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Diffuse Texture The Diffuse Texture rollout enables you to load an image texture map for the Diffuse channel, which sets the map on the surface of the selected geometry. To enable the options that control how the texture is applied on the surface, select Use Texture, as shown in Figure 3–20.

Figure 3–20

These options are the same in each of the Texture channels.

3–22

•

Use to open the Load Texture dialog box, which enables you to load a texture from the required folder.

•

Use to open the Save Texture dialog box, which enables you to save the selected texture to a new location.

•

Use to reload a selected texture. After loading a texture, you might make changes to a texture. Reloading the texture adds the changes to the texture.

•

Use

•

Mapping Type: Set the Mapping Type as UV or Planar.

•

Repeat Mode UV: Select Repeat to repeat the texture in all directions, Mirrored to repeat and mirror the texture, Decal to prevent repeating the texture, and Clamp to repeat the last pixel of the texture.

•

Repeat UV: Enter a number of times that you want the UV to repeat.

•

Offset UV: Enables you to set a offset for the UV.

•

Rotate: Rotates the UV. Drag the slider to change the values ranging from negative to positive. You can also enter a number in the value edit box.

to delete the texture.

Materials

•

Anisotropy: To define the filter quality, set a number between 1 (lowest quality) and 16 (highest quality). Drag the slider bar to change the values, or enter a number in the value edit box.

•

Input Gamma: Set the Gamma correction for the image.

•

Use ICC Profile: The colors of the texture are based on the profile information provided with the texture. If no profile information is provided, the colors are based on the RGB values that are stored.

Glossy Texture You can use this rollout to load an image texture map for the Glossy channel. The options included are same as the options provided in the Diffuse Texture rollout.

Roughness Texture You can use this rollout to load an image texture map for the Roughness channel. This rollout has the same options that are provided in the Diffuse Texture rollout, as well as the following additional options: •

Minimum Roughness: Sets the minimum roughness for the texture.

•

Maximum Roughness: Sets the maximum roughness for the texture.

Bump Texture Bump maps are used to describe indentations and relief. In bump maps, the lighter-colored areas display as raised above the surface, while the darker areas display as recessed. You can use this rollout to load an image texture map for the Bump channel. This rollout has the same options that are provided in the Diffuse Texture rollout, as well as the following additional options: •

Use Structure: Enabling this option uses a procedural structure, as opposed to a texture map. The procedural structure is generated by the software to simulate a bumpy surface.

•

Parallel Intensity: Sets the parallel shift of the image.

3–23

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Truelight Materials

•

Bump Intensity: Sets the intensity of the bumpiness in the image.

•

Structure Size: Sets the size of the bumps when the Use Structure option is enabled.

•

Bump Type: Enables you to use either a regular map or a pixel displacement map.

Designers and engineers generally create and assign materials while creating geometry in an engineering software application, such as Alias or Inventor. Once you import objects into the Autodesk VRED Professional software, the materials are automatically converted into Plastic Truelight material. To prevent this conversion, select Edit>Preferences to open the Preferences dialog box, and then on the FileIO tab, clear the Convert Materials to Truelight materials option. Based on the geometry, you should convert each plastic material to a specific Truelight material. By creating, modifying, and applying these materials, you can produce a realistic rendering. Some of the commonly used Truelight materials are as follows: Preview Ball

3–24

Name

Preview Ball

Name

Chrome

Unicolor Carpaint

Brushed Metal

Flipflop Carpaint

Glass

Triplanar

Metallic Carpaint

Tire

Materials

Chrome The Chrome material is used on geometry where you want to display a reflective metallic surface. A list of specific metal types are available in this material. In addition to the various texture and common attributes, the specific parameters for this material are provided in the Chrome Material rollout, as shown in Figure 3–21.

Figure 3–21

•

Reflection Color: Sets the color of the bright reflective area in the object, as shown in Figure 3–22. Click the color swatch next to the slider to open the Choose a Color dialog box, which enables you to select a color for the reflective area. White reflection

Gray reflection

Figure 3–22

•

Smear: Increasing the smear value adds a blurred area around the reflection. A smear value of 0.00 has a crisp, defined reflective area.

•

Contrast: Controls the contrast levels between the reflective area and the base chrome area.

•

Saturation: Controls the saturation level of the reflection.

3–25

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

•

Type: Select from available metal types, such as Aluminium, Silver, Gold, etc., as shown in Figure 3–23.

Figure 3–23

•

Use Roughness and Roughness: Enables and sets the roughness value.

•

Bump Texture rollout: Selecting Use Structure (instead of using a texture file) creates a textured effect in the material. You can set the Bump Intensity and Structure Size to get various metal effects, as shown in Figure 3–24.

Bump Intensity 5.00 Structure Size 0.50

Bump Intensity 3.00 Structure Size 1.00

Bump Intensity 1.50 Structure Size 0.50

Figure 3–24

Brushed Metal The Brushed Metal material is used on geometry where you want to display a metallic surface which is less reflective than Chrome, such as on wheel rims. In addition to the various texture and common attributes, the specific parameters for this material are provided in the Brushed Metal Material, Clearcoat, and Brush Orientation rollouts, as shown in Figure 3–25.

Figure 3–25 3–26

Materials

•

Brushed Metal Material rollout: Enables you to set the diffuse reflection color, glossy reflection color, roughness, and metal type.

•

Brush Orientation rollout: To enable the options in the Brush Orientation rollout, in the Bump Texture rollout, select Use Structure. The options provided in this rollout enables you to set the direction of the grain of the metal, and the brush size in U and V directions, as shown in Figure 3–26.

Planar XY Higher Size U

Radial XY Lower Size U

Radial YZ Higher Size U

Figure 3–26

Glass The Glass material is used to simulate a transparent or frosted glass material. In addition to the various texture and common attributes, the specific parameters for this material are provided in the Glass Material rollout, as shown in Figure 3–27.

Figure 3–27

3–27

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

•

Glass Material rollout: Enables you to set the transparency and reflection colors. If you want to add a tint to a glass surface, select a color in the Exterior Transparency option. Adding a darker color makes the glass more opaque. A list of glass materials with different refraction indices is provided in the Select Medium drop-down list. A recommended Index of Refraction should be between 1.5 to 1.6 to ensure that the glass has a high-quality visualization.

Metallic Carpaint A layered material that contains a base paint layer, embedded metal flakes layer, and clear-coat layer, each of which has their own parameters and rollouts. This enables you to create complex, highly reflective surfaces that are best suited for metallic painted surfaces, such as the car bodies. In addition to the various texture and common attributes, the specific parameters for this material are provided in the Metallic Carpaint Material, Flakes, and Clearcoat rollouts, as shown in Figure 3–28.

Figure 3–28

3–28

•

Base Color: Enables you to set the diffuse reflection color.

•

Flakes: Contains options for setting the color of the flakes, roughness, flake size, and intensity. By tweaking these settings you can have varied metallic shaders available, as shown in Figure 3–29.

Materials

Large flake size

Small flake size, no roughness

Maximum roughness

Figure 3–29

•

Clearcoat: Enables you to set the clearcoat color and reflective intensity. The Use orange peel option can be used to set the bump structure with a noise in the shader.

Unicolor Carpaint A metallic carpaint option that has only a base paint layer and a clear-coat layer.

Flipflop Carpaint A metallic carpaint option where the color varies depending on the viewing angle. This material contains a base, embedded flakes, and clearcoat layers. The Flakes rollout has options for setting two different flake colors, as shown in Figure 3–30. Using the Blending option, you can define the mixture ratio of the flake colors.

Figure 3–30

Triplanar A material that is used when you want to use texture images for objects that do not have a correct UV mapping. You can use Triplanar for surfaces that require a leather or other textures look, such as car seats. •

Triplanar Material: If you do not have a texture image on the Diffuse and Glossy channels, then you can set the Diffuse color and the Glossy affects in this rollout.

3–29

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

•

Triplanar: Enables you to set the placement of the texture. You can set the repetition values of the U and V axes.

•

Bump Texture: If you have a texture map on the Bump Texture rollout, you can use the bump intensity to display the embossing or the depressions of the texture, as shown in Figure 3–31.

Negative bump intensity

Positive bump intensity

Figure 3–31

Tire The Tire material is provided with the software and enables you to easily texture the tires for its treads and the sidings for the rubber shadings. In addition to the various texture and common attributes, the specific parameters for this material are provided in the Tire Material, Diffuse, Glossy, and Bump Texture rollouts, which enables you to assign textures for the marking and the profile, as shown in Figure 3–32.

Figure 3–32

3–30

Materials

•

Use Markings: You can use this option in the Diffuse, Glossy, and the Bump Texture rollouts to load a texture image for the sides of the tire.

•

Use Profile: You can use this option in the Diffuse, Glossy, and the Bump Texture rollouts to load a texture image for the tread markings along the width of the tire.

Hint: Advanced Tire Texture Modifications If you have cloned and mirrored a wheel to create the wheel geometry on the opposite side of an automobile, the Tire texture applied to the original wheel is automatically applied to the cloned wheel. However, the texture on the cloned geometry is inverted, and logos or words are displayed incorrectly, as shown in Figure 3–33.

Original texture

Inverted texture

Figure 3–33

To correct this, you have to create two separate textures by copying the original texture and mirroring it in a texture or graphics editing software application. You also have to remove the reference between the two geometries (original and cloned). In the Autodesk VRED software, use the shortcut menu in the Scenegraph, select Edit>Unshare, and then assign the individual textures separately to the two objects.

3–31

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

3.5 Ambient Occlusion Learning Objectives • Understand the effects of Ambient Occlusion to bring out detail enhancements. • Calculate the Ambient Occlusion of geometry in the current scene.

Ambient Occlusion (AO) is a type of shadow calculation that adds a detail enhancement effect. It adds gradient shading that brings out subtle differences. In other words, it is the shadowing and self shadowing of the objects in a scene. The Autodesk VRED Professional software uses AO to simulate shadows. AO uses shaders to calculate the extent to which an area is inhibited by incoming light, thus enhancing the detail in dark crevices, cracks, and along edges, as well as areas that are exposed to too much light. AO is NOT physically accurate and is not based on any physically accurate light. It imitates the affects of light and approximates shadows to add realism to the geometry while rendering. Once calculated, the AO results are then applied to the vertices of the geometry. The result with AO should be smooth, with high level of detail enhancements. The smoothness of AO is dependent on the level of detail of the selected geometry. The higher the density of the wire mesh of the geometry, the better the quality of shadow using AO. The Autodesk VRED Professional software provides you with options to increase the level of detail of the geometries to ensure that the final rendering has a smooth AO. In the software, AO is created separately. The AO calculations are then used to define the shadows with the OpenGL rendering mode, as well as some options in the Raytracing rendering mode. Once the AO has been calculated, you can examine the results in the Ambient Occlusion visualization mode, shown in Figure 3–34. Select Visualization>Ambient Occlusion Rendering or press to display a scene in the Ambient Occlusion visualization mode.

3–32

Materials

Figure 3–34

You can also open the Ambient Occlusion module by selecting Ambient Occlusion from the shortcut menu of the Icons Bar or Quick Access Bar.

AO is calculated using the Ambient Occlusion module (shown in Figure 3–35), which is accessed by selecting Scene>Ambient Occlusion.

Figure 3–35

3–33

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

The rollouts that are available in the Ambient Occlusion module are as follows: Direct Illumination

Enables you to select a Shadow Quality from a list of preset qualities. The higher the quality, the more samples that are calculated. The Minimum Distance and Maximum Distance options define the area in which the AO is calculated. For automobiles, the default, recommended range is1.00 mm minimum, and 3000.00 mm maximum.

Indirect Illumination

You can enable Indirect Illumination by selecting Enable. Set the Quality from a list of preset qualities.

Subdivision

AO is based on vertices, and therefore the quality of the shadow depends on the density of the mesh in the geometry. You can enable the Subdivision by selecting Enable, and then set the Quality from a list of preset qualities. This option subdivides the geometry to create a clean mesh that produces high quality shadows.

How To: Calculate the Ambient Occlusion 1. Select the geometry for which you need to calculate Ambient Occlusion. 2. In the Menu Bar, select Scene>Ambient Occlusion to open the Ambient Occlusion module. 3. In the Direct Illumination rollout, select the Shadow Quality based on the required quality. 4. In Indirect Illumination, select Enable, and then select the Quality required. 5. Click . 6. To examine the AO in the Render Window, change to the Ambient Occlusion rendering mode by selecting Visualization>Ambient Occlusion Rendering, or by pressing . • The results in the Ambient Occlusion rendering mode display without the materials and should be smooth without any blotchiness. 7. Return to the OpenGL rendering mode by selecting Visualization>Realistic Rendering, or by pressing .

3–34

Materials

Practice 3a

Converting Materials Learning Objectives • Convert materials from Truelight Plastic material to the required Truelight material type. • Modify the attributes of the Truelight Plastic, Chrome, Glass, Triplanar, and Metallic Carpaint materials.

Estimated time for completion: 30 minutes

In this practice you will convert materials into Truelight materials, and then modify the attributes as per the scene’s requirements. Task 1 - Converting materials.

The steps in the practice are based on the default interface options. To return to the default interface, close and reopen the software and select Window> Layout>Default.

1. In the Icons Bar, click (Open), or select File>Open to open the Open File dialog box. 2. In the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 3\ folder, select Mainville_Materials.vpb. Click . The mainville car opens in the Render Window in the Initial Camera View (ICV) position, as shown in Figure 3–36.

Figure 3–36

3. In the Icons Bar, activate active.

(Boundings), if not already

3–35

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

You can also open the Material Editor by selecting Scene> Material Editor, or by selecting Material Editor in the shortcut menu of the Icons Bar or Quick Access Bar.

4. In the Quick Access Bar, click (Materials) to open the Material Editor, shown in Figure 3–37. 5. In the Material Editor, select Window>Attributes and clear Preview. Verify that Group, Tags and the Attributes sections are displayed, as shown in Figure 3–37.

Figure 3–37

6. In the Group, Tags section, between the Materials sub-section and the Tags sub-section, hover the cursor over the dotted divider line to display . Click and drag the cursor to the bottom to display the material list in a single section, as shown in Figure 3–38.

Figure 3–38

3–36

Materials

7. Dock the Material Editor to the right side of the Render Window so that the Material Editor does not overlap the model, and both the model and the Material Editor are displayed on the screen. 8. In the Groups, Tags section, select Teak, located at the bottom of the list, to display its attributes. Notice that the name Teak is displayed in the Attributes section and the top rollout displays as Plastic Material, as shown in Figure 3–39, indicating that it is a plastic material and has not been converted to its corresponding Truelight material. By default, all of the materials have been converted into Truelight Plastic Materials when the file was imported.

Figure 3–39

You can also press +, or click (Select Nodes) in the Material Editor toolbar.

9. To convert the material into a proper material, you need to determine the type of material that should be assigned to the parts which are currently assigned as Teak. In the Groups, Tags section, right-click on Teak and click Select Nodes. This selects all of the objects in the Render Window that have the Teak material. 10. In the Icons Bar, click (Isolate) to display only the selected parts, as shown in Figure 3–40. This enables you to visually see the parts in isolation, and enables you to determine the material that is best suited for them.

Figure 3–40

3–37

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Note that Front label is displayed in the Navigation Cube.

11. In the Icons Bar, click (Zoom To) to zoom in on the selected parts. Orbit to the Front view, as shown in Figure 3–41.

Figure 3–41

•

The selected objects contain the two inside door trims, part of the two dashboards, console trim in the dashboard and between the two seats, as shown in Figure 3–41.

12. In the Material Editor, in the Attributes tab, click in the Name field, rename the material to INT_leather_yellow, and press , as shown in Figure 3–42.

Figure 3–42

13. You will use a leather texture for the Bump and Glossy Texture parameters to display the leather affects, but use the color yellow to match the seams of the leather seats. To apply a leather texture you need to use a Triplanar material as a base material. In the Groups,Tags section, right-click on INT_leather yellow and select Convert>To Truelight material>Triplanar, as shown in Figure 3–43.

3–38

Materials

Figure 3–43

This converts the material to a Truelight Triplanar material, which has all of the basic triplanar attributes. Notice in the Attributes section, the top rollout changes from Plastic to Triplanar Material, as shown in Figure 3–44.

Figure 3–44

Task 2 - Modifying the Triplanar Material Attributes. 1. Verify that the INT_leather yellow material is still selected, and that its attributes are displayed. 2. In the Triplanar Material rollout, click the color swatch next to the Diffuse Color slider to open the Choose a Color dialog box.

3–39

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

3. Select a yellow color, similar to the one shown in Figure 3–45, and click

.

Figure 3–45

4. Open the Glossy Texture rollout and click Use Texture. Click next to the Use Texture box (as shown in Figure 3–46) to open the Load Texture dialog box.

Figure 3–46

5. In the dialog box, open C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 3\ and select Leather_glossy.png. Click . Notice that the texture is linked with the Glossy channel of the material. 6. In the Bump Texture rollout, click Use Texture. Similarly, link the texture Leather_height.tif to the Bump channel. 7. In the Render Window, zoom in to one of the door trims to see the texture closely, as shown in Figure 3–47.

3–40

Materials

Figure 3–47

You can also enter an exact value in the edit box instead of using the slider.

8. In the Material Editor, in the Bump Texture rollout, move the Bump Intensity slider left and right to see its effect in the Render Window. Enter a value of 2.00 for the Bump Intensity as shown in Figure 3–48.

Figure 3–48

9. In the Icons Bar, click

(Isolate) to turn it off, and click

(Home) in the Navigation Cube to display the complete model in the ICV position. Task 3 - Modifying the Chrome Material Attributes. The Truelight Plastic Material has already been converted to Chrome material.

1. In the Material Editor, in the Groups,Tags section, select EXT_alu. Notice in its Attributes section that the Chrome Material rollout is the top rollout, indicating that it is a chrome material.

3–41

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

2. Right-click on EXT_alu and click Select Nodes to select the associated geometry. In the Icons Bar, click (Isolate) to display only the selected parts and zoom in to see the parts. These parts require an aluminum material. 3. In the Chrome Material rollout, in the Type drop-down list, select Aluminium, as shown in Figure 3–49.

Figure 3–49

4. In the Render Window, zoom in on one of the wheel rims, as shown in Figure 3–50, to see the affect of the attributes while you make modifications.

Figure 3–50

3–42

Materials

5. In the Chrome Material rollout, move the Contrast slider slightly to see its affect. Set the Contrast value to 0.98. Select Use Roughness and set the Roughness value to 1.60, as shown in Figure 3–51.

Figure 3–51

You might have to zoom in significantly to see the affects.

6. Zoom in close to a portion of the wheel rim. In the Bump Texture rollout, select Use Structure. Using the sliders, move the Structure Size and Bump Intensity to see the affect in the Render Window. Set the Structure Size to 0.08, and set the Bump Intensity to 1.50, as shown in Figure 3–52.

Figure 3–52

7. In the Icons Bar, click

(Isolate), and then click

(Home) in the Navigation Cube.

3–43

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Task 4 - Modifying the Glass material attributes. 1. In the Material Editor, in the Groups,Tags section, select EXT_glass_frontlights. Notice that the Glass Material rollout is the top rollout, indicating that it has already been converted into a Glass Material. 2. Right-click on EXT_glass_frontlights and click Select Nodes to select the associated geometry. In the Icons Bar, click (Isolate) to display only the selected parts, which are the outer glass ring portions of the headlights. Zoom in on one of the headlights to see the affect of the changes while modifying the attributes. If you want a glass to have a tint, you can add the darkness using the Exterior Transparency slider.

3. In the Glass Material rollout, in the Select Medium drop-down list, select Crown Glass (Borosilic). It is recommended that the Index of Refraction is set to be between 1.5 and 1.6 to ensure that the glass material has a good visualization quality. Notice that the Crown Glass (Borosilic) material has a Index of Refraction of 1.5168. Move the Exterior Transparency slider as far to the right as possible, as shown on the left in Figure 3–53. This changes the material into a clear glass, and is displayed in the preview ball, as shown on the right in Figure 3–53.

Figure 3–53

4. In the Icons Bar, click

(Isolate), and then click

(Home) in the Navigation Cube.

3–44

Materials

Task 5 - Modifying the Metallic Carpaint material attributes. The Truelight Plastic Material has already been converted to Metallic Carpaint material.

1. In the Material Editor, in the Groups, Tags section, select EXT_paint. Notice in its Attributes section that it is a Metallic Carpaint Material, indicating that it has already been converted from Plastic. Rename the material to EXT_paint_yellow. 2. Right-click on EXT_paint_yellow and click Select Nodes to select the associated geometry. In the Icons Bar, click (Isolate). This is the exterior portion of the car, which has a yellow base color. Orbit around and zoom in very close to one of the side doors. 3. In the Metallic Carpaint Material rollout, notice that the Base Color is yellow. The Base Color is automatically assigned when importing the file from the originating software and is maintained in the Plastic Truelight material and the Metallic Carpaint material upon conversion. 4. In the Flakes rollout, move the Flake Color slider left and right. Notice how the lighter flake color (slider right) dissolves the color of the paint whereas the darker flake color (slider left) makes the color more solid. 5. In the Metallic Carpaint Material rollout, next to the Base Color slider, click on the Base Color swatch to open the Choose a Color dialog box. The dialog box opens with the original yellow color values. Click on near the bottom left corner of the dialog box, saving the original yellow color in the first slot. Click

.

6. In the Flakes rollout, next to the Flake Color slider, click on the Flake Color swatch. In the Choose a Color dialog box, near the bottom left corner, click on (first yellow slot) to use the stored yellow color values. Click Flake Size to 0.06, as shown in Figure 3–54.

. Set the

Figure 3–54

3–45

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

7. Clear position.

(Isolate) and display the model in the ICV

Task 6 - Modifying the Plastic material attributes. 1. In the Material Editor, in the Groups,Tags section, select INT_plastic_backshell_seats. Notice in its Attributes section that it is a Plastic Material. 2. Right-click on INT_plastic_backshell_seats and click Select Nodes to select the associated geometry. In the Icons Bar, click (Isolate). Zoom and orbit around to zoom into the back side of one of the seats, as shown in Figure 3–55.

Figure 3–55

3–46

Materials

3. In the Plastic Material rollout, move the Diffuse Color slider left and select a darker shade of gray, as shown in Figure 3–56.

Figure 3–56

4. In the Bump Texture rollout, select Use Structure. Set the Bump Intensity to 1.20 and the Structure Size to 0.10. 5. Clear position.

(Isolate) and display the model in the ICV

6. Hold and right-click in the Render Window to clear any selection. 7. Save the file as My_Mainville_Materials.vpb.

3–47

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Practice 3b

Creating New Materials Learning Objectives • Create a new Truelight material and assign it to the required parts in the scene. • Modify the attributes of the Truelight Brushed Metal and Tire materials. • Duplicate the material and assign it to a different part. • Create a material switch to save two variations of the same material.

Estimated time for completion: 40 minutes

In this practice you will create Truelight materials and assign them to the required parts. You will also modify their attributes to enhance the look of those parts. Task 1 - Create and modify Brushed Metal material attributes. You will create a new Brushed Metal material and assign it to the rim portion of the wheel.

The steps in the practice are based on the default interface options. To return to the default interface, close and reopen the software and select Window> Layout>Default.

1. In the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 3\ folder, open Mainville_Create_Materials.vpb. 2. Open the Material Editor and dock it to the right side of the screen. 3. In the Material Editor, in the Groups,Tags section, right-click anywhere and select Create Material>Brushed Metal. Notice a new Brushed Metal material is created near the top of the list, as shown in Figure 3–57.

Figure 3–57

4. Rename the new material as EXT_brushed_metal_backwheel.

3–48

Materials

5. In the Render Window, orbit and zoom to the rear wheel on the left side and select the inner rim portion, as shown on the left in Figure 3–58. Isolate the part by clicking (Isolate). Notice that it should display as SHELL_revolve#3495 in the Render Window. Zoom in close to the selected portion of the wheel, as shown on the right in Figure 3–58.

Figure 3–58

6. In the Material Editor, right-click on EXT_brushed_metal _backwheel and select Apply to Selected Nodes. Alternatively, you can use + or click (Apply to Selected Nodes) in the Material Editor toolbar to apply the brushed metal material to the selected objects. In the Render Window, note that the black plastic is changed to a shiny gray metal. 7. In the Attributes section, in the Brushed Metal Material rollout, verify that Metal Type is set to Aluminium. 8. In the Bump Texture rollout, select Use Structure.

3–49

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

You might have to zoom in significantly to see the direction of the grain.

9. In the Brush Orientation rollout, set Brush Mapping to Radial XZ so that the metal grain follows the correct direction. Zoom in close to one of the inner rim areas and notice that although the direction of the grain is longitudinal, it does not follow the correct curvature, as shown on the left in Figure 3–59. 10. In the Brush Orientation rollout, in the Radial Mapping area, click to center the pivot point of the wheel. Note that the direction of the grain on the wheel now follows the correct curvature, as shown on the right in Figure 3–59. Also move the Size U slider to see the distance between each grain line. Set it to 1.0.

Figure 3–59

11. In the Bump Texture rollout, drag the Bump Intensity slider and notice its affect in the Render Window. Set it to 0.50. 12. Clear

(Isolate) and clear the selection.

13. In the Navigation Cube, click (Home). Orbit around to the back wheel on the right side of the vehicle. Notice that it also has the new brushed metal material with the correct grain assigned to it. This is because it is a clone of the other back wheel and any changes made to one wheel affects the other wheel as well. 14. Display the model in the ICV position.

3–50

Materials

Task 2 - Duplicate a material. In this task, you will duplicate the EXT_brushed_metal _backwheel material and assign it to the rim portion of the front wheel. 1. In the Material Editor, in the Groups,Tags section, right-click on EXT_brushed_metal_backwheel and select Edit> Duplicate, as shown on the left in Figure 3–60. Notice that a material with the name EXT_brushed_metal_backwheel1 is created, as shown on the right in Figure 3–60.

Figure 3–60

2. Rename EXT_brushed_metal_backwheel1 to EXT_brushed_metal_frontwheel. 3. Select the inner rim part of the left side front wheel. Click (Isolate), and notice that the Isolate View should display SHELLrevolve#2947. Zoom in close to the selected portion of the wheel. 4. In the Material Editor, in the Groups,Tags section, right-click on EXT_brushed_metal_frontwheel and click Apply to Selected Nodes. Notice that the brushed metal material is assigned to the selected part. Zoom in close and notice that the direction of metal grain does not follow the correct radial curvature. 5. In the Attributes section, in the Brush Orientation rollout, click to center the pivot point of the wheel. Notice that the direction now follows the correct direction. 6. Clear

(Isolate) and clear the selection. 3–51

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

7. In the Navigation Cube, click (Home). Orbit around to the front wheel on the right side of the vehicle. Notice that it has the new brushed metal material with the correct grain because it is a clone of the other front wheel. 8. Display the model in the ICV position. Task 3 - Create and modify a new material (Tire). 1. In the Material Editor, in the Groups,Tags section, right-click anywhere and select Create Material>Tire. Notice a new Tire material is created and is listed near the bottom of the material list and is selected by default. 2. Rename the new material as EXT_tire_back.

3. In the Quick Access Bar, click (Graph). In the Scenegraph, expand the main AliasWorldMainvilleHyperRod node and then expand exterior> wheels>back. Drag and drop rotate into the Render Window to isolate it. Click (Zoom To) to zoom in on the back wheel, as shown in Figure 3–61.

Figure 3–61

3–52

Materials

4. In the Scenegraph, expand rotate and select revolve#3523 and revolve#3522. In the Render Window, orbit around and notice that the outer shell and the profile (rubber portion) of the wheel is selected as shown in Figure 3–62. Close the Scenegraph.

Figure 3–62

5. In the Material Editor, in the Groups,Tags section, right-click on EXT_tire_back and click Apply to Selected Nodes. Notice a light gray color is assigned to the selected parts. 6. In the Attributes section, in the Diffuse Texture rollout, select Use Markings. Click . In the Load Texture dialog box, browse to the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 3\ folder and select Tire_Sidewall.jpg. Click . 7. In the Diffuse Texture rollout, select Use Profile. Click . In the Load Texture dialog box, browse to the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 3\ folder and select Tire_Tread.jpg, as shown in Figure 3–63.

Figure 3–63 3–53

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

8. Similarly, in both the Glossy Texture and Bump Texture rollouts, for Use Markings select and load Tire_Sidewall.jpg, and for Use Profile select and load Tire_Tread.jpg. 9. In the Render Window, orbit around and notice that the textures have been assigned, but are not mapped correctly, as shown in Figure 3–64.

Figure 3–64

10. With both the objects still selected, in the Texture Settings rollout, click . Verify that the Rotation Axis displays as Y Axis. Note how the textures are aligned correctly. Set Repeat Profile U to 6.0 and Repeat Profile V to 4.0. Set Blend Position to 1.00, as shown in Figure 3–65.

Figure 3–65 3–54

Materials

11. In the Bump Texture rollout, set the Bump Intensity to 3.7 and the Parallax Intensity to 0.80. 12. Clear

(Isolate) and clear the selection. Display the

model in the ICV position by clicking

.

13. Orbit around and zoom in to the back wheel on the right side of the vehicle. Note that the material is correctly assigned to it because it is a clone of the other back wheel. 14. Display the model in the ICV position. Task 4 - Create and modify a new material (Tire). Repeat the steps performed in Task 3 to texture the front tires of the Mainville vehicle. 1. In the Material Editor, create a new Tire material (Create Material>Tire). Rename it as EXT_tire_front. 2. Using the Scenegraph, select and isolate the AliasWorld MainvilleHyperRod>exterior>wheels>front_wheel>front_ rotate node. 3. Select the outer shell and rubber of the front wheel (fillet#10855 and fillet#10856). 4. In the Material Editor, right-click on EXT_tire_front and select Apply to Selected Nodes to apply the EXT_tire_front material to the selected portion of the front wheel. 5. For the Diffuse Texture, Glossy Texture, and the Bump Texture attributes, for Use Markings select and load Tire_Sidewall.jpg, and for Use Profile select and Tire_Tread.jpg. 6. Center the pivot point of the wheel and in the Texture Settings rollout, click • • •

. Set the following attributes:

Repeat Profile U to 6.0 Repeat Profile V to 6.0 Blend Position to 1.00

7. Display the model in the ICV position.

3–55

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Task 5 - Create a material switch. In this task you will create a material switch that contains the metallic carpaint EXT_paint_yellow and a variation in blue. 1. In the Material Editor, in the Groups,Tags section, right-click anywhere and select Create Material>Switch. Notice that a new material with the name Switch is created that has a indicating that it is a material switch.

,

2. Rename the new material switch to EXT_paint_switch. 3. Right-click on EXT_paint_yellow and select Edit>Duplicate. A new material with the name Ext_paint_yellow1 is created. 4. Rename Ext_paint_yellow1 to Ext_paint_blue. Notice that it is a Metallic Carpaint material. 5. In the Metallic Carpaint Material rollout, next to the Base Color slider, click on the Base Color swatch to open the Choose a Color dialog box. Select a dark blue color of your choice. Click on near the bottom left corner of the dialog box to save the color in the first slot. Click . 6. In the Flakes rollout, click on the Flake Color swatch to open the Choose a Color dialog box. Click on color) and click

(saved blue

.

7. In the Groups,Tags section, right-click on EXT_paint_yellow and select Edit>Copy. 8. Right-click on EXT_paint_switch and select Edit>Paste. is placed in front of the EXT_paint_switch, Notice that a indicating that a material is placed inside it. 9. Right-click on EXT_paint_blue and select Edit>Copy. Right-click on EXT_paint_switch and select Edit>Paste to paste blue metallic carpaint. 10. Select EXT_paint_switch and notice that both the blue and yellow metallic paints are saved inside the switch, as shown in Figure 3–66. Also notice that the EXT_paint_yellow is active.

3–56

Materials

Figure 3–66

11. In the Attributes section, click

beside EXT_paint_blue to

make it active ( ). Notice that there is no change to the mainville car’s color in the Review Window. This is because no geometry has been assigned to the switch. 12. In the Groups,Tags section, right-click on EXT_paint_yellow and click Select Nodes, as shown on the left in Figure 3–67. This selects the geometry that has this material assigned to them. Notice the geometry with the yellow metallic paint is selected in the Render Window. 13. With the geometry still selected, right-click on EXT_paint_switch and click Apply to Selected Nodes, as shown on the right in Figure 3–67.

Figure 3–67

14. In the Render Window, note that the mainville car now displays in the color blue. Notice in the EXT_paint_switch node that EXT_paint_blue is active. 15. In the Attributes section of EXT_paint_switch next to EXT_paint_yellow, click changes to

, and

to make it active. The icon

the color of the car is now yellow.

16. Save the file as My_Mainville_Create_Materials.vpb.

3–57

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Practice 3c

Calculating Ambient Occlusion Learning Objectives • Calculate Ambient Occlusion to save shadows. • Modify the object to correct the Ambient Occlusion issues.

Estimated time for completion: 15 minutes

In this practice you will calculate the Ambient Occlusion on the model. You will then investigate the shadows calculated and modify the parts to correct any issues. Task 1 - Calculate Ambient Occlusion. You will calculate Ambient Occlusion (AO) for the exterior of the car. Depending on your computer, the AO calculation can take around 15-30 minutes to calculate the shadows. To save time, a file (Mainville_AO_created.vpb) with the AO already calculated has been provided. You can open this file before you click in Step 8. You can calculate the Ambient Occlusion for your file at a later time.

The steps in the practice are based on the default interface options. To return to the default interface, close and reopen the software and select Window> Layout>Default.

1. In the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 3\ folder, open Mainville_Ambient_Occlusion.vpb. 2. Open the Material Editor and dock it to the right side of the screen. 3. In the Material Editor, in the Groups, Tags section, notice that a material Shadowplane is created by default. The shadows of the geometry fall on this shadow plane. Select Shadowplane to open its attributes. Review them and leave them at default values. 4. Close the Material Editor. 5. In the Scenegraph and expand the AliasWorldMainvilleHyperrod main node. Select exterior to select the exterior geometry of the car, as shown in Figure 3–68. Close the Scenegraph.

3–58

Materials

Figure 3–68

You can also open the Ambient Occlusion module by selecting Ambient Occlusion in the shortcut menu of the Icons Bar or Quick Access Bar.

6. In the Menu Bar, select Scene>Ambient Occlusion to open the Ambient Occlusion module. 7. In the Ambient Occlusion module, in the Direct Illumination rollout, set the Shadow Quality to High Quality. Similarly, in the Indirect Illumination rollout, set the Quality to High Quality, as shown in Figure 3–69.

Figure 3–69

3–59

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Perform Step 8 at a later time. Move to Step 9 at this point. Depending on your computer, it can take around 15-30 minutes to calculate the ambient occlusion for the exterior of the car.

8. Click and notice that the percentage bar displays the percentage of shadows being calculated, as shown in Figure 3–70. When the calculation bar turns blank, it indicates that the AO has been calculated. Close the Ambient Occlusion module.

Figure 3–70

9. In the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 3\ folder, open Mainville_AO_created.vpb. Save your original Mainville_Ambient_Occlusion.vpb as Mainville_ Ambient_Occlusion-later.vpb. Close the Ambient Occlusion module if it is open. 10. Select Visualization>Ambient Occlusion Rendering or press to display the calculated shadows. 11. Orbit around the car and investigate the model for flaws in the shadows. Zoom into the left side back wheel and notice the problem areas, as shown in Figure 3–71.

Figure 3–71

3–60

Materials

Task 2 - Correct the geometry. You will subdivide the problematic geometry and then recalculate the AO for the specific part.

1. Activate (Wireframe). Select the part that has the problem geometry, as shown in Figure 3–72.

Figure 3–72

2. Open the Ambient Occlusion module by selecting Scene>Ambient Occlusion. 3. In the Direct Illumination and Indirect Illumination rollouts, verify that the Shadow Quality and Quality are set to High Quality. 4. In the Subdivision rollout, select Enable to activate it. Set the Quality to High Quality, as shown in Figure 3–73.

Figure 3–73

3–61

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

5. Click . It will take a few minutes to calculate the AO. Notice how the part’s wireframe has been subdivided, as shown on the left in Figure 3–74. Clear the selection and notice how the problem with the shadows have been resolved, as shown on the right in Figure 3–74.

Figure 3–74

6. Similarly subdivide the other area which needs fixing and calculate its AO. 7. Select the Realistic Rendering mode by selecting Visualization>Realistic Rendering, or press , and display the model in the ICV position. 8. Save the file as My_Mainville_AO_created.vpb.

3–62

Materials

Chapter Review Questions 1. In the Material Editor module, what is the default tag that is associated with all of the materials in a scene? a. Tag b. Material c. Scene d. Window 2. If multiple materials are selected in the Materials area of the Material Editor, the attributes for which material are displayed in the Attributes section? a. The first material in the selected list. b. The last material in the selected list. c. A random material in the selected list. d. None, the Attributes section is blank. 3. In the Render Window, how can you copy a material from one geometry and paste the copied material onto another geometry? a. Double-click on the geometry to copy the material, and then and right-click on the geometry to paste the material. b. Hold and click on the geometry to copy the material, and then hold and right-click on the geometry to paste the material. c. Hold + and click on the geometry to copy the material, and then hold + and right-click on the geometry to paste the material. d. Hold + and click on the geometry to copy the material, and then hold + and right-click on the geometry to paste the material. 4. Which Truelight material is used when you want to use texture images for objects that do not have a correct UV mapping? a. Phong b. Plastic c. Triplanar d. Carbon 3–63

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

5. In the Attributes section of the Tire material, you can use the Use Profile option in the Diffuse, Glossy, and Bump Texture rollouts to load a texture image for the sides of a tire. a. True b. False 6. When calculating Ambient Occlusion, what does the quality of the shadow depend on? a. The density of the mesh in the geometry. b. The lights present in the scene. c. The type of material that is assigned to the geometry. d. All of the above.

3–64

Materials

Command Summary Button N/A

Action / Command

Location

Ambient Occlusion

• Menu Bar: Scene>Ambient Occlusion • Shortcut Menu (on the Icons Bar or Quick Access Bar): Ambient Occlusion

N/A

Ambient Occlusion Display in Render Window

• Menu Bar: Visualization>Ambient Occlusion Rendering

Material Editor

• Quick Access Bar

• Shortcut: • Menu Bar: Scene>Material Editor • Shortcut Menu (on the Icons Bar or Quick Access Bar): Material Editor

3–65

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

3–66

Chapter 4 Camera and Lighting In this chapter you learn how to create camera views and save the attributes as viewpoints. You learn how to add and modify the environment to visually enhance a scene. You also learn how to incorporate various types of light sources for adding illumination to a scene.

This chapter contains the following topics:

• Cameras • Environments • Lights

4–1

4–2

Camera and Lighting

4.1 Cameras Learning Objectives • Create new camera views. • Set the attributes of a camera view. • Create new camera viewpoints in a scene.

The camera is used to create a view at a defined angle and zoom so that you can focus on a specific area or object in a scene. You can also create animated views by adding cinematic movement to the camera. In the Autodesk® VRED™ Professional software, different camera positions and viewing angles can be created using the Camera Editor. To open the Camera Editor, in the Quick Access Bar, click (Cameras) or in the Menu Bar, select Scene>Camera Editor. Alternatively, you can also access the Camera Editor from the shortcut menu of the Icons Bar or Quick Access Bar. The Camera Editor (shown in Figure 4–1) is an interface for listing, creating, and modifying camera views and viewpoints.

Figure 4–1

4–3

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

•

As with other modules, the Camera Editor is modeless and remains open regardless of the task that you are performing. The Camera Editor can be docked and undocked using

.

•

The Camera Editor contains a basic Menu Bar which has options for loading and saving the different cameras and viewpoints, as shown on the left in Figure 4–2. The cameras and viewpoints are saved from the current scene in the form of an .XML file using the File>Save options. These files can be imported into another scene using the File>Load options.

•

The Camera Editor also contains a toolbar (shown on the right in Figure 4–2) along the bottom left corner, which contains tools for creating, duplicating, and deleting cameras. It also contains toggle buttons for (Motion Blur), and

(Depth of Field),

(Glow).

Figure 4–2

•

Every scene has four basic camera views: Perspective, Front, Side, and Top. These default views are listed in the Camera List, located on the left side of the Camera Editor, as shown in Figure 4–3. Initially, the scene is displayed in a Perspective camera view, which is active by default and indicated by a green icon.

Figure 4–3

•

4–4

Along the right side of the Camera Editor is the Attributes section, which contains various tabs and rollouts. The Attributes section contains options for setting the attributes of the cameras and viewpoints.

Camera and Lighting

•

The four default views cannot be deleted. Their projection mode is set by default, and cannot be changed. This is indicated by the inactive Projection Mode drop-down list, as shown in Figure 4–4. The Front, Side, and Top views are fixed orthographic views, while the Perspective camera is a perspective view.

•

In the Camera Editor, double-clicking on any of the listed views activates it the view and displays the scene using that view in the Render Window. The active view is indicated with a green icon, as shown in Figure 4–4.

•

Selecting the view name highlights the view with a gray band and displays its attributes, as shown in Figure 4–4. It is possible to have a camera view active in the Render Window, but the attributes of another camera view displayed in the Camera Editor.

Selected view, with attributes displayed in Attributes section

View that is active in the Render Window

Figure 4–4

•

Right-click anywhere in the Camera list section or right-click on a specific camera to display the shortcut menu, as shown in Figure 4–5. When you right-click in an empty space in the Camera list section, some shortcut menu options are unavailable. You can use the shortcut menu to create new camera views or viewpoints, set the Initial Camera View (ICV), and delete, duplicate, or rename views.

Figure 4–5

4–5

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

How To: Create a New Camera View

You can also use in the Camera toolbar to create a camera view.

1. In the Camera Editor, in the Camera list section, right-click anywhere to display the shortcut menu. 2. Select Create>Perspective Camera or Create> Orthographic Camera, depending on the type of camera you want to create, as shown in Figure 4–6.

Figure 4–6

3. Rename the camera. 4. Set the camera’s attributes.

Camera Attributes The settings in the Image Processing and Advanced tabs are intended for the advanced user, and are not covered in this Training Guide.

The camera attributes are organized into three tabs: Camera Settings, Image Processing, and Advanced. The attributes available in the Camera Settings tab are as follows: General rollout Projection Mode

Set based on the camera type that is created. You can change the projection mode using the drop-down list to the following: • Perspective: Renders the current scene in the perspective projection mode. • Orthographic: Renders the current scene as an orthographic or axonometric rotated user view. • Spherical Map, Peters Map, Vertical Cross, or Horizontal Cross: Sets the rendering of the current scene in a 360 degree, environmental projection mode.

Wireframe

The selected camera view is rendered as a wireframe mode.

Depth of Field

A camera-specific rendering effect that causes distance blurring. The blurring is based on a specific focal point, which you select in the scene. You can also set the depth of field using (Depth of Field) in the Camera Editor toolbar.

Motion Blur

A camera-specific rendering effect that causes blurring while a scene is animated. You can also set motion blur using Editor toolbar.

4–6

(Motion Blur) in the Camera

Camera and Lighting Position

Sets the current camera position in the form of 3D coordinates.

Roll

Sets the current roll angle of the camera.

Field of View

Sets the current camera’s Field of View (FOV) angle. FOV is an angular measurement of how much of the horizon is contained in the camera view. You can also set the FOV in the Status Bar.

Viewing rollout Use Parent Transformation

The transformation settings of the parent node in the Scenegraph are always used.

At

Sets the Center of Interest (COI) coordinates.

Up

Sets the Up vector coordinates. The render view is updated based on set values.

Distance

Enables you to set the distance between the camera and the COI.

Height

Enables you to set the camera’s height based on distance and the COI.

Turntable Angle

Sets the vertical angle.

Distance to Center

Calculates the distance from the camera to the currently selected object using the midpoint of the object’s bounding box.

Lens Attributes rollout Field of View Mode

Sets the Field of View that is specified in the General rollout either vertically or horizontally.

Focal Length

The Focal Length is directly related to the Field of View settings in the General rollout. Changing the Focal Length changes the FOV settings and vice versa. The Focal Length settings corresponds to the focal length of real-world cameras. This option can be used by photographers using the Autodesk VRED Professional software who are comfortable using camera-like settings.

Sensor Presets

Preset values of sensor width and height in millimeters are used.

Sensor Size

Set your custom sensor width and height in millimeters.

4–7

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals FStop Presets/ FStop/Focus Distance

Provides preset FStop values, or enables you to set your own custom FStop value (e.g., f/2.8, f/5.6, etc.). Also sets the focus distance in mm. These options are only available when the Depth of Field option is active.

Shutter Presets/ Shutter Speed

Provides preset Shutter values, or enables you to set your own custom Shutter value. These options are only available when the Motion Blur option is active

Clipping rollout Near Plane/Far Plane/

Sets the cutoff distances for the geometry that gets displayed in the scene. Only the geometry that is located between the Near Plane and Far Plane distance is displayed.

Animation rollout Turntable Animation

/

Plays a turntable animation in the clockwise direction. starts the animation, while turntable animation.

stops the

Sets the time required to complete a single rotation of the turntable animation. Loop

Repeat the turntable animation on an endless loop.

Reverse

The direction of the turntable animation is changed to a counter-clockwise direction.

Hint: Focal Lengths The focal length of real-world cameras is the distance between the point of focus and the optical center of the camera lens. 50mm is a standard focal length that is used in cameras. A focal length that is below 50mm is considered to be a short or wide-angle lens, while a focal length above 50mm is referred to as a telephoto lens.

4–8

Camera and Lighting

Viewpoint

Viewpoint enables you to save the current camera position and its attributes. You can display the saved camera settings by activating the viewpoint.

How To: Create a New Viewpoint 1. Create a new Camera view. 2. Activate the new camera and open its attributes. 3. Modify the viewing angle, attributes, and position for the new camera, as required. 4. In the Camera Editor, right-click on the new camera to display the shortcut menu. 5. Select Create>Viewpoint. The Viewpoint is listed under the new CameraTrack1 node, as shown in Figure 4–7.

Figure 4–7

6. Rename the viewpoint and right-click. The view is created along with the viewpoint. • If you are changing the settings of the viewpoint then select Set>View to overwrite the old settings and save the new setting in the viewpoint. 7. Activate any other camera view to display the scene in that view in the Render Window. 8. Double-click on the new viewpoint to activate it. In the Render Window the saved position is loaded.

4–9

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Practice 4a

Working with the Camera Learning Objectives • Create a new camera and viewpoints. • Modify the camera’s attributes and display the scene using the various saved viewpoints. • Focus on a part of the scene using the Depth of Field option.

Estimated time for completion: 20 minutes

In this practice you will create cameras and viewpoints. You will also modify the attributes of the camera and focus on an area in the scene using the Depth of Field option. Task 1 - Creating the camera and viewpoints.

The steps in the practice are based on the default interface options. To return to the default interface, close and reopen the software and select Window> Layout>Default.

1. In the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 4\ folder, open Mainville_Camera.vpb.

2. In the Quick Access Bar, click (Cameras) to open the Camera Editor. Alternatively, select Scene>Camera Editor or select Camera Editor in the Icons Bar or Quick Access Bar shortcut menu to open the Camera Editor. 3. Dock the Camera Editor to the right side of the Render Window, as shown in Figure 4–8. •

In the Render Window, the scene opens in the default Perspective view. This is indicated by the green camera

) beside Perspective in the Camera Editor, as icon ( shown in Figure 4–8.

Figure 4–8

4–10

Camera and Lighting

4. In the Camera Editor, right-click anywhere in the Camera list. Select Create>Perspective Camera. •

PerspectiveCamera is created and its Attributes are displayed, as shown in Figure 4–9. In the Render Window, the scene is still displayed in the original Perspective view, as indicated by the green camera icon, shown in Figure 4–9.

Figure 4–9

5. Click on PerspectiveCamera and rename it to Camera with viewpoints, as shown in Figure 4–10. Press to apply the new name.

Figure 4–10

6. Verify that Camera with viewpoints is highlighted in gray and its attributes are displayed. In the General rollout, select Wireframe, and set the Field of View to 40.00. When you press , the value automatically changes to 39.999996, as shown in Figure 4–11.

Figure 4–11

4–11

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

7. Double-click on Camera with viewpoints to activate it in the Render Window. Alternatively, right-click on Camera with viewpoints and select Activate. The active camera view is indicated by the green camera icon. In the Render Window, the view is zoomed in because of changed FOV, and the geometry is displayed with a wireframe displayed over the realistic rendering, as shown in Figure 4–12.

Figure 4–12

8. Double-click on Perspective to activate it. In the Render Window, the model is zoomed out, the scene is displayed in the realistic rendering, and the wireframe is disabled. 9. Activate Camera with viewpoints again by double-clicking, or selecting Activate in the shortcut menu. In the Camera Editor, in the Attributes section, clear Wireframe but leave the Field of View at 40.00 (or 39.999996) for a good exterior shot. 10. Right-click on Camera with viewpoints and click Create>Viewpoint. CameraTrack1 and the subordinate node Viewpoint is created, as shown on the left in Figure 4–13. Rename Viewpoint to Original view, as shown on the right in Figure 4–13.

4–12

Camera and Lighting

Figure 4–13

11. Right-click on Camera with viewpoints and select Create>Viewpoint again. Notice that another Viewpoint is created, below Original view. Rename the new viewpoint to Interior view. 12. Open the Scenegraph. Notice that the new camera, Camera with viewpoints is listed in the Scenegraph, as shown in Figure 4–14.

Figure 4–14

13. In the Scenegraph, expand AliasWorld-MainvilleHyperRod >interior. Select dashboard and center console. Drag and drop the nodes into the Render Window to display them in isolation. Close the Scenegraph. You can close the Camera Editor to get more working space in the Render Window.

14. In the Render Window, orbit the model until the Front label is visible in the Navigation Cube. Click Front.

4–13

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

15. Orbit down such that the larger speedometer is completely displayed through the steering wheel. The model should display similar to the position shown in Figure 4–15.

Figure 4–15

the view might be blocked by the seats. Zoom closer to get the required view.

16. In the Icons Bar, click (Isolate) to remove the isolation and display the entire car. Orbit, zoom, and pan to display the interior view similar to that shown in Figure 4–16.

Figure 4–16 4–14

Camera and Lighting

17. In the Camera Editor, click on Interior view to display its attributes. 18. Right-click on Interior view and select Set>View, as shown in Figure 4–17, to save the current view.

Figure 4–17

19. In the Attributes section, in the General rollout, set Field of View as 50.00. When you press , it automatically changes to 49.999996. 20. Double-click on Original view and notice in the Render Window how the view jumps to the exterior front view. 21. Similarly, double-click on Interior view and notice how the view jumps back to the interior view. 22. In the Interior view attributes, in the Animation rollout, select Animate Camera Change. Set Duration to 5.00 sec, as shown in Figure 4–18.

Figure 4–18

4–15

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

23. Double-click on Original view to activate it and return to the exterior view. 24. Double-click on Interior view. Notice how the view animates and gradually moves to the interior view in the specified time. Task 2 - Working with Depth of Field. 1. Double-click on Original view to activate it. 2. Right-click on Camera with viewpoints and select Create>Viewpoint. Notice that another Viewpoint is created. Rename the new viewpoint to Close Up. 3. Orbit and pan in the Render Window until you display the model in the front right position. Zoom until that the vehicle fills up most of the Render Window. Your display should be similar to that shown in Figure 4–19.

Figure 4–19

4. Right-click on Close Up and select Set>View to the view. Select Close Up, and in the General rollout, verify that the Field of View is set to 39.999996.

4–16

Camera and Lighting

For Depth of Field to work in any viewpoint, it should be selected for the camera’s attributes, and not for the individual viewpoint.

5. Select Camera with viewpoints to display its attributes. Expand the Lens Attributes rollout and notice that the FStop options are not available. In the General rollout, select Depth

The FStop options in the Lens Attributes rollout are available only when the Depth of Field option is active.

6. In the Lens Attributes rollout, the FStop options are now available. In the FStop Presets drop-down list, select f/1.

of Field. Alternatively, you can click (Depth of Field) in the Camera Editor toolbar to activate it.

•

In the Render Window, notice that the edges, around the top edge of the car is rough, as shown in Figure 4–20. Also notice the look of the front grill bars, as shown in Figure 4–20.

Figure 4–20

The COI must be set before antialiasing.

7. Double-click on the M logo located on the front of the grill to set the Center of Interest (COI) for the Depth of Field.

The Depth of Field affect is only visible

8. In the Icons Bar, click (Antialias) to activate it. The renderer starts smoothing the edges of the model, and the progress is indicated by a calculation wheel attached to the cursor, as shown on the left in Figure 4–21. The Antialiasing percentage and the time left for the calculations to be complete is displayed in the Status Bar, as shown on the right in Figure 4–21. Do not click anywhere in the Render Window during this process, as the antialiasing process aborts and has to restart. Wait for the antialiasing calculations to complete and the calculation wheel on the cursor to disappear.

when active.

(Antialias) is

Figure 4–21

4–17

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

•

Notice that the grill area around the M logo is sharper while the rest of the car behind it is blurred, and that the edges in the front grill bars have smoothed out, as shown in Figure 4–22.

Figure 4–22

9. In the Icons Bar, click

(Antialias) again to deactivate it.

10. Save the file as My_Mainville_Camera.vpb.

4–18

Camera and Lighting

4.2 Environments Learning Objectives • Understand the purpose and use of an environment. • Adjust the settings of an environment.

The Autodesk VRED Professional software opens a new scene in a default environment, named Studio. The environment consists of a background image, along with its associated lighting, shadows, highlights, and reflections. The environment acts to enhance the visual display of a model and improve realism. The background of an environment is a High Dynamic Range (HDR) image. By default, the image is placed on a shape of a dome, although other shapes are also available (i.e., sphere, cube, etc.). The shape completely surrounds the model, as shown in Figure 4–23. You can load various image file types to be used as the environment image and lighting, such as .HDR or .MTD. The software enables you to add, remove, or modify the environment to visually enhance a scene.

Figure 4–23

4–19

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

To access the environments through the Material Editor, on the Quick Access Bar, click (Materials), or select Scene>Material Editor. Environments are listed in the Group, Tags section. In the list, select an environment to display its attributes, as shown in Figure 4–24.

Figure 4–24

The options that are available for an environment are as follows: Environment Material rollout Environment

4–20

Enables you to load, save, and reload the image that is to be used for the environment. •

Loads the image from the required folder.

•

Saves the file.

•

Reloads the image if changes have been made to the original image.

•

Opens information about the image, such as its dimension and color channel.

Camera and Lighting

A separate HDR Light Studio plugin is required to display additional options for the HDR Light Studio.

Environment Geometry

You can select the shape on which the image is to be placed. In addition to the default Dome shape, you can select a Sphere, Cube, or Custom shape to use for the image. The environment geometry node in the Scenegraph is associated with these settings, and any changes made here automatically updates in the Scenegraph settings.

Is Visible

Toggles the visibility of the environment image. If you clear this option, then the background color that you have set for the scene is displayed as the background. The lighting from the HDR image is used, but the image is not displayed.

Flip Inside Out

Enables you to flip the normals of the environment geometry.

Shadow Plane Visible

Toggles the visibility of the Shadow plane.

HDR Light Studio rollout Enables you to load a HDR Light Studio project for the material. Saves the current HDR Light Studio Project.

Color Correction rollout

The options in this rollout are only available with the Raytrace rendering mode.

Exposure

Enables you to set the exposure level of the current HDR image.

Whitebalance Cool

Enables you set a value for displaying white and light emissive data.

Hue-Shift

Changes all of the colors used in the HDR image to the set hue color range.

Contrast, Brightness

Sets the contrast and brightness of the image.

Saturation

Sets the saturation of the image.

Reflected Saturation

Sets the saturation of the surfaces that reflect the HDR image.

Transformation rollout options

Enables you to set the projection position of the HDR image.

Raytracing Settings rollout Use as Lightsource

Sets the HDR image as a light-emitting object.

Emit Caustics

Sets the HDR image to emit caustics.

4–21

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals Material ID

Sets the ID of the material.

Illumination

Emits light to illuminate the scene.

Override IBL Sampling Quality

The Sampling Quality of the lighting from the HDR image is overridden both during an interactive render or still frame render.

Hint: Using a Background Color Instead of using a HDR image for the environment in a scene, you can select a color. In the Material Editor, open the attributes for the currently active environment and in the Environment Material rollout, clear the Is visible option, as shown in Figure 4–25. This hides the display of the loaded HDR image, but the lighting from the image is still being used.

Figure 4–25

To control the background color, in the Preferences dialog box, open the Render Options attributes. In the Visualization Advanced tab, in the Background rollout, add a new color or change the background color to be used, as shown in Figure 4–26. The background color displays as a gradient between the two colors listed.

Figure 4–26

4–22

Camera and Lighting

Practice 4b

Creating the Environment Learning Objectives • Set a color to display as the Render Window background. • Load an environment into a scene using a HDR image. • Modify the environment settings to position the HDR image correctly. • Calculate the Ambient Occlusion for the shadow plane of the new environment.

Estimated time for completion: 25 minutes

In this practice you will load an environment using an HDR image.You will reposition the environment image and calculate the Ambient Occlusion (AO) for the shadow plane of the new environment. Task 1 - Setting the background color.

The steps in the practice are based on the default interface options. To return to the default interface, close and reopen the software and select Window> Layout>Default.

1. In the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 4\ folder, open Mainville_Environment.vpb. The Mainville vehicle opens in the default environment.

2. In the Quick Access Bar, click (Materials) to open the Material Editor. Alternatively, use Scene>Material Editor, or select Material Editor in the Icons Bar or Quick Access Bar shortcut menu. Dock the Material Editor to the right side of the Render Window. 3. In the Groups, Tags section of the Material Editor, Environments is listed in the materials list with next to the name, indicating that it is an environment switch. Select Environments to display its attributes. By default, the Studio environment is listed and applied to the scene, which is indicated by

, as shown in Figure 4–27.

Figure 4–27 4–23

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

•

Notice that the attributes of the Studio environment are displayed. In the Environment Material rollout, notice that defaultEnvironment.hdr is loaded by default.

4. In the Environment Material rollout, clear the Is Visible option, as shown in Figure 4–28. In the Render Window, the background HDR image is removed, and a color gradient is displayed.

Figure 4–28

The background color is defined as a gradient between two specified colors. The change in color is dependent on its position value where 1 is the top position and 0 is the bottom.

5. Open the Preferences dialog box and click . In the Module list, select Render Options to display its attributes. Select the Visualisation Advanced tab. In the Background rollout, notice that two shades of gray are listed, defining the top and bottom of the gradient. Select the top color, as shown in Figure 4–29.

Figure 4–29

6. Click

to open the Choose a Color dialog

box. Select a red color and click

. In the

Preferences dialog box, click to apply the background color changes. (Do not close the dialog box). •

4–24

In the Render Window, the top portion of the background displays the selected red color and gradually changes into a light gray near the bottom portion.

Camera and Lighting

7. In the Preferences dialog box, with the top color selected, click

. In the Choose a Color dialog box,

select the white color (RGB: 1,1,1) and click Set the bottom color as white as well, as shown in Figure 4–30.

.

Figure 4–30

8. In the Preferences dialog box, click the new background color. Click the changes and close the dialog box.

to apply to confirm

Task 2 - Loading an Image for the Environment. It does not matter if right-clicking highlights a material randomly in the list.

1. In the Material Editor, right-click anywhere in the Groups, Tags section to open the shortcut menu. Select Create Environment>Sphere Environment. 2. In the Load Environment Image dialog box, open newyork.mtd from Chapter 4 folder of your Class Files folder. It might take a few seconds to load the image. 3. In the Groups, Tags section, the newyork material node is created. The new node displays a , which indicates that it is an environment. Select newyork to display its attributes, as shown in Figure 4–31.

Figure 4–31 4–25

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

•

In the Render Window, notice that the background displays the newyork environment, as shown in Figure 4–32.

Figure 4–32

Scroll up in the list to display Environments.

4. In the Groups, Tags section, select Environments and notice that the newyork environment has been automatically added to the environment switch, as shown in Figure 4–33.

Figure 4–33

•

Notice that newyork has an orange next to it, indicating that it is the current environment displayed in the model, but the attributes displayed are of the Studio environment as it is highlighted with a gray band.

5. In the Render Window, note that the bridge is displayed in the background. To reposition the image so that the downtown buildings display in the background, in the Material Editor, in the Environments switch, select newyork to display its attributes.

4–26

Camera and Lighting

6. Expand the Transformation rollout. Set Rotate Z to -55.00, as shown in Figure 4–34.

Figure 4–34

•

In the Render Window, the background is now the New York skyline, with the bridge displayed on the right. Note that behind the vehicle, on the right side, there is a bend in the deck planks, as shown in Figure 4–35.

Figure 4–35

4–27

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

7. In the Transformation rollout, set Center Z to 700.00, as shown in Figure 4–36. The bend in the deck planks is removed.

Figure 4–36

8. Close the Material Editor. Task 3 - Calculating the Ambient Occlusion. Every new environment uses a unique shadow plane. Shadows must be calculated for each environment used.

1. In the Menu Bar, select Visualization>Ambient Occlusion Rendering, or press . Notice that no shadows are created on the ground plane, as shown in Figure 4–37.

Figure 4–37

2. Open the Scenegraph. Expand Environment Transform> Environments. Notice that newyork is added below Studio. Expand newyork to display the Dome1 and ShadowPlane1 nodes, as shown in Figure 4–38.

4–28

Camera and Lighting

Figure 4–38

3. To load the settings of the Studio shadow plane and use them for the newyork image shadow plane, in the Scenegraph, expand Environments>Studio. You can also open the Ambient Occlusion module by selecting Ambient Occlusion in the Icons Bar or Quick Access Bar shortcut menu.

4. In the Menu Bar, select Scene>Ambient Occlusion to open the Ambient Occlusion module. 5. In the Scenegraph, select Studio>ShadowPlane, as shown on the left in Figure 4–39. In the Ambient Occlusion module, select Settings>Load from Node, as shown on the right in Figure 4–39. This automatically loads the settings of the Studio>ShadowPlane.

Figure 4–39

6. In the Scenegraph, select newyork>ShadowPlane1. In the Ambient Occlusion module, click , and wait while the AO is calculated. Close the Ambient Occlusion module.

4–29

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

7. In the Render Window, notice that shadows have been added below the vehicle, as shown in Figure 4–40. Close the Ambient Occlusion module. Return to the Realistic Rendering mode by selecting Visualization>Realistic Rendering.

Figure 4–40

8. Increase the intensity of the shadow on the newyork shadow plane by opening the Material Editor and right-clicking in the Groups, Tags section. Select Create Material>Shadow. Anew shadow material with the name Shadow1 is created. Rename it to ny_Shadow. 9. In the Scenegraph verify that newyork>ShadowPlane1 is selected, as shown on the left in Figure 4–41. In the Material Editor, verify that ny_Shadow is selected, as shown on the right in Figure 4–41. In the Material Editor toolbar, click (Apply to Selected Nodes).

Figure 4–41

10. In the Material Editor, with ny_Shadow still selected, in the Shadow Material rollout, move the Occlusion Intensity slider left and right. In the Render Window, note how the shadow under the car becomes lighter and darker. Set Occlusion Intensity to 1.50, as shown in Figure 4–42. 4–30

Camera and Lighting

Figure 4–42

•

Note the shadow under the vehicle, and that the vehicle seems to be floating, as shown in Figure 4–43.

Figure 4–43

11. In the Scenegraph verify that ShadowPlane1 is still selected. In the Quick Access Bar, click (Transform). In the Transform module, in the Translation rollout, set Translate Z to 37.00 to move the Shadow plane geometry up. Notice that the mainville car now sits directly on the wooden deck. 12. Save the file as My_Mainville_Environment.vpb. 4–31

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

4.3 Lights Learning Objectives • Add brightness to a scene by creating light objects. • Understand the different types of available light sources. • Modify the attributes of light sources using the Light Editor.

By default, the Autodesk VRED Professional software illuminates the scene with lighting information that is provided in an environment image. To add additional illumination, the software enables you to create additional light sources. The light sources are objects that are based on computer calculations, and attempt to imitate lights that are used in everyday life. The light objects are used to add illumination to the model and the space around it to make the scene brighter, add highlights, or create drama. In the Autodesk VRED Professional software, different light objects are created using the Light Editor. To open the Light Editor, in the Menu Bar, select Scene>Light Editor, or by selecting (Lights) in the Icons Bar or Status Bar shortcut menu. By default, the Lights icon is not included in the Quick Access Bar. Light objects are highly configurable and require adjustments to achieve the required effect. The Light Editor (shown in Figure 4–44) is an interface which enables you to create light objects and modify their attributes to illuminate a scene as per your requirements. As with other modules, the Light Editor is modeless and remains open regardless of the task that you are performing. You can dock or undock the Light Editor by clicking . Along the left side of the Light Editor, all of the light objects that are present in the scene are displayed. Along the right side, the attributes of the selected light object are displayed, as shown in Figure 4–44. The Light Editor also contains a toolbar located at the bottom of the module.

4–32

Camera and Lighting

Figure 4–44

By default, a Headlight is always present in the scene and is on. You can toggle the headlight on and off by clicking (Headlight) in the Icons Bar. Alternatively, you can toggle Enabled in the Properties rollout of the Headlight attributes in the Light Editor.

Light Sources and the Scenegraph

When a light source is created, two separate nodes are listed in the Scenegraph, as shown in Figure 4–45. One is the light source node and the other one is the light transformation node. Light transformation node

Light source node

Figure 4–45 4–33

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

•

The location of the light source node in the tree structure defines the geometry that it lights up when the Local Lighting option is selected in the Light Editor. For example, in Figure 4–45, the PointLight lights the geometries that are a part of the interior node.

•

The transform node stores all of the transform information of that light source. By default, this light transformation node is a child of the LightTransforms light transform group node, as shown in Figure 4–45. The visibility of the light transform nodes in the Scenegraph is controlled by the Show Internal Nodes in Scenegraph option in the MainWindow tab of the Preferences dialog box, as shown in Figure 4–46.

Figure 4–46

Types of Lights

There are several different types of lights available in the Autodesk VRED Professional software. To create a light object, you must select the required light type. Right-click in the Light list area and select Create to open the different types of lights available, as shown in Figure 4–47. You can also click in the Light Editor toolbar to display the light types. Select the light type that you want to create. After creating a light, you can change its type in the light attributes.

Figure 4–47

4–34

Camera and Lighting

Once a light is created, its corresponding light object is placed in the Render Window. Light objects are similar to any other object in that they can be named, moved, rotated, and edited. The light objects for each light type are as follows: Light Object

Light Type

Light Object

Light Type

Directional Light

Rectangular Light

Spot Light

Spherical Light

Point Light

Ray Light

Disk Light

Directional Light Directional lights are used to represent light sources that cast parallel rays. A 2D view of a directional light casting its rays is shown on the left in Figure 4–48 and its 3D view is shown on the right in Figure 4–48. The origin of a directional light is far away from the objects in the scene. The best example of a parallel light source would be the sun.

Figure 4–48

4–35

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Spot Light Spot lights represent light sources that cast focused beams of light in the form of a cone. The majority of real world lighting fixtures are most appropriately represented by spot lights. A 2D view of a spot light casting its rays is shown on the left in Figure 4–49, and its 3D view is shown on the right in Figure 4–49.

Figure 4–49

•

The cone of a spot light is created by defining two options: the Cone Angle and the Penumbra Angle.

•

The Cone Angle is the angle in which the full lighting intensity (or hard light) is projected. It is represented as the inner cone in Figure 4–49.

•

The Penumbra Angle is the outer angle that defines the area that provides soft illumination, represented as the outer cone in Figure 4–49.

Point Light A Point Light casts light equally in all directions, such as an idealized light bulb.

Disk Light and Rectangular Light The Disk Light and the Rectangular Light types are similar to the Spot Light. In addition to being created with a circular or a rectangular base respectively, they have attributes for controlling the attenuation mode, interactive quality, and a still frame quality.

4–36

Camera and Lighting

Spherical Light The Spherical Light is similar to the Point Light, but also enables you to control the settings for attenuation mode, interactive quality, and a still frame quality.

How To: Create a New Light 1. In the Light Editor, in the Light List area, right-click anywhere to display the shortcut menu. 2. Select Create, and select the type of light from the list. In the Render Window, the light object is created and is placed at the origin of the scene objects. 3. Rename the light so that it has a name relevant to the scene. 4. Apply transforms to the light object. •

With the light selected, click (Transform) in the Icons Bar. Similar to any other object, you can apply move, rotate, and scale transforms. Use the Transform manipulator (shown in Figure 4–50) to translate, rotate, or scale the light source as required.

Transform Light

Figure 4–50

5. Select the light and set its attributes as required.

Light Attributes

The attributes for the light objects are provided in rollouts. Most of the attributes are common to all of the different light types. There are certain attributes and rollouts that are unique to a specific light type.

4–37

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Common Light Attributes Properties rollout Name

Sets the name for the selected light type.

Type

Enables you to change the light type.

Local Lighting

Controls the illumination of the geometry associated with the selected light source. The associated geometry is defined by having the particular geometry inside of the light source node in the Scenegraph.

Enabled

Toggles the light source on and off. This can be controlled using the in the Light Editor toolbar, or using Switch on/Switch Off in the selected light’s shortcut menu. You can also use name to toggle it.

next to the light

Intensity

Sets the intensity of the selected light. A higher value corresponds to brighter light.

Diffuse

Sets the color for the diffuse reflection from the dull surfaces of the objects in the scene.

Specular

Sets the color for the specular reflection from the shiny surfaces of the objects in the scene.

Use Temperature

Toggles the Temperature option. When enabled, the Diffuse and Specular options are disabled.

Temperature

Sets the color temperature.

Shadow Intensity

Enables you to set the intensity of the shadows.

Illuminate Shadow Material

Enables the shadow material to be illuminated by the light source.

Cast Shadow on Shadow Material

Enables you to set the shadows on the shadow material.

Visualisation rollout Makes all light source geometries visible, and the effects of the transforms being applied are displayed in the Render Window. Makes the selected light source geometry visible and the effects of the transforms being applied are displayed in the Render Window. Hides the geometries of all light sources in the Render Window. Hides the geometry of only the selected light source(s) in the Render Window. Scale

4–38

Scales the size of the light source geometry.

Camera and Lighting

Transform rollout Sets the position and direction of the light source to that of the current camera. Sets the position and direction of the current camera to that of the light source. Sets the transform information of the light source to that of the selected geometry. Resets all light settings.

Additional Attributes In addition to the common attributes, the Light Attenuation option and the Light Profile rollout is available for all of the different types of lights, except for the Directional Light. Properties rollout Light Attenuation

Sets the light intensity with respect to the distance of light. • None: Light intensity is constant with respect to the light distance. • Linear: Light intensity is decreased linearly with respect to the light distance. • Quadratic: Light intensity is decreased quadratically with respect to the light distance.

Light Profile rollout Light Profile

Uses an IES data file to simulate the correct light falloff and intensity. The IES data file contains standard data with correct physical light attributes. These files are generally provided by lighting manufactures, and might be available through the net. This rollout has options to enable the use of a light profile. Once enabled you can specify the path to an IES file in the IES Profile field, shown in Figure 4–51. enables you to set the light source shape to the shape that is defined in the IES file.

Figure 4–51

4–39

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Additional Attributes for Spot Light, Disk Light, and Rectangular Light The Spot Light, the Disk Light and Rectangular Light have additional options available in the Properties rollout, as follows: Properties rollout Cone Angle

The angle over which the full lighting intensity is projected. It is measured from one edge to the other in degrees.

Penumbra Angle

Enables you to set the falloff in degrees, and can have a positive or a negative value. When the Cone Angle and the Penumbra Angle are similar values, the light creates a sharply defined pool of light. When the angles are widely separated, the angles create a soft, gradual fade.

Additional Attributes for Spherical Light, Disk Light, and Rectangular Light The Spherical, Disk Light, and Rectangular Light have additional options in the Area Light rollout, as follows: Area Light rollout

4–40

Attenuation Mode

Select either the Realistic Attenuation or Custom Attenuation, which enables you to set the falloff of the light intensity.

Primary Visibility

Controls the visibility of the area light sources. Only used for area lights while in Raytrace rendering mode. The options in the Visualization rollout work when the Primary Visibility is enabled.

Visible in Reflections

Controls the visibility of the light source in reflections.

Interactive Quality

Controls the rendering quality. The higher the value, the better the rendering quality at the cost of a slower rendering speed.

Still Frame Quality

Controls the still frame quality in Raytracing rendering mode.

Camera and Lighting

Practice 4c

Working with Lights Learning Objectives • Create a spot light and a point light. • Modify the light attributes to create a realistic rendered image.

Estimated time for completion: 25 minutes

In this practice you will create a spot light and a point light, and then modify their attributes. Task 1 - Creating a Spot Light.

The steps in the practice are based on the default interface options. To return to the default interface, close and reopen the software and select Window> Layout>Default.

1. In the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 4\ folder, open Mainville_Lights.vpb. 2. To open the Light Editor, in the Menu Bar, select Scene> Light Editor, or select Light Editor in the Icons Bar or Quick Access Bar shortcut menu. Dock the Light Editor to the right side of the Render Window. In the Lights List, notice that the Headlight is active, as shown in Figure 4–52.

Figure 4–52

3. In the Light Editor, right-click anywhere in the Lights List section and select Create>Spot Light. Notice that the new SpotLight is created and highlighted with a gray band, indicating that its attributes are displayed. 4. In the Properties rollout, change the new light’s name to Ext Spot.

4–41

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

5. Open the Scenegraph and notice that the Ext Spot light source and LightTransforms nodes have been added, as shown in Figure 4–53. Expand the LightTransforms node and notice that the Ext SpotTransformGroup subordinate node is present.

Figure 4–53

6. In the Render Window, the light source is not displayed because it is located underneath the vehicle. In the Scenegraph, select ExtSpotTransformGroup and drop it in the Render Window to isolate it in the scene. Notice that the bounding box and the top portion of the light source is visible, as shown in Figure 4–54.

Figure 4–54

Use + to display the Translate handles if they are not already displayed.

7. In the Icons Bar, click (Transform). The Transform manipulator and Translation handles are displayed for the selected light source. Using the blue translation handle, move the light source up and place it near the top of the Render Window, as shown in Figure 4–55.

Figure 4–55

4–42

Camera and Lighting

8. Clear (Isolate) and close the Scenegraph and the Light Editor. Notice the shadows of the vehicle on the shadow plane, as shown in Figure 4–56.

Figure 4–56

9. In the Navigation Cube, click and drag the right edge to the left to display the Right label. Click Right. The light source is zoomed into the right view of the scene. 10. Zoom out until both the light and the car are visible in the Render Window. 11. Using the blue Z-axis translation handle of the transform manipulator, move the light source further up until it displays approximately 3000.00 in the Translation interactive display box, as shown in Figure 4–57.

Figure 4–57

4–43

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

The Transform module can be used to enter exact values.

•

Click (Transform) in the Quick Access Bar to open the Transform module. In the Translation rollout, set Translate Z to 3100.00, as shown in Figure 4–58.

Figure 4–58

12. In the Navigation Cube, click and drag the left edge towards right so that the Back label displays. Click Back to display the zoomed in light source in the back view. 13. Zoom out until the vehicle and the light source are visible in the Render Window and pan to center the scene, as shown in Figure 4–59. Notice that the front of the car is displayed in the Back view. This depends on how the model was created in the originating software.

Figure 4–59

4–44

Camera and Lighting

•

Note that shadows that have been created under the car and around the tires. They extend equally below on both sides of the tires because the spot light is directly above the car.

14. In the Transform module, in the Translation rollout, set Translate Y to 2000.00, as shown in Figure 4–60. You can also use the green Y-axis manipulator handle to move the light source.

Figure 4–60

•

Notice how the shadows have elongated towards the left side of the vehicle. Also the left tire shadow is cut and does not display completely, as shown in Figure 4–61. This is dependent on the position and angle of the spot light.

Figure 4–61

4–45

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

You can select Rotation Manipulator from the Transform drop-down list in the Icons Bar.

15. Press + to change to the rotation manipulator handles. Using the red rotation handle (as shown on the left in Figure 4–62), rotate the light source towards the left. Note how the shadows are elongated further towards the left. 16. In the Transform module, in the Rotation rollout, set Rotate X as -14.00, as shown on the right in Figure 4–62. As with other transforms, you can also use the red X-axis rotation handle to rotate the light source. Note that the elongated tire shadow displays completely.

Figure 4–62

17. Clear the light source selection by holding and then right-clicking anywhere in the Render Window. Close the Transform module. 18. Open the Light Editor and select Ext Spot. 19. Click and drag the top edge of the Navigation Cube downwards until Top becomes visible. Click Top. 20. Zoom in and pan to display the vehicle and shadows in the top view, as shown in Figure 4–63. A white background has been applied in this image for printing clarity.

Figure 4–63 4–46

Camera and Lighting

21. Clear the (Headlight) toggle to deactivate it. Note how the shadows become darker. 22. In the Ext Spot attributes, in the Properties rollout, set the Cone Angle to 35.00. Note how the shadow for the back of the car is cut, as shown on the left in Figure 4–64. Set the Cone Angle to 45.00. Although the back shadow is extended, it is still not completely visible. Set the Cone Angle to 47.00 and notice how the shadow for the back of the car is now completely visible, as shown on the right in Figure 4–64.

Figure 4–64

23. In the Properties rollout, set the Shadow Intensity to 0.60. Note how the shadow becomes slightly lighter. Task 2 - Creating a Point Light. 1. In the Light Editor, right-click anywhere in the Lights List area. Select Create>Point Light. Notice that a new PointLight is created and highlighted with a gray band. In the Render Window, notice that the new point light source is created somewhere below the vehicle. 2. In the Properties rollout, change the new light’s name to Int Point. 3. Open the Scenegraph and notice that the Int Point light source has been added. Expand the LightTransforms node and notice that the Int PointTransform Group subordinate node has been added, as shown in Figure 4–65.

Figure 4–65 4–47

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

4. In the Scenegraph, expand AliasWorld-MainvilleHyperRod. Drag the Int Point and drop it into the interior node. Expand interior and notice that Int Point is placed inside it in the tree structure, as shown on the left in Figure 4–66. 5. In the interior node, select all of the group nodes, starting from seats to engine mount (use for multiple selection). Drag and drop this selection on Int Point so that these become subordinate nodes of Int Point, as shown on the right in Figure 4–66. This associates the point light with the interior geometry.

Figure 4–66

Now that the light has been created, you will move the point light to the inside of the vehicle. 6. In the Navigation Cube, click scene in the ICV view.

(Home) to display the

7. In the Scenegraph, in the LightTransforms node, drag and drop the IntPointTransformGroup node to isolate it in the scene. Notice in the Render Window, only the top portion of the light source is visible, as shown in Figure 4–67, because some portion is beneath the ground plane.

Figure 4–67

4–48

Camera and Lighting

8. Clear (Isolate) and notice that a small portion of the bounding box is visible under the vehicle. 9. Open the Camera Editor. Expand Camera with Viewpoints and CameraTrack1. Double-click on Interior view, as shown in Figure 4–68. Notice in the Render Window that the vehicle is displayed in the interior camera view. Close the Camera Editor.

Figure 4–68

10. Verify that the IntPointTransformGroup node is still selected in the Scenegraph. In the Light Editor, with the Int Point selected and its attributes open, open the Transform rollout. Click . In the Render Window, the interior of the car is brightened because the light is moved to the location of the selected camera. 11. In the Properties rollout, notice that the Intensity is currently set to 1.00, and that the interior is dull with no highlights on the steering wheel and the dash board, as shown on the left in Figure 4–69. Set the Intensity to 10.00. Note how the interior brightens, and the highlights become brighter on parts of the steering wheel and the dashboard, as they are a shiny plastic material, as shown on the right in Figure 4–69.

Figure 4–69

4–49

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

12. Modify both the Diffuse and the Specular sliders (as shown in Figure 4–70) and notice how the glossy highlights and the overall brightness are toned down.

Figure 4–70

13. In the Navigation Cube, click (Home) to display the scene in the ICV view. Note that a bright light is visible inside the windshield near the steering wheel. This is due to the new light at the interior camera position. 14. In the Light Editor, click next to Int Point to switch it off. Note how the bright light inside the interior of the vehicle is no longer displayed. Also notice the exterior shadows on the ground becoming darker. 15. In the Light Editor, in the Properties rollout, for Int Point, select LocalLighting and Enabled to switch the light back on again, as shown in Figure 4–71.

Figure 4–71

•

Notice that only the interior of the vehicle is brightened with no affect on the exterior shadows. This is because the Point Light was associated with the interior of the car.

16. In the Visualization rollout, click to hide the display of the light objects in the Render Window. 17. Save the file as My_Mainville_Lights.vpb. 4–50

Camera and Lighting

Chapter Review Questions 1. In the Autodesk VRED Professional software, which of the following statements is correct? a. The four default camera views cannot be deleted and their projection modes cannot be changed. b. The four default camera views can be deleted, but their projection modes cannot be changed. c. The four default camera views cannot be deleted, but their projection mode can be changed. d. The four default camera views can be deleted and their projection mode can be changed. 2. Which option is a camera-specific effect that causes distance blurring? a. .Field of View b. .Depth of Field c. .Motion Blur d. .Roll 3. Which module do you use to set the environment for a scene? a. Material Editor b. Camera Editor c. Lights Editor d. Geometry Editor 4. The Environment geometric shape on which the HDR image is projected is ONLY in the form of a dome. a. True b. False 5. Which light source casts a focused beam of light in the form of a cone? a. Directional Light b. Point Light c. Spot Light d. Spherical Light

4–51

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

6. The cone angle and the penumbra angle defines the hard light and soft illumination for which type of light source(s)? (Select all that apply.) a. Point Light b. Spot Light c. Spherical Light d. Disk Light

4–52

Camera and Lighting

Command Summary Button

Action / Command

Location

Antoalias

• Icons Bar • Shortcut:

Camera Editor

• Quick Access Bar • Menu Bar: Scene>Camera Editor • Shortcut Menu (on the Icons Bar or Quick Access Bar): Camera Editor

Depth of Field

• Camera Editor Toolcar • Camera Attributes (General rollout): Depth of Field

N/A

Field of View

• Camera Attributes (General rollout): Field of View • Status Bar: FOV

Headlight

• Icons Bar • Headlight Attributes in Light Editor (Properties rollout): Enabled

N/A

Light Editor

• Menu Bar: Scene>Light Editor • Shortcut Menu (on the Icons Bar or Quick Access Bar): Light Editor

Motion Blur

• Camera Editor Toolcar • Camera Attributes (General rollout): Motion Blur

4–53

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

4–54

Chapter 5 Rendering In this chapter you learn about the OpenGL and Raytracing rendering methods, that are used in the Autodesk® VRED™ Professional software. You learn about the additional visual modes that are available. You also learn how to modify the rendering settings and illumination modes to enhance the render quality.

This chapter contains the following topics:

• Rendering • Rendering Modes • Render Settings

5–1

5–2

Rendering

5.1 Rendering Learning Objective • Understand the two main rendering methods, OpenGL and Raytracing.

In the Autodesk VRED Professional software, the scene that is displayed in the Render Window is rendered in real time. Two rendering methods are used in the software: OpenGL rendering and Raytracing. OpenGL is a GPU-based render mode while Raytracing is CPU based. By default, the view that is displayed in the Render Window is being interactively rendered using the OpenGL render mode. To render a scene in the Raytracing mode, you are required to activate it manually. When Raytracing is toggled off, OpenGL is automatically activated. The renderer that is currently being used is displayed in the Status Bar, as shown in Figure 5–1. When RR-GL is displayed in the Status bar, it indicates that the OpenGL mode in Realistic Rendering is currently used. When RR-RT is displayed in the Status bar, it indicates that Raytracing mode with Realistic Rendering is being used to render the scene.

Figure 5–1

OpenGL Rendering

OpenGL rendering is the default rendering used to display a scene. It uses the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) to render calculations, resulting in a fast response time. As the scene is being rendered interactively in real-time, it is easier to navigate, transform geometry, modify materials or cameras, and output images. The renderings created in this render mode are near photorealistic and are calculated quickly, thus making it easier to work with. You can control the rendering quality in the Render Settings module.

5–3

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

A rendered image using the OpenGL render mode is shown in Figure 5–2.

Figure 5–2

The OpenGL render mode is on by default. If the Raytracing mode is toggled on, you can reactivate OpenGL using any of the following methods:

Raytracing

5–4

•

Toggle Raytracing off by clearing (Raytracing) in the Icons Bar. This automatically activates OpenGL.

•

In the Menu Bar, clear Visualization>Toggle Raytracing.

•

Press to activate OpenGL.

Raytracing is a rendering method that is used to calculate physically correct lighting, reflections, refractions, and shadows. Depending on the illumination mode you are using, you can add realistic shadows and reflections to the scene to produce very high-quality visualizations. This method uses the CPU (Central Processing Unit) for calculations, which can affect the speed and performance of the Autodesk VRED Professional software, and your computer. In addition to the general settings, an additional Raytracing Quality tab is available in the Render Settings module to control the raytracing quality.

Rendering

A rendered image using the Raytracing render mode is shown in Figure 5–3.

Figure 5–3

You can activate Raytracing mode using any of the following methods: •

Toggle Raytracing on by clicking Icons Bar.

(Raytracing) in the

•

In the Menu Bar, select Visualization>Toggle Raytracing to toggle it on.

•

Press to activate Raytracing.

•

Once you toggle Raytracing on, it might take a few seconds to make the Raytracing calculations. While your computer is making the computations, along the left side of the Status Bar, notice Toggle Raytracing is displayed, as shown on the left in Figure 5–4. Once the calculations are complete, notice in the Status Bar RR-RT is displayed (as shown on the right in Figure 5–4), indicating that the scene is displayed in Realistic Rendering and Raytracing modes.

Figure 5–4

5–5

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

5.2 Rendering Modes Learning Objective • Understand the additional rendering modes that can be used in addition to the OpenGL and Raytracing rendering modes.

In the Autodesk VRED Professional software, there are additional rendering modes that are available that can be used with either OpenGL or Raytracing rendering. These render modes are available in the Visualization menu, as shown in Figure 5–5.

Figure 5–5

Realistic Rendering This is the default rendering mode which displays the objects in the scene with highest realism that can be achieved with the selected renderer (either OpenGL or Raytracing), as shown in Figure 5–6. To display objects in this mode, in the Menu Bar, select Visualization>Realistic Rendering, or press (OpenGL) or (Raytracing).

5–6

Rendering

Figure 5–6

Renderpasses Rendering This mode is meant for advanced users and is not discussed in this Training Guide.

This mode is available only when Raytracing is the active rendering mode. This enables you to visualize the scene in different raytrace renderpasses. The various Renderpasses that are available with the software can be accessed from the Visualization menu, as shown in Figure 5–7.

Figure 5–7

5–7

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Vertex/Face Normal Rendering This mode enables you to verify the orientation of faces and vertices by displaying the geometry in different colors based on the direction of the face and vertex normals. The surfaces display in four different colors, indicating different issues with the geometry, as shown in Figure 5–8. The correct geometry should be displayed completely in green. To display the scene in this mode, in the Menu Bar, select Visualization>Vertex/Face Normal Rendering, or press .

Violet Gold

Green

Blue

Figure 5–8

Ambient Occlusion Rendering Mode Ambient Occlusion (AO) refers to precomputed shadows and self shading of objects that is used with the OpenGL render mode and the Precomputed Illumination option of the Raytracing render mode. The Ambient Occlusion Rendering mode enables you to examine the AO in the Render Window, as shown in Figure 5–9. To display the scene in this mode, in the Menu Bar, select Visualization>Ambient Occlusion Rendering, or press .

Figure 5–9 5–8

Rendering

This mode is meant for advanced users and is not discussed in this Training Guide.

Indirect Illumination Rendering Mode This mode is used with both OpenGL and Raytracing render modes. In OpenGL mode, the Indirect Illumination displays the precalculated indirect illumination, as shown in Figure 5–10. In Raytracing mode, during Photon Mapping, this mode enables you to visualize the final gather map. To display the scene in this mode, in the Menu Bar, select Visualization>Indirect Illumination Rendering.

Figure 5–10

This mode is meant for advanced users and is not discussed in this Training Guide.

Surface Analysis Rendering Mode This mode is used to analyze the surface of your model, as shown in Figure 5–11. This is a diagnostic type of rendering which enables you to troubleshoot the surfaces. To display the scene in this mode, in the Menu Bar, select Visualization> Surface Analysis Rendering, or press . You can set the options for this mode in the Surface Analysis module.

Figure 5–11

5–9

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Analytical Rendering Mode This mode enables you to create renderings which have an average quality (as shown in Figure 5–12), but the software performance is very high. In this mode, the model displays only basic shading without any reflections. It uses the lighting from the standard light sources, and Image Based Lighting (IBL) is not used. If no light sources have been added to the scene, then you are required to switch on the Headlight, otherwise the rendering is dark and nothing is visible.

Figure 5–12

Non Photorealistic Rendering Mode This mode enables you to display the geometry in the form of a schematic rendering, as shown in Figure 5–13. Using this mode, you can present your scene while you are still in the design phase. Using this graphic display of the scene, you can create line drawing images that are useful for basic descriptions of the geometries and parts.

Figure 5–13

5–10

Rendering

5.3 Render Settings Learning Objective • Understand the options available in the Render Settings module, and how to used them to enhance your visualizations.

Before you save a final rendered image, review and adjust the sender settings for the scene using the Render Settings module, as shown in Figure 5–14. In the Quick Access Bar, click (Render), or select Rendering>Render Settings in the Menu Bar. Alternatively, you can also select Render Settings in the Icons Bar or Quick Access Bar shortcut menu.

Figure 5–14

5–11

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

The Render Settings module has four tabs: File Output, General Settings, Raytracing Quality, and Display Output.

File Output Tab

This tab provides you with options that enable you to set the size of the rendered image, rendering mode to use, and quality of the final image. These options are provided in the Image rollout, as shown in Figure 5–14. The other rollouts are the Meta Data, Renderpasses, Animation, and Cluster. The options provided in these rollouts are meant for advanced users and are not discussed in this training guide. The options provided in the Image rollout are as follows: Option

Description

View

Displays all of the camera views that have been created with the scene. You can select the camera view that you want to render. The default setting is the Current camera view.

Filename

Sets the location to which you want to save the rendering. Click to open the Save Rendering(s) dialog box and set the path, filename, and type of file where the rendering is to be saved.

Use Time Stamp

A time stamp is appended to the filename.

Image Size Presets

Enables you to select the required rendering image size from a list of presets.

Image Size

Displays the preset selected image width and height in pixels. You can also set a custom size by entering the values in the width and height edit boxes.

Printing Size

Sets the size for printing the image.

Resolution

Sets the image resolution in pixels per inch.

Region Render:

Available only when using the Raytracing rendering mode, Region Render enables you to select a portion of the image to render, rather then rendering the entire image. Toggling this option on enables you to either use the cursor to select the region you want to render, or to enter the coordinates for the upper left and lower right corners of a required area.

Upper Left Corner, Lower Right Corner

To specify a region using the cursor, click (Region) in the Icons Bar, press , and then click two diagonally opposite points to create a region window. Click to activate the area, and automatically update the Upper Left Corner and the Lower Right Corner coordinates.

5–12

Rendering Render Mode

Sets the illumination modes for a still frame rendering. You can select from a list of available illumination modes, such as CPU Raterization, Precomputed Illumination, Precomputed + Shadow, Precomputed + IBL, and Full Global Illumination. Selecting an option automatically activates the Still Frame illumination mode in the Raytracing Quality tab.

Render Quality

Sets the render quality (i.e., the number of image samples created for the rendering). Selecting an option automatically sets the Image Samples value in the General Settings tab, as follows: • Draft: 32 image samples • Preview: 128 image samples • Production: 512 image samples • Production Interieur: 2048 image samples Setting any other value for the Image Samples field changes the Render Quality to Custom.

Supersampling

Sets the supersampling for the rendering. Toggles the antialiasing with the set image samples. By default it is set as On.

Background Color

Enables you to set the background color during raytracing.

Tonemap HDR

Tonemapping is applied to the HDR image. The tone mapper can be set in the Camera Editor module, which must be saved as an .EXR file.

Export Alpha Channel

Sets the alpha channel for the rendered image, which means that a transparent background is provided with the scene geometry.

Premultiply Alpha

Available with the Export Alpha Channel option, where the alpha channel is rendered as premultiplied.

ICC Profile

Sets the ICC Profile for the rendering.

5–13

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

General Settings Tab

This tab provides you with options that enable you to adjust the quality of the image by smoothing the edges (antialiasing), as shown in Figure 5–15. These options are provided in the Antialiasing and the Pixel Filter rollouts. The settings in the Options rollout are meant for advanced users, and are not discussed in this training guide.

Figure 5–15

Antialiasing Antialiasing is the process of smoothing edges and removing jagged diagonal lines that display in the Render Window, as shown in Figure 5–16. This process improves the display quality of a scene substantially. The improvement and quality is dependent on the settings in Antialiasing and the Pixel Filter rollouts of the Render Settings module, as shown in Figure 5–16.

Without Antialiasing

With Antialiasing

Figure 5–16

•

You can toggle start Still frame Antialiasing by using (Antialias) in the Icons Bar, or by pressing .

•

5–14

If Antialiasing is activated, the smoothing of edges starts as soon as you stop navigating (release the mouse button) in the Render Window. The start of antialiasing is indicated by the percentage calculation wheel attached to the cursor. If you click in the model, the antialiasing is aborted and restarts as soon as you release the mouse button.

Rendering

•

The percentage of antialiasing that is completed, along with the render time remaining, is displayed in the Status Bar, as shown on the left in Figure 5–17. The percentage of the completed antialiasing is also attached to the cursor, as shown on the right in Figure 5–17.

Figure 5–17

•

There are two types of Antialiasing that can be used while using Raytracing. Click and hold (Antialias) in the Icons Bar to display the drop-down list, as shown in Figure 5–18. You can select either Enable Downscale Antialiasing or Enable Raytraced Antialiasing, as required.

Figure 5–18

Hint: Stillframe Antialiasing Start Time By default, when you activate Antialiasing, the smoothing of edges calculations starts immediately after you stop navigating in the Render Window. The period of time between releasing the mouse button and the start of the smoothing calculations can be controlled in the Preferences dialog box. Select Edit> Preferences, and in the Render Options tab, in the Visualisation tab, in the Render Window rollout, enter a time in seconds in the Stillframe AA After, as shown in Figure 5–19.

Figure 5–19

5–15

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

•

The options in the General Settings tab of the Render Settings module can be used to adjust the quality of the image while antialiasing. The available options are as follows: Antialiasing rollout Image Samples

Enables you to set the number of samples that are used while antialiasing a still frame. This determines how much edge smoothing should take place. The higher the value used, the better the image quality and edge smoothing. Changes to the value in Image Samples. changes the Render Quality options in the File Output tab.

Adaptive Sampling

Adaptive Sampling can be set in such a way that the raytrace renderer does not work on areas that are already smooth, but targets the areas which are noisy and need to be smoothed. You can select Preview Quality if you want a fast rendering with very low quality, while the Low Quality, Medium Quality, and High Quality options gradually increase the render quality and the render times. The Ultra High Quality and the Highest Quality should be used when you need to create a production-quality render. These take significantly longer to create the renderings.

Use Clamping

If bright pixels are created and cannot be removed with antialiasing, then increase the clamping to remove them. A side effect to a high clamping value is that the render might get very dull. for this reason, clamping requires testing as you increase the values, to ensure that you set it at a value which looks best for your requirements.

Pixel Filter rollout Filter

Affects the calculations of the neighboring pixels per sample. Select an option from the drop down list (as shown in Figure 5–20) to define the degree of sharpness. BSpline and Mitchell Natravelli are the sharpest filters, while as Triangle is the fastest.

Figure 5–20

5–16

Rendering Size

Sets the size that the filter covers. The size of the filter selected should be set as a common value to avoid unwanted artifacts. Hovering over the value, opens the Common Values list, as shown in Figure 5–21.

Figure 5–21

Raytracing Quality Tab

This tab provides you with options to set the raytracing settings, as shown in Figure 5–22. These options are provided in the Illumination Mode rollout. The other rollouts are the Photon Tracing, IBL Sampling Quality, Reflection/Refraction Sampling Quality, Trace Depth, and Material Overrides. For this training guide, only the Illumination Mode rollout is discussed.

Figure 5–22

The Illumination Mode rollout provides you with different types of illumination that can be used while rendering with Raytracing. These illumination modes can be set for both Interactive or Still Frame rendering. The options (shown in Figure 5–23) are the same in both modes, and are as follows:

Figure 5–23

5–17

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals CPU Rasterization

Works similar to the OpenGL mode, but the computation processes are handled by the CPU. This illumination mode can be used for huge datasets, or when your graphic card performance is not sufficient for the kind of scene you want to render. It does not compute direct reflection or refraction, and therefore is not used for photorealistic visualizations.

Precomputed Illumination

Uses the Ambient Occlusion (AO) shadows that are baked on the geometry, along with precomputed indirect illumination. It only calculates the reflections, refractions, and correct shadows from the light sources that are present in the scene.

Precomputed Illumination + Shadows

Uses the precomputed Image Based Lighting (IBL) and indirect illumination. This mode does not use the precalculated AO, but calculates the shadows from the currently active scene environment.

Precomputed Illumination + IBL

Uses the precomputed illumination, but calculates the IBL. In addition, this mode calculates and generates glossy reflections.

Full Global Illumination

Global Illumination (GI) algorithms describes how the interaction of the light is physically correct with multiple surfaces. As the name specifies, Full Global Illumination computes complete illumination in the scene, and thus produces stunningly realistic images.

Downscale When Raytracing is active, the rendering calculations are performed by the CPU. While rendering complex and heavy scenes in realtime raytracing, it becomes important to reduce the display quality to ensure efficient navigation in the Render Window. •

In the Autodesk VRED Professional software, Downscale is available to reduce the display quality in the Render Window.

•

You can start the Downscale command by clicking (Downscale) in the Icons Bar.

•

5–18

Click and hold (Downscale) to display the drop-down list that enables you to select Low, Medium, or High for the level of downscale, as shown in Figure 5–24.

Rendering

Figure 5–24

•

• •

Low: Every second pixel in the Render Window is processed for rendering, as shown on the left in Figure 5–25. This results in the clearest rendering, but the slowest navigation performance. Medium: Every fourth pixel in the Render Window is processed. High: Every eighth pixel in the Render Window is processed, as shown on the right in Figure 5–25. This results in the most reduced visual quality, but the fastest navigation.

Low Downscale

High Downscale

Figure 5–25

•

Downscale is available while using the Raytracing render mode because the performance is significantly dependent on the number of pixels to be rendered. In OpenGl, reducing the number of pixels has virtually no affect on performance.

5–19

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Practice 5a

Creating Renderings with OpenGL Learning Objectives • Modify various Render Settings options for creating rendered images in OpenGL. • Create a rendered image of the scene with a white background. • Create a rendered image of the scene with a HDR image background and additional lighting.

Estimated time for completion: 20 minutes (without rendering)

In this practice you will modify the settings for rendering and then create various rendered images with different environment backgrounds, lighting options, and camera viewpoints. Task 1 - Creating a rendered image in OpenGL.

The steps in the practice are based on the default interface options. To return to the default interface, close and reopen the software and select Window> Layout>Default.

In this task you will render the scene using a saved camera viewpoint and basic lighting, without using a background HDR image. 1. In the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 5\ folder, open Mainville_Render.vpb. 2. Open the Camera Editor and expand Camera with Viewpoints>Camera Track1. Double-click on Original View to activate it so that the view is displayed in the Render Window. Close the Camera Editor. 3. It is recommended to initially display the scene with a white background, where it is easier to check for any flaws. Select Edit>Preferences to open the Preferences dialog box and click to revert all of the settings to their defaults. Select Render Options, and in its attributes, in the Visualisation Advanced tab, in the Background rollout, set the background gradient colors to white, as shown in Figure 5–26. Click

and then click

Figure 5–26 5–20

.

Rendering

4. In the Material Editor, in the Materials list section, select Environments to open its attributes. Notice that Studio has an orange next to it, indicating that it is the current environment and is displayed in the Render Window. It is also selected with a gray band, indicating that its attributes are displayed. In the Environment Material rollout, clear the Is Visible option. The environment image is replaced with the white background in the Render Window, as shown in Figure 5–27. Close the Material Editor.

Figure 5–27

5. Review the scene carefully. Notice that the lighting is too bright. In the Light Editor, select Ext Spot, and in its attributes clear the Enabled option to toggle it off. The long shadows are removed, and only the baked Ambient Occlusion (AO) shadows are present, as shown in Figure 5–28. Also the hotspots caused by the light source are removed.

Figure 5–28

5–21

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

6. Switch off both the Headlight and the INT Point light source by clearing the Enabled option in their respective attributes. Close the Lights Editor. The calculation cursor might not be visible on the white background of the Render Window. Move the cursor to a darker background, such as the Status Bar or Icons Bar, if required

7. In the Render Window, notice the jagged lines near the hood of the vehicle, as shown on the left in Figure 5–30. To improve the visual display, in the Icons Bar, click (Antialias) (or press ) to activate antialiasing. This starts smoothing the edges, and the progress is indicated by a percentage calculation wheel attached to the cursor. In the Status Bar, the antialiasing completion percentage and the render time that is still required to complete the rendering is displayed, as shown in Figure 5–29. It typically takes around 2 minutes to complete the antialiasing, depending on your computer.

Figure 5–29

As soon as you click the mouse, the antialiasing calculations will restart.

8. Once the antialiasing calculations are complete, without clicking anywhere, review the scene and notice that the edges have been smoothed, as shown on the right in Figure 5–30. Deactivate

Without Antialiasing

(Antialias).

With Antialiasing

Figure 5–30

9. Open the Render Settings module by clicking (Render) in the Quick Access Bar, or select Rendering>Render Settings in the Menu Bar. 10. In the File Output tab, in the Image rollout, set the Image Size Presets to HD 1080 (1920 X 1080). The Render Quality option in the File Output tab and the Image Samples option in the General Settings tab are interdependent. 5–22

11. Set the Render Quality as Draft, as shown on the left in Figure 5–31. In the General Settings tab, in the Antialiasing rollout, notice that the Image Samples are set to 32, as shown on the left in Figure 5–31.

Rendering

Figure 5–31

12. Set Image Samples to 512, as shown in Figure 5–32. In the File Output tab, notice that Render Quality has automatically changed to Production. 13. In the General Settings tab, set Adaptive Sampling to High Quality, as shown in Figure 5–32. Leave the rest of the settings as default.

Figure 5–32

14. As the render looks clean, you can now render the image and save it as a file. Click Settings module. You can select *.png from the Save as type drop-down list.

in the Render

15. In the Save Rendering(s) dialog box, browse to the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 5\ folder, and enter MyMainville_front_yellow_white.png in the File name edit box.

Depending on your computer it can take a few minutes to create the rendered image. Perform Step 16 at a later time and move to Step 17 at this point. 16. Click . The Image Render status bar opens displaying the percentage of the image creation, as shown in Figure 5–33. •

Depending on the configuration of your computer, it can take around 7-15 minutes to complete.

Figure 5–33 5–23

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

17. Cancel the Save command by closing the Save Rendering(s) dialog box. 18. A rendered image has been provided for you. Using Windows Explorer, in the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\ Chapter 5\ folder, open Mainville_front_yellow_white.png. This rendered image was created with the settings performed in this task. Once you create MyMainville_front_yellow _white.png in Step 16, it should display similar to the image shown in Figure 5–34.

Figure 5–34

Task 2 - Creating renderings with an HDR background. In this task, you will render the scene with the same settings as in Task 1, but using a HDR image for the background. You will also use a material switch and create a rendered image with a different exterior paint color. 1. In the Material Editor, in the Materials list section, verify that Environments is selected. This is a material switch. In the attributes, click

(empty gray box) next to New_York which

turns into an orange , as shown in Figure 5–35. Notice in the Render Window that the New York environment is set as the background. Close the Material Editor.

Figure 5–35

5–24

Rendering

2. In the Light Editor, select EXT Spot and activate it by selecting Enabled in the Properties rollout. Notice that the long shadows are displayed. Close the Light Editor. You can perform Step 3 at a later time, if required.

3. OPTIONAL: Render the scene by clicking in the Render Settings module. Save the file as MyMainville_front_yellow_HDR.png. 4. Open Mainville_front_yellow_HDR.png from the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 5\ folder. The rendered image is displayed as shown in Figure 5–36.

Figure 5–36

5. In the Material Editor, in the Materials list section, select Switch_EXT_paint, as shown in Figure 5–37. In the attributes, click to activate EXT_paint _blue. Close the Material Editor. In the Render Window, the vehicle now has blue car paint.

Figure 5–37 5–25

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

You can perform Step 6 at a later time, if required.

6. OPTIONAL: Render the scene and save it as MyMainville_front_blue_HDR.png. 7. Open Mainville_front_blue_HDR.png from the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 5\ folder. The rendered image is shown in Figure 5–38.

Figure 5–38

Task 3 - Creating renderings using a Depth of Field. In this task, you will render the scene with a different camera viewpoint and add a depth of field to it. 1. In the Camera Editor, in Camera with Viewpoints>Camera Track1, double-click on Close Up to activate it. The scene is displayed using this camera viewpoint in the Render Window. In the General rollout, Depth of Field has been set for this viewpoint, as shown in Figure 5–39.

Figure 5–39 5–26

Rendering

You can perform Step 2 at a later time, if required.

2. OPTIONAL: In the Render Settings module, render the scene by clicking and save it as MyMainville_front_blue_DOF.png. 3. Open Mainville_front_blue_DOF.png from the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 5\ folder. The rendered image is shown in Figure 5–40.

Figure 5–40

4. Save the file as My_Mainville_Render.vpb.

5–27

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Practice 5b

Creating Renderings with Raytracing Learning Objectives • Navigate the Render Window while using the Raytrace rendering mode. • Create a rendered image of part of scene using the Region option. • Create rendered images using the various Illumination modes with Raytrace rendering.

Estimated time for completion: 30 minutes (without rendering)

In this practice you will use the Raytrace rendering method and navigate around the scene. You will set the various illumination modes with raytracing and create rendered images. Task 1 - Navigating with Raytracing.

The steps in the practice are based on the default interface options. To return to the default interface, close and reopen the software and select Window> Layout>Default.

In this task you will render the scene using a saved camera viewpoint and basic lighting, without using a background HDR image. 1. In the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 5\ folder, open Mainville_Raytracing.vpb. 2. In the Material Editor, in the Materials list section, select the Environments material switch. Select New_York to display the New_York background. 3. Open the Render Settings module and open the Raytracing Quality tab. Notice in the Illumination Mode rollout, both Interactive and Still Frame are set as Precomputed Illumination.

You can also toggle Raytracing by selecting Visualization>Toggle Raytracing, or by pressing .

5–28

4. In the Icons Bar, click (Raytracing) to toggle it on. It might take a few seconds to complete the Raytracing calculations. While your computer is making the computations, along the left side of the Status Bar, notice that Toggle Raytracing is displayed, as shown on the left in Figure 5–41. Once the calculations are complete, notice in the Status Bar that RR-RT is displayed (as shown on the right in Figure 5–41), indicating that the scene is displayed in Realistic Rendering and Raytracing modes.

Rendering

Figure 5–41

5. Orbit around in the Render Window. Notice that the movement in the Render Window is choppy and you cannot navigate the scene smoothly.

6. In the Icons Bar, click (Statistics) to open the Statistics panel, as shown in Figure 5–42. Notice in the panel the Current FPS value. It has a low value (depending on your computer), indicating that it is not the optimum range for navigation. Navigating in the scene will be extremely slow.

Figure 5–42

7. In the Render Settings module, in the Raytracing Quality tab, in the Illumination Mode rollout, set Interactive to Full Global Illumination, as shown in Figure 5–43.

Figure 5–43

8. Orbit around in the Render Window and notice how hard it is to navigate. It seems that you cannot orbit at all. Also notice in the Statistics panel, the Current FPS value is reduced further.

5–29

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

9. Reducing the visual quality will improve the navigation speed in the Render Window. In the Icons Bar, click and hold (Downscale) to display the drop-down list. Select Low, as shown on the left in Figure 5–44. Downscale is automatically toggled on. Notice that the visual display in the Render Window is reduced, as shown on the right in Figure 5–44. Orbit around and notice that you can now navigate slightly better, although it is not totally smooth.

Figure 5–44

10. In the Icons Bar, click and hold select High in the drop-down list.

(Downscale) and

11. The visual display in the Render Window is pixelated and the visual quality is extremely reduced, as shown in Figure 5–45. In the Statistics panel, the Current FPS value has increased and is in the range of above 10.00, which is optimum for navigation. Orbit the model and notice that you can now navigate fluidly and smoothly in the Render Window.

Figure 5–45 5–30

Rendering

12. Click

(Statistics) to toggle it off.

Task 2 - Creating a Raytraced region rendered image. You will create a render image of the front portion near the grill, the headlight, and the M logo using the Raytracing render mode. A rendered image of the same view was saved using OpenGL rendering mode. You will compare the two images. 1. In the Camera Editor, select Camera with Viewpoints> Camera Track1, and double-click on Close Up to activate the Close Up viewpoint. Close the Camera Editor.

2. In the Icons Bar, click (Raytracing) to toggle it off. You are returned to the OpenGL rendering mode. Notice that RR-GL displays in the Status Bar. Although Downscale is still active, it does not work with the OpenGL rendering mode. 3. In the Material Editor, expand Switch_EXT_paint and activate EXT_paint _blue to change the exterior paint color from yellow to blue. 4. In the Render Settings module, in the Raytracing Quality tab, in the Illumination Mode rollout, set Still Frame to Full Global Illumination. 5. In the File Output tab, set Render Quality to Production. Set the Image Size Presets to HD 1080 (1920 X 1080). Enable Region Render and notice that the coordinates in the Upper Left Corner are 0 and 0, while Lower Right Corner displays 799 and 600, as shown in Figure 5–46.

Figure 5–46

5–31

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

6. Toggle on (Downscale).

(Raytracing) and toggle off

7. In the Icons Bar, click (Region) to toggle it on. Press , and then using the cursor, click the upper left and lower right corners to create a window around the front grill, M logo, and portion of the left headlight, as shown in Figure 5–47. While creating a region window, it is displayed as a red dashed window, which turns into a yellow rectangle once you click to accept it. Upper left corner

Lower right corner

Figure 5–47

The coordinates might vary based on the window that you created.

8. In the Render Settings module, in the File Output tab, click to activate it. Notice the coordinates in the in the Upper Left Corner and the Lower Right Corner fields have changed, as shown in Figure 5–48.

Figure 5–48

5–32

Rendering

9. You can now render the image for the region and save it as a file. Click

in the Render Settings module.

10. In the Save Rendering(s) dialog box, browse to the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 5\ folder and enter MyMainville_region_RT.png in the File name edit box.

Depending on your computer it can take some time to create the Render image. Perform Step 11 at a later time and move to Step 12 at this point. 11. Click . The Image Render status bar opens displaying the percentage of the image creation. Depending on your computer, it can take 20-30 minutes to complete. 12. Cancel the Save command by closing the Save Rendering(s) dialog box. 13. A rendered image for the region has been provided for you. In Chapter 5 folder of your Class Files folder, open Mainville _region_RT.png as shown on the left in Figure 5–49. In the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 5\ folder, open Mainville_front_blue_DOF.png and compare the two images side by side. A cropped portion of Mainville_front_ blue_DOF.png is shown on the right in Figure 5–49. •

In the Raytraced image, notice the physically accurate reflections created near the front and along the bottom of the grill, as shown on the left in Figure 5–49.

Figure 5–49

14. Toggle off

(Region) and

(Raytracing). 5–33

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Task 3 - Create interior renderings with Raytracing. You will create rendered images of the vehicle’s interior using various types of illumination modes. 1. In the Camera Editor, select Camera with Viewpoints> Camera Track1, double-click on Interior, and activate Interior viewpoint to open the interior view of the vehicle in the OpenGL render mode, as shown in Figure 5–50. Close the Camera Editor.

Figure 5–50

2. In the Render Settings module, in the File Output tab, select Region Render to clear it. 3. In the Raytracing Quality tab, in the Illumination Mode rollout, set both Interactive and Still Frame to Precomputed Illumination. 4. In the File Output tab, verify that the settings are as shown in Figure 5–51.

5–34

Rendering

Figure 5–51

5. Toggle on (Raytracing). Once the Raytracing calculations have completed, notice the reflections in the window glass and the windshield of the vehicle, as shown in Figure 5–52.

Figure 5–52

5–35

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

You can perform Step 6 at a later time, if required.

6. OPTIONAL: In the Render Settings module, render the scene by clicking . Save the file as MyMainville_INT_Precomp.png. 7. Open Mainville_INT_Precomp.png from the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 5\ folder. The rendered image is shown in Figure 5–53.

Figure 5–53

8. In the Raytracing Quality tab, in the Illumination Mode rollout, set both Interactive and Still Frame to Precomputed + Shadows. Notice in the Render Window how the colors have become deeper. This illumination mode calculates the shadows based on the active environment. Also notice around the console area how the deeper shadows enhance the depth. You can perform Step 9 at a later time, if required. It might take around 60-70 minutes to create the image.

5–36

9. OPTIONAL: In the Render Settings module, render the scene by clicking . Save the file as MyMainville_INT_Pre_Shad.png. 10. Open Mainville_INT_Pre_Shad.png from the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 5\ folder. The rendered image is shown in Figure 5–54.

Rendering

Figure 5–54

11. In the Raytracing Quality tab, in the Illumination Mode rollout, set both Interactive and Still Frame to Precomputed + IBL. You can perform Step 12 at a later time, if required.

12. OPTIONAL: In the Render Settings module, render the scene by clicking MyMainville_INT_Pre_IBL.png.

and save it as

13. Open Mainville_INT_Pre_IBL.png from the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 5\ folder. The rendered image is shown in Figure 5–55. Notice near the right side of the steering wheel how more reflections are added. In this mode, the light reflection stops after the first bounce.

Figure 5–55 5–37

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

14. In the Raytracing Quality tab, in the Illumination Mode rollout, set Still Frame to Full Global Illumination. You can perform Step 15 at a later time, if required.

15. OPTIONAL: In the Render Settings module, render the scene by clicking MyMainville_INT_FGI.png.

Save the file as

16. Open Mainville_INT_FGI.png from the C:\VRED Pro Fundamentals Class Files\Chapter 5\ folder. The rendered image is shown in Figure 5–56. Notice the rendering is more effective with physically accurate reflection and refractions.

Figure 5–56

17. Toggle off

(Raytracing).

18. Save the file as My_Mainville_Raytracing.vpb.

5–38

Rendering

Chapter Review Questions 1. In the Autodesk VRED Professional software, which of the following statements is completely correct? a. OpenGL uses the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) to render calculations and calculates physically correct lighting. b. OpenGL uses the CPU (Central Processing Unit) to render calculations and calculates physically correct lighting. c. Raytracing uses the CPU to render calculations and calculates physically correct lighting. d. Raytracing uses the GPU to render calculations and calculates physically correct lighting. 2. Which Render mode does not use Image Based Lighting, and thus requires the Headlight to be on or light sources to be added for the objects to be visible in the scene? a. Indirect Illumination rendering mode b. Analytical rendering mode c. Surface Analysis rendering mode d. Non Photorealistic rendering mode 3. In the Render Settings module, in the Antialiasing tab, set Image Samples to 512 (as shown on the left in Figure 5–57), changes the Render Quality in the File Output tab to which of the options shown on the right in Figure 5–57?

Figure 5–57

a. Draft b. Preview c. Production d. Production Interieur e. Custom

5–39

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

4. Which keyboard shortcut toggles

(Antialias) on and off?

a. b. c. d. 5. Which Illumination mode (shown in Figure 5–58) works similar to the OpenGL rendering mode, and can be used for huge datasets or when the graphic card performance is insufficient?

Figure 5–58

a. .CPU Rasterization b. .Precomputed Illumination c. .Precomputed Illumination + Shadows d. .Precomputed Illumination + IBL e. .Full Global Illumination 6. Which Illumination mode (shown in Figure 5–58) uses Ambient Occlusion and precomputed indirect illumination, but calculates reflections, refractions and shadows from the light sources (if present) in the scene? a. .CPU Rasterization b. .Precomputed Illumination c. .Precomputed Illumination + Shadows d. .Precomputed Illumination + IBL e. .Full Global Illumination

5–40

Rendering

7. In the Render Window, how many pixels are processed for rendering when you use the Medium Downscale quality? a. Every second pixel b. Every fourth pixel c. Every sixth pixel d. Every eighth pixel

5–41

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Command Summary Button N/A

Action / Command

Location

Analytical Display in Render Window

• Menu Bar: Visualization> Analytic Rendering

Antialias

• Icons Bar • Shortcut:

Downscale

• Icons Bar

N/A

Indirect Illumination Display in Render Window

• Menu Bar: Visualization> Non Photorealistic Rendering

N/A

Non Photorealistic Display in Render Window

• Menu Bar: Visualization> Indirect Illumination Rendering

N/A

OpenGL

• Icons Bar: Toggle off Raytracing • Menu Bar: Toggle off Visualization> Raytracing • Shortcut:

Raytracing

• Icons Bar • Menu Bar: Toggle on Visualization> Raytracing • Shortcut:

N/A

Realistic Render Display in Render Window

• Menu Bar: Visualization> Realistic Rendering

Render Settings

• Quick Access Bar

• Shortcut: for OpenGL, for Raytracing • Menu Bar: Rendering>Render Settings • Shortcut Menu (on the Icons Bar or Quick Access Bar): Render Settings

N/A

5–42

Statistics

• Icons Bar

Surface Analysis Display in Render Window

• Menu Bar: Visualization> Surface Analysis Rendering • Shortcut:

Appendix A Simple User Interface In this chapter you learn about the components and modules that are used in the Simple UI.

This chapter contains the following topics:

• Simple User Interface • Scene Module

A–1

A–2

Simple User Interface

A.1 Simple User Interface Learning Objective • Understand the simplified version of the Autodesk VRED Professional user interface.

A simplified version of the user interface (UI) is available in the Autodesk® VRED™ Professional software. The Simple UI enables you to perform all of the functions that are required to create a rendering quickly and efficiently. This interface provides you with most of the tools and modules present in the Standard UI, but in a more compact form. It has bundled the commonly used modules into a single panel so that you can access them from a single location. You can display the software in a Simple (Simple UI) in the Icons Bar. User Interface by clicking Alternatively, you can display the Simple User Interface by selecting Window>Simple UI. Once you display the Simple UI, the only way to revert back to Standard UI is by clicking the Icons Bar to toggle it off.

in

The Simple UI has the same interface components as the Standard UI (as shown in Figure A–1), but the commands and icons have been reduced to make them compact.

Figure A–1

A–3

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Menu Bar

A simplified Menu Bar is provided in the Simple UI which contains the File, Edit, Scene, and Help menus. It also displays the Animation and Render menus, which contain commands for creating a basic animation and rendering a scene quickly. Only the most basic commands are provided in each menu. For example, the Edit menu contains only the commands for Undo, Redo, and Preferences, as shown in Figure A–2.

Figure A–2

Icons Bar

The Icons Bar provided with the Simple UI is the only interface component that is very similar to the Standard UI. The only exception is that the tools for Synchronisation are not displayed by default, as shown in Figure A–3. If required, you can still display the Synchronisation tools by selecting Synchronisation in the Icons Bar or Quick Access Bar shortcut menu.

Figure A–3

Quick Access Bar

The Quick Access Bar contains tools for opening only five modules, as shown on the left in Figure A–4. The commonly used modules, such as Material Editor, Camera Editor, Lights Editor, etc have been combined and can be accessed in a single (Scene). main module which is opened by clicking Although you can still customize the Quick Access Bar, only two additional module icons (Terminal and Render Queue) can be added from the Icons Bar or Quick Access Bar shortcut menu, as shown on the right in Figure A–4.

Figure A–4 A–4

Simple User Interface

Status Bar

Along the left side, the Status Bar provides you with information about the memory usage and Render mode that is currently being used to render the scene, as shown on the left in Figure A–5. Along the right side of the screen, the Status Bar enables you to open the Terminal module, as well as set the Up axis, Field of View, and the Initial Camera View, as shown on the right in Figure A–5.

Figure A–5

Render Window

In the Simple UI, the Render Window dynamically fills the available area of the screen. You cannot save different interface layouts when using the Simple UI, but you can modify the size of the Render Window. To specify a custom window resolution in the Preferences dialog box, select Render Options, and on the Visualisation tab, enable Use Fixed Resolution, and provide a size in the Pixel Resolution fields, as shown in Figure A–6. The Resolution presets are also available in the Scene module on the Settings tab.

Figure A–6

Scene Module

All of the commonly used modules that are required as part of the common workflow have been bundled together into the Scene Module.

A–5

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

A.2 Scene Module Learning Objective • Understand the options available in the Scene module.

The Scene module contains the most commonly used modules, which have been organized into tabs, as shown in Figure A–7. Many other commonly used commands have also been combined inside those tabs. Using the Simple UI, in the Quick Access Bar, click (Scene), or select Scene in the shortcut menu of the Icons Bar or Quick Access Bar to open the Scene module.

Figure A–7

Scenegraph Tab A–6

By default, the Scene module opens in the Scenegraph tab. This tab is divided into two sections: the upper area is the Scenegraph (as is found in the Standard UI), while the lower area is the Properties section.

Simple User Interface

The Scenegraph The upper section of the Scenegraph tab (shown in Figure A–8) contains the standard Scenegraph, listing all of the parts and geometry that are present in the scene in the form of a tree structure. •

As with the standard scenegraph, the same tools have been provided and the same actions can be performed to sort and group the objects, complete the model, and optimize the geometry, enabling you to clean up and organize the geometry in the scene.

•

The Scenegraph toolbar is provided at the bottom of this section, to perform the actions in the Scenegraph. The shortcut menu is also available, and contains many of the same options as the Standard UI.

•

The slider bar enables you to expand or collapse the hierarchy of the tree, as required.

•

Using the dotted line located above the scenegraph toolbar, you can split the scenegraph into two standard scenegraphs.

Figure A–8

A–7

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Properties section The lower section of the Scenegraph tab (shown in Figure A–9) contains the properties of the selected object. It further contains three tabs, and each tab contains commonly used commands to transform or correct the geometry, and calculate the Ambient Occlusion (AO) shadows. In the Standard UI, these commands are located in their own separate modules, along with additional advanced commands. The tabs available in the Properties section are as follows: •

Transformation: The Properties section opens with the Transformation tab displayed, as shown in Figure A–9. The options in this tab enable you to move, rotate, and scale objects by entering exact values in the edit boxes. If you use the Transform manipulator handles, the transformation changes are automatically updated here. It has additional options for moving the objects to the origin or camera, on top of the ground, etc.

Figure A–9

A–8

•

Occlusion: Provides you with basic options for calculating the AO, as shown on the left in Figure A–10. To check the AO, in the Settings tab, change your display to Ambient Occlusion Rendering.

•

Geometry: Provides you with options that enable you to work with the geometry, as shown on the right in Figure A–10. Here you can fix the surface normals of the geometry if they are facing in the opposite direction. To check the surface normals, in the Settings tab, change your display to Vertex/Face Normal Rendering.

Simple User Interface

Figure A–10

Materials Tab

Selecting the Materials tab in the Scene module (shown in Figure A–11) displays the compact form of the standard Material Editor. In this tab, you can work with the materials by creating, editing, and managing them. You can convert the materials to Autodesk VRED Truelight materials and edit their attributes to customize them as required.

Figure A–11

A–9

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Materials Section The upper section of the Materials tab (shown in Figure A–11) contains all of the materials used in a scene. They are displayed as a preview ball with the material name displayed below, offering you a visual preview of the materials used. •

Right-click anywhere in the section, or right-click on a specific material, to display the Materials shortcut menu, as shown in Figure A–12. When you right-click in an empty space, some shortcut menu options are unavailable. You can use the shortcut menu to create new Truelight materials, edit existing materials, or convert imported materials into Truelight materials. Various options for assigning materials and selecting geometry are also provided.

Figure A–12

•

The Material Editor toolbar (shown in Figure A–13), is provided below the Materials section. It contains tools that enable you to manage the materials. All of the actions performed by the tools are also available on the Material shortcut menu. The toolbar provides you with easy access to commonly used tools.

Figure A–13

•

A–10

A slider is also provided to control the size of the preview ball icons. Move the slider to the left to minimize the preview ball icon to a preview list. Move the slider to the right to gradually increase the preview ball size.

Simple User Interface

Properties Section The lower section of the Materials tab (shown in Figure A–14) contains the attributes for a selected material.

Figure A–14

•

The name of the material and its type is displayed near the top of the Properties section. You can rename the material by entering a new name in the Name field.

•

Based on the Type of the material, all its basic properties are provided. You can modify the parameters as required. If the selected material type can have textures, the slots for loading the textures for the various channels are provided. In Figure A–14, the material type is Triplanar, and therefore has slots for loading textures for the Diffuse and Glossy channels. Once a texture is loaded, and are provided to reload and delete the texture file as required.

A–11

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Environments Tab

Selecting the Environments tab in the Scene module (shown in Figure A–15) displays all of the environments that are provided in the scene. In this tab, you can work with the environments by creating, editing, and managing them.

Figure A–15

Environment Section The upper section of the Environments tab (shown in Figure A–15) contains all of the environments used in the scene.

A–12

•

Every scene is opened in the default environment with the name Studio. If you have loaded additional images for environment, they are listed here. They are displayed as a preview swatch with the environment name displayed, providing a visual preview.

•

Double-click on an environment swatch to display it as the background in the Render Window.

•

Right-click anywhere in the section to open the Environment shortcut menu, shown on the left in Figure A–16. You can use the shortcut menu to create a new environment or skylight, and duplicate and delete the environment. Some of the options are also available through the environment toolbar (shown on the right in Figure A–16), which is located along the bottom of this section.

Simple User Interface

Figure A–16

•

Right-clicking on an environment has a Convert to Skylight option, while right-clicking on a skylight has a Convert to Environment option. If either the skylight or environment are converted to the other, the action cannot be undone and a dialog box prompts you for confirmation, as shown in Figure A–17.

Figure A–17

•

A slider controls the size of the environment preview swatch.

Properties Section The lower section of the Environments tab (shown in Figure A–18) contains the properties of the selected environment or skylight.

Figure A–18

•

The name of the environment or skylight is displayed and can be changed here.

•

You can load a different HDR image using . You can also change the shape of the environment geometry, which is set to Dome by default. A–13

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Camera Tab

•

If you want to use a color for the background instead of an HDR image, clear the Visible option. This hides the display of HDR image, but the lighting from the image is still used. The color that is used as the background is set in the Preferences dialog box in the Render Options, in the Visualization Advanced tab.

•

You cannot hide or display a skylight using the Simple UI because the Visible option is not provided in the Skylight Properties. However, you can hide the skylight using the Material Editor in the Standard UI.

Selecting the Camera tab in the Scene module (as shown in Figure A–19), displays the cameras and enables you to work with them.

Figure A–19

Camera Drop-down List At the top of the Camera tab is a drop-down list, which contains the default Perspective view, and any cameras that have been created, as shown in Figure A–20. Selecting a Camera from the list displays the saved viewpoints in the Camera section.

Figure A–20 A–14

Simple User Interface

Camera Section The upper section of the Camera tab (shown in Figure A–19) contains all of the saved viewpoints for that camera. •

The saved camera viewpoints are displayed as a preview swatch, offering you a visual preview. Click on a viewpoint swatch to open the scene in that viewpoint.

•

You can change an existing camera viewpoint to a new camera viewpoint by clicking viewpoint.

•

, or click

to delete a

If you want to add a new viewpoint to the Camera, in the Render Window, navigate to the required view, and then click on the empty Capture swatch, as shown on the left in Figure A–21. The new viewpoint is saved in the empty swatch, as shown on the right in Figure A–21.

Figure A–21

•

Right-clicking on a captured viewpoint opens the shortcut menu (shown in Figure A–22), which enables you to recapture, delete, or animate viewpoints.

Figure A–22

A–15

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

•

Clicking opens a dialog box (shown in Figure A–23) which enables you to set the timings for an animated camera sequence. Use sequence.

or

to play and stop the camera

Figure A–23

•

At the bottom of this section, a slider is provided that controls the size of the camera preview swatch.

Properties Section The lower section of the Camera tab (shown in Figure A–24) contains the properties for the selected camera.

Figure A–24 A–16

Simple User Interface

•

Lights Tab

enables you to modify the camera settings such as the Focal length, Field of View, Exposure, White balance, motion blur, distance blurring effects, etc.

Selecting the Lights tab in the Scene module (shown in Figure A–25) displays all of the lights that are available in the scene. In this tab, you can work with the lights by creating, editing, and managing them.

Figure A–25

Lights Section The upper section of the Lights tab (shown in Figure A–25) contains all of the lights used in the scene. They are displayed as a list with an icon in the front, which indicates the light type. •

By default, a Headlight is always present and turned on in the scene.

•

You can toggle the light sources on and off by clicking

or

, located adjacent to the light symbol. You can also click in the Lights toolbar.

A–17

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

•

Right-click anywhere in the Lights section to display the shortcut menu, as shown in Figure A–26. You can use the shortcut menu to create new lights, edit existing lights, or convert one type of light to another. Various options for toggling the lights on and off or selecting lights are also provided.

Figure A–26

Properties Section The lower section of the Lights tab (shown in Figure A–27) contains the attributes of a selected light.

Figure A–27

A–18

•

The name of the light and its type is displayed near the top of the Properties section. You can rename the light by entering a new name in the Name field.

•

Based on the light type, all of its basic properties are provided. You can modify the parameters as required. The common parameters that you can set are the light intensity, along with the Diffuse and Specular levels.

Simple User Interface

•

If the selected light type is a Spot Light, then you have the options of setting the Cone Angle and the Penumbra Angle.

•

For Spherical, Disk, and Rectangle lights, there are options for Primary Visibility and Visible in Reflections, which work while in the Raytracing rendering. these options are unavailable in OpenGL.

•

For positioning the light source, you can either use the transforms, or position the light at the same location as the

.

camera by using Hint: Hiding Light Objects

To hide light sources in the scene so they are not rendered, hide the LightTransform node in the Scenegraph. For the Standard Light Editor, the Hide and Show buttons are available in the Visualization rollout. These are not available in the Simple UI, and therefore the Scenegraph must be used.

Settings Tab

Selecting the Settings tab in the Scene module (shown in Figure A–28) provides you with various options for setting the various rendering modes.

Figure A–28

A–19

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

•

By default, the Resolution is set to Dynamic Resolution, which means that the Render Window dynamically fills the empty area of the screen after the various interface components are opened. You can select a preset resolution size from the available list (as shown in Figure A–29), which restricts the Render Window size to the selected option. Selecting Custom Resolution enables you to set the Render Window to a resolution of your choice. You can also specify a custom size in the Preferences dialog box in the Render Options, in the Visualization tab.

Figure A–29

•

You can select Antialiasing to smooth the edges of geometry in the Render Window for visual clarity when using the OpenGL rendering mode. Clicking the option here toggles (Antialias) in the Icons Bar.

•

In this tab, you can control how you want the selected geometry to be displayed in the Render Window. By selecting the Wireframe and Bounding Box options, you can display the objects as a wireframe, enclosed in a bounding box, or both. Selecting the options here toggles their respective icons in the Icons Bar, as shown in Figure A–30.

Figure A–30

A–20

•

The Grid and Ruler options can also be toggled in this tab, which also activates or deactivates them in the Icons Bar.

•

By default, the objects in the scene are displayed in Realistic Rendering mode, resulting in the highest realism in the Render Window. You can display the scene in other rendering modes, as shown in Figure A–31.

Simple User Interface

Figure A–31

•

•

Vertex/Face Normal Rendering: Enables you to check the orientation of the faces and vertices by displaying the geometry in different colors. You can fix the surface normals of the geometry in the Scenegraph tab, in the Properties section, in the Geometry tab. • Ambient Occlusion Rendering: Enables you to examine the precomputed AO shadows. You can calculate the AO in the Scenegraph tab, in the Properties section, in the Occlusion tab. • Surface Analysis Rendering: Enables you to analyze the surface of your model. Select Raytracing to change your render method from the default OpenGL to the Raytracing mode. Raytracing is used to calculate physically correct reflections, refractions, shadows, and lighting, depending on the Illumination mode. Selecting the option here toggles (Raytracing) in the Icons Bar. You are able to set the Interactive Render Mode, Image Render Mode, and Downscale options, as shown in Figure A–32.

Figure A–32

•

For both Interactive Render Mode and Image Render Mode you can set the type of illumination mode, as shown in Figure A–33.

Figure A–33

A–21

Autodesk VRED Professional 2015 Fundamentals

Command Summary Button

Action / Command

Location

Simple UI

• Icons Bar • Menu Bar: Window>Simple UI

Scene

• Quick Access Bar of Simple UI • Shortcut Menu of Simple UI (on the Icons Bar or Quick Access Bar): Scene

A–22