The View node (
) for 3D components has many options to add light sources and define the light attributes. Other functions include displaying or hiding geometry labels, transparency, wireframe rendering, a numbered grid, and axis orientation in the
Graphics window. See
Figure 6-20. You can add this
View node by right-clicking
Definitions in a 3D component and also by right-clicking
Views under
Results to add a
View 3D node.
Also right-click the View node in the component to add
Hide for Geometry,
Hide for Physics, or
Hide for Mesh Import, depending on your current view.
Also right-click the View node in the component to add
Hide for Geometry,
Hide for Physics, or
Hide for Mesh Import, depending on your current view.
The View node (
) for 3D models has the following sections:
Select the Wireframe rendering check box to view the edges of the object as solid lines. The
Wireframe Rendering button (
) is turned on or off in the
Graphics window at the same time. Wireframe rendering only has effect when mesh rendering is turned off (for a view that normally shows the mesh).
Select the Show geometry labels check box to display the geometry object names in the
Graphics window. The labels appear for geometry objects or geometric entities (boundary, edge, or point numbers, but not domain numbers), depending on what part of the model tree you display and the selection mode you are using. If you use wireframe rendering, no labels appear.
Select the Show edge direction arrows check box to display direction arrows on edges in the
Graphics window. The direction arrows indicate the directions for which the edge parameterization values increase.
By default, the Show grid check box is selected and displays a numbered grid in the
Graphics window around the object. Click to clear the check box to hide the grid.
By default, the Mesh rendering check box is selected. Clear it to not render the mesh, where the mesh normally appears, which can be useful, for example, to get a better view of the inside of complex meshed 3D geometries. This check box is not available in geometry part views and result views.
By default, the Show axis orientation check box is selected and the axis orientation indicator for the global Cartesian coordinate directions is displayed in the lower-left corner of the
Graphics window. Click to clear the check box to hide the axis orientation indicator.
By default, the Show axis units check box is selected. Click to clear the
Show axis units check box if you do not want to include units for the plot axes.
Select the Lock camera check box to store the current camera settings so that the zoom tools can temporarily be used, for example, but then revisiting the
View node restores the camera settings to the values in the view at the time the
Lock camera check box was selected.
Select the Lock rotation center check box to lock the rotation center and turn off the automatic or manual rotation center modes. See
Moving Around and Rotating a 3D Geometry.
The Scene light setting is a default that always displays and is based on the geometry. The
Scene light,
Diffuse light,
Specular light, and
Ambient light check boxes are all selected by default. To hide and disable all light sources, click to clear the
Scene light check box. The
Scene Light button (
) is turned on or off in the
Graphics window at the same time.
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If the Scene light check box is selected, enter a value between 0 and 1 for the Light intensity (default value: 1) or use the slider to select a level for the light intensity. Watch the changes in the Graphics window at the same time to help choose a level.
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Click to clear the Diffuse light, Specular light, and Ambient light check boxes as needed.
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Enter a value between 0 and 1 for the Ambient intensity (default value: 0.3) or use the slider to select a level for the ambient intensity. Watch the changes in the Graphics window at the same time to help choose a level.
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Select a Color from the list: Custom, Black, Blue, Cyan, Gray, Green, Magenta, Red, White (default), or Yellow. The color is only applied to ambient light. If you select Custom, click the Color button to choose a color from the color palette that appears.
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This effects include ambient occlusion,
shadows, and
gamma correction, which, when used together (which is recommended) can provide 3D images with photorealism.
Select the Ambient occlusion check box to include screen-space ambient occlusion (SSAO) in the view. Ambient occlusion is a shading and rendering technique that is used to compute how exposed each point in a graphics scene is to ambient lighting. It adds soft shadows from ambient and indirect lighting to the scene. You can also select
Ambient Occlusion (
) from the
Scene Light (
) drop-down menu in the
Graphics window toolbar.
From the Radius type list, choose
Relative (the default) or
Explicit. With
Relative, enter a fractional value (default: 0.4) in the
Fraction of scene bounding box field, or use the slider underneath the text field to adjust a relative value for the ambient occlusion radius. With
Explicit, enter a value (default: 0.4 m) in the
Maximum distance to occluder (SI unit: m). Occluders can be thought of as objects which occlude (or obstruct) your view of other objects behind them.
Enter a value between 0 and 10 in the Shadow strength field (default: 1), or use the slider underneath to control the strength of the shadows (a higher value means more shadows).
Enter a value between 0 and 10 in the Shadow tightness field (default: 1), or use the slider underneath to control the tightness of the shadow. Increasing this value makes the shadow appears more “tight” (see
About the Screen-Space Ambient Occlusion Algorithm below).
From the Quality preset list, select a preset quality level:
Low quality,
Medium quality (the default),
High quality, or
Custom. The
Medium quality settings can be used during on-screen rendering. The
High quality settings should be used for image export as it raises the
Number of samples, increases the
Smoothing, and turns on
Normal-aware smoothing (see
About the Screen-Space Ambient Occlusion Algorithm below). The
Low quality settings can, for example, be used if you have very large plots so that you have a low graphics performance, but as you are showing plots with colors, the high-frequency noise that you get from the
Low quality setting will be less noticeable. With
Custom, you get the default values from the last selected quality setting for the following quality properties (see also
About the Screen-Space Ambient Occlusion Algorithm below):
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In the Number of samples field, enter a suitable number of samples for the ambient occlusion (1 – 300 samples). A higher number of samples gives a better quality.
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In the Roughness field, enter a suitable value between 0 and 1 (default: 1), where 0 is the smoothest setting with no noticeable shadows.
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In the Kernel rotations texture width field contains an integer between 0 and 8. A higher value means slightly higher quality.
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In the Smooth field contains an integer between 0 and 8. A higher value means more smoothing but also somewhat slower performance.
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Select the Normal-aware smoothing check box to provide smoothing that takes the surface normals into account for an improved smoothing quality. It is enabled by default when you choose High quality from the Quality preset list.
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In the Resolution field, enter a suitable value between 0 and 1 for the SSAO resolution (a higher value can give a smoother appearance).
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Select the Direct shadows check box to include direct shadows in the view based on a
shadow mapping approach. Shadows are a result of the absence of light due to occlusion. When the light rays from light sources in the
Graphics window do not hit a geometry object because it gets occluded by some other geometry object (the occluder), that geometry object is then in shadow. Shadows can improve depth perception and visual understanding of a 3D geometry. You can also select
Direct Shadows (
) from the
Scene Light (
) drop-down menu in the
Graphics window toolbar. See below for information about floor shadows.
The Shadow softness field and slider control the softness of the shadow. The shadow softness is 0 (no softness) or a positive number. A larger number gives more smoothness and a large
penumbra — the space of partial illumination between the perfect shadow on all sides and the full light.
The Shadow strength field and slider control the strength of the shadow as a value between 0 and 1, where 1 represents full strength, which is what a shadow displays when created by an opaque occluder. However, the default value is set to 0.5 in order to lessen the contrast between in-shadow and fully lit areas so that it becomes a little bit easier to perceive the underlying plot colors.
From the Quality preset list, choose
Low quality (the default),
Medium quality,
High quality,
Ultra quality, or
Custom. Even if low quality is often sufficient, it is recommended to use a higher-quality setting when exporting images. In general, the quality settings have more effect when you use a lot of shadow softness. With
Custom, you get the default values from the last selected quality setting for the following quality properties:
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In the Number of occluder samples field, enter a suitable number of samples for the occluder (1 – 200 samples) to take during the search of occluders. A higher number of samples gives a better estimation of the size of the penumbra, and, thus, a better image quality.
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the Number of samples field, enter a suitable number of samples used during filtering of the shadow maps. The size of the filtering kernel is proportional to the size of the estimated penumbra, and a higher number of samples gives a better quality.
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In the Resolution field, enter a suitable value between 0 and 1 (default: 0.5) for determining the resolution of the shadow maps (a higher value can reduce aliasing artifacts along the shadow borders).
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Select the Multisampling everywhere check box to prevent the algorithm from varying the amount of filtering samples taken, as, by default, the number of filtering samples taken are proportional to the estimated size of the penumbra. When selected, the noise patterns seen in penumbra regions can look more smooth.
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Select the Limit light view frustums check box to make the algorithm spend extra effort on limiting the size of the view frustums used when generating the shadow maps. Selecting this option can help in reducing aliasing artifacts seen along the shadow borders. The positive effect of this option becomes greater when the camera is zoomed in on the model.
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Select the Accurate depth comparison check box to make the algorithm take a different approach when comparing depth values. This option can alleviate artifacts in shadows that are particularly observable on concave surfaces. When selected, you can also select the Normal-aware smoothing check box to make the filtering of the shadow map also take the geometry normals into account.
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If shadow artifacts appear on surfaces expected to be fully lit, it might be possible to get rid of those by tweaking the biases available. From the Bias settings list, choose
Default or
Custom. The custom values can be tweaked in order to avoid self-shadowing artifacts caused by a limited numerical precision. If you choose
Custom, enter bias values between 0 and 1. The
Constant depth bias applies a constant margin when comparing depth values from the shadow maps with analytically computed ones. The
Slope depth bias scales how much the margin should also depend on the angle between the surface normal and the incoming light direction. The
Normal offset bias determines how much the sample positions should be moved away from the surface in the direction of the surface normal. A recommendation when tweaking these values is to first set them all to zero before slightly increasing one by one until the self-shadowing artifacts are gone.
Select the Floor shadows check box to include floor shadows in the view. Floor shadows are a result of the scene light being shadowed by the model geometry. The shadows appear on a fictional floor underneath the geometry. Floor shadows can improve depth perception and visual understanding of a 3D geometry. You can also select
Floor Shadows (
) from the
Scene Light (
) drop-down menu in the
Graphics window toolbar. See below for information about floor shadows.
From the Origin settings list, choose the origin for the placement of the floor:
Offset by farthest vertex (the default),
Offset by bounding sphere,
Offset by bounding box, or
Specify explicitly. For the last option, enter
x,
y, and
z coordinates in the
Origin field (default unit: m). In the
Additional offset field, you can add an offset in addition to the origin settings (default unit: m). A positive value provides an additional offset away from the model geometry.
The floor plane is defined by a point (origin) and a normal. By default, the normal is derived from a pitch angle of 5 degrees. You can choose a different pitch angle or specify the normal explicitly, either by using one of the normal presets or by entering the normal vector manually (see below). By default, the origin is derived from the farthest vertex (Offset by farthest vertex) ; this means that the origin is placed in the vertex farthest away in the opposite direction of the chosen normal. Only vertices of triangles are considered currently (for example, if you have a line plot, the vertices of the line plot are not considered because lines do not cast any shadows anyway). You can also choose to offset the floor plane origin by the radius of the bounding sphere (the sphere that contains all scene objects) or by the vertices of the bounding box (
Offset by bounding sphere or
Offset by bounding box).
From the Normal settings list, choose
Derive from pitch angle (the default) or
Specify explicitly. For the default setting, you can adjust the angle (in degrees) in the
Pitch angle field (default: 5 degrees), or use the slider underneath. For
Specify explicitly, choose a normal plane from the
Normal preset list:
xy-plane (the default),
yz-plane,
zx-plane,
yx-plane,
zy-plane,
xz-plane, or
Custom. For the
Custom option, enter
x,
y, and
z coordinates for the normal vector in the
Normal field. The floor normal you get when the normal is derived from the pitch angle (
Derive from pitch angle) is defined in view space; that is, it is define in the same space that light sources are defined in when the
Lock to camera coordinate system check box is selected. Basically, it means that the normal is defined relative to the camera, which means that the origin is recomputed for each frame when you are rotating the geometry.
The Ambient occlusion check box is selected by default to include screen-space ambient occlusion (SSAO) in the floor shadows.
The Direct shadows check box is selected by default to provide direct shadows onto the floor. You can add more or less blur to the shadows by entering a value between 0 (for no additional blur) or 1 (for maximum blur) in the
Additional blur field, or use the slider underneath.
There is also a Cast shadows on floor check box in the settings for the light sources (directional lights and other light sources). That check box is cleared by default except for the third predefined
Directional Light, where it is selected by default.
From the Preset list, choose
Default or
Custom. The default gamma value, 2.2, roughly estimates the average gamma of most displays. With
Custom, you can adjust the following settings for the gamma corrections:
From the Tone map list, choose a tune map, which typically maps one set of colors to another to approximate the appearance images in a medium that has a more limited dynamic range. The following tone maps are available:
None (the default),
Filmic,
Extreme,
Bright, and
Natural.The Bright tone mapping is based on
Ref. 1.
In the Gamma field, enter a value for the gamma between 1 and 4 (default: 2.2), or use the slider underneath to adjust the value. A higher value of gamma provides a stronger intensity correction (gamma correction).
In the Exposure field, enter a value for the exposure between 0 and 2 (default: 0), or use the slider underneath to adjust the value. The exposure setting can be compared to the exposure setting in a camera; a too high value can lead to overexposure.
In the Contrast field, enter a value for the contrast between 0 and 2 (default: 1), or use the slider underneath to adjust the value. An increased contrast value increases the contrast between the colors. With a value of 0, there is no contract, and the plot is all gray.
In the Saturation field, enter a value for the saturation between 0 and 2 (default: 1), or use the slider underneath to adjust the value. An increased saturation value increases the saturation of the colors. With a value of 0, there is no saturation at all, and the plot is all gray.
In the Vibration field, enter a value for the vibration between 0 and 1 (default: 0), or use the slider underneath to adjust the value. An increased vibration value increases the vibrancy (intensity or saturation) of the colors.
In the Hue field, enter a value for the hue between 0 and 1 (default: 0), or use the slider underneath to adjust the value. Increasing the hue value from 0 to 1 changes the color range (hue) from the default one through the color spectrum and back to the original color range.
In the Brightness field, enter a value for the brightness between 0 and 1 (default: 0), or use the slider underneath to adjust the value. An increased brightness value increases the brightness of the colors. With a value of 1, there brightness is fully intense, and the plot is all white.
For each visible point (pixel) on the surface, a hemisphere with the radius equal to the Maximum distance to occluder setting and oriented by the surface normal is added. In this hemisphere, a number of samples are added (the
Number of samples setting). For each sample, the algorithm will estimate whether it is in shadow, and the more samples that are in shadow, the darker the current pixel becomes. If the
Roughness and
Shadow tightness parameters are both set to 1.0, the samples inside of the hemisphere are somewhat uniformly distributed. If you change the
Roughness to say 0.5, the hemisphere where the samples are placed will look more like a cone. If you change the
Shadow tightness to 2.0, each sample will be moved more toward the center of the hemisphere. As there are more samples closer to the center of the hemisphere, the ambient occlusion shadow will appear more “tight”.
Furthermore, in order to get away with having less samples to gain better performance, the hemisphere is rotated around its axis (the surface normal) by a different amount for neighboring pixels. However, this creates high-frequency noise, so it is therefore done in a tiled fashion (the code divides the image into a number of tiles (say 4x4 pixels large; 4 is then the Kernel rotations texture width). By tiling the high-frequency noise it is possible to smooth it out or blur it with a small blur kernel. For example, if you set the
Smooth parameter to 2, the blur kernel will be 5x5 pixels large so that the noise created by the 4x4 rotation kernel can be smoothed out. Moreover, if you enable the
Normal-aware smoothing, the smoothing will not only take the distance to the camera from the surface for each pixel into account but also the surface normal for each pixel.
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From the Environment map list, choose one of the available environment maps: Indoor or Outdoor. The default is None, which does not display any environment map.
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From the Sky direction list, choose where the sky should be located: Positive X, Negative X, Positive Y (the default), Negative Y, Positive Z, or Negative Z.
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From the Sky rotation list, choose a rotation of the environment map around the chosen sky direction: No rotation, Rotate 90°, Rotate 180°, or Rotate 270°.
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The Environment reflections check box is selected by default to show reflection of the environment map in the model geometry (when
Show Material Color and Texture is enabled and any selections are cleared).
Select the Skybox check box to project the environment map onto a skybox, which can make the image in the environment map give an illusion of a distant surroundings. The following settings only apply when you use a skybox:
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From the Projection list, choose Special (the default), which does not take the camera’s zoom level into account when rendering the skybox, or From camera, which uses the projection from the camera that is part of the view. If you chose Special, you can specify a field of view for the skybox (1–180 degrees; default 110 degrees) in the Field of view field (unit: degrees). The smaller the field of view is, the further the view moves into the skybox image.
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Select the Rotate environment check box to make the environment map reflections rotate when you rotate the geometry. If you clear this check box, the environment map is still when you rotate the geometry.
Select the Transparency check box to turn on transparency. The
Transparency button (
) is activated in the
Graphics window at the same time. Enter a value between 0 and 1 in the
Transparency field (default: 0.5), where 0 means a fully opaque color and 1 means a fully transparent color, or use the slider to select a transparency level. Watch the changes in the
Graphics window at the same time to help choose a level.
When you have selected the Transparency check box, select the
Fresnel transmittance check box if desired. Enabling Fresnel transmittance results in that the transparency depends on the angle of incidence, which can improve realism. Surfaces that have their surface normal pointing more toward the camera will become more transparent, and surfaces that have their surface normal pointing more orthogonally to the view direction will become more opaque. You can also turn on
Fresnel Transmittance (
) from the
Transparency drop-down menu (
) in the
Graphics window toolbar. In addition, Fresnel transparency is available for individual plots under
Results in a
Transparency subnode.
Clear the Show selection colors check box if you do not want to include colors indicating user-defined selections.
Select the Show material colors and texture check box if you want to include colors and texture indicating the material used in the geometry.
See Selection Colors for more information.
By default, the clipping tools are active when added to the view. To disable the tools, clear the Clipping active check box. If that check box is selected, you can enable or disable the following clipping tools (by default, all of them are selected to be active):
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The Clip faces check box controls if the clipping will remove faces or not.
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The Clip edges check box controls if the clipping will remove edges or not.
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The Clip points check box controls if the clipping will remove points or not.
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The Clip primary hover effect check box is selected by default. The primary hover effect is then affected by clip features. Clear the check box if you want the primary hover effect to disregard any clipping features. The full entity that you hover on will then be seen.
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Select the Clip contextual hover effect check box to make clip features affect the contextual hover effect. Clear the check box to see all contextual hover effect lines.
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The Highlight intersection check box controls if the intersection between the clipping tool and the 3D geometry should be highlighted or not. When selected, you can specify the coloring of the intersection using the Color list: Choose From theme (the default), any predefined color, or Custom to choose a color from a color palette.
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The Apply clipping check box control that the clipping action is active. Clear it to disable the clipping.
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The Show frames check box controls if the frames that outline the clipping action will be displayed or not. When displayed, you can use it do drag and resize the clipping tools (clip planes cannot be resized).
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The Show gizmos check box controls if the gizmo that indicates the position and action of the clipping action will be displayed or not. You can use the gizmo to move and rotate the clipping tool.
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Select the Show cross section check box to display cross sections between the clipping tool and the model geometry. The Colorize check box is enabled by default. Select Domain (the default) or Object from the Colorize per list to assign colors per domain or per object for the cross sections of geometrical entities. Colorizing per domain can be useful when defining materials and physics, for example, whereas colorizing per object can be useful during geometry modeling. With the Colorize check box selected, each domain gets a color if it is not already colored by either some kind of selection or a material. Select the Make transparent check box if you want the cross section to be transparent. Enter a value between 0 and 1 in the Transparency field (default: 0.2), where 0 means a fully opaque color and 1 means a fully transparent color, or use the slider to select a transparency level. The Highlight overlapping domains check box is enabled by default to show where overlapping domains appear. From the Color list, choose From theme (the default) to use a color from the color theme, or select another color from the list.
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) from the Scene Light (
) drop-down menu in the Graphics window toolbar.
