Lightscape User Guide

Rendering Multiple Views

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5.

To increase the number of antialiasing samples,

select the appropriate level from the Antialiasing

Samples list.

Note: Increasing the antialiasing level can significantly increase your processing time. For more

information, see “Antialiasing” on page 214.

6.

Enable Ray Tracing.

The following options become available:

• Ray Trace Direct Illumination

• Shadows from Inactive Layers

• OpenGL Compatible.

Rendering Multiple Views

Lightscape has three options for controlling the view and the number of images it creates: Current View,

List of Views, and Animation File.

These options are available when rendering with either OpenGL or ray tracing.

Select: To:

Current View

List of Views

Create a single image using the current view.

Create an image for each view in the View list.

Animation File Create an image for each frame in an animation file.

Ray Tracing options

7.

To ray trace the direct lighting contribution from the sun and luminaires marked for ray tracing, enable Ray Trace Direct Illumination.

If you enable this option, the Soft Shadows From Sun option becomes available.

Note: Lightscape ray traces only the luminaires that have their Ray Trace Direct Illumination property enabled.

8.

To blur the edges of shadow boundaries caused by the sun, enable Soft Shadows From Sun.

9.

To generate images that closely match the

OpenGL display, enable OpenGL Compatible.

10.

Enter the number of ray bounces in the Ray

Bounces box.

Rendering a List of Views

You can create image files of multiple views by selecting the List of Views option. To create each image filename, Lightscape combines the output filename, specified in the Output File Name box, with the prefix of the view name and the extension of the specified image output type.

For example, if you select .bmp output, enter

set1

in the Output File Name box, and load three view files (

v1.vw

,

v2.vw

, and

v3.vw

). Lightscape names the resulting images

set1v1.bmp

,

set1v2.bmp

, and

set1v3.bmp

. The .vw file extension is dropped in the resulting filenames.

Note: If you need to maintain the DOS 8.3 naming conventions, make sure that the image name, combined with the longest view file prefix, does not exceed eight characters.

To render a list of views:

1.

In the Rendering dialog, set the required render-

ing options. For more information, see “Rendering

217

14 Rendering

with OpenGL” on page 214 and “Rendering with

Ray Tracing” on page 215.

2.

Select List of Views from the Source list.

3.

Click Add to add a view file to the list.

4.

Navigate to the view file location in the Open dialog and select the file.

5.

Click Open.

The selected view file is added to the list of views.

List of views Source list

6.

To remove a view file from the list, select the file and click Remove.

7.

To preview a view, select the file and click Preview.

Note: If you need to maintain the DOS 8.3 naming conventions, you must specify an output filename no more than four characters long.

You can also render a subset of animation frames byspecifying the first and the last frames to render, as well as the step value between consecutive frames.

For example, to render every second frame of an animation, enter a step value of 2.

Rendering Interlaced Animations

You can also choose to render an interlaced animation. When you create animations for video, they are

interlaced. Interlacing is used so that only half the screen, every other scan line, is updated each sixtieth of a second (NTSC frame rate). Each of the two sets of alternate scan lines is called a field; two fields make up a frame.

To render animation frames:

1.

Load the animation file by choosing

Animation | Open.

2.

In the Rendering dialog, set the required op-

tions. For more information, see “Rendering with

OpenGL” on page 214 and “Rendering with Ray

Tracing” on page 215.

3.

Select Animation File from the Source list.

Rendering Animations

An animation file represents a sequence of views that you create with the Lightscape Animation tool.

Select the Animation File option to generate a single image for each animation frame.

To create the image filename, Lightscape combines the output filename, specified in the Output File

Name box, with an increasing four-digit number that starts at 0000.

For example, if you enter

anim

as the filename and select the Targa format, Lightscape names the resulting images

anim0000.tga

,

anim0001.tga

,

anim0002.tga

, and so on.

Interlacing options Animation options

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Lightscape