Lightscape User Guide

This appendix describes the utilities that you can use to view image files and

H

rendered files in Lightscape.

Viewing Utilities

There are two viewing utilities packaged with your

Lightscape application—LSViewer and LVu. Both utilities are distributed freely and do not require the

Lightscape application to run.

LSViewer displays Lightscape Solution files and provides navigation options, display modes, and statistical information about the model. For more

information on LSViewer, see “Using LSViewer” on page 317.

LVu displays image and texture files, and provides a drag and drop interface for moving files from the LVu display into your Lightscape model. For more infor-

mation about LVu, see “Using LVu” on page 320.

Using LSViewer

Use the LSViewer to view your Lightscape Solution files.

To start LSViewer, double-click the LSViewer icon. By default, this icon is located in the Lightscape program folder.

You can also start LSViewer by choosing it from the

Start menu.

Customizing the Display

You can toggle the toolbar and status bar on or off to customize your display.

To customize the display:

1.

To display the toolbar, choose Toolbar in the Windows menu.

2.

To display the status bar, choose Status Bar in the

Windows menu.

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H Viewing Utilities

Modifying Loading Options

Use the configuration settings to control how the layers, radiosity mesh, and textures are loaded into

LSViewer. You must modify these settings (if needed) prior to loading your file.

To modify loading options:

1.

Choose Settings | Config Load and select an option from the menu to toggle it on or off.

2.

To modify the size of textures, choose

Settings | Config Load | Texture Size and select an option from the menu.

A check mark appears next to the selected options.

Only Active Layers

Use this option to load only the layers that are active in the Lightscape Solution file.

Meshing

Use this option to load the meshing details associated with the model.

Texture Size

Use these options to specify the size of the texture images when loading textures with the model. You can limit texture size to improve display speed.

Select: To:

Unlimited Load textures at their natural size.

32 x 32 Scale the textures to 32 x 32 pixels.

64 x 64 Scale the textures to 64 x 64 pixels.

128 x 128 Scale the textures to 128 x 128 pixels.

256 x 256 Scale the textures to 256 x 256 pixels.

Loading Files

You can load any Lightscape Solution (.ls) file into the

LSViewer application for viewing.

To load a Solution file:

1.

Choose File | Open or click the Open button on the toolbar.

The Open dialog appears.

2.

Navigate to the appropriate directory, select a Solution file, and then click Open.

The selected file is displayed in the LSViewer window.

Menu bar

Toolbar

LSViewer window

Status bar

Performance Statistics

As a model is loading, the load time is displayed in the status bar. Once the load is complete, performance statistics on the frames per second (FPS) rate, number of polygons, and the number of polygons loaded per second are displayed in the status bar.

Controlling the Model Display

You can use the shading options in the Display menu to alter how the model appears in the window. A check mark appears next to the selected option.

Wireframe

Use this option to display only the edges of surfaces as white lines.

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Lightscape

Using LSViewer

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Colored Wire

Use this option to display the only the surface edges of the model in their appropriate material color.

Solid

Use this option to display surfaces of the model in their rendered color.

Textured

Use this option to display textures in the model.

Navigating through the Model

By default, a Solution file is loaded with the camera position that was set when it was last saved. You cannot specify an explicit camera position in

LSViewer, but you can use the navigation controls to interactively change the view of the model in the

LSViewer window.

Auto Orbit

None Auto Flip

Walk

Orbit

Dolly

Zoom

When you select one of the interactive navigation modes (Walk, Orbit, Dolly, or Zoom), the left mouse button is used to interactively change the view. Any movement with the mouse in the window changes the view, based on the view control selected.

To navigate through the model:

1.

Choose an option from the Navigation menu, or click the corresponding button on the toolbar.

2.

To exit the current navigation mode, choose

Navigation | None, or click the None button the toolbar.

on

None

Use this option to disable navigation through the model.

Auto Orbit

Use this option to cause the model to continuously rotate around the focus point of the current view.

Auto Flip

Use this option to cause the model to continuously flip around the center point.

Walk

Use this navigation mode to use the mouse to interactively “walk through” the model. The view follows the direction of the mouse movement in the LSViewer window.

To use Walk:

1.

To move through the model, drag the mouse in the window.

2.

To increase the walkthrough speed, move the mouse farther away from the center of the LSViewer window. To decrease the speed, move the mouse closer to the center of the window.

Orbit

Use this navigation mode to orbit around the model.

The viewer position rotates around the focus point in all three axes. The direction of the mouse movement controls the angle of orbit.

Dolly

Use this navigation mode to move the viewer position forward or backward along the view path.

To use Dolly:

1.

To move the viewer position forward, drag the mouse upward in the window.

2.

To move the viewer position backward, drag the mouse downward in the window.

Zoom

Use this navigation mode to zoom in or out on the model.

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