VREDProfessional 5.5 Dokumentation Online

VRED Professional 5.
5x
virtual prototyping and interactive multimedia solution
Documentation
Table of Contents
Getting Started
Help ........................................................ 54
System Requirements .......................... 08

Installing VRED Professional ............... 10
Installing a license ................................. 14
Nodelocked licensensing .................... 15
Setting up a license server ................ 16
Toolbar
File ..........................................................
View ........................................................
RenderOptions ....................................
Synchronization ....................................
Quick Access ........................................
Using VRED Professional
Status Bar
Status Bar............................................... 68
Interface ..................................................
Navigation in Renderview ..................
Selection .................................................
Transform Tool ......................................
Node Attributes ...................................
Shortcuts in Renderview ....................
19
20
21
22
23
24
Menus, Toolbar,
Statusbar
Menu
File ...........................................................
Edit ................................... .......................
View ........................................................
Visualization ...........................................
Scene .......................................................
Animation ...............................................
Interaction .............................................
Rendering ..............................................
27
34
35
37
42
45
47
50
63
63
65
66
67
PREFERENCES
Preferences ...........................................
Camera ..................................................
Cluster Client .......................................
Color Management .............................
Devices ..................................................
Export ..................................................
70
71
72
73
74
75
File IO .....................................................
FHS .........................................................
JT .............................................................
Maya ........................................................
OSB/VPB ................................................
Rhino ......................................................
SLP ..........................................................
STL ..........................................................
WRL .......................................................
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
3
Table of Contents
Finalrenderpass .................................... 85
Import .................................................... 86
Tesselation ............................................. 87
Main Window .......................................
Material Library ...................................
Navigator ...............................................
Plugins ....................................................
Render Options ...................................
Visualisation Advanced .......................
88
89
90
91
92
95
Render Settings ....................................

Script ......................................................
Selection ................................................
Tracking ..................................................
Transform ..............................................
Web Interface ......................................
97
106
107
108
109
110
Scenegraph
Scenegraph ............................................ 113
Scenegraph Menu .................................
Create ....................................................
Edit ..........................................................
Convert to ............................................
Additional Options .............................
Scenegraph Hotkeys ...........................
114
114
118
122
123
125
Modules
Modules .................................................. 128
ScriptEditor ............................................ 129
Terminal .................................................. 130
AmbientOcclusion ................................ 131
CameraEdito .......................................... 137
Geometry Editor ................................. 142
LightEditor .............................................. 146
MaterialEditor ........................................ 152
Materials Tab Hotkeys .......................... 152
TrueLightMaterials
General Settings .................................. 153
Phong ....................................................... 158
UnicolorPaintMaterial .......................... 162
MetallicPaintMaterial ............................ 164
FlipflopMaterial ...................................... 166
LineChromeMaterial ............................ 168
ChromeMaterial .................................... 169
BrushedMetalMaterial .......................... 171
PlasticMaterial ........................................ 175
ReflectivePlasticMaterial ...................... 179
TriplanarMaterial ................................... 182
ReflectiveTriplanarMaterial ................. 185
CarbonMaterial ..................................... 188
Carbon2DMaterial ................................ 190
TireMaterial ............................................ 192
GlassMaterial ......................................... 195
MeasuredMaterial ................................. 198
MeasuredCarpaintMaterial ................. 199
ShadowMaterial ...................................
MultipassMaterial ................................
SwitchMaterial .....................................
GlowMaterial .......................................
SphereEnvironmentMaterial .............
EnvironmentSwitchMaterial .............
200
202
203
204
205
206
Standard Materials ..............................

SimpleMaterial .....................................
ChunkMaterial .....................................
CGFXMaterial .....................................
PhongMaterial ......................................
MultipassMaterial ................................
MergeMaterial .....................................
SwitchMaterial .....................................
210
211
212
212
213
214
214
215
Edit ......................................................... 216

Convert ................................................ 217
Additional Options ............................. 218
Environments Tab ................................
Textures Tab .........................................
Library Tab ............................................
NodeEditor ..........................................
Variants ..................................................
VariantSets ............................................
220
222
224
226
227
230
Animation
Animation ............................................. 234
CurveEditor .......................................... 236
ClipMaker .............................................. 241
TimeLine ............................................... 243

SAnimation ............................................ 244
Interaction
Annotation ............................................
Clipping ..................................................
Measurement .......................................
Sequencer .............................................
TouchSensor .........................................
Tracking .................................................
Transform ..............................................
245
246
248
250
258
259
265
Rendering
Cluster ...................................................
Final Renderpass ..................................
Postprocessing .....................................
Color Correction ................................
Postprocessing: Post FX .....................
RenderLayer .........................................
RenderSettings .....................................
269
273
274
275
276
277
279
CAD COnverter CLI

CAD Converter CLI .......................... 291
HotkeYs Overview
Overview .............................................. 305
Getting started
Getting Started
system requirements
System Requirements
PI-VR GmbH certifies certain computer-system-configurations to
meet the requirements to work with VRED. To determine whether
your particular system meets these requirements, please check the
following table.
Category
Hardware
Values
(32-bit) Intel Pentium 4 or higher, AMD Athlon
XP processor (must be SSE capable)
(64-bit) Intel processor with Intel EM64T-capable
or AMD Athlon 64, AMD Opteron processor
1GB RAM
DVD drive or Internet connection
Ethernet card (required for licensing VRED uniquely to
your machine)
Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
Graphic Requirements
A qualified hardware-accelerated OpenGL graphics

card (overlay plane capability is recommended)
Category
Values
Operating System
(32-bit) Windows XP Professional (SP2)

(64-bit) Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
(SP1or higher)
Microsoft Windows Vista, Business or Ultimate edition
(32-bit and 64-bit)
Microsoft Windows 7
TCP/IP network protocol software (for running VRED
network rendering and other features)
A graphics card driver. Driver software is available from
the manufacturers web site.
Appropriate driver software for optional hardware
Disk Space Requirements The following approximate disk space requirements are
based on the NTFS disk format. If you have a FAT disk
format, expect slightly larger file sizes. VRED takes about
130 MB.
Other Software
Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view the PDF

documentation provided on the VRED DVD or as online documentation. You can obtain Acrobat Reader
from www.adobe.com.
Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer 6 web browsers
have been qualified to view the VRED Help.
Flash player is required to view the Quick start Movies
Optional Hardware
Space Mouse. Make sure you install the latest Space

Mouse driver software.
Getting Started
Installation
1. Go to www.pi-vr.com and download the latest version of VRED Professional. Start the
installation by opening the file provided. To start the file directly after
downloading, select Run.
2. A security warning may appear.

If that happens, select Run.
3. The VRED Installation Wizard appears.

The InstallationWizard directs you through
the installation process.
Click Next to proceedor cancel to stop
the installation process.
10
4. The PI-VR GmbH Software License

Agreement appears. This agreement requires your acceptance for the VRED
software installation to continue. To continue, click I Agree.
5. Choose the components for the installation and proceed with Next.
11
Getting Started
Installation
6. Choose the install location and proceed with Next.
7. Choose whether to install the cluster

service and the port it shall use.
Click Next to proceed.
12
8. The installer now creates the folders

and copies the necessary files to run
VRED.
9. The installation process is completed.

Check Run VRED to run VRED after
installation. Click Finish to close the installation tool.
10. If you chose to run VRED directly after finishing the installation, VRED will begin to
start up now.
If you encounter problems installing VRED on your computer, feel

free to contact PI-VR by mail or phone. We will assist you in all necessary steps.
13
Getting Started
Installing a license
Installing a license
There are two ways to install a VRED license: :
Simply drag the license.xml file onto the VRED.exe icon.
The license file will be installed automatically.
Go to: Start Programs PI-VR vred 5.5 Install Install License.
A dialog window will open. Browse for the license.xml file and click open.
The license file will be installed automatically.
14
Getting Started
Node Locked Licensing

Node Locked Licensing
1. When starting VRED Professional for the first time, please select your license file or
server system. If you do not own a license press cancel.
2. The following window appears. Please contact the PI-VR GmbH with your specific
Hostname, HostID and FlexLM Host ID data. The PI-VR GmbH will provide you with
an evaluation license.
3. Copy the license file into your VRED root folder. Restart VRED.
15
Getting Started
Setting up a license server

SETTING UP A LICENSE SERVER
For setting up a license server, please follow the instructions outlined
below:
Download VRED Professional from the website and install it on the server.
Create a new directory (e.g. c:\FlexLM ) and copy the license file into it.
At the end of the first line of the licence file, (the line that reads SERVER...), enter
a blank and add the port number on which the license server shall run.
Select: Start Program Menu PI-VR VRED Install lmtools.
Click on the Config Services Tab
Set the path to the lmgrd.exe File. Browse to the install directory of VRED \bin\
WIN64 or bin\WIN32 (depending on whether you installed the 32 or the 64bit
version of VRED) and select lmgrd.exe.
Set the path to the license file, by browsing to the folder containing the license file.
To set the path to the debug log file, browse to the folder containing the license
file, too.
Click on Save Service.
Activate Use Services.
Activate Start Server at Power Up.
Now the license runs, also when rebooting the machine. Updating the software is not
required unless recommended by PI-VR.
To configure a workstation for using the license on the server:
Download VRED Professional from the website and install it on the workstation.
Select Computer Properties Extended Environment Variables System
Variables and add a variable called VREC_LICENSE_FILE.
Its value should be xxx@caxsvr2 (replace xxx with the port number).
Start VRED.
16
Using vred professional

USING VRED PROFESSIONAL
This chapter contains basic information regarding the general appearance of the interface. It provides an overview and introductory
summary of how to navigate, select, manipulate objects and how to
set up the preferences.
18
Interface
USING VRED PROFESSIONAL: INTERFACE

1. Menu Bar
The Menu bar includes all main functions for creating and editing contents in VRED. It
provides access to the different modules available in VRED and enables basic file actions
like saving or opening files.
2. Icon Bar
The Icons bar provides shortcuts to access frequently used features such as the render
options or the wireframe function.

3. Scenegraph
The Scenegraph lists all nodes the current scene consists of.
4. Renderview/View port
The renderview displays the whole scene and allows to change views as well as to directly select and modify objects.
5. Quick Access Bar
The Quick Access Bar provides direct access to the different modules available in VRED.
It is customizable.
6. Statusline
The Status line provides information about the memory usage and allows to change
the up vector as well as near and far ClipPlanes and the field of view. It also integrates
the Terminal.
19
Navigation in Renderview
Using VRED Professional: navigation in renderview
The Renderview visualizes all render settings according to the selected render mode.
Available render modes are:
Raytracing
Realistic Rendering
Vertex/Face Normal Rendering
Ambient Occlusion Rendering
Indirect Illumination rendering
Discontinuity Rendering
Analytic Rendering
Non Photorealistic Rendering
Stereo Rendering
rotate
pan
zoom
Click left mouse button.
Click middle mouse button.
Click right mouse button.
Setup Navigation Mode

Select Edit Preference Navigation.
Further navigation modes can be applied.
Trackball (3 axis)
Fly
Walk
Trackball (2 axis)
20
Selection
Using VRED Professional: selection

Shift + Click Left Mouse button
in the Renderview to select an object.
Shift + Click Right Mouse button

to deselect selected object.
Shift + Drag Left Mouse button

from top left to bottom right to select only
objects fully enclosed in selection frame.
Shift + Drag Left Mouse button

from bottom right to top left to select objects fully and partially enclosed in selection frame.
Shift + Drag Right Mouse button

to deselect objects in selection frame.
Shift + CTRL Left Mouse button

to add selected object to selection.
Shift + Click Right Mouse button

into empty space to deselect all selected
objects.
21
Transform
TOOL
Transforming objects
Using VRED Professional: transform Tool
Click Transform Tool in the Icons Tab to set the Transform Tool
visible.
A total of three transformation modes are available:
Translate Mode:
SHIFT+W
Rotation Mode:
SHIFT+E
Scale Mode:
SHIFT+R
22
Node Attributes
Using VRED Professional: Node Attributes
All attributes of each node can be accessed in the NodeEditor.
The NodeEditor can be found in Scene NodeEditor
The Editor provides access to all attributes of the currently selected node. It offers
the possibility to change values for all attributes and dependencies for the selected
node.
Important: Only advanced users should alter values in the Editor!

For more information read Module NodeEditor
23
Shortcuts in renderview
Using VRED Professional: shortcuts in Renderview
The Renderview is equipped with a couple of shortcuts that come in
handy when using VRED extensively.
CTRL + Space
brings up a floating menu in the Renderview,

in which you can choose a predefined stan
dard camera view. You can switch between:
Perspective, Front, Top & Side
Space
Delete
Copy
Cut
Paste
Merge Geometry
Split Geometry into Triangles
Unsplit Geometry with one Triangle
Go to parent node
Go to child node
Go to previous node
Go to following node
Select node
Add node to selection
Remove node from selection
Clear selection
Change camera
24
turns the anti-aliasing on or off

del
CTRL + C
CTRL + X
CTRL + V
CTRL + M
CTRL + T
CTRL + SHIFT + T
Left Arrow
Right Arrow
Up Arrow
Down Arrow
SHIFT + left mouse button on node
SHIFT + CTRL + left mouse button on node
SHIFT + CTRL + right mouse button on node
SHIFT + right mouse button into empty space
CTRL + space
Menus
Toolbar
Statusbar
Menus, Toolbar & Statusbar

This section refers to the different elements of the VRED user interface. It describes in detail the functions of all menu windows, explains
the available icons and how to use the customizable Quick Access
Bar. Last but not least this chapter gives a short overview of the status bar.
26
Menu
File
Menu bar
The Menu Bar includes all main functions for creating and editing
contents in VRED. It provides access to the different modules available in VRED and enables basic file actions like saving or opening files.
Menu File
The file menu helps to load, import and save data.
New
Creates a new empty scene. The currently opened scene will be closed.
Open
Opens files. A dialogue box opens up to choose from. One or more files can be selected. By default VRED supports the following file types besides its native file type VPB:

3DS .3ds
ASC Dental Geometry .asc
C4d .c4d
Cinema4D Scene .c4d
Compressed Files .gz .gzip
Cosmo3D/Optimizer Geometry .csb
Deltagen Geometry .rtx
FBX Scene .fbx
FHS Geometry .fhs
Geomview Geometry .off
JTOpen Scene .jt
Maya Scene .iges .igs .ma .mb .wire
OpenInventor Geometry .iv
OpenSG Ascii Geometry .osg
OpenSG Binary Geometry .osb PLY .ply
Python Script .py
Rhinocercos3D .3dm
Sudio Tools .wire
VRED Essentials Project Binary .vpe
VRED Project Binary .vpb
VRED Project File .vpf
VRML Scene .wrl
Wavefront Geometry .obj
Pro/Engineer Render Geometry .slp
Stereolithography Geometry .stl .stla .stlb
27
menu
File
Menu File
Add
Adds files to the current scene. A dialog box opens up, where the files to add can be selected from. The file is added to the Scenegraph as child of the currently selected node.
If there is no node selected in the Scenegraph, then the added objects will be children
of the root node. All objects of any added file are grouped in a group node. Imported
files are marked dark blue in the Scenegraph.
When merging projects,Viewpoints will no longer be replaced nor deleted.Viewpoints
are preserved and further made available.
Save
Saves the current file with a supported VRED file type.
VRED Essentials Project Binary
VRED Project Binary
VRED Project File
.vpe
.vpb
.vpf
To write other file types go to File export.
Save As
Saves the current file. A dialog box opens up, in which the location, file type and name
for saving can be selected. If no file ending is entered the file will be saved in the VRED
native file type VPB.VRED supports writing the following file types by default:

fbx
fhs
Maya (mb, ma)
28
osg
sl
vpe, vpb, vpf
osb
pov
py
stl/stla/stlb
wrl
obj
VRED supports the storage of ICC color profiles in the project data to ensure consistency during the whole workflow and between the devices you use regarding color
management. This guarantees that the colors visible on your workstation are the same
as on your private computer.
Save selected
Saves the currently selected node(s) in a new file. A dialogue box opens up, in which
location, file type and name for saving can be selected. If no file ending is entered the
file will be saved in the VRED native file type VPB.
VRED supports writing by default the following file types:
VRED Essentials Project Binary
VRED Project Binary
VRED Project File
.vpe
.vpb
.vpf
To write other file types go to File export.
29
menu
File
Menu File
Publish
Publishes a VRED project file (*.vpb) with validity start and expiry dates.
Save Package
Saves a VRED project file creating a subfolder that includes all textures and materials
used within the project.
Open Recent
Opens recently opened/modified files.
30
Import
With the import function additional file types and meta information can be added to
the current scene.
Inventor: Imports Inventor data (*.iv, *.wrl)
Sequences: Adds a sequence setup for the Sequencer Module to the current scene.
Variants: Adds a variants setup for the VariantSets Module to the current scene.
Export
The export function chapter provides information regarding the export of images, movies, sequencer batches and variants.
Scene
Allows to export the scene in different data types. The default setting is *.vpb
Supported types are:

FBX Scene .fbx
FHS Geometry fhs
Maya Ascii & Binari (mb, ma)
MayaScene .iges, .igs, .wire
OpenSG Ascii Geometry .osg
OpenSG Binary Geometry .osb
PovRay .pov
Pro/Engineer Render Geometry .slp
Python script .py
VRML Scene wrl
Wavefront Geometry obj
Stereolithography Geometry .stl .stla .stlb

VRED Essentials Project Binary .vpe
VRED Project Binary .vpb
VRED Project File .vpf
31
menu
File
Menu File
Selected
Publishes a VRED project file (*.vpb) with validity start and expiry dates.
Switched Geometry
Exports Switched Geometry data (*.osb).
CubeImages
A dialogue box appears, where the location for saving the CubeImage can be selec ted. The CubeImage render settings can be set in the PreferencesEditor.
RenderSettings
A dialogue box with the Render Settings Export appears. The current Renderview
will be rendered with the settings set in the Render Settings Export dialogue box.
The Render Settings Export dialogue box contains File Output, Antialiasing Quality
and Raytracing Quality settings.
Snapshot
Exports a snapshot of the viewport to the snapshot folder previously specified in the
preferences.
Sequences
All sequences set in the Sequencer Module will be saved in a separate xml file.
Variants
All variants set in the VariantSet Module will be saved in a separate xml file.
32
Add VRML animation

VRML animations can be added to the current scene. Precondition is that the animated
objects exist in the current file.
Optimize Scene
Exports Switched Geometry data (*.osb).
Optimize Geometries: Optimizes the geometry structure.
Optimize/Share Geometries: Optimizes the geometry structure and tries to share
duplicated geometries.
Merge/Optimize/Share Geometries: Changes the Scenegraph structure to achieve
a maximum of optimization.
Quit
Quits the application.
33
menu
Edit
Menu Edit
Script
Opens the ScriptEditor. In the ScriptEditor python scripts can be written and executed.
Run Script
Executes the current script in the ScriptEditor.
Undo
Undo the last action.
Redo
Redo the last action.
Clear Undo Stack
Clears the undo stack (cache for any type of undo executions).
Selection
Additional selection options can be activated.
Make normals consistent: Select with ALT + Left mouse click to make vertex and
face normals of each selected object consistent.
Use Depth Selection: Allows to select all objects within the selection frame, whe ther they are behind another object or not.
Preferences
Opens the PreferenceEditor.
34
Menu
View
Menu View
Display
This function helps to define individual display settings depending on the selected device.
Powerwall Settings: Opens the Editor for Powerwall settings.
Projection Window Width: Sets the projection windows width size.
Height: Sets the projection windows height size.
Distance: Sets the projection windows distance from the viewer.
Enable Powerwall mode: Activates Powerwall Rendering.
Standard Display: Encodes the rendered image to be displayed on a standard
display.
SIM2 HDR: Encodes the rendered image to be displayed on a SIM2 HDR display.
Toolbars
Allows to enable/disable the available toolbars in VRED.
File: Enables/Disables the toolbar for file handling.
File: Enables/Disables the toolbar for visual feedback.
Render Options: Enables/Disables the toolbar for the available render options.
Synchronization: Enables/Disables the toolbar for the synchronisation options.
QuickAccess: Enables/Disables the quick access toolbar.
Show Annotations
Shows/Hides annotations.
35
menu
Menu VIEW
Show Clipping
Shows/Hides clipping.
Show Grid
Shows/Hides grid.
Show Measurements
Shows/Hides measurement.
Show Ruler
Shows/Hides the ruler.
Show Manipulator
Shows/Hides the manipulator.
Show Routes...
Opens routes window

Show Shortcuts
Shows/Hides Shortcuts.
Undo/Redo History
Opens undo/redo history

Trash
Opens trash.
Terminal
Opens the Terminal Module.
36
VIEW
Menu
Visualization
Menu Visualization
The visualization menu provides a number of visual options and provides access to the available render modes.
Enable Raytracing
Enables raytracing.
Raytracing Downscale
Offers a total of four downscaling options to accelerate the work process.
Realistic Rendering
Activates the Realistic Rendering mode. The Realistic rendering mode is an OpenGL
render mode. In this render mode TrueLight shading structures are supported. Real
time shadows are also supported. The Realistic Rendering supports all graphic effects
for photorealistic rendering quality.
Vertex/FaceNormal Rendering
Activates the Vertex and Face Normal rendering mode. All objects are rendered with
green, blue, gold or magenta shading. Each color gives feedback about each normal
direction.
Green: Face and Vertex Normals are consistent and point towards the camera.
Blue: Face and Vertex Normals are consistent and point away from the camera.
Gold: Face and Vertex Normals are inconsistent. The Face Normals point away
from the camera, while the Vertex Normals point towards the camera.
Magenta: Face and Vertex Normals are inconsistent.The Face Normals point towards
the camera, while the Vertex Normals point away from the camera.
Ambient Occlusion Rendering
Activates the Ambient Occlusion rendering mode. The Ambient Occlusion rendering
shows a gray scale rendering, in which the pre-calculated ambient occlusion can be
evaluated.
37
menu
Visualization
Menu Visualization
Indirect Illumination Rendering
Activates the Indirect Illumination rendering mode. The Indirect Illumination rendering
shows a grayscale rendering, in which the pre-calculated indirect illumination can be
evaluated.
Discontinuity Rendering
Activates the Discontinuity Rendering mode. The Discontinuity Rendering mode helps
to evaluate surface qualities. Cracks can easily be noticed.
Analytic Rendering
The Analytic rendering mode is an OpenGL render mode. In this render mode only
basic shading structures are activated and realtime shadows are supported.The Analytic
High Quality rendering ensures high frame rates at a medium visual quality. Reflections
are supported.
Non Photorealistic Rendering
Activates the Non-Realistic rendering mode. The NPR rendering is an OpenGL render
mode, which allows users to render schematic images. The NPR shading supports outline rendering.
38
Stereo
Includes all necessary settings to set up stereoscopic views.
Disable: The stereo mode is set to disabled by default.
Double buffered: Activates double buffered rendering in OpenGL mode for stereo
view when supported by the graphics board.
Horizontal interlaced: Activates horizontal interlaced stereo rendering.
Vertical interlaced: Activates vertical interlaced stereo rendering.
Left/Right split: The Renderview is split into two render areas. The Renderviews
left half draws the left eyes field of view and the right half draws the right eyes
field of view of the stereo rendering.
Top/Bottom split: The Renderview is split into two render areas. The top half of the
Renderview draws the left eyes field of view, and the bottom half draws the right
eyes field of view of the stereo rendering.
Red/Cyan: Activates the Red/Cyan stereo rendering mode.
Blue/Yellow: Activates the Blue/Yellow stereo rendering mode.
Green/Magenta: Activates the Green/Magenta stereo rendering mode.
Left eye: Activates only left eyes stereo rendering view. Right eye: Activates only
right eyes stereo rendering view.
Tridelity Multi-View: Activates a multi-view (five view) stereo rendering mode,
appropriate for tridelity active stereo displays and further comparable hardware.
Stereo Settings: Opens the Editor for Stereo settings.
39
menu
Visualization
Menu Visualization
Backplate
Helps to set up backplates.

Backplate: Sets the backplate to visible/invisible.

Create backplate: Creates a backplate. A dialogue box appears, where backplate
images can be selected from. Creating a backplate activates the render option
Backplate. A Backplate Material will be created in the MaterialEditor. To change
the backplate image, go to the MaterialEditor and select a new texture in the Backplate Material.
Delete backplate: Deletes all existing Backplates in the scene.
Realtime Antialiasing
Contains four different realtime antialiasing quality values.

Off: Disables realtime antialiasing.

Low: Enables realtime antialiasing and halves the quality.
Medium: Enables realtime antialiasing and doubles the quality.
High: Enables realtime antialiasing and quadruples the quality.
Advanced OpenGL Settings

Wireframe: The wireframe button toggles wireframe rendering to on or off. All
currently selected objects are drawn in the set render mode and an additional
wireframe mode. The wireframe colour can be set in:
Edit Preferences... RenderOptions Wireframe Settings.
Two sided lighting: Enables/Disables two sided ligthing. It allows to illuminate the
backside of a polygone correctly.
40
Realtime shadow: Activates/deactivates real time shadows. Only available in

OpenGL mode.
Ambient Occlusion shadows: Activates Ambient Occlusion calculation.
Geometry light sources: Only active if Realtime shadow is selected. Treats self illuminated geometries as light source. Only in OpenGL render mode.
Backface culling: Activates/deactivates backface culling. Backface culling allows to
render only the faces with normals pointing to the camera.
Occlusion Culling: Renders visible geometries only.
Depth only pass: Depth Only Path renders the scene once using only the depth val ues. It can be used for optimization with complex shaders.
Postprocessing: Enables/disables postprocessing in OpenGL mode. Postprocessing
is enabled by default in raytracing mode. It allows to use postprocessing settings
in OpenGL mode (like exposure, white point and saturation).
Rendering
Disables rendering in the viewport.
Simulate
Disables or activates the VRED Simulation engine.
41
menu
Scene
Menu Scene
This chapter explains how to create and adjust objects like lights,
cameras and geometry in VRED Professional.
Create Geometry
With the create geometry function, it is possible to create simple geometries in
VRED.
The following geometries are provided:
Line
Plane Box
Cylinder
Cone Sphere
Torus
Create Light
Offers a selection of three different light types available in VRED.
Create Camera
Offers three different camera types. To create a new camera, select the desired camera.
Scenegraph
Shows/Hides Scenegraph
Ambient Occlusion
Opens the Ambient Occlusion Module. The Ambient Occlusion Module pre-calculates
and pre-renders ambient occlusion and indirect illumination for use in OpenGL and
raytracing render mode.
Specific parameters regarding specific geometries can be saved. Saved parameters can
easily be loaded and applied to the instances of the same geometry. It is not required
to further remember the values.
Read Ambient Occlusion Module.
42
CameraEditor
Opens the Camera Module. In the Camera Module, all camera settings can be defined
and adjusted.
Read CameraEditor Module.
GeometryEditor
Opens the GeometryEditor Module. The GeometryEditor Module carries out a range
of geometry optimizations depending on the geometry type (polygon or nurbs).
Read GeometryEditor Module.
LightEditor
Opens the LightEditor Module. The LightEditor Module linear enables to create and
edit lights sources. All light sources are listed in the Scenegraph.
Read LightEditor Module.
MaterialEditor
Opens the MaterialEditor Module. The MaterialEditor Module enables to create, position and edit textures. It also allows to set up material libraries or define EnvironmentSphereMaterials for lighting and shading objects.
Read MaterialEditor Module.
43
menu
Scene
Menu Scene
NodeEditor
Opens the NodeEditor. The NodeEditor lists all node parameters and allows their
editing.
Read NodeEditor Module.
Variants
Opens the Variants Tool. In the Variants Tool variations of switch positions can be defined.
Read Variants Tool.
VariantSets
Opens the VariantSets Module. In the VariantSets Module complex variation setups can
be defined. Later on, they can be executed with a single initiator.
Read VariantSets Module.
44
Menu
Animation
Menu Animation
This chapter includes information for creating, adjusting and playing
animations and provides direct access to the particular modules.
Animation
Opens the Animation Module. With the Animation Module animations can be stored
to be executed initially. Imported objects, vertex or camera animations from other application are listed here and can be executed with Python scripts. They can further be
attached to sensors, retimed etc.
Read Animation Module.
CurveEditor
Opens the CurveEditor Module. The CurveEditor can create animations for all objects.
Animations can be stored in blocks, and later be rearranged in the ClipMaker Module.
They can also be attached to sensors and be listed as Variant in the VariantSets Module.
Read CurveEditor Module, ClipMaker Module, Animation Module,VariantSets Module
ClipMaker
Opens the ClipMaker Module. In the ClipMaker Module, previously created animations
created which have been bound in blocks in the CurveEditor module can be arranged
in clips. The ClipMaker also enables to retime, adjust and export clips.
VRED Professional supports the playback of sequence sets in the Sequencer module at
any time. It enables to start predefined sequences at a specific frame of an animation.
During playback you have full control over timing and focus in the presentation.
Read CurveEditor Module and ClipMaker Module
45
menu
Animation
Menu Animation
TimeLine
Opens the TimeLine.
Read TimeLine Module.
SAnimation
Opens the SAnimation module. The SAnimation module lists and executes imported
Deltagen animations.
Read SAnimation Module.
46
Menu
Interaction
Menu Interaction
The Interaction menu helps to create annotations, clip geometries
for detailed views, measure scene elements and applies temperature
simulation.
Navigation Mode
Enables/disables the navigation. The user can switch between :
TrackBall
TwoAxis
Orientation
Fly
Connector
With the connector, VRED instances can be synchronized for navigation on independent computers.
Settings save: Connector-server settings can be stored. Press the Save Settings
button.
Connect: There the connection settings can be entered, when this VRED instance
is a connection-slave.
Server: Sets the server ip.
Port: Sets the communication port address.
Disconnect: Deactivates the connector.
Connect: Activates the connector.
Server: Here the connection settings can be entered, when this VRED instance is a
connection-server.
Port: Sets the communication port address.
Stop: Stops the connection-server.
Start: Starts the connection-server.
Status: Displays the current connection-server status.
Frame sync:
47
menu
INTERACTION
Menu INTERACTION
ANNOTATION
Opens the Annotation Module. With the Annotation Module annotations can be added
to the scene.
Read Annotation Module.
Clipping
Opens the Clipping Module. With the Clipping Module objects can be clipped for construction evaluation purposes. The Clipping Module offers a variety of clipping tools.
Read Clipping Module.
Measurement
Opens the Measurement Module. With the Measurement Module distances between
objects, points, edges and more can be evaluated.
Read Measurement Module.
Sequencer
Opens the Sequencer Module. With the Sequencer it is possible to set up processes
which can be used for specific interactions in the application or as batch render setup.
Read Sequencer Module.
48
Touch Sensor
The TouchSensor allows to switch variants or play animations by a single click.
You can define a new node by simply dragging a node from the scenegraph into the
TouchSensor Module.
Add Node: Adds a node to the TouchSensor.
Add Variant: Adds a variant to the TouchSensor.
Remove: Removes an object from the TouchSensor.
Tracking
Opens the Tracking Module. The Tracking Module provides all settings for different
tracking types and setups.
Read Tracking Module.
Transform
Opens the Transform Module. The Transform Module sets any kind of object transformations via specific entries. Objects pivots can be adjusted.
Read Transform Module.
49
menu
RENDERING
Menu RENDERING
In this menu section you can find modules that help to set up special
rendering configurations like clustering, post effects, raytracing parameters and render layers.
Cluster
Opens the Cluster Module. The Cluster module provides access to all settings for setting up the different clustering modes VRED offers.
Read Clustering Module.
Final Renderpass
The Final Renderpass Module allows to use final render passes for left and right eye,
using a config file and specific shader parameters.
Projection Based Augmented Reality

Opens up the projection based Augmented Reality Module. This module allows to configure and implement existing tracking and displaying systems for augmented reality.
Postprocessing
Opens the Postprocessing Module. With the Postprocessing Module realtime postprocessing effects can be added to the scene.
Read Postprocessing Module.
50
RenderLayer
Opens the RenderLayer Module. With the RenderLayer Module the scene can be split
up into separate matching layers to be prepared for further refining in the post process.
Read RenderLayer Module.
Render Settings
Opens the Raytracing Module. In the Raytracing Module all settings for raytraced rendering can be defined.
Read RenderSettings Module.
51
menu
Windows
Menu Windows
This chapter contains different render window options.
New Render Window
Starts up a new render window. This feature allows to create multiple render windows.
The render windows can be set up independently. It is possible to individually set different cameras and viewpoints. Please note that all windows are affected by the selected
render mode.
In raytracing rendering mode the frame rate might slow down, since the frame rate
depends primarily on the amount of pixels to be rendered. If the amount of pixels of all
render windows summed up stays unchanged, the frame rate will also stay on a stable
level.
Caution: For any additionally opened render window the complete currently loaded scene,
since the system is running in OpenGL mode, will be loaded again into the graphics boards
Random Access Memory. Ensure that the graphics board has enough memory available.
Render Window Size

Contains predefined image resolutions as well as a dynamic resolution mode and a
resolution mode that uses the resolution set in the preferences. The preferences resolution mode is set as default.
Tile
Arranges the renderview in tiles to use the whole screen.
Cascade
Arranges the Renderview in a cascade.
52
Layout...:
Contains options to arrange the layout of windows.
53
menuS
Help
Menus Help
This chapter contains general information about Vred and access to
the documentation.
About
The About window provides all information about the currently used VRED version, the
license request state and the license agreement.
Licence
License VRED GENERAL END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
You should carefully read this General License Agreement prior to using, installing,
copying or duplicating PI-VR GmbH software products.
By downloading or copying or installing or using the Software you implicitly agree to all
terms and conditions as set out within this Agreement and terms of use set out below.
This Agreement applies to all versions of VRED whether current or obsolete, supported or unsupported.
MANUFACTURER AND MARKETER

VRED is manufactured and marketed by:
PI-VR GmbH
Lise-Meitner-Strae 10
D-64293 Darmstadt
Germany
www.pi-vr.de
info(at)pi-vr.de
All correspondence regarding this Agreement should be directed to the address above.
54
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 2001-2011 PI-VR GmbH
All rights reserved.
This Software product is a copyrighted work and is protected by German and international copyright laws and treaties.
This Software product is licensed, not sold. It is, and shall remain at all times, the absolute and unrestricted property of PI-VR GmbH. Nothing in this Agreement shall prejudice, impair, jeopardize or otherwise adversely affect the rights of PI-VR GmbH as sole
and exclusive owner of the Software.
WARRANTY DISCLAIMER
All efforts have been made to ensure that the Software is free from defects. The Software (including any and all accompanying software, files, data, and materials) are distributed and provided as is without any warranty whatsoever implied or otherwise.
INDEMNITY AND SPECIAL CONDITIONS

You (the Client) hereby indemnify PI-VR GmbH (including all agents, distributors,
sub-contracts, affiliates, branches, outlets and any other persons or companies associated with PI-VR GmbH worldwide) against any damages or claims that may arise from
the use or miss-use of the Software.
Under no circumstances does PI-VR GmbH authorize you to use the Software in applications or systems where the Softwares failure to perform can reasonably be expected
to result in a significant physical injury or loss of life. Any such use by you is entirely at
your own risk, and you agree to hold PI-VR GmbH harmless from any and all claims or
losses relating to such unauthorized use.
55
menuS
Help
TERMS OF USE AND DISTRIBUTION

The Software is supplied in three forms: Free Trials, VRED Photo Commercial, VRED
Professional Commercial.
For the purposes of this license a non-commercial entity is defined as any individual,
educational institution, charity or humanitarian organization.
For the purposes of this license a commercial entity is defined as any corporation
registered or otherwise that derives or attempts to derive substantial commercial and
monetary gain and benefit from its efforts and endeavors. This includes all Government
and Military entities.
Free Obsolete Software may be used free of charge by any commercial or non-commercial entity for commercial or non-commercial purposes under the terms and conditions set out in the GNU General Public License.
Free Unsupported Software may be used free of charge by any non-commercial entity.
It may be redistributed without restriction providing all conditions contained within
this license are met. Commercial entities may only use this Software in order to review
and appraise its functionality with a view to registering the Commercial Supported
Software in the future. This review and appraisal is limited to 14-days from date of
initial download. After this time the Commercial entity must uninstall and remove the
Free Unsupported Software located on all of its computer systems owned, leased or
otherwise.
Commercial Supported Software may only be used after the appropriate registration
fees have been paid for in full by any commercial or non-commercial entity. Commercial Supported Software cannot be redistributed. The commercial or non-commercial
entity must be in possession of a license for each and every workstation or server on
which the Commercial Supported Software is installed. The Commercial Supported
Software can only be installed on workstations or servers owned or leased or operated by or on behalf of the licensee. Should you inadvertently or otherwise install the
Commercial Supported Software on a workstation or server for which you do not
have a license then you must either uninstall it or purchase one or more license packs
to make up the shortfall.
56
The Software cannot be used for any purpose, related or otherwise that involves any
illegal or unauthorized attempt to gain access any computer system, any act of racism,
vandalism, persecution, terrorism, general provoked or unprovoked aggression or war
nor any other illegal, malicious or criminal activity.
You cannot sell or market or rebrand or rebadged the Software and then attempt claim
it as your own. You cannot ask for or attempt to claim any distribution fees or donations from any commercial or non-commercial entity by supplying them with any form
of the Software that can be legally freely redistributed.
The Software in all forms cannot be included as part of a saleable or commercial
product distribution from which fees or royalties of any kind are derived without prior
written consent from PI-VR GmbH.
THIS CONDITION SUPERSEDES AND REPLACES ALL PREVIOUS AGREEMENTS EITHER DIRECT OR IMPLIED WITH ANY INDIVIDUAL OR CORPORATION. ALL INDIVIDUALS OR CORPORATIONS CURRENTLY REDISTRIBUTING VRED WITH A
COMMERCIAL PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION MUST CEASE AND RE-OBTAIN WRITTEN CONSENT FROM PI-VR GMBH.
Further, you may not modify, enhance, supplement, create any derivative work from,
adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or otherwise reduce the Software to human readable form.
TRANSFER
A license can be transferred from the original licensee to a third party by advising PIVR GmbH of the transfer in writing. This transfer can occur only once and cannot be
perpetuated. Upon transfer all obligations of the original licensee are terminated and
transferred to the new owner. The original licensee will immediately cease using the
Software.
57
menuS
Help
TERMINATION
If you fail to comply with any of the provisions contained herein, PI-VR GmbH shall
have the right to terminate this Agreement immediately without prior notice or legal proceeding. PI-VR GmbH shall have the right to commence the appropriate legal
proceeding in order to recover costs, losses and damages as a result of the failure to
comply. Upon termination, you must immediately discontinue the use and redistribution
of the Software.
Documentation
Opens a HTML-site providing the online version of this Documentation.
Python Documentation
Opens the Python Documentation window which lists and describes commands, classes and algorithms for programming in the supported script language Python.
Module Hierarchy
vrAEBase: Contains the base functionality of all action and event classes.
vrARTracking
vrAmbientOcclusion
vrAnimation
vrChunkPtr
vrCluster: Contains the functions to use the cluster module.
vrCollision
vrColorDialog: Contains the functionality interactivly choose a color.
vrConnector
vrController
vrFade: Contains the functionality to fade objects.
58
vrFieldAccess
vrFileDialog: Contains the functionality interactivly choose file- or directory names.
vrFileIO
vrImagePtr
vrInterpolator
vrJoystick
vrKey: Contains the functionality to receive key events.
vrMaterialEditor
vrMaterialPtr
vrMenu
vrMovieExport
vrMoviePlayer2
vrNodePtr
vrNodeUtils
vrOSGWidget: Example:
vrOde
vrOptimize: The vrOptimize module allows to optimize the representation of the
graphical scene to speed up rendering. Example:
vrParticle
vrParticle2
vrQObject
vrRoute
vrSHLChunkPtr
vrScenegraph: The vrScenegraph class contains all necessary functions to work in
a scenegraph system.
vrScript
vrSwitch
vrTextureChunkPtr
vrTimer: Contains the functionality to receive timer events.
vrTracking: Contains the functions to use the tracking module and to access vari ous sensors, like buttons, bodies and dials.
59
menuS
Help
vrVariantSets: Contains the functionality to switch between defined variants of a

model.
vrVideoGrab
vrViewPoint
vrViewPoints: Contains the functionality to define/use viewpoints.
vrVirtualEye
vrWater
vrWidget
Class Hierarchy
__builtin__.object: The most base type
None.instance
vrOSGWidget.Color3f
vrFieldAccess.FieldContainerPtr
vrImagePtr.ImagePtr
vrImagePtr.vrImagePtr: A wrapper class for the OpenSG ImagePtr
vrMaterialPtr.MaterialPtr
vrMaterialPtr.vrMaterialPtr: A wrapper class for the OpenSG MaterialPtr
vrNodePtr.NodePtr
vrNodePtr.vrNodePtr: The NodePtr class is python representation of a node with
in the scenegraph.
vrOSGWidget.Pnt3f
vrSHLChunkPtr.SHLChunkPtr
vrSHLChunkPtr.vrSHLChunkPtr: The SHLChunkPtr class provides direct access
to all data of an OpenGL Shader Chunkr
vrChunkPtr.StateChunkPtr
vrChunkPtr.vrChunkPtr: The StateChunkPtr is the base class for access to every
chunk of a material.
vrTextureChunkPtr.TextureChunkPtr
vrTextureChunkPtr.vrTextureChunkPtr: A wrapper class for the OpenSG Texture ChunkPtr
60
vrOSGWidget.Vec3fvrAEBase.
vrAEBase: Base class for all actions and events
vrARTracking.vrARTSensor
vrCollision.vrCollision: Collision detection
vrFade.vrFade: vrFade fades the alpha values of objects below the specified node
from opaque to full transparency in the first cycle.
vrInterpolator.vrInterpolator: Transforms objects
vrJoystick.vrJoystick: Joystick device handlervrKey.vrKey: The key class is used to
define functionality to be called on key presses.
vrMenu.vrMenu: Creates 3d menus and windows
vrMoviePlayer2.vrMoviePlayer2: Maps a movie on a node
vrOde.vrOde: Creates a physics simulation based on ode, this is just a demonstra tion no yet really usable.
vrParticle.vrParticle: Particle simulation this is just an demonstrator
vrParticle2.vrParticle2: Particles simulation
vrSwitch.vrSwitch: Switches visibility of objects.
vrTimer.vrTimer: The timer class is responsible to call time based functionality.
vrTracking.vrTrackerSensor:The vrTrackerSensor class is the base class for all sen sors like bodies, buttons and dials.
vrTracking.vrTrackerAnalog: The vrTrackerAnalog class is a proxy class to access a
tracking analog as defined in the Tracking GUI module.
vrTracking.vrTrackerBody: The vrTrackerBody class is a proxy class to access a
tracking body as defined in the Tracking GUI module.
vrTracking.vrTrackerButton: The vrTrackerButton class is a proxy class to access a
tracking button as defined in the Tracking GUI module.
vrTracking.vrTrackerDial:The vrTrackerDial class is a proxy class to access a track ing dial as defined in the Tracking GUI module.
vrVideoGrab.vrVideoGrab: Maps a video stream from a tv card or webcam on a
node.
vrViewPoint.vrViewPoint: Creates a event if specified viewpoint is reached
61
menuS
Help
vrVirtualEye.vrVirtualEye: Creates a virtual camera and maps the output on a node

vrWater.vrWater: Just a kind of water cube demonstrator
vrWidget.vrWidget: Create a qt gui from a type or a ui xml file
vrFieldAccess.vrFieldAccess: The vrFieldAccess class offers access to any kind of
data (fields) inside the scenegraph (regardless if it is a node, a geometry, material
etc.) You get access to the field pointer within the materials or nodes via the
fields()-method.vrQObject.vrQObject: A wrapper class for the qt object A wrap
per class for the qt object.
vrInterpolator.vrSlide
vrInterpolator.vrRotationAxisSlide
vrInterpolator.vrRotationSlide
vrInterpolator.vrScaleSlide
vrInterpolator.vrTranslationSlide
__builtin__.type: type(object) the objects type type(name, bases, dict) a new
type
Changes
Opens the Changes window. The Changes window lists all version changes.
GL Info
Opens the GL Info window. Displays all OpenGL features supported by the graphics
board and the current memory usage.
62
Toolbar
File & View
Toolbar
The following chapter offers an overview of the tool bar structure.
All available icons are explained in detail.
Toolbar File
Contains all icons for data management.
File Open...
File Open...
File Save
Toolbar View
Contains all icons for visual feedback.
Fullscreen: Activates the Renderview fullscreen render mode.

Press Escape to deactivate the Fullscreen render mode.
Show all: Frames all objects in the scene.
Zoom to: Zooms to selected object.
63
Toolbar
View
Grid: Draws a Grid depending on the selected axes.
Ruler: Activates the Ruler Tool. The ruler axis adapts according to the view
axis.
Transform: Activates the Transform Tool. Using the Transform Tool
objects can be transformed interactively in the Renderview.
Press
any arrow to move selected object along selected transform axis.

any cube to scale selected object along the selected scale axis.
Press any sphere to rotate selected object along the selected rotation axis.
red X-axis
green Y-axis
blue Z-axis
Press the yellow cube to scale selected object along all scale axes uniformly.
Press the green, red or blue plane to move selected object along selected
plane axis.
Press
64
Toolbar
Render Options
Toolbar Render Options

Antialiasing: Turns on/off antialiasing. Click on the icon and hold down the
left mouse button. Select Enable downscale antialiasing to activate/deactivate the downscale antialiasing function. The antialiasing downscale level is determined
by the downscale level.

Raytracing: Activates Raytracing rendering. The Raytracing rendering modes
supports all raytracing rendering features such as reflections, refractions,
glossy reflections, global illumination, subsurface-scattering and more. All effects can be
activated on a per material base or by using overrides.

Downscale: Activates/Deactivates downscaling.

Region: Enables/Disables region rendering. SHIFT + left click to drag a
region window.

Backplate: Sets the backplate to visible/invisible.

Wireframe: The Wireframe Button toggles wireframe rendering to on or
off. All currently selected objects are drawn in the set render mode and an
additional wireframe mode. The wireframe colour can be set in:
Edit Preferences RenderOptions WireframeSetings Wireframe Color.

Bounding Box: Sets the Bounding Box to visible/invisible.
65
Toolbar
Synchronization
Toolbar Synchronization
Contains all icons that help to connect and/or synchronize VRED with
external devices.
Connector: Connects/disconnects to another VRED.

Cluster: Starts the render cluster
Read Cluster Module.

66
Tracking: Activates/Deactivates tracking.
ToolbarQuick ACCESS
Toolbar Quick Access
Contains selected module icons for a quick access. As default setting,
the following icons are selected.
SG: Sets visible/invisible the Scenegraph.
Transform: Enables/disables the Transform tool.
Materials: Activates/Deactivates the MaterialEditor.
Camera: Enables/disables the CameraEditor.
Curves: Enables/disables the CurveEditor.
Clips: Enables/disables the ClipMaker.

Region: Enables/Disables region rendering.
SHIFT + left click to drag a region window.

VSets: Enables/disables the VariantSets.
Settings: Enables /disables the RenderSettings.

67
Status Bar
Status Bar
The Status Bar provides information about the memory usage and
allows you to change the up vector as well as near and far clippingplanes and the field of view.
Left Side: Size of the scene, ID and resolution of the current renderview.
Units: Changing this value defines the measurement units of the image.
Up: Sets the axis of the up vector.
NCP: Defines the distance of the near clip plane.
FCP: Defines the distance of the far clip plane.
FOV: Defines the field of view in degree.
ICV: Saves the current view for the initial camera view.
68
Preferences
Preferences
Preferences
Preferences Preferences
This chapter provides detailed information about setting up global
preferences in VRED Professional.
The Preferences can be found in:
Edit Preferences
70
Preferences
Camera
Preferences Camera
Basic Settings
Field of View: Sets the standard preset
Field of View Value (FOV).
Stereo Settings:
Eye Separation: Sets the distance be tween left eye and right eye in stereo scopic view.
Zero parallax distance: Sets the focus
point in stereoscopic view.
Powerwall Settings
Projection Width / Height / Distance in millimeters
71
Preferences
Cluster Client
Preferences CLUSTER CLIENT
Default config file: Sets the root
of the configuration file for the cluster
setup.
Daemon port: Sets the port which
will be used for cluster communication.
72
Preferences
Color Management
Preferences COlor Management
Color Profiles
Monitor Color Profile: Defines

the monitor color profile.
Image Color Profile: Defines the
image color profile.
73
Preferences
Devices
Preferences devices

Space Mouse
Enable 3D Mouse: On/Off
View Mode: Sets the point of rotation
Rotation Pivot: You either move
around the camera or the object.
Enable Two axis mode: On/Off
Helicopter Mode: Enables to define a
certain height and to tilt.
Height: Sets a flight mode with a fixed
hight.
Use Fixed Height: On / Off
Joystick
Use Joystick: Activates to use joystick devices for navigation. Enter device ID.
ID: Sets the device ID.
Sample settings for a Logitech RumblePad 2

Left joystick: Trackball-like navigation. Rotates around the at-point.
Left joystick + L1: Rotates the camera.
Left joystick + L2: Pans the camera.
Right joystick: Zoom
Button 1: Shows the whole scene.
Button 2: Shows the ICV (Initial Camera View).
74
Preferences
Export
Base
Preferences Export Base

Base
Resolution: Render resolution for
cube images.
Supported resolutions:
32 x 32
64 x 64
128 x 128
256 x 256
512 x 512
1024 x 1024
2048 x 2048
Supersampling: Sets the supersampling
quality for cube image rendering.
Supersampling quality:
Off
4x
16x
64x
Type: Defines the type of cube image rendering
Type:
Separate images (6 planar images)
Vertical cross rendering
Horizontal cross rendering
Spherical map rendering
75
Preferences
File IO
File IO
Preferences File IO

Options: Base
Verify geometry: Ensures during import
that the geometrys structure is suitable
for rendering.
Optimize geometry: Rebuilds geometry
optimized for VRED Scenegraph.
Create TruelightMaterials: Activates/
deactivates Create TruelightMaterials.
Automatically converts all imported
materials to TruelightMaterials.
Tmp path: Path for temporary files.
Texture compression
Mode
None: No texture compression at any time.
Auto: Texture compression when texture size exceeds graphics board memory
limit.
Always: Texture compression for all loaded textures.
Video Memory limit (MB): Sets the video memory limit for use with texture
compression.
Texture search paths

Specifies the folders where VRED searches for textures.
76
Preferences
File IO
FHS
Preferences File IO FHS

Loader
Ignore INVERTALPHA
Writer
Write poly pools
Force writing INVERTALPHA
Write Material
Write Geometry
Texture quality high
Extended Format
Enable extended format
Inline audio data
77
Preferences
File IO
FIle IO
Preferences File IO JT
Loader
Use active Layerfilter: Usage of layer fil ters, i.e. disabling inactive nodes.
Breps Handling: Handles objects with
exact boundary representation surfaces
(NURBS), tesselates all the brep objects.
Direct ray tracing of all the JT and/or
XT-brep objects using NURBS data.

78
Preferences
File IO
Maya
Preferences File IO MAYA

Base
Maya directory: Sets the Maya installa tion path. This defines the Maya version
file type which can be loaded.
Import
Force Grayscale shadow texture:
Converts all grayscale textures from
RGB to grayscale textures.
Use local material library: Uses the local
material library when checked.
Units: Sets the units to be used for
imported data.
Export
Units: Sets the units to be used for exported data.
79
Preferences
File IO
OSB/VPB
Preferences File IO OSB/VPB

Reader
Checksum test: The checksum test
ensures the file was successfully read
after loading. It causes long file loading
times.
Writer
File compression:VRED files can be
saved with file compression. This helps
reducing the needed disc space for
the file.With the file compression option
the quality of file compression can be
defined.
There are three options:
No file compression: No file compression, resulting in larger VRED files and short
saving and loading times.
Fast file compression: Compresses files, which results in smaller file sizes. Saving
and loading time will be longer.
Best file compression: Compresses data into very small files, which saves a lot of
disc space. Saving and loading files takes longer.
User inline Textures: Inlines all textures used in the scene into the file.
Texture Compression: Defines the quality of embedding inline textures.
None: Keeps all textures in their native file format and quality.
Lossless: Compresses all textures lossless.
Lossy: Compression to smallest possible size, losses are taken into account.
Quality: Sets the quality for the texture compression.
80
Preferences
File IO
Rhino
Preferences File IO RHino

Base
Merge Geometry: Merges geometry
when importing Rhino material.
Import NURBS: Imports NURBS data
when checked.
81
Preferences
File IO
SLP
Preferences File IO SLP

Loader

Disable display lists: An OpenGL
display list is created for rendering
the imported geometry. Some older
graphics boards have difficulties handling
such amounts of data. To get a stable
result turn off the display lists.
Caution: The performance might drop
extremely.
82
Preferences
File IO
STL
Preferences File IO STL

Loader
Disable display list: An OpenGL display
list is created for rendering the imported
geometry. Some older graphics boards
have difficulties handling these amounts
of data.To get a stable result turn off the
display lists.
Caution: The performance might drop
extremely.
Writer
STL Export format
Ascii: Is legible in the editor. Reading
and writing is very slow and requires more hard disk space.
Binary: Is illegible in the editor (binary). Reading and writing is very fast and consumes
less hard disk space.
83
Preferences
File IO
WRL
Preferences File IO WRL

Reader
Optimization (Auto, Catia, ProEngineer):
These are special optimizations that are
performed during load up. Highly com plex data structures of Catia and Pro
Engineers VRML files make it very hard
to get performant results. These opti mizations enable you to display these
data sets up to 50x faster than usual and
give you a quick feedback.
Writer
Inline textures: Usually, textures are
only referenced as normal files. Inline
textures allow you to embed textures directly into the VRML file.
84
Preferences
Final Renderpass
Preferences Final Renderpass
Base
Default config file: Specifies the de fault config path.
85
Preferences
Import
Preferences Import

Defines the CAD data and tessellation
value settings.
86
Preferences
Import
Tesselation
Preferences Import Tesselation

Tesselation-Quality
Tolerance: Sets the maximum triangle
aberration for tessellation from the
b-splines. Adding further tessellation
tolerances generates a LOD node for
each imported file. The tolerance values
define the tessellation aberration for
each LOD nodes child. The amount of
children is defined by the amount of tol erance values. With the Add and Re move button, tessellation values can be
added or removed.
Offset factor: Sets the offset for the
following tessellation tolerance value
depending on the previously created.
Tesselation Topology
Topology: Offers three different options to tessellate geometries.
Create new: Rebuilds a completely new geometry based on the imported
b-splines.
Reuse existing if any: Refines the geometry according to the set tessellation
settings. The new tessellation is based on the currently set tessellation in the
imported data, if there is a tessellation existing already.
No topology: Does not tessellate geometries.
Tolerance: Aberration of the tessellated geometries from the b-splines.
Check Orientation: Ensures that normals of seamless patches are pointing in the
same direction.
87
Preferences
Main Window
Preferences Main Window
Main window settings
Show FPS in Statusbar: Shows the
current frame rate in the left bottom
corner of the Renderview.
Show rendering log messages in Terminal:
All log messages will be shown in the
Terminal Module during the rendering
process.
Show internal nodes in Scenegraph:
Shows internal nodes in the Scene-graph.
Show tool button text: Shows the
name of the icons.
Window Opacity: Sets the opacity for
all module windows.
Disable Docking: Enables/disables the
docking function for module windows in VRED.
88
Preferences
Material Library
Preferences material Library
Path
Add: Adds a new search directory
where material libraries can be found.
Delete: Deletes selected search direc tory for material libraries.
89
Preferences
Navigator
Preferences Navigator
Navigation mode
Fly: Sets the navigation to fly mode.
This mode is suitable for space mouse
navigation. The cameras pivot is fixed
to the cameras center. In fly mode the
camera can freely be placed and orien tated in 3D space.
Walk: Sets the navigation to walk mode.
Trackball (2 Axis): Sets the navigation
mode to two axis navigation. In two
axis navigation the camera has only
two free rotation axes, while the third
one, the role axis, is locked.
Trackball (3 Axis): Sets the navigation
mode to trackball navigation. In trackball
navigation all camera rotation axes are unlocked. The camera rotates freely in all
directions.
Auto center: Sets the rotation pivot in two axis and trackball navigation mode
automatically to the objects center currently placed in the Renderviews center.
90
Preferences
Plugins
Preferences Plugins
All plugins which are checked to ON will
be loaded on startup.
91
Preferences
Render Options
Preferences Render Options
This chapter provides information about setting up the Renderview
parameters in VRED Professional.
Visualization
Render Window Settings
Use fixed Resolution: Enables/disables
to set a fixed Resolution for the render
view.
Pixel Resolution: Sets the render view
diameter in pixels in width and height.
Enable Downscale: Enables/disables
downscale.
Downscale Quality: Offers a total of
three downscaling options to accelerate
the work process.
Low: Uses every second pixel for
the calculation.
Medium: Uses every fourth pixel for
the calculation.
High: Uses every eight pixel for the calculation.
Enable Realtime Antialiasing: Activates the realtime antialiasing for OpenGL render
mode by default.
Antialiasing Quality: Sets the real time antialiasing quality for OpenGL mode.
Low: Calculates one and a half times of the originally resolution.
Medium: Calculates two times of the originally resolution.
High: Calculates four times of the originally resolution.
92
Enable Stillframe Antialiasing: Activates still antialiasing rendering for OpenGL and
Raytracing render mode by default.
Stillframe AA after: Sets the duration of no user input in seconds, before still anti aliasing starts calculating.
Show PI-VR logo: Shows the PI-VR logo in the render view by default.
Automatic clipping plane adaption: Adjusts the clipping plane automatically to the
visible objects bounding box.
Limit Near and Far Clipping Plane: Sets the default near and far clipping plane.
Clips all objects closer to the camera than the near clipping plane distance (not
drawn anymore). Clips all objects farther away from the camera than the far clipping
plane distance (not drawn anymore).
Near Clipping Plane: Defines the minimum distance of the near clip plane.
Far Clipping Plane: Defines the maximum distance of the far clip plane.
Lighting Settings
Headlight Behaviour: Sets the default setting for the headlight.
Auto: Auto leaves the headlight turned ON by default until the first Truelight
Shader is used. Then the Headlight will be set to OFF.
On: Switches the headlight on by default.
Off: Switches the headlight off by default.
Ignore:
Use point headlight: Uses a Point Light as Headlight instead of a Directional Light.
Correct two sided lighting: Renders all shaders double-sided.
93
Preferences
Render Options
Wireframe Settings
Enable Wireframe: Draws a wireframe of all selected objects.
Always in front: Draws the wireframe always on top of all objects, even if others
cover the selected.
Color: Sets the wireframe color.
Navigation Help
Show coordinate system: Renders a miniature coordinate system in the lower left
Renderview corner.
Show Navigation Cube: Renders the VRED-navigation in the upper right corner of
the Renderview by default.
Use Z-Up Coordinate System: Sets the z-axis by default as up-axis.
94
Preferences
Visualization Advanced
Render Options Visualization Advanced
Use Software rendering: In OpenGL,
the view is rendered by the processor
instead of being calculated by the
graphics processor.
Disable main thread sleep: Prevents
the system of sending the main thread
to sleep.
Use 10 Bit RGB: The 10Bit RGB feature
allows a great color spectrum ideal for
a monitor able to display that data.
Disable cluster: Disables the clustering
feature. Please restart VRED for the
changes to take effect.
Auto depth only pass: Turns on Depth
Only Pass when reaching a certain reso lution.
Use back buffer: High frame rates often cause so called tearings, which can be
avoided by activating the back buffer.
Occlusion culling: Disables the rendering of invisible objects. Occlusion culling can
improve the performance in very complex scenes.
Cache Geometry: Caching geometries improves the applications performance.
The caching process uses additional memory (RAM).
Ignore GL Extensions: Comma separated list of extensions to be ignored, e.g.
GL_ARB_non_texture_power_of_two, GL_ARB_pixel_buffer_object
95
Preferences
Visualization Advanced
Background
In the Background menu the Renderview background color can be set. The color is
defined as a gradient, which changes its color value according to a specified color at
specified positions.The color is defined in RGB and the position from bottom to top in
a value ranges from 0 to 1.
Color: The color can be set with the color chooser or by a direct entry of values
between 0 and 1 for each channel (RGB).
Position: The position value defines the position from bottom to top for each color.
Entry value must be between 0 and 1.
Add: Adds a new color value.
Delete: Deletes the selected color.
Choose color: Opens the color picker to set the color for the currently selected entry.
Channel shift
Enable Channel Shift: Enables/Disables channel shift.
Channel (Red, Green, Blue, Alpha): Sets an offset for a whole colour channel.
Offset X,Y:
SLI Settings
Enable SLI: Enables/disables SLI mode.
Mode
Single GPU: Only one GPU works in SLI Mode.
Multiple GPU: Split Frame Rendering (SFR): Two or more GPUs render the scene
using split frame rendering.
Multiple GPU: Alternate Frame Rendering (AFR): Two or more GPUs render the
scene using alternate frame rendering.
96
Preferences
Render Settings
Image
Preferences Rendersettings
The Render Settings help to set
up the export parameters.
Rendersettings Image
Resolution: Sets the image diameter in
pixels in width and height.
DPI: Dots per inch.Defines the embedded
image resolution in dots per inch.
Size: Calculates the resulting image
size in mm depending on the dpi and
pixel resolution.
Advanced
Supersampling: Sets the supersampling quality for rendering to Off, Low, Medium
or High.
Stereo Mode: Enables to render stereoscopic images (left eye right eye, multiview 5
Images, multiview 9 images).
Compression Quality: Sets the compression quality of an image in percent, standard
value is -1 no compression.
Export image with alpha channel: Activates alpha channel rendering. The alpha
channel will be embedded into the resulting image, if the file type supports alpha
channels. The alpha channel colour can be selected separately.
Add signature: Adds a time stamp to the rendered image (creation date, name and
time).
Show rendered image after saving: Opens a separate window showing the ren97
Preferences
Render Settings
Image
dered image.
Single image viewer window: Shows only one image after rendering.
Ignore aspect ratio: Squashes or stretches the rendered image and ignores the
aspect ratio.
Export tiff in HDR format: Renders TIFF format in 32 BITS.
Animation
Start frame: Sets the start frame of the sequence to be rendered.
Stop frame: Sets the end frame of the sequence to be rendered.
Frames per second: Sets the frame rate for the image sequence.
Resolution: Sets the default resolution for the animation.
Export Type: Defines the default export type for the animation.
Premultiply Alpha: Renders the alpha channel premultiplied.
Show Snapshot Frame: Draws a yellow frame into Renderview, indicating the target
image to be rendered.
Export render passes: Activates rendering with render passes. All activated Render
passes will be rendered and saved at a time.
98
Preferences
Render Settings
Antialiasing
Rendersettings ANTIALIASING
Max. Image Samples: Sets the number of
samples taken during stillframe antialias ing. Higher values produce a cleaner re sult while lower values reduce the ren der time.A value of 128 is recommended as
starting point in general but may be
too low for interior scenes with full
global illumination.
Adaptive Sampling: Adaptive sampling
allows the raytracer to skip regions that
are already smooth and focus the pro cessing power on regions that are still
noisy.The various quality settings control
a threshold for a region to be consid ered as smooth. Setting the control to
Off disables adaptive antialiasing and always samples each pixel with the number
of image samples specified. While this gives the highest render quality it may waste
processing power on regions that are already smooth.
Preview Quality: Sets the sampling quality to a very low level, resulting in preview
render quality and very short render times.
Low Quality: Sets the sampling quality to low level, resulting in average render
quality and short render times.
Medium quality: Sets the sampling quality to medium level, resulting in good
render quality and medium render times.
High Quality: Sets the sampling quality to high quality level.
Ultra High Quality: Sets the sampling quality to production quality level.
Use Clamping Value: Activates clamping for very bright pixels to eliminate white
spots after antialiasing. The value sets the maximum multiplier for a white pixel.
Activating clamping and reducing the multiplier reduces the maximum resulting im99
Preferences
Render Settings
Antialiasing
age color range.
Pixel Filter
A pixel filter weights the image samples taken per pixel and therefore controls the
antialiasing quality of the rendering. High image filter sizes may result in blurry image
results.
Filter:VRED offers five filter-algorithms for sampling: Box,Triangle, Mitchell Netravali
and Lanczos.
Size: The pixel filter size defines the number of neighbouring pixels in width and
height taken into account for filtering.
Features
Enable Motion Blur: Enables the Motion Blur effect when rendering an image.
Enable Depth of Field: Enables the Depth of Field effect when rendering an image.
Optimize for many light sources: Enables the optimization for many light sources
when rendering an image.
100
Preferences
Render
Settings
Raytracing Quality
Rendersettings Raytracing Quality
Illumination
Interactive and Still Frame: Overrides
the lighting mode for materials for
interactive and still frame antialiasing.
Precomputed Illumination: No calcu-
lation of light samples.
Precomputed + Shadows: No calcu lation of light samples, but display of
shadows.
Fast Global Illumination: Calculation
of directional light samples, indirec tional light samples are not taken
into calculation.

Full global illumination: Calculation
of both light sample types (directional
and indirectional).
Photon Tracing
Photon Tracing provides an approach to calculate the global illumination in a scene.
The default full global illumination mode in VRED provides high quality results but may
require longer calculation times. Photon Tracing can reduce the time required to render a clean image by a larger margin, especially in indoor scenarios like car interiors or
architectural indoor scenes.
Mode
VRED provides different Photon mapping modes.
Off: Disables Photon Tracing and uses the default full global illumination algorithm.
Indirect Only: Uses photon tracing to calculate the indirect illumination in a scene.
This is the most common mode.
101
Preferences
RenderRatracing
Settings
Quality
Caustics + Indirect: Uses Photon Tracing to calculate indirect illumination and caustics
due to specular materials in a scene.
Interactive and Still Frame Count: The two photon count values specify the number
of photons being sent into the scene for each image sample. Specifying a photon
count of 100000 photons while having set the image samples set to 256 will result in
25.600.000 photons send into the scene for a frame. More photons result in smoother
results.
Lookup Radius: The lookup radius specifies the radius around a sceness hitpoint
used by the raytracer to find photons around the hitpoint. A larger radius allows
the raytracer to find more photons but may result in slower lookup times.
Final Gahter Quality: Setting the Final Gather Quality to 1 or higher, the update
frequency of the Photon Map may be set. By default the Photon Maps are updated
for each image sample, sending a large number of photons into the scene. While
this is necessary if final gather quality is set to 0 it is often sufficient to update the
Photon Map only once per frame and use it for each image sample to reduce the
render times.
Final Gather Refresh:

There are two ways to use the photon map.The first approach is always used for caustic
photons. It gathers photons around a hitpoint to calculate the incoming illumination.
This approach gives very fast interactive performance and is capable to calculate all
light paths in a scene, but it may require a very high photon count to get a clean image.
The other approach is to use final gathering. In final gathering a one bounce indirect
illumination is performed before evaluating the Photon Maps. This is the default Photon
Tracing approach in VRED since it generates high quality images in a very short time.
Setting the final gather quality to 0 enables the first approach while setting it to any
other value uses the second approach.
On Each Sample: This updates the Photon Map for each image sample. This is the
default setting since it also works for scenes with animated objects that may cause
flickering otherwise.
102
On Scene Change: The Photon Map is updated once per frame only unless motion
blur is activated. Since caustics require many photons, the Caustic Map will still
be updated for each sample while the indirect illumination Photon Map will only be
updated once. This setting often results in the best rendering performance but
requires a much higher photon count to receive artefact-free results, particularly
when rendering scenes with animated objects, the result may flicker in regions
with a low photon count. This is why this mode should only be used for scenes
with static geometry and materials.
IBL Sampling Quality

Interactive: Sets the interactive IBL sampling quality.
Still Frame: Sets the still frame IBL sampling quality.
Reflection/Refraction Sampling Quality

Interactive: Sets the interactive sampling quality of reflections and refractions.
Still Frame: Sets the still frame sampling quality of reflections and refractions.
Trace Depth Settings:

Interactive: Sets the interactive trace depth settings.
Still Frame: Sets the still frame trace depth settings.
103
Preferences
RenderRatracing
Settings
Quality
Photon Tracing Notes and Tips
Photon Tracing has its main advantages in interior scenes. In exterior scenes most of the light
illuminates the scene directly, the default full global illumination mode in VRED shows the best
performance in this case.
Be aware that the number of photons emitted doesnt resemble the number of photons actually stored. If a photon misses the scene it will not be stored. A photon bouncing several times
in a scene might be stored more than once.To keep the number of emitted photons as low as
possible, place any light emitters in a way that most photons will hit the scene.
When using Final Gathering scenes may suffer from light leaks if the photon radius is set too
large. Light leaks mainly result from bad geometry in architectural scene. An example would
be an interior of a room illuminated through a window, the walls being modelled as simple
planes. Any geometry near the wall would get light from outside the room since there is no
actual thickness of the wall. The solution would be to actually model the outer walls as well.
Reducing the lookup radius may also fix the problem but may require shooting more photons
into the scene.
Final gathering may also show problems in scenes with very strong indirections where the scene
is primarily illuminated by light resulting from reflections of a wall. In these situations disabling
final gathering may give you a cleaner result.
104
Preferences
Render Settings
Advanced
Rendersettings Advanced
Cluster
Enable: Enables/disables the cluster
mode.
Hostnames: Defines the hosts to be used
to render the scene. (Default: local
host)
Signature
Start frame: Defines the start frame.
Font Size: Defines the font size.
Color: Defines the font color.
Comment: Allows to add a comment
to the signature.
Add filename: Adds the filename to
the signature.
Add date: Adds the current date to the signature.
Add time: Adds the current time to the signature.
Snapshot
Path: Sets the position where the snapshot will be saved.
105
Preferences
Script
Preferences SCRIPT
In the ScriptEditor scripts or
script commands can be entered.
They will be executed on each
startup

106
Preferences
Selection
Preferences Selection
Base
Bounding box visualization size: Defines
the bounding box thickness in pixels.
107
Preferences
tracking
Preferences Tracking
Base
Default config file: Offers the possibility
to define the default config file.

108
Preferences
Transform
Preferences Transform
Transform Precision
Precision Translation: Sets the default
precision range for translation actions.
Precision Rotation: Sets the default
precision range for rotation actions.
Precision Scale: Sets the default precision
range for scaling actions.
109
Preferences
Webinterface
Preferences WebInterface
Base
Enable web server: Activates the
VRED Professional internal web server.
Port: Specifies the port number the
VRED Professional web server listens
to. The port number is set to 8888 by
default.
Enable debug mode: Activates the
debug mode of the VRED Professional
web server.

110
111
Scenegraph
Scenegraph
Scenegraph
Scenegraph
The Scenegraph lists all nodes the current scene consists of. Different icons indicate the node types existing in the scene. The basic node, at the same time the
top node of each VRED scene is the Root node. The
Root node is a group node.
The Root group is the top node of each VRED file and
cannot be deleted nor renamed or anyhow edited.
All additional nodes must be children of the Root
node. Above the Root node is the search field. Use
the built-in search field to find nodes.
Mouse entries in the Scenegraph:

Rename: Left Mouse Click on a selected node to rename it
Open node graph: Double Left Mouse Click to enlarge the
selected nodes graph. All the selected node will be displayed.
Move objects in Scenegraph: Left Mouse Click Drag to move nodes in the Scene graph. While moving objects in the Scenegraph a blue or red indicator will be drawn.
Blue: Moves selected node into another node.
Red: Moves selected node at the specific position in the scene structure.
Move objects from Scenegraph into Renderview: Left Mouse Click Drag objects
from the Scenegraph into the Renderview to view only selected objects in the Ren derview.
Blue: Moves selected node into another node.
Red: Moves selected node at the specific position in the scene structure.
Move objects from Scenegraph into Renderview: Left Mouse Click Drag objects
from the Scenegraph into the Renderview to view only selected objects in the Ren derview.
113
Scenegraph
Scenegraph Menu
Create
Scenegraph Menu
Right Mouse Click in the Scenegraph to open the Scengraph Menu.
Scenegraph Menu Create

All functions in the Create Menu
add additional nodes to the scene.
Generated nodes are created as
a child of the currently selected
node. If no node is selected the
new node will be child of the Root
Node.
Group
Creates a group node. To move, scale or
rotate multiple objects as one unit it is recommended to combine them as a group.
Transformations can then be carried out
on the whole group.
Clone
Creates a clone node. Clone nodes creates an exact copy of the node that is
dropped onto it.
Material Group
Creates a MaterialGroup node. All nodes which are children of a MaterialGroup node,
receive a material override flag. Even when maintaining their initial material assignment,
they will be shaded with the MaterialGroups material assignment as soon they become
114
children of the MaterialGroup node.

Transform
Creates a Transform node. A Transform node is a transformation matrix for object
transformations. Transformation parameters like transformations, rotations or scaling
are calculated in a single transformation matrix.
Transform3D
Creates a Transform3D node. A Transform3D node represents a range of transformation matrixes. Each matrix holds a specific transformation type. There are three different matrixes for transformation, rotation and scaling. When transforming an object
without a currently assigned Transform3D node, a Transform3D node will be created
automatically.
Billboard
Creates a Billboard node. A Billboard node can align its children to the camera. Billboard align axes can be set under: Scene NodeEditor
Switch
Creates a Switch node. Switch nodes set only one of their children visible. The child
to be set visible can be set under. Scene NodeEditor. Switches can also be set in the
Variants and the VariantSets Module.
StereoSwitch
Creates a StereoSwitch node. A StereoSwitch node can draw the first two children
independently of each other. While the first child is drawn on the left eye channel, the
second child is drawn on the right eye channel. To activate the StereoSwitch, activate
any stereo render mode.
HostSwitch
Creates a HostSwitch node. HostSwitch children can be rendered on any dedicated
host computer. To enter the host computers name select:
115
Scenegraph
Scenegraph Menu
Create
To enter the host computers name select: Scene NodeEditor Hostname.
DistanceLOD
Creates a DistanceLOD node. With a DistanceLOD drawn children can be exchanged
depending on the objects distance from the camera. Usually the DistanceLOD is used
to reduce the geometrys detail level when the camera is far away from an object and
raises the geometry details when the camera is close to it by switching between different geometries. This keeps the frame rate high.
Directional Light
Creates a Directional Light node, which casts parallel light beams.
Read Modules LightEditor.
Point Light
Creates a Point Light node, which casts light beams from one point to all directions.
Spot Light
Creates a Spot Light node, which casts light beams from one point to a specific direction.
Sound
Creates a Sound node. With a sound node, sound files can be embedded into a scene.
To enter the sound files source, select Scene NodeEditor SoundFile.
Sound Obstructor
Creates a Sound Obstructor node, which stops a sound file playing, when it is covered
by the Sound Obstructor in the Renderview.
116
Clipplane
Creates a ClipPlane. A ClipPlane is a border behind which objects will be clipped. All
objects which are children of the ClipPlane will be affected by the ClipPlane. To move
the ClipPlane independent of its children select :
Scene NodeEditor beacon and enter the ComponentTranform ID.
Custom
Creates custom nodes. Enter the custom node name.
117
Scenegraph
Scenegraph Menu
Edit
Scenegraph Menu Edit
Rename
Renames the selected node. Enter new
node name. CRTL + R
Delete
Deletes the selected nodes. DEL
Filter
Deletes the selected node without deleting the scene structure underneath it.
Copy
Copies the selected node and temporarily
stores its structures in the cache. CRTL + C
Cut
Cuts out selected objects and temporarily stores its structures in the cache. CRTL + X
Paste
Pastes the currently in the cache stored nodes into the Scenegraph. CRTL + V
Paste clone
Pastes the currently in the cache stored nodes into the Scenegraph as clone. Also
known as a referenced object. Referenced objects are indicated by an underline.
CRTL + SHIFT + V
Paste Clone
Opens the clone dialog box. With the clone function, objects can be duplicated.
Mirror: The duplicated object will be mirrored at the selected axis.
118
Flush Matrix: The matrix used to position the mirrored objects will be deleted
after mirroring.
Deep copy: Duplicated objects will not reference the original objects memory
address.
A new node structure will be created for each copy.
Unshare
Removes referenced connection. Referenced objects are indicated by an underline.
Merge geometry
Merges separated geometries to one mesh. CRTL + M
Precondition for merging objects: The objects are unshared (not referenced!),
they have the same materials and lie in the same group.
To merge objects select the parent groups.
Split geometry
Splits the selected object into several meshes. A dialog box opens. Set the maximum
amount of triangles each resulting mesh may have.
Split geometry into triangles
Splits the selected object into triangles. This function is much faster than the Split geometry function. CRTL + SHIFT + T
Unsplit geometries with one triangle
Merges all triangles which are children of the selected node.This function is much faster
than the Merge geometry function. CRTL + SHIFT + T
Subdivide geometry
Subdivides the selected geometry into more triangles. A dialog box opens. Enter the
maximum edge length of the new triangles being created.
119
Scenegraph
Scenegraph Menu
Edit
Group by material
Groups the Scenegraphs objects by assigned materials.
Caution: The whole Scenegraph structure will be rearranged!
Group selection
Groups selected objects. A new group node will be created and all selected objects will
be attached as children to the new node.
Optimize
The Optimize function helps to optimize the scene and thereby raise the render performance. Optimization processes are applied to the selected nodes and their children.
Filter
Remove Points: Removes all points.
Remove Lines: Removes all lines.
Remove LODs (keep best quality: Removes all DistanceLOD nodes and keeps
the first child.
Remove LODs (keep lowest quality: Removes all DistanceLOD nodes and keeps
the last child.
Remove Switches: Removes all Switch nodes.
Remove degenerated polygons: Removes polygon nodes which cannot be drawn.
Remove Vertex normals: Removes all vertex normals.
Remove Vertex Color #1: Removes all first vertex color information.
Remove Vertex Color #2: Removes all second vertex color information.
Remove Texture coordinates #1: #8: Each object node includes up to eight Tex ture UV sets. Any node can be deleted separately from each other.
Remove MaterialGroup nodes with no children: Removes empty MaterialGroup
nodes.
Remove empty Geometry nodes: Deletes empty geometry nodes.
Remove identity Transform: Removes identity Transform nodes.
Remove invalid Texture coordinates: Deletes invalid texture coordinates.
120
Flush/Unflush
Flush Transformation nodes (adjust face normals): Converts Transform nodes
to Group nodes and adjusts the face normals appropriatly.
Flush Transform nodes: Converts Transform nodes to Group nodes.
Flush MaterialGroup nodes: Deletes Material Group nodes.
Flush Textgens: Deletes texture UV layouts.
Share
Geometries: References duplicated and mirrored geometries.
GeometryProperties: References duplicated geometry properties.
Materials: References duplicated materials.
Textures: References duplicated textures.
BlendChunks: References duplicated BlendChunks.
Optimization
Triangulate: Triangulates all polygon meshes. Faces with four and more edges
are split in the appropriate number of triangles.
TriangulateReIndex:Triangulates all polygon meshes. Splits faces with four and more
edges to the appropriate number of triangles.Vertex indices will be reassigned.
Octree: An octree structure will be created for selected objects.
MergeMaterials: Identical materials are merged to one.
Merge Geometry nodes: Merges geometries that fulfil all preconditions for merging.
For more information read Scenegraph Edit Merge.
Cleanup group nodes: Groups which have less than two children are filtered.
For more information read Scenegraph Edit Filter.
Unify Vertices: Identical vertices will be merged.
Create indices: Creates indices for objects if no indices exist.
Sort indices: Sorts objects indices.
Optimize execute
Executes the Optimize process with the current Optimize settings.
121
Scenegraph
Scenegraph Menu
Convert To
Scenegraph Menu Convert To
Group
Converts selected node to a Group node.
Material Group
Converts selected node to a Material
Group node.
Transform
Converts selected node to a Transform
node.
Component Transform
Converts the selected node a Component
Transform node.
Switch
Converts selected node to a Switch node.
StereoSwitch
Converts the selected node to a StereoSwitch node.
HostSwitch
Converts the selected node to a HostSwitch node.
DistanceLOD
Converts the selected node to a DistanceLOD node.
Custom
Converts the selected node to a custom node.
122
Scenegraph
Scenegraph
Menu
Additional Options
Scenegraph Menu Additional Options
Hide
Hides selected nodes in Renderview.
Show
Shows selected nodes in the Renderview.
Hide Subtree
Hides the selected nodes subtree in Renderview.
Show Subtree
Shows the selected nodes subtree in Renderview.
Hide All
Hides all objects in Renderview.
Show All
Shows all objects in Renderview.
View Selected
Opens a new render window in which the
selected objects will be rendered in an isolated render mode.
Select All
Selects all root nodes children.
Deselect All
Deselects all objects.
123
Scenegraph
Scenegraph
Menu
Additional Options
Select Subtree
Selects all subtree nodes.
Select Parent
Selects selected objects parent.
Invert Selection
Deselects currently selected objects and selects currently deselected objects.
Find
A search process can be executed to find nodes in the Scenegraph. A dialog box will
open.

Expression: Enter a search expression to find a node. Regular expressions are

supported as search entry when Regular Expression is activated.
Node Type: Sets a filter to specify the node type for the search process.
Search Enter search expression: Enter a search expression to find a node. Regular
expressions are supported as search entry when Regular Expression is activated.
Node Type: Sets a filter to specify the node type for the search process.
Action: Sets the action to be executed for the found objects.
Select: Selects all searched objects.
Add to selection: Adds searched objects to current selection.
Sub from selection: Removes searched objects from current selection.
Scroll to Selected: Scrolls the Scenegraph view to the selected objects node.
Information...: A dialogue box will open containing all informations about the node.
Scenegraph Slider
Sliding the Scenegraph slider to the right, the Scenegraph structure expands the next
child level with every step. Sliding the Scenegraph slider to the left, every step closes a
child level.
124
Scenegraph
Scenegraph
Hotkeys
Scenegraph Hotkeys
Rename CTRL + R
Delete DEL
Copy
CTRL + C
Cut CTRL + X
Paste CTRL + V
Paste Clone CTRL + SHIFT + V
Merge Geometry
CTRL + SHIFT
CTRL + T
Unsplit Geometry with one Triangle CTRL + SHIFT + T
Group Selection
CTRL + SHIFT + G
Optimize CTRL + O
Optimze Execute
CTRL + SHIFT + O
Hide CTRL + H
Show CTRL + J
Hide All CTRL + SHIFT + H
Show All CTRL + SHIFT + J
Select All CTRL + A
Deselect All CTRL + SHIFT + A
Invert Selection
CTRL + I
Find... CTRL + F
Scroll to selected
CTRL + G
Go to parent node
Left Arrow
Go to child node
Right Arrow
Go to previous node
Up Arrow
Down Arrow

125
Modules
Modules
Modules
MODULES
The Modules chapter provides information regarding the key modules. They include features for shading, texturing and manipulating
objects and environments, as well as special functions for animating and grouping objects into whole Variants Sets. Most features for
preparation and visualization of objects and scenes can be found in
the modules corner.
128
Modules
ScriptEditor
MODULES SCRIPTEDITOR
The ScriptEditor is a module in which
Python Scripts can be written and executed.
Edit Script
The Python documentation

can be found in
Help Python Documentation
129
Modules
Terminal
Modules Terminal
The Terminal Module offers an input line and gives feedback about
errors and warnings.
It is also possible to directly enter
Python commands.
To access the terminal window select
View Terminal.
130
Modules
Scene
Ambient Occlusion
Menu Scene Ambient Occlusion

The Ambient Occlusion Calculation in
VRED is a preprocess. It takes place during
data preparation. The calculated Ambient
Occlusion results are baked on the geometrys vertices.The smoothness of Ambient
Occlusion depends on the detail level of a
geometry. Therefore, VRED offers several
ways to increase the quality of low level
geometries, like subdividing triangles and
predefined quality presets.
Ambient Occlusion is a sophisticated
calculation method which simulates soft
global illumination by faking darkness perceived in corners and at mesh intersections, creases, and cracks, where light is
diffused (usually) by accumulated dirt and
dust. This effect helps to simulate and create darkening cracks, corners and points of contact. Ambient Occlusion is a specific
not-physically-accurate rendering trick. It basically samples a hemisphere around each
point of the face, sees what proportion of the hemisphere is occluded by another geometry, and shades the pixel accordingly. It has nothing to do with lighting, it is simply
a rendering trick that looks nice. This is because generally, in real life, surfaces that are
close together (like small cracks) are darker than exposed surfaces, because of shadows, dirt, etc.
The Ambient Occlusion process almost reaches real-life results, as it does not simulate
light bouncing around or going through things. This is why Ambient Occlusion even
works in scenes without lighting.
Important: Only selected objects are calculated. All other visible objects in the scene are
taken into account!
131
Modules
Scene
Ambient Occlusion
Direct Illumination
Shadow Quality: Defines the direct shadow quality of the Ambient Occlusion.
A total of 6 presets are available:
Low Quality
Preview Quality

High Quality

Medium Quality
Ultra High Quality
Highest Quality
Min. Distance: Sets the minimum distance of objects to be taken into account for
Ambient Occlusion calculation. This value defines total black areas where full
occlusion takes place.
Max Distance: Sets the maximum distance of objects to be taken into account for
Ambient Occlusion calculation.This value defines total white areas where no occlusion
takes place. This value can also be seen as the maximum expansion of the virtual
hemisphere.
Clear: Deletes the Ambient Occlusion on the selected geometry.
All numeric values represent mm as units.
Important: The total calculation time depends on the complexity of the scene and of the
chosen Shadow Quality Preset.
132
Indirect Illumination
The Indirect Illumination check box enables an additional calculation of indirect light
bounces which increases the quality of the final result.
Enable: Enables/disables the indirect illumination mode.
Quality: Sets the quality of indirection. The higher the values,the better the results.
Indirect Illumination
A total of 5 presets are available:
Preview Quality
Low Quality
Medium Quality
High Quality
Highest Quality
Indirections: The number of indirections defines the number of calculated light
bounces. The default value is one so only one light bounce is calculated.
Color bleeding causes a white wall close to a red wall to appear pink because it receives red
light from the red wall.
Important: Higher values induce better quality but increase the calculation time.
Override Material Color: Overrides the material color of the occlusion.

Enable Color Bleeding: Color bleeding enables the transfer of color between near-by
objects, caused by the colored reflection of the indirect illumination option.
Clear: Deletes the Indirect Illumination on the selected geometry.
133
Modules
Scene
Ambient Occlusion
Subdivision
Enable: Enables/disables the subdivision mode.
Quality
Enabling the subdivision check box causes geometries to be refined during the Ambient
Occlusion calculation process. Additional vertices are inserted into the meshes. Thus it
is possible to get much more smooth results on the geometry.
A total of 3 Presets is available:
Low Quality
Medium Quality
High Quality
Minimum Edge Length: Defines the threshold of the subdivision. If the length of an
edge between two vertices is below the defined value, it wont be subdivided and no
additional vertices will be added.
Intensity Threshold: Sets the threshold of intensity values of two vertices, to force a
subdivision of the triangle edge.
Caution: Enabling this feature increases calculation time and also increases the polygon
count of the scene.
Calculate: Starts the calculation.

Cancel: Cancels the calculation.
134
Examples
Settings
Shadow Quality: Preview Quality
Min. Distance: 1
Max Distance: 3000
Indirect Illumination: No
Color Bleeding: No
Subdivision: No
Settings
Shadow Quality: Medium Quality
Min. Distance: 1
Max Distance: 3000
Color Bleeding: No
Subdivision: No
135
Modules
Scene
Ambient Occlusion
Settings
Shadow Quality: Highest Quality
Min. Distance: 1
Max Distance: 3000
Color Bleeding: No
Subdivision: No
Settings
Shadow Quality: Highest Quality
Min. Distance: 1
Max Distance: 3000
Indirect Illumination:Yes
Number of Indirections: 3
Color Bleeding:Yes
Subdivision: No
136
Modules
Scene
CameraEditor
Menu Scene CameraEditor

Mode
Projection Mode
Perspective: Draws the current scene
in perspective view. This mode is the
most natural way of image reception.
Orthographic: Draws the current scene
in orthographic view.
RenderWireframe: Renders the selected
camera view in wireframe mode.
Viewing
There are two ways of defining the view.
On the one hand the view can be defined
using the attributes From, At and Up.
The other way is to define the view by the
Centre of Interest, Distance, Height
and Turntable Angle. Both define position and orientation. They are interdependent and influence each other.
From:Sets the coordinates for the camera
position.
At: Sets the coordinates for the center
of interest.
Up: Sets the up coordinates for the grade.
Update: Updates the render view to the entered values.
Roll: Sets the roll angle for the current camera.
137
Modules
Scene
CameraEditor
Distance: Sets the distance from the CoI.

Height: Sets the height regarding CoI and distance.
Turntable Angle: Defines the vertical angle related to the focus point.
Distance to Center: Defines the distance to the midpoint of the bounding box of
your currently selected object.
Lens Attributes
Field of View Mode: Defines whether
the Field of View is modified horizontally
or vertically.
Field of View: Sets the cameras vertical
field of view angle measured in degrees.
The Field of View parameter is directly
connected to the focal length and sensor
height parameter.
Focal Length: Sets the virtual objectives
focal length in millimeter value depend ing on the set sensor height and the de fined field of view.
Sensor Presets
Values
1/3.6 (4.000 w,
1/3 (4.800 w,
1/2.5 (5.760 w,
1/2 (6.400 w,
1/1.7 (7.600 w,
1
(12.800 w,
138
3.000 h)
3.600 h)
4.290 h)
4.800 h)
5.700 h)
9.600 h)
1/3.2 (4.536 w, 3.416 h)

1/2.7 (5.371 w, 4.035 h)
1/2.3 (6.160 w, 4.620 h)
1/1.8 (7.176 w, 5.319 h)
2/3 (8.800 w, 6.600 h)
4/3 (18.000 w, 13.500h)
1.8
(23.700 w, 15.700h)
35mm film (36.000 w, 24.000h)
Sensor Size: Sets the sensor width and height in millimeters.

Aperture Diameter: Sets the aperture diameter in millimeters.
Use Depth Of Field

Activates or deactivates the depth of field function.
FStop Presets
Values:
f/1
f/1.4
f/4
f/5.6
f/16
f/22
f/64
f/90
f/2
f/2.8
f/8
f/11
f/32
f/45
f/128
FStop: Defines the FStop in f/x.

Focus Distance: Sets the focus distance in millimeters.
Use Motion Blur: In the motion blur tab all motion blur settings scan be defined.
Presets:You can choose between a wide range of motion blur shutter
presets.
Shutter
Values:
1/500
1/250
1/125
1/1000
1/60
1/3
1/15
1/4
1/2
1
2
4
8
16
32
64

Shutter Speed: Defines the shutter speed in 1/s.
139
Modules
Scene
CameraEditor
Use Distortion Map:

Activates or deactivates the distortion map.
Left Eye Distortion Map: Defines the distortion map for the left eye.
Right Exe Distortion Map: Defines the distortion map for the right eye.
Clipping
Near Plane: Sets the near ClipPlane
measured in millimeters. All objects
closer to the camera than the near Clip
Plane will not be rendered.
Far Plane: Sets the far ClipPlane meas ured in millimeters. All objects further
away from the camera than the far Clip
Plane will not be rendered.
Calculate: Sets the near plane to 10 mm
and the far plane to 100000 mm.
Intrinsic Parameters
Here you can change the intrinsic parameters.
Principal Point Offset
x-Offset: Sets the x-Offset. The view it self is not affected by this setting.
y-Offset: Sets the y-Offset. The view it self is not affected by this setting.
Skew Factor: Defines how much VRED
skews the view.
140
Animation
Animation Camera Change: Turn on/off
camera change animation.
Animation Duration: Sets the animation
duration in frames.
Manual Projection
Use Manual Frustum: Activates/Deacti vates the custom frustum settings.
Use Manual Projection Matrix: Acti vates/Deactivates the custom projec tion matrix.
141
Modules
Scene
GeometryEditor
Menu Scene GeometryEditor

Normals
The Normals Tab contains functionalities to modify and correct
geometries face and vertex normals.
Normal Calculations
Crease Angle: The Crease Angle sets
the smoothness of all vertex normals
of an object. The lowered the degree
angle entered, the harder the vertex
normals are set. A value of 0 degrees
lets a geometry appear facetted.
Tip: A value of 45 degrees let a geometry appear smooth.
Length: Normalizes the length of face and vertex normals to a value of 1. This repre sents the length of the unit vector.
Normal Consistency: Sometimes the geometries face and vertex normals are facing
to different directions. This button sets face and vertex normals to one direction.
Flip Normals
Face/Surface: Flips the direction of face/surface normals of the selected geometry.
Vertex: Flips the direction of vertex normals of the selected geometry.
Face and Vertex: Flips the direction of vertex and face normals of the selected
geometry.
Mirrored Flip Normals

Flip Mirrored: Flips the face- and vertex normals of instanced geometry.
142
Flip Nonmirrored: Flips the face- and vertex normals of non-instanced geometry.
Adjacency Selection
The crease angle value defines the maximum degree of face normals of a triangle.
With this function, all triangles will be selected, which have a less tolerance to their
neighbor triangles lower than the entered degree value. This function can be used to
separate multiple merged component parts of one mesh.
Crease angle: Sets the crease angle for the selection.
Separate Objects
Separation Angle: Defines the angle between the vertex normals. Needed in case of
merged objects for example.

Tangents/Binormal
Source, Tangent, Binormal: These functions calculate tangents and binormals based
on the source and save them in the given texture coordinates.
143
Modules
Scene
GeometryEditor
Geometry
Tesselation
The Tessellation Tab provides the
functionality for retessellation
of surface (NURBS) data in the
Scene.
Tolerance: The tolerance value defines
the maximum approximation for
smoothness of tessellated geometry.
The lower the value, the smoother the
result and the higher the polygon count.
Convert to Convex: Converts non-con vex primitives to convex primitives.
Decore
The decore function removes redundant geometries inside other geometries, like screws
and mountings inside a door covering. A virtual camera flies around the selected object,
takes screenshots and removes any non-visible geometry.
Quality Resolution: The resolution defines the resolution of the taken screenshots. The
higher the value, the more precise the result.
Quality steps: The steps define the number of screenshots. The higher the value, the
more precise the result.
Important: Changing the values may result in longer calculation times.
Correct wrong Normals: Corrects wrong normals. Faulty normals are corrected.
144
Removal
Disabled: Nothing will be removed.
Object level: Hidden objects will be completely removed.
Polygon level: Hidden polygons will be completely removed.
Start decore: Starts the decore process.
145
Modules
Scene
LightEditor
Menu Scene LightEditor

The LightEditor provides all functionalities for creating and manipulating available light sources.
The headlight is the only light
source set by default. It will be
automatically disabled if new light
sources are created.
Three different light types are

available:
Directional Light
A Directional Light has no origin. It is an infinite light with one direction. It is often used
to simulate outdoor lighting like sunlight.
Spotlight
A Spot Light is the most common light source to light a scene. It is a directional light
with an origin and a cone angle which defines hard lit areas and a penumbra angle which
defines soft lit areas.
Point Light
A Point Light is a non-directional light with a point as an origin. Light is emitted to all
directions.
146
Properties
Common parameters
Name: Sets the name for the selected light.
Type: Changes the light source type.
Enabled: Enables or disables light sources.
Local lighting: Activating this feature provides light sources to function as a local light.
Only geometry inside the light source node will be lit. This enables the user to set a
more sophisticated lighting of the scene.
Ambient: Defines a lights ambient color. This is the color in dark areas of an object.
This is usually the color where no light is received.
Diffuse: Diffuse color is the color of light of a diffuse reflection (characteristic for
light reflected from a dull, non-shiny surface). A diffuse color attribute specifies the
color of the light diffusely reflected by the objects to which it is assigned.
Specular: Specular color is the color of the light on shiny surfaces.
Intensity: Changes the light intensity. Higher values result in brighter lighting.
Use Temperature: Changes the color temperature.
Spotlight and Pointlight specific parameters

Light Attenuation: Sets the falloff of the light intensity.
Three values are available
Off: Light intensity of light is constant in relation to the distance of light.
Linear: Light intensity decreases linear in relation to the distance of light.
Quadratic: Light intensity decreases quadratic in relation to the distance of light.
Spotlight specific parameters
Cone Angle: Light beams angle from one edge to the other measured in degrees.
Penumbra Angle: Controls the light edges falloff in degrees. This can be a positive or
negative value.
147
Modules
Scene
LightEditor
In case of a positive value, the falloff occurs from the edge of the light determined by the
cone angle, outward by the penumbra angle.Therefore, if the Cone Angle is set to 30 and the
Penumbra Angle is set to 5, the light has a total angle of 40 (30 + 5 + 5, that is 5 degrees
on each side). The beams falloff would begin at 30 degrees and would fall off to an intensity
of 0 at 40 degrees.
Shadow
Shadow Intensity: Changes the intensity of casted shadows.
Shadow Map Resolution: Sets the quality for OpenGL shadow maps. Higher values
increase the quality.
Cast Shadow on ShadowMaterial: Enables/disables to casts a shadow on the special
shadow material.
Area Light
Enable: Enables/disables the area light.
Shape: Defines the shape of an area light.
Attenuation Mode: Sets the falloff of the light intensity.
Primary Visibility: Sets the primary visibility to true or false.
Visible in Reflections: Sets the visible Reflections to true or false.
Interactive Quality: Interactive Quality sets the quality for Interactive Rendering.
Still Frame Quality: Still Frame Quality sets the quality for Still Frame Rendering.
Light Profile
IES light profiles are standardized light emission data sets with correct physical light attributes. Those profiles simulate correct light falloff and intensities.
Use Light Profile: Activates/deactivates the light profile.
IES Profile: Specifies the path to a IES profile.
148
Set Profile Shape: Automatically sets the shape of the light geometry to the defined
shape within the IES profile.
Visualisation
Show All Lights: Unhides all available light source geometries in the scene for visual
feedback and interactive transformation actions like scaling, rotation and translation.
Hide All Lights: Hides all available light source geometries in the scene.
Show Light: Unhides selected light source geometry in the scene.
Hide Light: Hides selected light source geometry in the scene.
Scale: Scales the light source geometry in the scene for better visual feedback.
Transform
Position
Get from Camera: Sets the light position and direction to the current camera posi tion and direction.
Set Camera to: Sets light position to the desired position.
Flush Matrix
Flush: Resets light settings.
149
Modules
Scene
LightEditor
Additional context menu (right mouse button in light sources stack):

Right mouse context menu create
Creates new light sources (directional, point and spot light).
CTRL + R /Right mouse context menu rename
Renames the currently selected light source.
Del /Right mouse context menu delete
Deletes the currently selected light source.
CTRL + A / Right mouse context menu select all
Selects all available light sources in the stack.
CTRL + D / Right mouse context menu deselect all
Removes the selection on all light sources.
CTRL + I / Right mouse context menu invert selection
Inverts the current selection.
CTRL + F / Right mouse context menu find
Opens a new window for searching specific light sources by name
(REGEX are supported).
CTRL + N / Right mouse context menu select node
Selects the marked light source in the Scenegraph.
Right mouse context menu scroll to selected
Focuses the selected light source in the Scenegraph.
Right mouse context menu switch on
Enables selected light source.
150
Right mouse context menu switch off

Disables selected light source.
CTRL + T / Right mouse context menu toggle
Toggles the state of the selected light source (on/off).
Right mouse context menu change type
Changes the type of the selected light source.
Right mouse context menu validate
Validates all lights and updates all lights in the Scenegraph.
151
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
Menu Scene MaterialEditor

Materials Tab
The Materials Tab lists all materials in the
current file. Click Right Mouse button to
open the MaterialEditor Menu.
Select create to create new materials.
Hotkeys
Find
Select nodes
Add nodes to selection
Apply to selected nodes
Add to material library
Scroll to selected
Copy
Paste
Paste clone
Rename
Delete
Remove unused material
Optimize material
Optimize textures
Lock
Unlock
152
CTRL + F
CTRL + N
CTRL + SHIFT + N
CTRL + A
CTRL + L
CTRL + G
CTRL + C
CTRL + V
CTRL + SHIFT + V
CTRL + R
DEL
CTRL + U
CTRL + O
CTRL + SHIFT + O
CTRL + L
CTRL + SHIFT + L
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
Menu Scene MATERIALEDITOR

TruelightMaterials
All functions described in the following are available in all TrueLightMaterials including the exact same features. Additionally, all materials are described individually in the following sub-chapters. Here you
will find detailed information about any other functions included in
each material.
Create TruelightMaterial: Creates a new TruelightMaterial.
Incandescence Settings
The incandescence defines the shaders self-illumination behavior.
Color: Sets the self-illumination colour.
Intensity: Sets the self-illumination intensity.
Use Texture: Loads an image texture, which defines the self-illumination area and
intensity.
Repeat mode: Sets the repeat mode of the texture.There are four modes, which can
be set:
Repeat: Repeats the texture in all directions.
Repeat Mirror: Repeats and mirrors the texture on the x- and y-axis with every
repetition.
Decal: The texture will not be repeated.
Clamp: Repeats only the last pixel of the texture will be repeated.
Repeat UV: Sets the number of repetitions for the UVs.
Offset UV: Sets the offsets for the UVs.
153
Modules
Scene

MAterialEditor
Rotate: Rotates the UVs.

Anisotropy: Sets the texture filter quality for the image texture.
Use as Light source (Raytracing only): If this option is turned on, geometry with the
shader applied will act like a geometry light source.
Cast Shadow on Shadow Material:You may disable shadows cast by the geometry
light onto shadow materials.
Shadow Intensity: Sets the intensity of shadows cast by the geometry light.
Interactive Quality: Sets the light sampling quality during interactive rendering.
Still Frame Quality: Sets the light sampling quality during still-frame rendering.
Transparency Settings
See Through: Renders the shader transparent.
intensity.
Repeat mode: Sets the repeat mode of the texture. There are four modes.
Repeat Mirror: Repeats and mirrors the texture on the x- and y-axis with each
repetition.
Decal: Does not repeat the texture.
Clamp: Repeats only the last pixel of the texture.
Invert Texture: Inverts the texture.
154
Truelightmaterials
General Settings
Raytracing Settings
These settings take effect in Raytracing rendering mode only.
Material ID: Sets the material ID.
Max Trace Depth: Sets how often a ray may get refracted or reflected.
Override Illumination Mode
There two settings with four quality modes.
Interactive Mode: Sets the render quality mode and render quality level during Ren derview interaction.
Precomputed Illumination: This mode is comparable to VRED OpenGL rendering
mode. It uses precomputed Ambient Occlusion and indirect illumination for ren dering and calculates specular reflections and refractions and correct shadows
from light sources.
Precomputed + Shadows: This mode uses precomputed indirect illumination but
doesnt use precomputed Ambient Occlusion values. Instead it calculates shadows
based on the active environment.
Precomputed + Indirect: This mode works comparable to the Precomputed +
Shadows mode but calculates the indirect illumination. You may rarely want to use
this mode since it often results in bad performance and less quality compared to a full
global illumination rendering.
Full Global Illumination: This mode doesnt use any precomputed values but accu rately samples everything in a physically based approach. Note that other features like
Photon Mapping require the render mode to be set to Full Global Illumination.
Still Frame Mode
Illumination: This mode is comparable to VRED OpenGL rendering
mode. It uses precomputed Ambient Occlusion and indirect illumination for ren dering and calculates specular reflections and refractions and correct shadows
Precomputed
155
Modules
Scene
MAterialEditor
from light sources.

Precomputed + Shadows: This mode uses precomputed indirect illumination but
doesnt use precomputed Ambient Occlusion values. Instead it calculates shadows
based on the active environment.
Precomputed + Indirect: This mode works comparable to the Precomputed +
Shadows mode but calculates the indirect illumination. You may rarely want to use
this mode since it often results in bad performance and less quality compared to a full
global illumination rendering.
Full Global Illumination: This mode doesnt use any precomputed values but accu rately samples everything in a physically based approach. Note that other features like
Photon Mapping require the render mode to be set to Full Global Illumination.
Override Reflection Sampling Quality: If enabled, the setting overrides the global
sampling quality for reflections/refractions.
Interactive Quality: Sets the reflection/refraction sampling quality during interacti ve rendering.
Still Frame Quality: Sets the reflection/refraction sampling quality during still-frame
rendering.
Override IBL Sampling Quality: If enabled, the setting overrides the global IBL Sampling
quality for sampling the environment map.
Interactive Quality: Sets the IBL sampling quality during interactive rendering
Still Frame Quality: Sets the IBL sampling quality during still-frame rendering
Common Settings
Occlusion Color: Sets the shaders pre-calculated ambient occlusion color.
Read Modules Ambient Occlusion.
Occlusion Intensity: Sets the shaders pre-calculated ambient occlusion intensity.
Read Modules Ambient Occlusion.
156
Truelightmaterials
General Settings
Glow Intensity: Sets the shaders glow intensity. Glow is a postprocessing effect. To
render the glow effect, postprocessing rendering must be activated. Glow is supported in OpenGL rendering mode only.
Read Modules Postprocessing Post FX.
Compress Textures (OpenGL): Compresses all used textures to reduce memory

usage.
Sort Key (OpenGL): Controls the order of drawing transparent surfaces.
Environment: Click Right Mouse Button to select the HDR-Image to be used as light
source.
Read SphereEnvironmentMaterial.
Lighting Mode: The Lighting Mode menu sets the light model to be used for the sha der. There are five different lighting models.
IBL + Indirect + Direct Lights: The shader will be affected by the HDR-Image, by
the pre-calculated or interactive Global Illumination rendering and by the direct
light sources placed in the scene.
IBL + Indirect: The shader will be affected by the HDR-Image and by the pre-
calculated or interactive Global Illumination rendering.
IBL + Direct Lights: The shader will be affected by the HDR-Image and the direct
light sources placed in the scene.
IBL: Only the HDR-Image affects the shader. Direct Lights: Only direct light sour ces placed in the scene affect the shader.
157
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
TruelightMaterials Phong Material

Creates a TrueLightPhongMaterial. The PhongMaterial uses the
Phong shading algorithm which
is an empirical model of local illumination. It describes the way a
surface reflects light as a combination of the diffuse reflection of
rough surfaces with the specular
reflection of shiny surfaces. It is
based on the fact that shiny surfaces have small intense specular highlights, while dull surfaces
have large highlights that fall off
more gradually.
Material Settings
Diffuse Color: Sets the shaders diffuse
reflection color. This is the color the
shader adopts, when the light reflection
of the surface is spread to a brought
range of directions.
Specular Color: Sets the shaders colour for glossy reflections. Glossy reflections
result from irregularities of a surface at a microscopic level. Reflection behavior is
described by the law of reflection which states that the direction of incoming light
(incident ray) and the direction of outgoing light reflected (reflected ray) form the
same angle with respect to the surface normal, thus the angle of incidence equals the
angle of reflection. Since a surface is usually not perfectly smooth, the orientation of
the normals varies, thus creating a glossy reflection.
Roughness: The roughness parameter defines the number of diffuse reflections and
158
Truelightmaterials
Phong Material
its complement specular reflection. The higher the roughness value, the more dif fuse reflection will be rendered.
Color Texture
Use Texture: Loads image textures for the diffuse color channel which will be used
as a pattern on surfaces.
Read MaterialEditor Textures for texture placement.
Use Alpha Channel: Uses alpha channel of image texture (if alpha channel embedded).
repetition.


Anisotropy: Sets the texture filter quality for the image texture. 1 is lowest quality.
16 is highest quality.
Input Gamma: Sets the texture image gamma correction.
Use ICC Profile: If turned on, the textures colors will be interpreted based on an
embedded color profile if present. If a color profile is missing, it is assumed that the
colors are stored in sRGB.
Specular Texture
Use Texture: Loads an image texture for the specular color channel. Uses the image
as a pattern on the surfaces.
159
Modules
Scene
MAterialEditor

repetition.
Value 1 is lowest quality.Value 16 is highest quality.
Bump Texture
Use Structure: Activates a procedural bump structure.
Use Texture: Loads an image texture for the bump channel. The image will be used
as pattern on surfaces.
repetition.
160
Truelightmaterials
Phong Material

Clamp: Repeats
only the last pixel of the texture.

Parallax Intensity: Sets the parallax shift interpretation of the bump image texture.
Bump Intensity: Sets the bump intensity interpretation of the bump image texture.
Structure Size: Sets structure size when procedural bump structure is activated.
Bump Type: Sets the bump type. In OpenGL mode bump mapping can be drawn as
bump map or as displacement map. In Raytracing rendering mode only bump map ping is supported.
For further information regarding Incandescence-, Raytracing-, Transparency- and

Common Settings please read Modules MaterialEditor TrueLightMaterials.
161
Modules
Scene
MAterialEditor
TruelightMaterials UnicolorPaintMaterial
Creates a TrueLight UnicolorPaintMaterial.
The
UnicolorPaintMaterial offers a shading
model suited for unicolor painted
surfaces.
Material Settings
Base Color: Sets the diffuse reflection
color of the UnicolorPaintMaterial. The
shader adopts this color, when the sur-
face is globally lit.
Clearcoat Settings
Sets the clearcoat color. The clearcoat is a
transparent, strongly reflective paint layer
on the base paint layer.
Clearcoat Color: Sets the clearcoat color.
Reflectivity: Sets the clearcoat reflective intensity.

Fresnel Term Quality: The Fresnel Term describes the intensity of a reflection based
on the viewing angle. Its intensity at normal incidence is set by the materials reflectivity.
Fast: Uses a fast but less accurate approximation to the Fresnel Term.
Accurate: Uses a physically accurate approximation to the Fresnel Term.
162
Truelightmaterials
UNi Color Paint Material
Use Orange Peel: Activates a noisy bump structure in the shader.
Orange Peel Frequency: Sets the bump structures noise frequency.
Orange Peel Intensity: Sets the bump structures intensity.

163
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
TruelightMaterials MetallicPaintMaterial
Creates a TrueLight Metallic
PaintMaterial. The MetallicPaintMaterial offers a shading model
suited for metallic painted surfaces like metallic car paint.
Material Settings
Flake Settings
Describes the metallic flakes behavior,
which are embedded in metallic paints.
They have a strong specular light reflection
and are layered on top of the base shading
color.
Flake Color: Sets the metallic shiny
flakes base color.
Roughness: Defines the amount of diffuse reflection and its complement specular
reflection. The higher the roughness value, the more diffuse reflections will be ren dered.
Flake Size: Sets the flakes size.
Flake Intensity: Sets the flakes contrast value of each flakes normal direction.
164
Truelightmaterials
Metallic Paint Material
Clearcoat Settings
Sets the clearcoat color.The clearcoat is a transparent, strongly reflective paint layer on
the base paint layer.



165
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
TruelightMaterials FlipFlopMaterial
Material Settings
Flake Settings
Describes the metallic flakes behavior,
which are embedded in metallic paints.
They have a strong specular light reflection
and are layered on top of the base shading
color.

Flake Color 1: Sets the metallic shiny

flakes first color. It gets stronger and
more brilliant the further the normal orientation points away from the camera.
Flake Color 2: Sets the metallic shiny flakes second color. It gets stronger and more
brilliant the further the normal orientation points towards the camera.
Blending: Defines the mixture ratio of two colors. Drag the slider to the left to increase the intensity of color 1. Drag the slider to the right to increase the intensity
of color 2.
166
Truelightmaterials
FlipFlop Material
Roughness: Defines the amount of diffuse reflection and its complement specular
reflection. The higher the roughness value, the more diffuse reflections will be ren dered.
Flake Size: Sets the flakes size.
Flake Intensity: Sets the flakes contrast value of each flakes normal direction.
Clearcoat Settings
Sets the clearcoat color.The clearcoat is a transparent, strongly reflective paint layer on
the base paint layer.



167
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
TruelightMaterials LineChromeMaterial
Material Settings
Reflection Color: Sets the chrome reflection color.
Use Roughness: Activates diffuse chrome reflections.
Roughness: Sets the diffuse chrome reflection amount.
Line Width: Sets the thickness of the lines drawn.
For further information regarding Raytracing-, Transparency- and Common Settings please read Modules MaterialEditor TrueLightMaterials.
168
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
TruelightMaterials ChromeMaterial
Creates a TrueLight ChromeMaterial. With the ChromeMaterial
chromic and metallic surface behaviors can be simulated.
Material Settings
Reflection Color: Sets the chrome re flection color. When the chrome reflec tion is colored, reflected objects will
also be colored.
Smear: Sets the reflections blur amount.
Only supported in OpenGL rendering mode.
Contrast: Sets the reflections contrast
level.
Saturation: Sets the reflections saturati on level.
Type: 11 metal types are available (High
reflective, Aluminium, Amorphous, Car bon, Silver, Gold, Cobalt, Copper, Chro mium, Lithium Mercury).
Use Roughness: Activates roughness
value.
Roughness: Sets the diffuse chrome reflection amount. The higher the roughness
value, the blurrier the reflection will be.
169
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
Bump Texture
intensity.
Read MaterialEditor Textures for texture placement
be set:
Repeat Mirror: Repeats and mirrors the texture on the x- and y-axis with every
repetition.
Decal: The texture will not be repeated.
Clamp: Repeats only the last pixel of the texture will be repeated.


Bump Type: Sets the bump type.The bump mapping can be drawn as bump map or as
pixel displacement map without self shadowing.

170
Modules
Scene
materialEditor
TruelightMaterials BrushedMetalMaterial
Creates a TrueLight BrushedMetalMaterial to simulate any type of
metal surfaces.
Material Settings
shader adopts when the light reflection
of the surface is spread to many direc tions.
Specular Color: Sets the shaders
color for glossy reflection. Reflection
behavior is described by the law of re flection which states that the direction
of incoming light (incident ray) and the
direction of outgoing light reflected
(reflected ray) form the same angle
with respect to the surface normal.
Since a surface is usually not perfectly
smooth, the orientation of the normals
varies, thus creating a glossy reflection.
Roughness U/V: The roughness param eter defines the amount of diffuse reflection and its complement specular reflection.
The higher the roughness value, the more diffuse reflection will be rendered.
On metallic surfaces the roughness can vary against the surface direction. Especially
when the surface is finished. Due to this the roughness intensity can be separately set
in U and V direction.
Metal Type: The Metal Type attributes allows to choose between a wide range of
171
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
metal material presets.

Reflectivity: Sets the BrushedMetalMaterials reflective intensity.
Brush Orientation
Brush Mapping: Allows to chose between a range of possible orientations.
Size U: Defines the brushs size on the V-axis.
Size V: Defines the brushs size on the V-axis.

Triplanar Mapping Settings

Rotate: Sets the projection planes rotation level on the X-axis.
Y Rotate: Sets the projection planes rotation level on the Y-axis.
Z Rotate: Sets the projection planes rotation level on the Z-axis.
X
Color Texture
Use Texture: Loads an image texture for the diffuse color channel. Uses the image
as pattern on the surfaces.
repetition.


172
TruelightMaterials
BrushedMetalMaterial
Specular Texture
repetition.
173
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
Bump Texture
Use Texture: Activates a Texture Menu. Loads an image texture for the bump channel. Uses the loaded image as a pattern on the surfaces.
repetition.

174
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
TruelightMaterials PlasticMaterial
Creates a TrueLight BrushedMetalMaterial to simulate any type of
metal surfaces.
Material Settings
Specular Color: Sets the shaders color
for glossy reflection. Reflection behav ior is described by the law of reflection
which states that the direction of
incoming light (incident ray) and the di rection of outgoing light reflected (re flected ray) form the same angle with
respect to the surface normal. Since a
surface is usually not perfectly smooth,
the orientation of the normals varies,
thus creating a glossy reflection.
Roughness: The roughness parameter
defines the microscopic roughness of a surface. The higher the roughness value, the
more diffuse the glossy reflections will be rendered.
175
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
Color Texture
Use Alpha: Uses an alpha channel of the image texture if it has an alpha channel em bedded.
repetition.
Glossy Texture
176
TruelightMaterials
PlasticMaterial
repetition.
Bump Texture
Use Texture: Activates a Texture Menu. Loads an image texture for the bump channel.
Uses the loaded image as a pattern on the surfaces.
repetition.
177
Modules
Scene

Clamp: Repeats
MaterialEditor
only the last pixel of the texture.

For further information regarding Incandescence-, Raytracing-, Transparencyand Common Settings please read Modules MaterialEditor TrueLightMaterials.
178
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
TruelightMaterials ReflectivePlasticMaterial
Creates a TrueLight ReflectivePlasticMaterial. The ReflectivePlasticMaterial is suitable to
simulate shiny or glossy plastic
surfaces.
Material Settings
Specular Color: Sets the shaders color
which states that the direction of
incoming light (incident ray) and the di rection of outgoing light reflected (re flected ray) form the same angle with
Accurate: Uses a fast but less accurate approximation to the Fresnel Term.
Fast: Uses a physically accurate approximation to the Fresnel Term.
179
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
Color Texture
repetition.
Bump Texture
180
TruelightMaterials
MaterialEditor
repetition.
For further information regarding Incandescence-, Raytracing-, Transparencyand Common Settings please read Modules MaterialEditor TrueLightMaterials.
181
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
TruelightMaterials TriplanarMaterial
Creates a TrueLight TriplanarMaterial to simulate diffuse plastic or leather surfaces. With the
bump and texture channel many
diffuse surface structures can be
simulated.

Glossy Color: Sets the shaders color
which states that the direction of in
coming light (incident ray) and the di rection of outgoing light reflected (re flected ray) form the same angle with
182
TruelightMaterials
TriplanarMaterial
Triplanar Settings
Triplanar settings define how a texture will be placed on the surface and how the planar
projection will be blended at the edges.

Edge Blend: Sets the range for overlapping areas of the planar projection.
Texture Size X: Defines the textures size on the X-axis.
Texture Size Y: Defines the textures size on the Y-axis.
Uniform Repeat: Synchronizes the repetition value for all projection axes.
X Repeat U, X Repeat V,Y Repeat U,Y Repeat V, Z Repeat U, Z Repeat V: Set the
repetition value of the U and V-axis for each projection direction.
X Rotate,Y Rotate, Z Rotate: Sets the projection orientation.
Color Texture
repetition.
183
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
Glossy Texture
repetition.
Bump Texture
repetition.

184
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
TruelightMaterials ReflectiveTriplanarMaterial
Creates a TrueLight ReflectiveTriplanarMaterial to simulate
shiny and glossy plastic and comparable surfaces. All surfaces finished with a clearcoat can be perfectly visualized with this shader.
Material Settings
Specular Color: Sets the shaders colour
for specular reflections. Specular reflec tion behavior is described by the law of
reflection which states that the direc tion of incoming light (incident ray) and
the direction of outgoing light reflected
(reflected ray) form the same angle with
respect to the surface normal, thus the
angle of incidence equals the angle of
reflection.
Reflectivity: Sets the clearcoat reflection intensity.
Fresnel Tem Quality: Sets the BrushedMetalMaterials reflective intensity.
185
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
Triplanar Settings
The triplanar settings define the placement of the textures on the surface and the edge
blending of the planar projection.

Edge Blend: Sets the range how far the planar projection blends into each other.
Color Texture
repetition.
Specular Texture
186
Truelightmaterials
ReflectiveTriplanarMaterial
repetition.
Bump Texture
repetition.

187
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
TruelightMaterials CarbonMaterial
Creates a TrueLight CarbonMaterial. The CarbonMaterial simulates carbon surfaces.
reflection which states that the direction of incoming light (incident ray) and the
direction of outgoing light reflected (reflected ray) form the same angle with respect
to the surface normal, thus the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection.
Roughness: The roughness parameter defines the microscopic roughness of a sur face. The higher the roughness value, the more diffuse the glossy reflections will be
rendered.
188
Truelightmaterials
CarbonMaterial
Carbon Pattern Settings

Defines the carbon pattern.

Pattern Type: There are four different pattern types, according to the carbon structures usually sewed.
2 * 2:
image_01-cabon.png
3 * 1 staircase: image_02-cabon.png
3 * 1 interleave: mage_03-cabon.png
5 * 1:
image_04-cabon.png
Pattern Size: Sets the carbon structure size.
Pattern Intensity: Sets the fissure depth intensity.
Pattern Orientation (Rotate X,Y, Z): Sets the pattern direction on x, y and z projection direction.
Bump Texture
Bump intensity: Sets the bump intensity interpretation of the bump image texture.
Structure Size: Sets the structure size when the procedural bump structure is
activated.

189
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
TruelightMaterials Carbon2DMaterial
Creates a TrueLight Carbon2DMaterial. The Carbon2DMaterial
simulates carbon surfaces.

for specular reflections. Specular reflec tion behavior is described by the law of reflection which states that the direction
of incoming light (incident ray) and the direction of outgoing light reflected (re flected ray) form the same angle with respect to the surface normal, thus the angle
of incidence equals the angle of reflection.
Roughness: The roughness parameter defines the microscopic roughness of a sur face. The higher the roughness value, the more diffuse the glossy reflections will be
190
Truelightmaterials
Carbon2dMaterial
rendered.
Carbon Pattern Settings

Defines the carbon pattern.

Pattern Type: There are four different pattern types, according to the carbon structures usually sewed.
2 * 2:
image_01-cabon.png
3 * 1 staircase: image_02-cabon.png
3 * 1 interleave: mage_03-cabon.png
5 * 1:
image_04-cabon.png
Pattern Size: Sets the carbon structure size.
Pattern Intensity: Sets the fissure depth intensity.
Pattern Orientation (Rotate X,Y, Z): Sets the pattern direction on x, y and z projection direction.
Bump Texture
activated.

191
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
TruelightMaterials Tirematerial
Creates a TrueLight TireMaterial
to quickly texture tires and give
them a rubber shading.
reflection which states that the direc tion of incoming light (incident ray) and
the direction of outgoing light reflected
(reflected ray) form the same angle with
respect to the surface normal, thus the
angle of incidence equals the angle of
reflection.
Roughness: The roughness parameter
defines the microscopic roughness of
a surface. The higher the roughness val ue, the more diffuse the glossy reflec tions will be rendered.
Color Texture
Use Marking: Loads an image texture to be applied to the tires sides for the diffuse
192
Truelightmaterials
Tirematerial

color channel. The image will be used as a pattern on the surfaces sides.
Use Profile: Loads an image texture to be applied as the tires profile for the diffuse
color channel. The image will be used as a pattern on the surfaces middle.
Glossy Texture
Bump Texture
activated.
193
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
Texture Settings
Sets the texture projection position of the used textures.

Rotation Axis: Select the rotation axis.

Center: Sets the brush projection center. To center the projection pivot automatically, select an object and press Get From Object.The selected objects center will
now be used as projection pivot.
Repeat Profile U/V: Sets the U and v repetition of the profile texture.
Scale Markings: Sets the textures scale value for the marking texture.
Blendposition: Sets the marking and profile texture blendposition.
Anisotropy: Sets the texture filter quality for the image texture.Value 1 is lowest
quality.Value 16 is highest quality.

194
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
TruelightMaterials GlassMaterial
Creates a TrueLight GlassMaterial to simulate glass surface behaviors.
Material Settings
Exterior Transparency: Sets the shaders
diffuse reflection color. This is the color
the shader adopts, when the light re flection of the surface is spread to many
directions. A brighter diffuse reflection
color induces a higher transparency of
the material.
Interior Transparency: Sets the shaders
diffuse reflection color. This is the color

the shader adopts, when the light reflec tion of the surface is spread to many di rections and the surface normals direc tion points away from camera. The
brighter the diffuse reflection color, the
more transparent the material becomes.
Only supported in OpenGL rendering mode.
Reflection Color: Sets the shaders col
our for reflections.
Refraction Index: Sets the materials refraction index. Only supported in Raytracing
rendering mode.
195
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
Fresnel Tem Quality: The Fresnel Term describes the intensity of a reflection based
on the viewing angle. Its intensity at normal incidence is set by the materials reflec tivity.

Solid Shadows (Cast Photon Caustics): If turned on, the GlassMaterial will cast a
solid (black) shadow if a render mode is selected that can calculate caustic effects
due to refractions. Otherwise the color of the shadow will be calculated solely on
the GlassMaterials color.
Use Roughness: If turned on, the GlassMaterial will be handled as frosted glass with
glossy reflections and refractions.
Use Material Density: If turned on, ray-travelling through the glass gets attentuated
based on the distance it travels inside the glass.
Texture Settings
Texture settings define how a texture will be placed on the surface and how the planar
projection will be blended at the edges.
Texture Mode: Defines how a texture will be placed on the surface, whether uses UV
Coordinates or triplanar projection.
X Offset U, X Offset V,Y Offset U,Y Offset V, Z Offset U, Z Offset V: Set the offset
value of the U and V-axis for each projection direction.
196
Truelightmaterial
GlassMaterial
Bump Texture
Read MaterialEditor Textures for texture placement
be set.
Mirrored Repeat: Repeats and mirrors the texture on the x- and y-axis with each
repetition.
Offset UV: Sets the offset for the UVs.
Anisotropy: Sets the texture filter quality for the image texture.Value 1 is lowest
quality.Value 16 is highest quality.
Structure Size: Sets the structure size when the procedural bump structure is acti vated.

197
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
TruelightMaterials MeasuredMaterial
Creates a TrueLight MeasuredMaterial.
Material Settings
Measurement: Loads a BTF measure ment file.
Exposure: Controls the intensity of the
measured colors. It should stay at 1.0.
Texture Settings
Texture Mode: Controls how the BTF
Material is applied to the object.
UV Texture Settings
Repeat U, Repeat V: Uses the UV tex ture coordinates to place the measu red data.
Triplanar: Generates triplanar texture
coodinates to place the measured data.
Blend Mode: Sets the way how the areas overlap.
X Repeat U, X Repeat V,Y Repeat U,Y Repeat V, Z Repeat U, Z Repeat V: Sets the
198
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
TruelightMaterials MeasureCarpaintdMaterial
Creates a TrueLight MeasuredCarPaintMaterial.
Material Settings
Measurement: Loads a BTF measure ment file.
Fresnel IOR: Controls the refraction
index of the clearcoat layer. When load ing a BTF measurement it is initialized
to the refraction index.
Triplanar Texture Settings
Uniform Repeat: Synchronizes the rep etition value for all projection axes.
X Repeat U, X Repeat V,Y Repeat U,Y
Repeat V, Z Repeat U, Z Repeat V: Set s
the repetition value of the U and V-axis
for each projection direction.

199
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
TruelightMaterials ShadowMaterial
Creates a TrueLight ShadowMaterial. The ShadowMaterial is a
transparent material by default.
It will only be shaded in areas of
pre-calculated ambient occlusion
shadows, shadows calculated by
linear lights sources or global illumination light sources. It is also
capable of receiving diffuse and
glossy reflections to simulate wet
or mirroring surfaces.
Material Settings
Define the color and intensity of the shaded areas.
Occlusion Color: Sets the color of the
pre-calculated ambient occlusion shad ows.
Shadow Color: Sets the shadow color of all light sources.
Opacity Mode
Transparent: Renders the ShadowMaterial transparent by default.
Solid: Renders the ShadowMaterial white by default.
Sort Key: Sets the render priority of the ShadowMaterial. Only supported in OpenGL
mode.
200
TruelightMaterial
ShadowMaterial
Reflection Settings
Reflection Mode: Offers three different reflection modes:
Diffuse only: Shows only the diffuse reflections.
Glossy only: Shows only the glossy reflections.
Diffuse + Glossy: Shows the diffuse and glossy reflections.

Diffuse Color: Sets the shaders diffuse reflection color. This is the color the shader
takes on, when the light reflection of the surface is spread to many directions.
Glossy Color: Sets the shaders colour for glossy reflections. Glossy reflections result from irregularities of a surface at a microscopic level. Reflection behavior is
described by the law of reflection which states that the direction of incoming light
(incident ray) and the direction of outgoing light reflected (reflected ray) form the
same angle with respect to the surface normal, thus the angle of incidence equals the
angle of reflection. Since a surface is usually not perfectly smooth, the orientation of
the normals varies, thus creating a glossy reflection.
Reflectivity: Sets the materials reflectivity intensity.
Roughness: The roughness parameter defines the amount of diffuse reflection and
its complement specular reflection.The higher the roughness value, the more diffuse
reflections will be rendered.
For further information regarding Raytracing-, Transparency- and Common Settings please read Modules MaterialEditor TrueLightMaterials.
201
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
TruelightMaterials MultipassMaterial
Creates a bin shader, which can
layer TrueLight materials. The
first material in the list is the first
rendered and the following shaders are rendered according to
their position in list from top to
bottom.
Sort key: Sets the render priority of

the ShadowMaterial. Only supported in
OpenGL mode.
Transparency mode: Offers three differ ent transparency modes.
Auto Detection: Set automatically the
material order according to their
transparency.
Force Transparent: Draws all trans parent materials at last so that all
transparent materials in the stack lays about the opaque materials.
Force Opaque: Draws all opaque materials at last so that all opaque materials in
the stack lays about the transparent materials.
202
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
TruelightMaterials SwitchMaterial
Creates a bin shader, which can
layer TrueLight materials. The
first material in the list is the first
rendered and the following shaders are rendered according to
their position in list from top to
bottom.
Sort key: Sets the render priority of the ShadowMaterial. Only supported in
OpenGL mode.
Transparency mode: Offers three different transparency modes.
Auto Detection: Set automatically the material order according to their transpar ency.
Force Transparent: Draws all transparent materials at last so that all transparent
materials in the stack lays about the opaque materials.
Force Opaque: Draws all opaque materials at last so that all opaque materials in
the stack lays about the transparent materials.
203
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
TruelightMaterials GlowMaterial
The GlowMaterial allows to apply
a glow effect to specific geometry
parts.
Inner Color: Specifies an inner color of

the glowing part (e.g. the inner color of
a flame is orange and white).
Outer Color: Specifies the outer color
of the glowing part (e.g. the outer color
of a flame would be close to white with a reddish touch).
Intensity: Specifies the glows intensity.
Falloff: Specifies the glows falloff value.
Sort key: Sets the render priority of the ShadowMaterial. Only supported in OpenGL
mode.
204
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
TruelightMaterials SPhereenvironmentMaterial
Creates a SphereEnvironmentMaterial. SphereEnvironmentMaterials are required by every TrueLightMaterial. They deliver the
IBL lighting model for any True
Light Material they are assigned
to. The lighting of a TrueLight
Material can be adjusted with the
settings of the SphereEnvironmentMaterial.
Each SphereEnvironmentMaterial
can be assigned as an input node
of each TrueLight Material in the
Environment Tab. The SphereEnvironmentMaterial is a single
sided shader in OpenGL rendering
mode.
Material Settings
Environment: Loads the HDR image to
be used as light source. The HDR image
will also be used as environment, which will be reflected on reflective surfaces in
OpenGL rendering. In raytraced rendering the 3D space will be reflected in the sur faces.
Create Lightsource: Creates light sources according to light spots in the HDR-Image.
The light sources will be positioned inside the projection sphere of the SphereEnvi ronment Material. They will be orientated to its center position. The light sources
will be created based on the HDR image examination. The brightest pixels intensity,
205
Modules
Scene

MaterialEditor
color, orientation and position are evaluated to create new light sources.
Flip Inside Out: Flips the normals of the Environment Sphere.
Emit Caustics: Allows the HDR to emit caustics. Only supported in FullGI illumination mode with caustics.
Is Visible: Sets the light source to on by default.
Use as Lightsource: Uses the HDR as light source. Only supported in FullGI illumination mode with caustics.
Use as Default Environment: Selects current environment as default.
Color Correction
Exposure: Sets the HDR-Images exposure level. The higher the exposure level, the
longer will be the series of shutter cycles which will be used to calculate the images
light intensity.
Whitepoint: Defines the exact value between displaying white color and light-emis sive image data.
Whitebalance: Sets the whitepoint value in kelvin.
Gamma: Encodes the linear luminance values into digital image file values. Gamma
encoding helps to map data (both analog and digital) into a more perceptually uni form domain.
Hue -Shift: Shifts all colors in the HDR-Image uniformly through the hue color range.
Contrast: Separates the light and dark color values further from each other.
Brightness: Raises the color value of the whole HDR-Image.
Saturation: Sets the HDR-Images saturation.
Reflected Saturation: Sets the HDR-Images saturation when the HDR-Image reflects
in any surface.
206
TruelightMaterials
SphereEnvironmentMaterial
Transformation
With transformation parameters the source of spherical projection of the SphereEnvironment Material can be set.
Environment Size: Sets the SphereEnvironment Materials projection sphere. All
objects that are outside of the projection sphere using a Truelight Material with this
SphereEnvironment Material as input channel, will not be rendered properly. The
size defines the radius of the projection sphere. The projection sphere must enclose
all objects using a material, with this SpehereEnvironment Material as environment
shader assigned.
Center: Defines the projection spheres center position.
Get from Object: Sets the projection spheres center. To center the projection pivot
automatically, select an object and press Get Center. The selected objects center
will now be used as projection spheres pivot.
Rotate X,Y, Z: Sets the SphereEnvironment Materials orientation.
Scale X, Y, Z: Sets the SphereEnvironment Materials size. With the scale value the
image projection can be stretched and squashed on any axis.
Raytracing Settings
These settings take effect in Raytracing Mode only.

Material ID: Sets the id of the material.

Illumination:
Upper Hemisphere: Emits light only from the top half of the sphere.
Full Sphere: Emits light from the whole sphere.
Override IBL Sampling Quality: If enabled, the setting overrides the global IBL Sampling quality for sampling the environment map.
Interactive Quality: Sets the IBL sampling quality during interactive rendering.
Still Frame Quality: Sets the IBL sampling quality during Still Frame rendering.
207
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
TruelightMaterials EnvironmentswitchMaterial
Creates a bin shader, in which
SphereEnvironmentMaterials
can be stored and selectively addressed. The EnvironmentSwitchMaterial can be assigned as a standard SphereEnvironmentMaterial
to any TrueLight Material.
Use as Default Environment: Sets the EnvironmentSwitchMaterial as default Environ ment.

Choice: Sets the SphereEnvironmentMaterials ID to be used. By changing the
Sphere-Environment SwitchMaterials Choice ID different SphereEnvironment Materials can be connected instantly to all Truelight Materials.

Right Mouse Click to list all existing SphereEnvironmentMaterials. Select any Sphere EnvironmentMaterial to be connected to the EnvironmentSwitchMaterial. All connected
SphereEnvironmentMaterials are listed in the EnvironmentSwitch Material.
208
209
Modules
Scene
MaterialEditor
MaterialEditor OpenGL Materials

The following chapter provides information about the Standard
OpenGL shaders available in VRED Professional.
Right Mouse Click: Create Material
210
Modules
OPENGL Materials
SimpleMaterial
OpenGL Materials SimpleMaterial
Creates a SimpleMaterial, a simple shading model, which does not
support HDRI lighting. It is only
visible, when it is lit by standard
light sources.
Front
Ambient: Sets the SimpleMaterials am bient light reflection color.
Diffuse: Sets the shaders diffuse re flection color. This is the color the sha der adopts, when the light reflection of
the surface is spread to many directions.
Specular: Sets the shaders color for
specular reflection. Specular reflection
direction of outgoing light reflected (re flected ray) form the same angle with respect to the surface normal, thus the
angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection.
Emission: Sets the shaders illumination color and intensity.
Shininess: Sets the surfaces specular spread.
Transparent: Sets the surfaces transparency.
ColorMat: Sets which materials characteristics influences the color.
Sort key: Sets the time for rendering. This function is important for transparent
materials that are arranged on top of each other. It automatically sets a material to
be transparent or opaque or forces it to be either of them.
Lit: Sets a material to be lit or not.
Transparency mode: Offers a total of three transparency modes.
211
Modules
OpenGL Materials
ChunkMaterial
OpenGL Materials Chunk Material
Creates a Chunk Material node.
The Chunk Material node is an
empty material bin node, which
can be customized by adding additional chunk attributes.
Sort key: Sets the time for rendering.
This function is important for transpar ent materials that are arranged on top
of each other. It automatically sets a material to be transparent or opaque or forces
it to be either of them.
Transparency mode: Offers a total of three transparency modes. It sets a material to
be transparent or opaque.
OpenGL Materials CGFX

Material
Creates a CGFXMaterial node.
CGFX scripts can be loaded into
the CGFXMaterial node.
Effect: Loads a CGFX script.
Technique: Defines the technique to be
used, e.g. multipass.
212
Modules
OpenGL Materials
PhongMaterial
OpenGL Materials Phong Material
The PhongMaterial is a simple
phong shading model, which does
not support any HDRI lighting.
The simple material is only visible, when it is light by standard
light sources.
Front
Ambient: Sets the SimpleMaterials am bient light reflection color.
Diffuse: Sets the shaders diffuse re flection color. This is the color the sha der adopts, when the light reflection of
the surface is spread to many directions.
Specular: Sets the shaders color for
specular reflection. Specular reflection
direction of outgoing light reflected (reflected ray) form the same angle with respect
to the surface normal, thus the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection.
Emission: Sets the shaders illumination color and intensity.
Shininess: Sets the surfaces specular spread.
Transparent: Sets the surfaces transparency.
ColorMat: Sets which materials characteristics influences the color.
Sort key: Sets the time for rendering. This function is important for transparent
materials that are arranged on top of each other. It automatically sets a material to
be transparent or opaque or forces it to be either of them.
Lit: Sets a material to be lit or not.
Transparency mode: Offers a total of three transparency modes.
213
Modules
OpenGL
Materials
Multipass & Switch Material
OpenGL Materials Multipass Material
TrueLight Materials can be layered. The first material in the list
is the first rendered and the following shaders are rendered according to their position in the list
from top to bottom.
Sort key: Sets the time for rendering.
This function is important for transparent materials that are arranged on top of each
other. It automatically sets a material to be transparent or opaque orforces it to be
either of them.
Transparency mode: Offers a total of three transparency modes. It sets a material to
be transparent or opaque.
OpenGL Materials MergeMaterial

The MergeMaterial allows to
combine different shaders into
one single combined shader.
214
Modules
OpenGL Materials
Switch Material
OpenGL Materials Switch Material
materials can be stored and selectively addressed.
Choice: Sets the SwitchMaterials ID to

be used. By changing the SwitchMaterials
choice ID the user can switch the material assignment instantly.
With the MaterialEditors copy and paste function materials can be added.
215
Modules
MaterialEditor
EDit
MaterialEditor MAterials Edit

Right-click on a material and choose Edit.

Copy: Caches the selected material or chunk.

Paste: Pastes the currently cached material or chunk.
Paste Clone: Pastes the currently cached material or chunk as a referenced node.
Rename: Renames the selected node.
Delete: Deletes the selected node. Only nodes which are unused (not assigned to
any object) can be deleted.
Duplicate: Duplicates the selected material or chunk.
Unshare: Deletes material references.
Remove duplicated materials: Deletes all duplicated materials, not assigned to any
object or connected to any material bin.
Remove unused materials: Deletes all unused materials, not assigned to any object or
connected to any material bin.
Reference unused materials: References unused materials to reduce memory usage.
Optimize materials: Deletes all unused materials, references unused materials and
optimizes textures.
Optimize textures: Converts all RGB textures connected to channels, where only
grayscale textures are needed to grayscale textures.
Lock: Lock selected material settings.
Unlock: Unlocks selected material settings.
216
Modules
MaterialEditor
COnvert
MaterialEditor MAterials Convert
Right-click on a material and choose Convert.

To Truelight Material: Converts selected material to chosen TrueLightMaterial.

All to Phong Truelight Material: Converts all materials to TruelightPhongMaterials.
Compress all textures: Compresses loaded textures.
Uncompress all textures: Uncompresses loaded textures.
217
Modules
MaterialEditor
MaterialEditor Materials Additional Options
Right-click on a material
Find: Opens a dialog box. The find function scans the MaterialEditor to find a speci fied node. The node can be searched by using regular expression rules.
Select nodes: Selects all geometry nodes with the selected material assigned.
Add Nodes to selection: Adds all geometry nodes with the selected material assig ned to the current objects selected.
Apply to selected nodes: Assigns selected material to the currently selected objects.
Add to material library: Adds the selected material to the currently selected material
library group.
Apply environment to all materials: Selects a SphereEnvironmentMaterial or an
EnvironmentSwitchMaterial. A dialog box opens. If no name is entered, the selec ted SphereEnvironmentMaterial or EnvironmentSwitchMaterial will be connec ted to all TrueLightMaterials in the scene. Entering a SphereEnvironmentMaterials
or an EnvironmentSwitchMaterials name, the selected SphereEnvironment or Envi ronmentSwitchMaterial will be connected to all TrueLightMaterials that are currently
connected to the entered SphereEnvironment or SwitchEnvironmentMaterial.
Scroll to selected: Centers the selected material in the MaterialEditors material list.
Filter
The filter function displays the filtered node type in the MaterialEditors material list.

Off: Deactivates any filtering.

Environment Material: Lists all Environment Materials.
BRDFMaterial: Lists all BRDF Materials.
EnvironmenSwitchMaterial: Lists all EnvironmentSwitch Materials.
ChunkMaterial: Lists all ChunkMaterials.
SimpleMaterial: Lists all SimpleMaterials.
PhongMaterial: Lists all PhongMaterials.
218
MaterialsAdditional Options

SwitchMaterial: Lists all Switch Materials.

MultipassMaterial: Lists all MultipassMaterials.
PhongMaterial: Lists all PhongMaterials.
CGFXMaterial: Lists all CGFXMaterials.
Statistic
A dialog box opens. A brief MaterialEditor summery is listed.
Number of materials: Displays the amount of materials used in the scene.
Number of textures: Displays the amount of textures used in the scene.
Texture memory: Displays the amount of memory used for all textures.
Import MaterialLibrary
Imports a material library. The material library must be saved as an osb or vpb file.
Update
Updates the MaterialEditors material list. All materials are listed alphabetically from
top to bottom.
219
Modules
Scene
Environments
MaterialEditor Environments
Lists all SphereEnvironmentMaterials existing in the scene. Environments enable to add realistic reflections and light sources
to the scene. Environments can
be loaded and modified regarding
the way they are displayed and
how they affect the scene.
Material Settings
Environment: Loads the HDR image to be used as light source. The HDR image will
also be used as environment, which will be reflected on reflective surfaces in OpenGL
rendering. In raytraced rendering the 3D space will be reflected in the surfaces.
Create Lightsource: Creates light sources according to light spots in the HDR-Image.
The light sources will be positioned inside the projection sphere of the SphereEnvi ronment Material. They will be orientated to its center position. The light sources
will be created based on the HDR image examination. The brightest pixels intensity,
color, orientation and position are evaluated to create new light sources.
Flip Inside Out: Flips the normals of the Environment Sphere.
Emit Caustics:
Is Visible: Defines whether the environment is visible or not.
Use as Lightsource:
Use as default environment: Marks the environment as default, when checked.
Color Correction
Exposure: Sets the light exposure in the whole scene.
Whitepoint: Sets the whitepoint value.
Whitebalance: Sets the whitepoint value in kelvin.
220
MaterialEditor
Gamma: Sets the gamma value.
Hue-Shift: Sets a hue shift. The whole scene will be color shifted.
Contrast: Sets the contrast value.
Brightness: Sets the brightness.
Saturation: Sets the saturation of the environment. This has no influence on reflec-
tions.
Reflected Saturation:The reflected saturation value has direct influence on reflecting
geometry in the scene.
Transformation
Environment Size: Sets the size of the projection sphere of the environment.
Center (x,y,z): Sets the center of the projection sphere of the environment.
Get from Object: Calculates the center of the environment geometry.
Rotate (x,y,z): Sets the rotation of the projection sphere of the environment.
Scale (x,y,z): Sets the scaling of the projection sphere of the environment.
Raytracing Settings
Material ID: Sets an id for the material.
Illumination
Full Sphere: The whole sphere illuminates the scene.
Upper Hemisphere: Only the upper hemisphere illuminates the scene.
Override IBL Sampling quality: Check to override the IBL sampling quality for still
frame and interactive quality.
221
Modules
Scene
Textures
MaterialEditor Textures
In the Textures Tab material textures can be positioned on selected objects. By default VRED
uses the UV layout any imported
object already has. Textures and
texture attributes used by a selected material are listed in the
texture window.
Caution: Changes made in the TextureEditor induce a full replacement of the previous
UV layout by a planar projection.
Edit Texture Projection

Enables the texture projection feature.

Mode: Offers different modes for texture projection.

Show Support Geometry: Shows a support geometry.
Visibility: Sets the planar projection planes visibility.
Distance: Sets the planar projection planes distance.
Place Texture 3D
Projection Center: Offers two ways for defining the projection center.You can either
pick the center manually or use the objectss center.
Centre X,Y,Z: Sets the custom coordinates for the center of the projection.
Rotation: Sets the textures orientation. The rotation value defines the angle the
texture is rotated away from the projection planes orientation.
222
MaterialEditor
Place Texture 2D
Keep aspect ratio: Keeps the aspect ratio of the texture when projecting.
Scale: Offers to scaling-modes.
Fit scale only
Fit scale and Centre
Repeat: Sets the textures repetition on x- and y-axis.
Offset: Sets the textures offset value. The offset X(Y and Z) defines how far the
texture is shifted from the projections centre position on the x-, y- or z-axis.
Rotation: Sets the textures orientation. The rotation value defines the angle the
texture is rotated away from the projection planes orientation.
223
Modules
Scene
Library
MaterialEditor Library
In the Textures Tab material textures can be positioned on selected objects. By default VRED
uses the UV layout any imported
object already has. Textures and
texture attributes used by a selected material are listed in the
texture window.
Caution: Changes made in the TextureEditor induce a full replacement of the previous
UV layout by a planar projection.
Add Current Material: Adds the currently selected material to the selected library.
Create Library: Creates a new library. Library groups can be added to the library. All
created libraries will be available on startup.
Create Group: Creates a library group. All library materials can be grouped and
sorted comfortably.This makes it easier for the user to quickly find specific materials.
Remove: Deletes selected library or library group.
Save: Saves selected library or library group.
Import library: Imports an external library to the scene
Apply to scene: Applies selected material to the scene.
Rebuild images: Rebuilds last images.
Update: Updates the material librarys Scenegraph.
224
MaterialEditor
Right Mouse Click on a material in the right library window.
Apply to selected node: Applies selected material to selected nodes.
Apply to scene: Applies selected material to the scene.
Apply whole group to scene: Applies whole group to the scene.
Rename: Allows to rename the selected material.
Remove: Deletes selected material from current library.
225
Modules
Scene
NodeEditor
MODULES Scene NodeEditor

The NodeEditor provides all information about any node type in
a scene. It offers the possibility to
view detailed information about
selected nodes, changing values
and attach custom attributes to
nodes.
226
Modules
Scene
Variants
MODULES Scene Variants

VRED offers the functionality to switch between different types of
variants.
Geometry Variants
To access a Geometry Variant drag a Geometry switch from the Scenegraph into
the empty left area of the geometry Variants Tab.
On the right side several options appear:
!All: Shows all available objects in the
GeometrySwitch in the Renderview.
!Next: Jumps to the next item in the GeometrySwitch until the last item.
!Next(Loop): Jumps to the next item in the GeometrySwitch. After the last item it
jumps back to the first item.
!Previous: Jumps to the previous item in the GeometrySwitch until the first item.
!Previous(Loop): Jumps to the previous item in the GeometrySwitch. After the first
item it jumps back to the last item.
Direct click on the name shows the geometry in the Renderview.
CTRL + N / Right mouse context menu Create all: Puts all available Geometry
Switches into the Geometry Variants.
CTRL + R / Right mouse context menu Rename: Renames a Geometry Variant.
Del / Right mouse context menu Delete: Deletes selected Geometry Variant.
Right mouse context menu Clear: Deletes all Geometry Variants
Right mouse context menu Show geometry: Shows activated geometry in
Renderview.
Right mouse context menu hide geometry: Hides selected geometry in the
227
Modules
Scene
Material Variants
Renderview.
Right mouse context menu Select Nodes: Selects nodes in the Scenegraph.
Material Variants
Material Variants are only available for Material Switches.To access a Material Variant,
drag a material switch into the empty left
area of the Material Variants.

!Next: Jumps to the next item in the

geometry switch until the last item.
!Next(Loop): Jumps to the next item in
the material switch. After the last item it jumps back to the first item.
!Previous: Jumps to the previous item in the material switch until the first item.
!Previous(Loop): Jumps to the previous item in the material switch. After the first
item it jumps back to the last item.
Direct click on the name activates the material on the geometry.

CTRL + N /Right mouse context menu Create All: Puts all available material
switches into the Material Variants.
CTRL + R / Right mouse context menu Rename: Renames a Material Variant.
Del / Right mouse context menu Delete: Deletes selected Material Variant.
Right mouse context menu Clear: Deletes all Material Variants.
Right mouse context menu Show geometry: Shows assigned geometry in the
Renderview.
Right mouse context menu Hide geometry: Hides assigned geometry in the
Renderview.
Right mouse context menu Select Nodes: Select material switch in the Material
Editor.
228
Modules
Scene
Light Variants
Light Variants
To access a Material Variant, drag a light
source from the Scenegraph into the empty left area of the Light Variants.
!Disable: Disables the selected light.
!Enable: Enables the selected light
!Toggle: Toggles between the available
lights.

CTRL + N / Right mouse context menu Create All: Puts all available lights into
the Lights Variants.
CTRL + R /Right mouse context menu Rename: Renames a Light Variant.
Del / Right mouse context menu Delete: Deletes selected light.
Right mouse context menu Clear: Deletes all lights.
229
Modules
Scene
VariantSets
Modules Scene VariantSets

VRED provides the possibility to
set up different scenarios by using
the VariantSets Module. All available variants can be combined in
one scene. For configurators logical connections can be generated.
CTRL + N / Right mouse context menu

New Set: Creates a new VariantSet.
Right mouse context menu New Group: Creates a new folder for VariantSets.
Right mouse context menu Clear: Removes all VariantSets and groups.
Right mouse context menu Dissection Mode: Disables rendering and switches to
analyzing mode.
Right mouse context menu Verify All: Possibility to load a csv file with embedded
logics.
General
Hotkey: For each VariantSet a hotkey
can be assigned.
Comment: Adds a custom comment to
each VariantSet.
Screenshot: Creates a screenshot of the
current scene.
230
Modules
Scene
VariantSets: Geometry, Material & Light
Geometry
Multiple Geometry Variants can be combined together in one Geometry VariantSet by dragging the desired Geometry
Variants from the Variants Tab to the Geometry Tab of the VariantSets. Make sure
that at least one VariantSet is created. Each
Geometry Variant can have different states.
They will be activated by double clicking
on the VariantSet.
Material
Multiple Material Variants can be combined
together in one Material VariantSet, by
dragging the desired Material Variants from
the Variants Tab to the Material Tab of the
VariantSets. Make sure, that at least one
VariantSet is created. Each Material Variant
can have different states. They will be activated by double clicking on the Variant Set.
Light
Multiple Light Variants can be combined
together in one Light VariantSet, by dragging the desired Light Variants from the
Variants Tab into the Lights Tab of the VariantSets. Make sure that at least one VariantSet is created. Each Light Variant Set can
have different states. They will be activated
by double clicking on the VariantSet.
231
Modules
Scene
VariantSets: View, Animation & Script
View
Multiple viewpoints can be added in this
tab.
Animation
Multiple initial animations can be added in
this tab.
Script
Multiple Python Scripts can be added in
this tab.
232
Modules
Scene
VariantSets:Values & Show/Hide
Values
Custom Values can be added in this tab.
Show/Hide
233
Modules
Animation
Animation
Modules Animation
The Animation Module lists all
animations imported via VRML
file format. They can be executed
initially, adjusted and connected to sensors or scripts. Sensor
nodes connect animations to other nodes. Using sensors, animations can be executed by selecting
a node connected with the sensor
in Renderview. Animations created in FBX-data are files are maintained in animation blocks during
import, so that they can be arranged directly in the ClipMaker. Copy
and paste of animation blocks onto different objects is possible.
Right Mouse Click into the Animation Scenegraph to open the Animation Module Menu.
Modules Animation Animation

Animation Menu
Start: Starts selected animation. Animations can also be executed by a double click
on the animations name.
Pause/Continue: Pauses or continues selected animation.
Reset: Resets selected animation to its start position.
Select Nodes: Selects all nodes connected to the animation.
Delete: Deletes animation.
234
Refresh: Refreshes the Animation Modules Scenegraph.

Clear: Clears the Animation Modules Scenegraph.
Properties
Comment: Offers the possibility to enter a comment for the selected animation.
Hotkeys
Allows to assign a hotkey to an animation (e.g. to start and (Un)pause animation).
Animation
Cycle interval: Sets the animation cycle interval in seconds.
235
Modules
Animation
CurveEditor
Modules Animation CurveEditor

The CurveEditor allows the user
to create and modify animations.
Select the object to be animated.
Whe scrubbing through the CurveEditors timeline the Renderwiew will render the playback
settings defined in advanced in
the CurveEditor, including Motion
Blur settings, FOV and others.
Key All: Creates a key at the current frame for all object attributes listed in the Curve
Editors Scenegraph.
Key Sel: Creates a key at the current frame for the selected attributes in the Curve
Editors Scenegraph.
Block: A Block is a bin which can store animations. The animation can be accessed
and edited at any later time. Blocks can be used in the ClipEditor to arrange more
complex animations. Objects have an unlimited amount of Blocks. Each Blocks
length is individually starting from the first keyframe position to the last keyframe
position. When a Block is selected, the keyed animation curves will be drawn.
To create an Animation Block press the Block button.
Convert: Creates a keyframe for all parameters at the time position with the existing
spline values.
Caution: Only one of the following modes (Move, Ins or Del) can be active at a time!
Move: Left mouse drag to move selected keys. Keys can be moved in horizontal and
vertical direction.
CTRL + Y: Locks the key movement to the vertical axis. Moving a key on the verti236
cal axis changes the attributes value.

CTRL + X: Locks the key movement to the horizontal axis. Moving a key on the
horizontal axis changes the keys frame time.
Ins: Inserts a key at a specific position and value.To insert a key, press left mouse but ton. Keys can be inserted selecting only a single parameter.
Del: Deletes a key. To delete keys, press left mouse button.
Curve Tangents describe the entry and exit of a keys curve segments.
This menu operates on the shape of curve segments around selected keys.
Constant: Specifying a stepped tangent creates an animation curve whose out
tangent is a flat curve.The curve segment is flat (horizontal), so the value changes at
the key without gradation.
Linear: Specifying a linear tangent creates an animation curve as a straight line join ing two keys. A linear in and out tangent results in a straight line bfeore and behind
the curve segment.
Flat: Sets in and out tangents of the key to horizontal with a slope of 0 degrees.
(Scenario: When a ball reaches its ascent, it hangs in the air for a brief time before
starting its descent.You can create this effect by using a flat tangent).
Hermite: Specifying a hermite tangent creates a smooth animation curve between
the key before and the key after the selected key. The tangents of then curves are
co-linear (both with the same angle). This ensures that the animation curve
smoothly enters and exits the key.
Follow: Specify a flow tangent to create an animation curve that is smooth be tween the key before and the key after the selected key. The tangents of the curve
are co-linear (both at the same angle). This ensures that the animation curve
smoothly enters and exits the key.
Show: Shows key tangents. When key tangents are visible they can be adjusted. Left
mouse drag on the tangents ends to adjust tangents.
Break: Breaks the in and out tangent linking.
237
Modules
Animation
CurveEditor
SnapX: Snaps the key on every frame.

SnapY: Locks the x-achsis so keys can only be adjusted on the y-achsis.
Centre: Frames all selected parameters animation curves.
CurveEditor Scenegraph
The CurveEditor Scenegraph lists all keyable attributes of a selected object and its attached blocks. Right Mouse Click to open the Scenegraph Menu.
Key All: Creates a key at the current frame for all object attributes listed in the
CurveEditor Scenegraph.
Key Selected: Creates a key at the current frame for the selected attributes in the
CurveEditor Scenegraph.
Create Block: Block is a bin which can store animations. The animation can be ac cessed and edited at any later time. Blocks can be used in the ClipEditor to arrange
more complex animations. Objects have an unlimited amount of Blocks. Each Blocks
length is individually starting from the first keyframe position to the last ke frame
position. When a Block is selected, the keyed animation curves will be drawn.
Lock selected: Locks selected attribute.
Unlock: Unlocks selected attribute.
Play: Plays selected animation block.
Reset: Resets settings.
Duplicate: Duplicates selected block.
Flip: Reverses selected animation blocks animation direction.
Copy: Copies selected block.
Paste: Pastes copied block to selected positioin.
Delete: Deletes selected block.
Create/Convert to Transform3D: Creates a Transform3D node or converts an exist ing node to a Transform3D node.
238
Animation Blocks
Lists all animation blocks in the scene. Select an animation block to show its animation
curves.
Checklist: The checklist allows you to simply de/-activate certain features
for any animation block, such as:
(A): Activating or deactivating the object.
(M): Activating or deactivating Motion Blur for this object.
(R): Infinite repetition of the animation node.
(F): Flipping the animation.
Load Selected: Enables multiple node selections by selecting multiple nodes in the
Scenegraph.
Lock List: Locks the current CurveEditor Scenegraph.
Frame: Shows the current frame of the selected keyframe. Changing the values
moves the keyframe to a new position.
Value: Shows the current value of the selected keyframe. Changing the values moves
the keyframe to a new position.
Navigating in the CurvesGraph

Middle Mouse drag

Pan the CurvesGraph
Right Mouse drag vertical
Zoom in x-axis
Right Mouse drag horizontal
Zoom in y-axis.
CTRL + Left Mouse drag
Zoom to selection frame.
Left Mouse Click + drag on a key Move key
SHIFT + Left Mouse click
Select a key
SHIFT + CTRL + Left Mouse Click
Add a key to the current selection
SHIFT + Left Mouse Drag
Select keys with a frame selection
SHIFT + CTRL + Left Mouse drag
Add a key with a frame selection to the cur
rent selection
239
Modules
Animation
CurveEditor: Hotkeys
SHIFT + Right Mouse Click
SHIFT + CTRL + Right Mouse click
SHIFT + Left Mouse drag
SHIFT + CTRL + Left Mouse Drag

CurveEditor Hotkeys
frame curves
pan view

zoom y
zoom x
set focus center
select key/curve
deselect key/curve
frame selection
frame deselect
deselect all
move key/curve
move tangent
if isolated curve view: insert key
if isolated curve view: del key
if isolated curve view: del key
240
Deselect a key
Remove a key from the selection
Deselect keys with a frame selection
Remove a key with a frame selection from
the current selection
double left click

middle mouse button + drag
right mouse button + drag up and down
right mouse button + drag left and right
double right click
SHIFT + left click
SHIFT + right click
SHIFT + left drag
SHIFT +right drag
ALT + right click
SHIFT + middle drag
CTRL + middle drag
CTRL + left click on curve
CTRL + right click on curve
CTRL + right click on curve
Modules
Animation
ClipMaker
Modules Animation ClipMaker

The ClipMaker allows to rearrange, retime and group Animation Blocks to set up more complex animations. Moving the slider
through the ClipMakers timeline,
the Renderview renders the playback settings defined in the ClipMaker including motion blur settings, FOV and others.
New Clip: Creates a new clip. Animation blocks can be dragged into the clip.
Delete Clip: Deletes selected clip.
Sequence: Adds a sequence. Offers a submenu for more detailed settings.
Grid Snap: Snaps the slider on every frame.
Center: Frames the timeline for a better overview.
ClipMaker Scenegraph
The Scenegraph lists all created clips and used block animations. Right Mouse Click to
open the Scenegraph Menu.

New SubClip: Creates a subclip structure to faciliate grouping of used animation

blocks in the clip.
Delete: Deletes a clip or subclip node.
Duplicate: Duplicates a clip or subclip node.
Show Curves: Shows all curves of the selected clip in the CurveEditor.
Rename: Renames a clip, subclip or animation block node.
241
Modules
AnimationCLIPMAKER: Hotkeys
ClipMaker Hotkeys

pan view
zoom
set focus center
move clip
242
middle mouse button + drag

double right click
left mouse drag
Modules
Animation
TimeLine
Modules Animation TimeLine
Animation TimeLine
13
11 12
10
14 15 16
8 7654 3 2 1
1 = Framerate per seconds.

2 = Enables/disables the loop mode.
3 = Sets the timesilder to the end frame position.
4 = Sets the timeslider to the next keyframe.
5 = Plays the selected animation forward.
6 = Plays the selected clip backwards.
7 = Sets the timeslider to the previous keyframe.
8 = Sets the timeslider to the start frame position.
9 = Defines the current frame.
10 = Gives visual feedback about used keyframes.
11 = Sets the start frame of the timeline.
12 = Sets the start frame of the working area.
13 = Sets the position of the working area.
14 = Sets the end frame of the working area.
15 = Sets the end frame of the timeline.
16 = Activates/deactivates all block animations.
243
Modules
Animation
SAnimation
Modules Animation Sanimation

Play: Plays an Animation
Reverse Play: Reverse plays an anima tion.
Pause: Pause the playback of an anima tion.
244
Modules
Interaction
Annotation
Modules Interaction Annotation

The Annotation Module enables
you to create annotations anywhere in the scene.
Annotation
The annotation list gives an overview of
all used annotations in the scene. Right
mouse click to open the list menu.

Add: Creates a new annotation.

Remove: Removes selected annotation.
Pick Position: Allows to pick a new position for the annotation.
Zoom in: Zooms to the annotation.
Load Annotations: Loads an external annotations xml file.
Save Annotations: Saves all annotations in a xml file.
Remove All: Removes all created annotations.
Discriptions
Defines the text of the shown annotation in the renderview.
Appearance
Show annotations: Turns on/off the annotations in the scene.
Label color: Defines the label color of the annotations.Values are: Orange, red, green
and blue.
Label size: Defines the label size.Values are: Large, medium and small.
Scaling: Sets the scaling to: Off, near or far.
245
Modules
Interaction
Clipping
Modules Interaction Clipping

Opens the Clipping Module. With
the Clipping Module, objects can
be clipped for construction evaluation purposes. The Clipping
Module offers a variety of clipping
tools.
Clipping Plane
Enable Clipping: Enables/disables the
clipping feature.
Position: Shows the current position of
the clipping plane.
Pick: Allows to pick a new position for
the clipping plane.
Center: Positions the manipulator in the
center of the screen.
Align: Aligns the clipping plane parallel to the camera.
Direction
X: Sets the direction on the x-axis.
Y: Sets the direction on the y-axis.
Z: Sets the direction on the z-axis.
Invert direction: Inverts the direction.
Hide scene: Hides the whole scene. Shows only the contours of the clipped objects
on the clipping plane.
Show Plane: Shows the ClipPlane.
Show manipulator: Shows/hides the manipulator.
246
Visualization
Show Clipping Plane: Shows/hides the clipping plane.
Plane Color: Defines the color of the clipping plane.
Show Grid: Shows/hides the grid.
Grid Color: Defines the color of the grid.
Clipping contour
Show contour: Shows/hides the contours.
Contour Width: Defines the thickness of the contours.
Contour Color: Defines the color of the contour.
Clone Contour: Clones the contour.
247
Modules
Interaction Measurement
Modules Interaction Measurement
The Measurement Module measures the following distances:

Point-to-Point
Point-to-Object
Object-to-Object
Line-to-Object
The gap between geometries
Right click offers the following

options:
Add Point to Point Measurement: Mea-
sures the distance between two points.
Add Point to Object Measurement: Measures the distance between a point and an
object.
Add Object to Object Measurement: Measures the distance between two objects.
Add Line to Object Measurement: Measures the distance between a line and an
object.
Add Gap Measurement: Measures the gap between two objects.
Remove Measurement: Removes a measurement.
Update Measurement: Updates a measurement (e.g. after moving an object).
Zoom in: Zooms in to a specific measurement.
Load measurements: Loads measurements from a specified xml file.
Save measurements: Saves measurements in an xml file.
Remove all measurements: Removes all measurements.
248
Properties
Shows different properties depending on the selected measurement.
Point
Distance: Shows the distance between two points.
First Position: Shows the coordinates of the first position.
Second Position: Shows the coordinates of the second position.
Object
Distance: Shows the distance between two objects.
First Node: Shows the first selected node.
Second Node: Shows the second selected node.
Line
Line: Shows the selected line.
Object: Shows the coordinates of the first position.
Avg. Dist.: Calculates the average distance.
Min. Dist.: Shows the minimum distance.
Max. Dist.: Shows the maximum distance.
Gap
1st Object: Shows the first selected node.
2nd Object: Shows the second selected node.
Avg. Dist.: Calculates the average distance.
Min. Dist.: Shows the minimum distance.
Max. Dist.: Shows the maximum distance
Visualization
Show Measurements: Enables/Disables the measurements in the scene.
Color scheme: Defines the display color of the measurements.
Values are: Orange, red, green and blue.
Measurement Precision: Sets the decimal measurement precision
249
Modules
Interaction
Sequencer
Modules Interaction Sequencer

The Sequencer Module allows to
set up command sequences. The
sequences are executed in a batch
process from top to bottom. They
can be executed initially by the
user, or by other actions in the
application which can be set by
the user. All entries are case sensitive.
Create Sequence: Creates a sequence node in which actions can be queued.

Create Action: Actions are function sets, which can be used to activate and edit settings in VRED.
setEnvironmentVariable: Sets the projects environment variables.
Name: Sets the variables name.
Value: Sets the variables value.
Enable Simulation: Sets the simulation state. The simulation state defines whether
animation can be executed or not.
State: Sets the simulation state.
State values: True/ false.
UpdateRender: Enforces a rendering refresh.
SelectCamera: Selects a camera.
Show InitialView: Activates the InitialView position.
JumpViewpoint: Sets the camera to a Viewpoints position.Viewpoints can be set in
the Viewpoints Module.
250
Name: Sets
the Viewpoints name.
Enable ViewPointsAnimation: Starts a Viewpoint animation. A Viewpoint animation is

an animation that runs through all Viewpoints created with the Viewpoints speed
settings.
State: Sets the Viewpoints Animation state.
State values: True/ false.
setActiveSnapshotMovieRenderPasses: Activates render passes for image rendering.
false
diffuse_ibl_pass: true/ false
diffuse_light_pass: true/ false
glossy_ibl_pass: true/ false
glossy_light_pass: true/ false
specular_ibl_pass: true/ false
specular_light_pass: true/ false
incandescence_pass: true/ false
indirect_pass: true/ false
occlusion_pass: true/ false
normal_pass: true/ false
depth_pass: true/ false
beauty_pass: true/
resetActiveSnapshotMovieRenderPasses: Deactivates rendering the image with

render-passes.
Create Snapshot
Renders a single image.
Filename: Sets the target directory and the image filename.
Width: Sets the image width resolution in pixel.
251
Modules
Interaction
Sequencer
Height: Sets the image height resolution in pixels.

Supersampling: Sets the sampling quality.
states: 0 no sampling, 1 low sampling, 2 medium sampling, 3 high sampling
alpha: Sets the state of alpha rendering.
renders alpha channel, false renders no alpha channel.
state: true
alpha RED/GREEN/BLUE: Sets the alpha color.

dpi: Sets the dots per inch resolution embedded in the rendered image.
overwrite: Allows to overwrite an existing file with the same name.
false
states: true/
showImage: Opens the image file after rendering is completed.

false
states: true/
alpha premultiply: Multiplies the alpha and the color channel in the resulting image.
false
states: true/
Create Movie
Filename: Sets the target directory and the movie filename.
Width: Sets the image width resolution in pixel.
Height: Sets the image height resolution in pixels.
fps: Sets the frames to be rendered per each movie second.
startFrame: Sets the movies start frame.
stopFrame: Sets the movies end frame.
supersampling: Sets the sampling quality.
states: 0 no sampling, 1 low sampling, 2 medium sampling, 3 high sampling
252
alpha: Sets the state of alpha rendering.

state: true renders alpha channel, false renders no alpha channel.
alpha RED/GREEN/BLUE: Sets the alpha color.
dpi: Sets the dots per inch resolution embedded in the rendered image.
Overwrite: Allows to overwrite an existing file with the same name.
states: true/ false
ShowImage: Opens the image file after rendering is completed.
states: true/ false
alpha premultiply: Multiplies the alpha and the color channel in the resulting image.
states: true/ false
CreateCubeImages:
node_name: Sets the nodes name in the Scenegrpah.
type:
resolution: Sets the quadratic resolution for plane.
supersampling: Defines the level of antialiasing.
filename: Defines the files name.
Set SwitchMaterialChoice: Sets a material switch selection ID.
the Switch Materials name.
Choice: Sets the Switch Materials selection ID.
Name: Sets
SetMaterialImage:
SetBackplate: Activates/deactivates a backplate.
state: true/false
CreateBackplate: Creates a new backplate.

the backplate name to be created.
Filename: Sets
253
Modules
Interaction
Sequencer
DeleteBackplate: Deletes the backplate

selectVariantSet: Activates a Variant Set.
Name: Sets the Variants Sets name to be activated.
startAnimation: Starts an animation node in the Animation Module.
the animation name to be started.
name: Sets
stopAnimation: Stops an animation node in the Animation Module.

the animation name to be stopped.
name: Sets
pauseAnimation: Pauses an animation node in the Animation Module.

the animation name to pause.
name: Sets
continueAnimation: Continues an animation node in the Animation Module.

the animation name to continue.
name: Sets
resetAnimation: Resets an animation node in the Animation Module.

the animation name to be reset.
name: Sets
startSAnimation:
startReverseSAnimation: Revers an animation node in the Animation Module.
the animation name to be reversed.
name: Sets
playCanimation: Starts an animation clip.

the animation clips name to be executed.
name: Sets
pauseCanimation: Pauses an animation clip.

the animation clips name to be paused.
name: Sets
254
resetCAnimation: Resets an animation clip.

name: Sets the animation clips name to be reset.
set VRMLViewpontsEnable: Activates or deactivates VRML Viewpoints.VRML View
points are camera animations imported via a vrml file from third party software.
state: true/false
setVRMLcurrentViewpoint: Sets the VRML Viewpoint to be activated.
the VRML viewpoint name to activate.
name: Sets
resetRenderlayers: Resets all RenderLayer settings.

activateRenderlayer: Activates a RenderLayer.
name: Sets the name of the RenderLayer to be activated.
setStillDOF: Activates or deactivates depth of field rendering.
state: true/false
radius: Sets
focal
the DOF blur amount.

distance: Sets the focus distance in millimeters.
set RenderQuality: Sets the image render quality and image render mode.
Available modes:
VR_QUALITY_ANALYTIC_HIGH
VR_QUALITY_ANALYTIC_LOW
VR_QUALITY_REALISTIC_HIGH
VR_QUALITY_REALISTIC_LOW
VR_QUALITY_RAYTRACING
255
Modules
Interaction
Sequencer
set RaytracingImageSamples: Sets the minimum amount of initial antialiasing samples

for Raytracing rendering.
samples: Sets the minimum amount of samples for Raytracing rendering.
set RaytracingAAadaptiveSamples: Sets the minimum amount of adaptive samples
for Raytracing rendering.
samples: Sets the minimum amount of samples for Raytracing rendering.
set RayatrcingAAtresholdQuality: Sets the raytracing attributes threshold quality.
set RaytracingAAimageFilter: Sets the image filter algorithm for Raytracing render ing.
loadCluster: Loads a cluster
startCluster: Starts a cluster.
stopCluster: Stops a cluster.
Duplicate: Duplicates the selected sequence or action.
Rename: Renames the selected sequence or action.
Delete: Deletes the selected sequence or action.
Active: Sets the selected sequence to active. Activated sequences can be executed.
Move Up: Shifts the selected actions position one step up in the process queue.
Move Down: Shifts the selected actions position one step down in the process
queue.
Run: Executes selected sequence.
Run All: Executes all sequences, that have an active state.
256
Sequencer Hotkeys

Rename
Delete
Active
Move up
Move down
CTRL + R
DEL
CTRL + A
CTRL + up
CTRL + down
257
Modules
InteractionTouchSensor
Modules Interaction TouchSensor
The TouchSensor allows you to
switch variants or play animations by a single click.
You can define a new node by
simply dragging a node from the
Scenegraph into the TouchSensor
module.
Add Node: Adds a node to the Touch

Sensor.
Add Variant: Adds a variant to the
TouchSensor.
Remove: Removes an object from the
TouchSensor.
258
Modules
Interaction
TRACKING
Modules Interaction TRACKING

Provides all information about the tracking capabilities in VRED Professional.
TRACKING Devices
The first and most important tab
of the tracking module within
VRED is dedicated to the tracking
devices and their sensors. Each
tracking device represents a complete tracking system consisting
of a tracking space, a coordinate
system and one or more sensors.
This tab allows you to define
VPRN devices. VRPN provides the connection support between the
application and all kinds of devices using the appropriate class-ofservice for each type of device sharing this link. These devices may be
tracker, button devices, haptic devices, analog inputs or sound.
Right click in the window to see submenu:

Add device: Adds a new VRPN device.

Remove device: Removes a VRPN device.
Reset device: Resets the selected device.
Edit calibration: Edits the calibration of the selected device.
Reset calibration: Resets the calibration data to standard values.
259
Modules
Interaction
Tracking: Devices
Calibrate: Calibrates the selected device
Clear config: Clears the complete configuration.
Caution: All presets will be deleted!
Load config: Loads configuration data from an xml-file.
Save config: Saves configuration data to an xml-file.
You can add a new tracking system by using the context menu in the device list.You
have to enter its name (in the form trackername@computername) and then a con nection to that VRPN server will be established.Then you can start or stop the com plete tracking process by clicking on the checkbox Enable Tracking left of the device
list. By using the last two columns in the device list you can rotate the coordinate
system (Z-Up) and enable or disable the complete device (On).
You can also calibrate the coordinate system as described above. A calibration needs
one sensor that describes the new coordinate systems, both its new origin and its
new orientation.You can also edit the calibration matrix directly, but it is discouraged
to use this method. When a device is created and selected, sensors can be added to
the device.
Unfortunately VRPN does not tell which sensors are connected, so you have to en ter them manually in the sensor list. You can also name each sensor for accessing
these via Python-scripts the name has no other function. The following sensor
types are supported:
Buttons
Dials
Analogs
Bodies
Bodies probably are the most interesting sensor, as these are the only sensors that
have a position and orientation in space. Thus these are also the only sensors that
can be calibrated or connected to a node.
Connecting a body to a node is an important task that will update a transform nodes
matrix with the values coming from the corresponding sensor.
In order to connect a sensor with a node (only transform nodes are supported), sim260
ply enter the name of the node in the field Target of the sensor.There are three spe cial targets that connect a sensor to the camera instead of a node.

These are as follows:
powerwall. This special target enables headtracking as needed for powerwall pro. jections. In order to make this mode work, you either have to use a render cluster
or enable the powerwall viewing mode from the main menu bar in VRED.
hmd. The HMD mode is for head mounted displays.
camera.The camera mode is a very special mode that simply tracks the position of
a sensor but does not track its orientation.
In addition to these special targets you can also enable or disable the absolute tracking
mode as described above by clicking the checkbox in the last column of the sensor list.
Unchecking the absolute tracking mode will enable a tracking mode that transforms
the target relative to the camera position.
Using the context menu you can also calibrate any sensor of type body, as described
above. The calibration will reset the position and orientation of the node that is connected to the body.
261
Modules
Interaction
Tracking: Servers
Tracking Servers
The second tab of the tracking
module contains a list of VRPN
servers which are controlled by
the cluster service. You can add
new servers by using the context
menu and entering their network
adrdess. All servers in this list
can be started and stopped using
the context menu. Note that the
cluster service must be running
on the remote machine to be usable with this list.
Right click in the window to see submenu:

Add server: Adds a new tracking server.

Remove server: Removes the selected tracking server.
Start server: Starts the selected tracking server .
Stop server: Stops the selected tracking server.
Refresh servers: Refreshes all tracking servers defined.
262
Modules
Interaction
TRACKING: Navigation
Tracking Navigation
Navigation Type
None
Scene Move
Point fly
Calibrated Cart
Navigation Configuration
Navigation Tracker: Please select a navi gation tracker device.
Navigation Button: Please select a navi gation button device.
Horizontal Analog: Please select a horizontal navigation tracker device.
Vertical Analog: Please select a vertical analog navigation tracker device.
263
Modules
Interaction
Tracking: Calibration
Tracking Calibration

Calibration Tracker: Select the Calibration Tracker from the dropdown menu.
Offset Transform Node: Sets the offset
transform node.
Use Cart Calibration: Please check
whether you want to use cart calibration or not.
264
Modules
Interaction
Transform
Modules Interaction Transform

The Transform Tool allows to
transform geometry in any way.
You can move geometry, resize it,
rotate it and redefine the pivot.
The Transform Tool provides full
control over all elements in the
scene.
Moves the rotation pivot point to
the center of the objects bounding box.
Moves the scaling pivot point to
the center of the objects bounding box.
Moves the object to the current
camera position.
Moves the object to its place of

origin.
265
Modules
Interaction
Transform: Transform
Transform Transform
Translation
Coordinate System:
Translate (x,y,z): Moves the object on the x,y or z-axis.
Move to Camera: Moves the object to the location of the camera.
Move to Origin: Moves the object to its origin.
Rotation
Rotate (x,y,z): Rotates the object on the x,y or z-axis.
Pick axis (x,y,z): Pick the x,y or z-axis. Defines the rotation axis for the object.
Show axis: Displays the axis.
Pick Mode: Allows to select two or three points for defining the rotation axis.
Scaling
Scale (x,y,z): Scale the object on x,y or z-axis.
Uniform Scaling: Connects x,y and z axis and keys the same value to all of them.
Rotation Pivot
Coordinate System: Defines the values of the coordinate system.The coordinate sys tem values can be defined depending on the world (fix values) or related to the
object.
For example: The object is positioned at<<10,10,10>>. The pivot of the object is po sitioned at <<0,0,0>> in local mode and at the same time at<<10,10,10>> in the world
coordinate system.
Position (x,y,z): Moves the rotation pivot point on the x, y or z-axis.
266
Orientation (x,y,z): Rotates the rotation pivot point on the x, y or z-axis.

Move to Object Center: Moves the rotation pivot point to the center of the objects
bounding box.
Move to World Center: Moves the rotation pivot point to the center of the world.
Scaling Pivot
Coordinate System: Defines the values of the coordinate system.The coordinate sys tem values can be defined depending on the world (fix values) or related to the
object.
For example: The object is positioned at<<10,10,10>>. The pivot of the object is po sitioned at <<0,0,0>> in local mode and at the same time at<<10,10,10>> in the world
coordinate system.

Position (x,y,z): Moves the scaling pivot point on the x, y or z-axis.

Move to Object Center: Moves the scaling pivot point to the center of the objects
bounding box.
Move to World Center: Moves the scaling pivot point to the center of the world.
267
Modules
Interaction
Transform: Advanced
Transform Advanced
Bounding Box
Bounding Box Center: Returns the co ordinates of the Bounding Boxs center.
Create Bounding Box Center Transform:
Creates a transform node with trans form of the selected bounding box
center.
Create Bounding Box Center Inverse
Transform: Creates a transform node
with inverse transform of the selected
bounding box center.
Shearing
shearXY: Shears the object on the x and
y-axis.
shearXZ: Shears the object on the x
and z-axis.
shearYZ: Shears the object on the y and z-axis.
268
Modules
Rendering
Cluster
Modules Rendering Cluster

Provides all information about the clustering capabilities in VRED
Professional.
Rendering Cluster Projection

Projection
Defines the way to project the scene.
Cluster Mode
Powerwall Settings
Servers: Defines the servers to be used
to render the scene. (Default: local
host)
Columns:Defines the amount of columns
of the powerwall.
Rows: Defines the amount of rows of
the powerwall.
Stereo Mode: Defines whether to ren der in stereo mode or not.
Values: Mono, Passive Stereo, Active Ste reo, Passive Stereo (dual port)
Pipe resolution: Defines the resolution of one pipe (e.g. one display).
Pipe overlap: Defines the overlap of one pipe to another.
Pipe offset: Defines the offset of one pipe.
269
Modules
Rendering
Cluster: Projection
Custom Projection Settings
You can define separate pipes for the scene.We recommend using the wizard to create
new pipes and viewports.
Add pipe: Adds a new pipe.
Delete pipe: Deletes the selected object.
Clear all pipes: Clears all pipes and viewports.
Add Viewport: Adds a new viewport.
Clone Viewport: Clones the selected viewport.
Number of rows: Specifies the number of rows.
Wizard: Starts the wizard which guides you through the process of defining a new
pipe.
Raytracing Cluster Settings

Servers
Here you define your clustering slaves. Hostnames as well as IPs can be used to access
the slaves.
Important: All slaves need the same VRED version to work together properly. After connecting to the renderslaves please use the License check feature to make sure all slaves have
the same version installed.

Compression: Turns on/off compression mode of the data stream between all slaves.
Mosaic Tile Size: Defines the mosaic tile size in pixels.
Parallel channels:
Switch to OpenGL rendering mode after cluster exit:
Advanced
License check: Checks if all defined cluster slaves have a compatible VRED version
installed.
270
Network Settings
Connection type: Defines the connection type.
Values are: Unicast, pipeline, multicast
Connection params: Defines specific connection parameters.
Default is TTL=8
Service address:
Multicast group:
Network card ip:
Direct connection: Defines the port you may want to connect to.
Network test: Starts the network connection test
Get network hostIDs: Collects all Network HostIDs.
Render Options
Eye Separation: Defines the eye separation in millimeters.
Zero Parallax Distance: Specifies the distance from viewer to the surface of the dis
play.
Antialiasing mode:
Hardware sync:
Enable Edge Blending: Turns on/off edge blending. Please define the values comma
separated like the following (Gamma) r, g, b
Gamma (r, g, b):
Hide Taskbar: Hides the taskbar.

Add Settings: Adds a new clustering preset to the scene.

Load Settings: Loads your presets for clustering from an xml-file.
Save Settings: Saves the current definitions into an xml-file.
Start Cluster: Starts the clustering service.
Stop Cluster: Stops the clustering service.
271
Modules
Rendering
Cluster: Servers
Rendering Cluster Servers

Servers
Servers
Checks the state of the servers installed.
Cluster Service Settings

Cluster server autostart: Starts aut omatically the cluster server.
Show state: Checks the states of the
servers installed.
Terminate cluster server: Terminates all
cluster servers.
Add Settings: Adds a new clustering pre

set to the scene.
Load Settings: Loads your presets for
clustering from an xml-file.
Save Settings: Saves the current definitions into an xml-file.
Start Cluster: Starts the clustering service.
Stop Cluster: Stops the clustering service.
272
Modules
Rendering
FinalRenderPass
Modules Rendering FinalRenderPass

Enable final render pass: Turns the Final
RenderPass on or off.
Config file: Defines the path to the con fig file.
Use on: Defines where to use the Final RenderPass.
Values: Localhost, Cluster, Localhost and
Cluster.
Left eye / Right eye

Textures: Defines the textures used for
the final renderpass used in the scene.
Add: Adds a texture to be used in the
final renderpass.
Remove: Removes a texture.
Edit: Edits a texture.
Shader
Vertex shader: Defines the path to a vertex shader.
Fragment shader: Defines the path to a fragment shader.
Parameters:You can create specific parameters. The Types can be:
Int, Real, Vec2f, Vec3f, Vec4f, Matrix
Load: Loads settings from a preset stored in an xml-file.
Save: Saves settings into a preset stored in an xml-file.
Apply: Applies your current settings.
273
Modules
Rendering
PostProcessing Image Processing
Modules Rendering PostProcessing
Offers an interactive image manipulation like tonemapping, color
correction and analyzing features.
Postprocessing Image Processing

Tonemapping: Tonemapping offers the
possibility to adjust image values like
Exposure, Whitepoint and Gamma Cor rection.
Exposure: Defines the exposure value
that affects the image in the post pro cessing procedure.
Whitepoint: Defines the whitepoint va lue that affects the image in the post processing procedure.
Whitebalance: Defines the whitebalance value that affects the image in the post pro cessing procedure.
Dynamic Tonemapping: Turns on/off dynamic tonemapping in the post processing
procedure.
Display Settings
Display Colorspace: Simple Gamma, sRGB IEC 61966-21, A.RGB98, Monitor ICC
Profile
274
Modules
Rendering
PostProcessing Color COrrection
Postprocessing Color Correction
Color Correction offers the possibility to adjust values like Hue,
Saturation, Brightness and Contrast.

Hue-Shift: Defines the hue-shift value.

Saturation: Sets the color saturation.
Contrast: Sets the overall contrast.
Brightness: Sets the overall brightness.
Histogram
The Histogram shows the relative color distribution of the rendered image.This tool is
very useful to detect overbright areas of light. Different modes are available. Logarithmic and linear display scale.
Show Histogramm (Each color distribution can be viewed separately):
Red
Green
Blue
275
Modules
Rendering
Post Processing Post FX
Postprocessing Post FX
Important: Post Effects are only available
in OpenGL mode.
Glow
Use Glow: Enables/disables glow.
Size: The glow size determines the sur rounding glow size of an object.
Intensity: The glow intensity determines
the brightness of the glow.
See Material Attributes Glow to ad just the glow intensitiy individually for
each material.
Glare
Use Glare: Enables/disables glare.
Size: Determines the Glare Size
Threshold: Determines the threshold of the brightness of a pixel where the glare
effect starts.
Intensity: The glare intensity determines the brightness of the glare.
Streaks: Streaks determine the maximum count of streaks. Higher values appear like
stars.
Rotation: Streaks can be rotated in a specified angle.
276
Modules
Rendering
RenderLAyer
Modules Rendering RenderLayer

The RenderLayer Module offers
features to set special attributes
to objects.
Layer: Sets the name of the layer.
Visible: Sets the attributes for color and
Alpha Channel. Setting this attribute to OFF objects wont be rendered at all.
VisibleInAlpha: Sets attributes for the Alpha Channel. Setting this attribute to OFF
objects wont be rendered in the Alpha Channel. This is the way to produce cutouts.
PrimaryVisibility: Sets the attribute for the Color Channel. Setting this attribute to
OFF objects wont be rendered in the Color Channel.
VisibleInReflections: Sets the attributes for reflection. Setting this attribute to OFF
objects wont be visible in reflections.
VisibleInRefractions: Sets the attribute for refractions. Setting this attribute to OFF
objects wont be visible in refractions.
CastShadows: Sets the attribute for casting shadows. Setting this attribute to OFF
objects wont cast shadows.
ReceiveShadows:
DoubleSided:
Using RenderLayer:
Right mouse context menu Create Layer
Creates a new empty RenderLayer.
Right mouse context menu rename
Renames RenderLayer.
Right mouse context menu Delete
Deletes RenderLayer.
Right mouse context menu Move Up
Moves a RenderLayer one position up in the stack.
277
Modules
Rendering
RenderLayer
Right mouse context menu Move Down

Moves a RenderLayer one position down in the stack.
Right mouse context menu Apply Attributes to All
Sets RenderLayer attributes to all objects in one layer.
Right mouse context menu Add selected Nodes
Adds selected objects from the Scenegraph to selected RenderLayer.
Right mouse context menu Cleanup
Removes non existing objects from RenderLayers.
278
Modules
Rendering
Rendersettings File Output
Modules Rendering RenderSettings
Includes the following tabs: File Output, Antialiasing Quality and
Raytracing Quality settings.
RenderSettings File Output

Image
Camera: Sets the camera for the ren dering. The default setting is Perspective
camera.
Quick Filename: Sets the position whe re the rendering will be saved.
Resolution: Sets the image diameter in
pixels in width and height.
Dpi: Dots per inch. Defines the em bedded image resolution in dots per
inch. Calculates the resulting image size
in mm depending on the dpi and pixel
resolution.
Supersampling: Activates/Deactivates
supersampling for the rendering. The
default setting is On
Background Color: Defines the alpha
channel color.
Export image with alpha channel: Acti vates alpha channel rendering.The alpha channel will be embedded into the resulting
image, if the file type supports alpha channels. The alpha channel color can be selec ted separately.
279
Modules
Rendering
Rendersettings FIle Output
Premultiply Alpha: Renders the alpha channel premultiplied.
ICC Profile: Sets the ICC Profile for the rendering. The default setting is Current
Settings.
Renderpasses
Export Renderpasses: Activates rendering with render passes. All activated Render passes will be rendered and saved at a time.
Animation
Render Animation: Enables to render the animation.
Type: Sets the type of animation.
Animation Clip: Selects the clip which will be rendered
Format: Sets the format of the animation.
Use Clip Range: Enables to use the range of the selected clip. Sets automatically the
start and stop frame of the clip.
Start frame: Sets the start frame of the sequence to be rendered.
Stop frame: Sets the end frame of the sequence to be rendered.
Frames per second: Sets the frame rate for the image sequence.
Cluster
Enable Cluster: Enables the cluster.
Hostname: Defines the clustering slaves. Hostnames as well as IPs can be used to
access the slaves.
Visual Support
Show Snapshot Frame: Draws a yellow frame into Renderview, indicating the target
image to be rendered.
280
Show Rule of Thirds Guide: Draws orange guide lines into Renderview, allowing to
use the rule of thirds.
Show Inner Frame: Draws an orange frame into Renderview, indicating the area
where text or graphics show neatly.
Unit: Defines the distance unit of the inner frame.
Left - Right: Sets the distance of the left and right side.
Top - Bottom: Sets the distance of the top and bottom side.
281
Modules
Rendering
Rendersettings Antialiasing Quality
RenderSettings Antialiasing Quality
The antialiasing settings control
the number of samples taken during stillframe antialiasing. These
are the primary controls that influence the quality of the rendered image.
Anitaliasing Settings
Image Samples: Sets the number of
samples taken during stillframe antialias ing. Higher values produce a cleaner re sult while lower values reduce the ren der time. A value of 128 is recommend ed as starting point in general but may
be too low for interior scenes with full
global illumination.
Adaptive Sampling: Adaptive sampling
allows the raytracer to skip regions that are already smooth and focus the processing
power on regions that are still noisy. The various quality settings control a threshold
for a region to be considered as smooth. Setting the control to Off disables adap tive antialiasing and always samples each pixel with the number of image samples
specified. While this gives the highest render quality it may waste processing power
on regions that are already smooth.
Preview Quality: Sets the sampling quality to a very low level, resulting in preview
render quality and very short render times.
Low Quality: Sets the sampling quality to low level, resulting in average render
quality and short render times.
282
Medium quality: Sets the sampling quality to medium level, resulting in good render
quality and medium render times.
High Quality: Sets the sampling quality to high quality level.
Ultra High Quality: Sets sampling quality to a production quality level.
Use Clamping: Sometimes sampling may result in single very bright pixels that are
hard to antialiase. There are two options to get rid of these samples:
Tracing many more image samples: Clamping the image values to a specified maxi mum value. Be aware that the results may look dull if the clamping value is set too
low.
Caution: Activating clamping and reducing the multiplier will reduce the maximum
resulting image color range.
Pixel Filter
A pixel filter weights the image samples taken per pixel and therefore controls the
antialiasing quality of the rendering. High image filter sizes may result in blurry image
results.
Size: The pixel filter size defines the number of neighboring pixels will be taken in
account to for sampling.

There are 10 different pixel filter available in VRED:
Box Filter: The box filter is the simplest pixel filter. It weights each image sample
equally. A size of 0.5 should be used for this pixel filter.
Triangle Filter:The triangle filter linearly distributes the samples between the various
pixels. It gives decent results and is therefore the default pixel filter in VRED.
It should be used with a size of 1.0 independent of screen resolution.
Gaussian Filter: The gaussian filter uses a gaussian function to weight the samples.
Samples near the center of a pixel receive a larger weight compared to samples

that are further away from the pixel center. It gives slightly better results compared
to the triangle filter in some situations. A size of 1.0 to 1.2 is recommended.
283
Modules
Rendering
Rendersettings Antialiasing Quality
Mitchell Netravali: The mitchell netravali filter prevents blurring that may occur
when using box, triangle, gaussian, or bspline filter by sharpening the image. It gives
the highest quality result but may suffer from ringing on hard contrast edges. A size
of 2.2 is recommended.
Lanczos Filter: The lanczos filter is a sinc-based filter that does an optimal recon-
struction of the image. It delivers very sharp high quality results but may suffer from
ringing. A size of 2.5 is recommended.
Bspline Filter:The bspline filter uses a bspline function to weight the samples. It gives
results comparable to gaussian filtering but suffers less from blurring. A value
of 1.3 to 1.5 is recommended.
Catmull Rom: The catmull rom filter creates sharp images but may suffer from ring ing, just like the lanczos and mitchell netravalli filter. A size of 2.5 is recommended.
Sharp Triangle Filter: In this triangle filter variant one sample effects only one pixel.
This way the first impression of the image looks sharper and the image noise is high
frequent.
Sharp Gauss Filter: In this Gauss filter variant one sample effects only one pixel.
frequent.
Sharp BSpline Filter: In this BSpline filter variant one sample effects only one pixel.
frequent.
Options
You may enable or disable certain rendering features globally.

Enable Motion Blur: Enables the calculation of motion blur. The active camera needs
to have motion blur activated as well. Be aware that motion blur calculation may
need more images samples to achieve a perfectly smoothed image result.
Enable Depth of Field: Enables the calculation of depth of field effects. The active
camera needs to have depth of field activated as well. Be aware that depth of field
284
calculation may needs more images samples to achieve a perfectly smoothed image
result.
Optimize for many light sources: In scenes with many light sources or geometry light
sources rendering may slow down. Activating this flag allows the renderer to opti mize the light calculation by reducing the quality slightly which significantly speeds up
rendering. While you dont recognize the quality loss in most situations, there may
be scenes that may suffer from heavy noise when this feature is turned on. In such
scenes you may need to disable the optimization to get a clean render result.
Raytracing Cores: Sometimes you may want to limit the number of raytracing cores
VRED uses to have some processing power left for other applications. This settings
is a runtime only setting and it doesnt influence any cluster machines.
285
Modules
Rendering
RenderSettings Raytracing Quality
The antialiasing settings control
the number of samples taken during stillframe antialiasing. These
are the primary controls that influence the quality of the rendered image.
Illumination Mode
VRED has various illumination modes for
rendering in raytracing. You may choose
different illumination modes for interactive
rendering and still frame rendering. This allows to work in a precomputed mode for
fast interaction with the scene and automatically switching to full global illumination for still frame rendering.
Four modes are available:
Precomputed Illumination: The precomputed illumination mode is comparable to
VRED OpenGL rendering mode. It uses precomputed ambient occlusion and
indirect illumination for rendering and calculates specular reflections and refractions
and correct shadows from lightsources.
Sample directional light: Calculates directional light samples.
Sample indirectional light: Calculates indirectional light samples.
Full global illumination: Both light sample types, directional and indirectional, are
calculated.
286
Photon Tracing
Photon Tracing provides an approach to calculate the global illumination in a scene.
The default full global illumination mode in VRED provides high quality results but may
require longer calculation times. Photon Tracing can reduce the time required to render a clean image by a larger margin, especially in indoor scenarios like car interiors or
architectural indoor scenes.
Photon Mode:VRED provides different Photon mapping modes.
Off: Disables Photon Tracing and uses the default full global illumination algorithm in
VRED.
Indirect Only: Uses photon tracing to calculate the indirect illumination in a scene.
This is the most common mode.
Caustics + Indirect: Uses Photon Tracing to calculate indirect illumination and caus tics due to specular materials in a scene.
Interactive and Still Frame Count: The two photon count values specify the num ber of photons being sent into the scene for each image sample. Specifying a photon
count of 100000 photons while having set the image samples set to 256 will result in
25.600.000 photons send into the scene for a frame. More photons result in smooth er results.
Lookup Radius: The lookup radius specifies the radius around a sceness hitpoint
used by the raytracer to find photons around the hitpoint. A larger radius allows the
raytracer to find more photons but may result in slower lookup times.
Final Gather Quality: Setting the Final Gather Quality to 1 or higher, the update
frequency of the Photon Map may be set. By default the Photon Maps are updated
for each image sample, sending a large number of photons into the scene. While this
is necessary if final gather quality is set to 0 it is often sufficient to update the Photon
Map only once per frame and use it for each image sample to reduce the render
times.
Final Gather Refresh: There are two ways to use the photon map.The first approach
is always used for caustic photons. It gathers photons around a hitpoint to calculate
the incoming illumination. This approach gives very fast interactive performance and
is capable to calculate all light paths in a scene, but it may require a very high
287
Modules
Rendering
photon count to get a clean image. The other approach is to use final gathering. In
final gathering a one bounce indirect illumination is performed before evaluating the
Photon Maps. This is the default Photon Tracing approach in VRED since it generates
high quality images in a very short time. Setting the final gather quality to 0 enables
the first approach while setting it to any other value uses the second approach.
On Each Sample: This updates the Photon Map for each image sample. This is the
default setting since it also works for scenes with animated objects that may cause
flickering otherwise.
On Scene Change: The Photon Map is updated once per frame only unless motion
blur is activated. Since caustics require many photons, the Caustic Map will still be
updated for each sample while the indirect illumination Photon Map will only be up
dated once.This setting often results in the best rendering performance but requires
a much higher photon count to receive artefact-free results, particularly when ren dering scenes with animated objects, the result may flicker in regions with a low pho ton count.This is why this mode should only be used for scenes with static geometry
and materials.
IBL Sampling Quality

Interactive Quality: Sets the interactive IBL sampling quality.
Still Frame Quality: Sets the still frame IBL sampling quality.
Reflection/Refraction Sampling Quality

Interactive Quality: Sets the interactive sampling quality of reflections and refrac tions.
Still Frame Quality: Sets the still frame sampling quality of reflections and refractions.
288
Trace Depth Settings

Max Trace Depth: Sets the maximum amount of reflection and refraction each ray
may encounter.
Max Shadow Depth: Sets the maximum amount of shadow samples.
Photon Tracing Notes and Tips

Photon Tracing has its main advantages in interior scenes. In exterior scenes most of
the light illuminates the scene directly, the default full global illumination mode in VRED
shows the best performance in this case.
Be aware that the number of photons emitted doesnt resemble the number of photons
actually stored. If a photon misses the scene it will not be stored. A photon bouncing
several times in a scene might be stored more than once. To keep the number of emitted photons as low as possible, place any light emitters in a way that most photons will
hit the scene.
When using Final Gathering scenes may suffer from light leaks if the photon radius is
set too large. Light leaks mainly result from bad geometry in architectural scene. An
example would be an interior of a room illuminated through a window, the walls being
modelled as simple planes. Any geometry near the wall would get light from outside the
room since there is no actual thickness of the wall. The solution would be to actually
model the outer walls as well. Reducing the lookup radius may also fix the problem but
may require shooting more photons into the scene.
Final gathering may also show problems in scenes with very strong indirections where
the scene is primarily illuminated by light resulting from reflections of a wall. In these
situations disabling final gathering may give you a cleaner result.
289
CAD Converter CLI
CAD Converter CLI

CAD Converter CLI
Please note: These commands do work in Command Line Interface mode only.
Usage
vCAD.exe
-i <in-file> [-if <format>][-iProEpath <path>][-ao][-v][-vv][-log][-meta][-rep][-o <outfile>][-oPath <output-path>][-of <format>][-minAcis <minor>][-notFlatten][-curves][-filter <filter>] [-childColors][-sew][-nurbs][-bin][-ascii][-surtol <stol>][-nortol
<ntol>] [-tq <tessqual>][-maxEL <mel>][-locale]
Help/ Information
h
hh
v
vv
log
meta
rep

print help for standard usage

print comprehensive help
verbose
ververbose
write log file
write meta-information file
write a report file with a compilation of generated errors and warnings
I/O format properties

i <in-file>
input CAD file. Supported formats (extensions) are:

ACIS
CATIAV4
CATIAV5
IGES
Pro/E
.sat, .sab
.model, .session, .exp
.CATPart:, .CATProduct, .CATShape
.igs, .iges
.prt, .asm, .xpr, .xas
291
CAD Converter CLI

STEP
VDA-FS
SolidWorks
Inventor
.stp, .step
.vda
.sldprt, .prt, .sldasm
.ipt, .iam
if <format>
input CAD format (Acis, CATIAV4, CATIAV5, IGES, ProE,
STEP, VDA); needs to be set, if the CAD file extension is not a

default extension;
o <out-file>

output file name; default name is <in-file>.<output format extension>
of <format>
output formats (default is OpenInventor):
OpenSG 1.8
.OSG, .osg, .OSB, .osb
VRML2.0
.VRML, .vrml, .VRML2, .vrml2, .WRL, .wrl
ACIS
.ACIS, .Acis, .acis, .sat

CATIA V4
.CATIAV4, .catiav4, .V4, .v4, .model
STEP AP214 STEP, .Step, .step, .STP, .stp
IGES
.IGES, .Iges, .iges, .IGS, .igs
VDA
.VDA, .vda
OpenInventor 2.0 .OIV, .Oiv, .oiv, .IV, .iv

oPath
<output-path>
output path;
default is directory, where the input file is located
minAcis <minor>

input minor version of ACIS to be exported, it should be an

integer;
iProEpath <path>

path to the part files *.prt* of a ProE assemply *.asm*;

default is the directory path of the assembly file;
292
if the single parts are in a different directory, -iProEpath needs

to be set.
notFlatten

specifies the type of output; if this option is not set, assembly

structures in the output file are flattened
ao

writes the assembly structure in a XML-file; no geometry will

be converted;
locale
if set, locale settings are used; otherwise are english (United
States) settings used
filter <filter>

if set, abstract nodes like a layer filter in CATIA V4 models are

used to filter the geometry contained in the given CAD mo
del; CATIA V4 models, for instance, always contain the standard layer filters ALL and LAYCUR;
if the specified filter is not present in the model, all contained

geometry is translated instead
Translation properties
ascii write output file in ASCII format;

default is -bin; set to ASCII, if output format is VRML2 or OSG;

set to ASCII, if output format is STEP, IGES, or VDAFS;
bin
write binary output file;

set by default, if -ascii is not used; ignored, if output format is
VRML2.0, OSG, STEP, IGES, or VDA; set to binary, if output

format is CATIAV4;
293
CAD Converter CLI

nurbs

write geometry as trimmed nurbs;

if set, all tessellation parameters are ignored; if not set, output
is tessellated geometry using the tessellation parameters; is
ignored, if output format is VRML;
curves
translate free space curves;
if not set, space curves are ignored
childColors
if set, the lowest color in the CAD model hierarchy is used;
example is to use face colors instead of layer colors (CATIA
V4); if not set, the first color found in the CAD hierarchy is
used;
sew if set, adjacent sheet surfaces will be detected and sewed to gether;
sewing works with a tolerance dynamically adopted to the gi ven geometry; if two adjacent surfaces have different orienta tion, one will be reversed to both have the same orientation;
sewing works with -nurbs and when tessellating the geometry,
in the later case ensuring the adjacent surfaces are equally
tessellated along the common edge;
tq <tessqual>
defines default tessellation quality levels (tessqual=1,..,4):
the tolerances surtol and nortol are always ensured; the tes
sellation quality level, improves the quality of the triangulation
in terms of regularity of the triangles and approximation to

geometric details; a higher level typically also increases the
number of triangles; default is tessqual=2
294
surtol <stol>
surface tolerance:
stol > 0.0: max. tessellation error is stol model units;
stol = 0.0: surface tolerance is ignored for tessellation;
stol < 0.0: => stol = |stol|*1/500*diag(bounding box(model));
default is stol=-1
nortol <ntol>
normal tolerance:.
max angle between two adjacent triangles of a tessellated sur
face; default is ntol=30
maxEL <mel>

specifies the maximum edge length of a facet (triangle);

default is mel=0.0 (to ignore max. edge length);
adjust <amode> OBSOLATE: this parameter has no effect on the conversion;

AF_ADJUST NONE is always used, because other options

breaks tolerance contracts and causes other defects;
Comprehensive Help
Usage:
vCAD.exe
-i <in-file> [-if <format>][-of <format>][-ao][-notFlatten][-minAcis <minor>][-opt
<options-file>][-v][-vv][-log][-meta][-rep][-ses][-o <out-file>] [-oPath <output-path>]
[-iProEpath <path>][-filter <filter>] [-childColors][-sew][-nurbs][-curves][-bin][-ascii]
[-surtol <stol>] [-nortol <ntol>][-tq <tessqual>][-gridMode <gmode>][-triMode
<tmode>] [-maxEL <mel>][-edgeSagTol <frac>][-maxGL <mgl>][-edgeQLevel <eq>]
[-chk_gen_pcurves][-narrow_reg_repair][-minUGL <mugl>][ -minVGL <mvgl>][-aspectRatio <ar>][-locale]
295
CAD Converter CLI

Help/ Information
h
hh
v
vv
log
meta
rep

print help for standard usage

print comprehensive help
verbose
ververbose
write log file
write meta-information file
write a report file with a compilation of generated errors and
warnings
I/O format properties

i <in-file>

ACIS
CATIAV4
CATIAV5
IGES
Pro/E
STEP
VDA-FS
SolidWorks
Inventor
input CAD file. Supported formats (extensions) are:

.sat, .sab
.model, .session, .exp
.CATPart:, .CATProduct, .CATShape
.igs, .iges
.prt, .asm, .xpr, .xas
.stp, .step
.vda
.sldprt, .prt, .sldasm
.ipt, .iam
if <format>
input CAD format (Acis, CATIAV4, CATIAV5, IGES, ProE, STEP,
VDA); needs to be set, if the CAD file extension is not a de
fault extension;
o <out-file>

296
output file name; default name is <in-file>.<output format extension>
of <format>

output formats (default is OpenInventor (x86) and VRML

(x64)):
OpenSG 1.8
.OSG, .osg, .OSB, .osb
VRML2.0
.VRML, .vrml, .VRML2, .vrml2, .WRL, .wrl
ACIS
.ACIS, .Acis, .acis, .sat
CATIA V4
.CATIAV4, .catiav4, .V4, .v4, .model
STEP AP214 STEP, .Step, .step, .STP, .stp
IGES
.IGES, .Iges, .iges, .IGS, .igs
VDA
.VDA, .vda
OpenInventor 2.0 .OIV, .Oiv, .oiv, .IV, .iv available for x86 systems only
oPath <output-path> output path;

default is directory, where the input file is located
minAcis <minor>

input minor version of ACIS to be exported, it should be an

integer;
iProEpath <path>

path to the part files *.prt* of a ProE assemply *.asm*;

default is the directory path of the assembly file;
if the single parts are in a different directory, -iProEpath needs
to be set.
notFlatten

specifies the type of output; if this option is not set, assembly

structures in the output file are flattened
ao

writes the assembly structure in a XML-file; no geometry will

be converted;
297
CAD Converter CLI

locale
if set, locale settings are used; otherwise are english (United
States) settings used
filter <filter>

if set, abstract nodes like a layer filter in CATIA V4 models are

used to filter the geometry contained in the given CAD model; CATIA V4 models, for instance, always contain the standard layer filters ALL and LAYCUR;
if the specified filter is not present in the model, all contained
geometry is translated instead
Translation properties
ascii
write output file in ASCII format;

default is -bin; set to ASCII, if output format is VRML2 or OSG;

set to ASCII, if output format is STEP, IGES, or VDAFS;
bin
write binary output file;

set by default, if -ascii is not used; ignored, if output format is
VRML2.0, OSG, STEP, IGES, or VDA; set to binary, if output

format is CATIAV4;
nurbs

write geometry as trimmed nurbs;

if set, all tessellation parameters are ignored; if not set, output
is tessellated geometry using the tessellation parameters; is
ignored, if output format is VRML;
curves

translate free space curves;

if not set, space curves are ignored
childColors

if set, the lowest color in the CAD model hierarchy is used;

example is to use face colors instead of layer colors (CATIA
298
V4); if not set, the first color found in the CAD hierarchy is

used;
sew

if set, adjacent sheet surfaces will be detected and sewed together; sewing works with a tolerance dynamically adopted
to the given geometry; if two adjacent surfaces have different
orientation, one will be reversed to both have the same orientation; sewing works with -nurbs and when tessellating the
geometry, in the later case ensuring the adjacent surfaces are
equally tessellated along the common edge;
tq <tessqual>

defines default tessellation quality levels (tessqual=0,..,4):

the tolerances surtol and nortol are always ensured; the tessellation quality level, improves the quality of the triangulation
in terms of regularity of the triangles and approximation to
geometric details; a higher level typically also increases the
number of triangles;
use tessellation parameters -gridMode -triMode -edgeQLevel

tessqual=0

-chk_gen_pcurves -narrow_reg_repair -edgeSagTol as set or

their defaults;
tessqual=1
gridMode=AF_GRID_NONE; triMode=AF_TRIANGLES_
ON_FRINGE_ONLY; edgeQLevel=_MEDIUM, chk_gen_

pcurves=1; narrow_reg_repair=1; -edgeSagTol=0.5;
tessqual=2
gridMode=AF_GRID_TO_EDGES; triMode=AF_TRIANG LES_ON_FRINGE_ONLY; edgeQLevel=_MEDIUM; chk_gen_

pcurves=1; narrow_reg_repair=1; -edgeSagTol=1.0;
tessqual=3
gridMode=AF_GRID_TO_EDGES; triMode=AF_ALL_TRI
ANGLES; edgeQLevel=_Better; chk_gen_pcurves=1; narrow_

reg_repair=1; -edgeSagTol=1.0;
299
CAD Converter CLI

tessqual=4
gridMode=AF_GRID_TO_EDGES; triMode=AF_ALL_TRI
ANGLES; edgeQLevel=_BEST; chk_gen_pcurves=1; narrow_

reg_repair=1; -edgeSagTol=1.0;

default is tessqual=2
surtol <stol>
stol > 0.0:
stol = 0.0:
stol < 0.0:
default is stol=-1
surface tolerance:
max. tessellation error is stol model units;
surface tolerance is ignored for tessellation;
=> stol = |stol|*1/500*diag(bounding box(model));
nortol <ntol>

normal tolerance:.
max angle between two adjacent triangles of a tessellated surface; default is ntol=30
maxEL <mel>

specifies the maximum edge length of a facet (triangle);

default is mel=0.0 (to ignore max. edge length);
triMode <tMode> specifies where to triangulate the grid (further subdivision of

the grid cells):
AF_NO_TRIANGLES_QUAD_TREE the mesh should contain no triangles;
AF_NO_TRIANGLES_FULL_GRID the mesh should contain no triangles and
the grid should be extended to face edges;
AF_TRIANGLES_ON_FRINGE_ONLY
the mesh should have triangles

only on its fringe;
AF_ALL_TRIANGLES
the mesh should consists of triangles only;
default is tMode=AF_ALL_TRIANGLES
300
chk_gen_pcurves

check and generate pcurves:

performance cost, but improves robustness against overly
loose pcurves; specifies whether the faceter is allowed to generate new bs2_curves for use in faceting if the pcurves are not
tight enough;
narrow_reg_repair

narrow region repair:

the repair procedure consists of hueristics to detect when
edges are close enough for the facet edges to clash; the repair
aligns nearby edges facets; this reduces the frequency of clock
wise and upside down facets, but has a performance penalty;
edgeQLevel <eq> edge quality level:

_MEDIUM
edges are to be faceted to a tolerance equal to the surface

tolerance;
_BETTER
edges are to be faceted to a tolerance equal to half the surface

tolerance;
-BEST
edges are to be faceted to a tolerance equal to one quarter

the surface tolerance;
default is eq=_MEDIUM
gridMode <gMode> specifies grid mode for tessellation:
AF_GRID_NONE
no grid is applied; tessellation depends just

on -surtol and -nortol;
a grid is applied for tessellation; intersec AF_GRID_TO_EDGES

tions between grid lines and surface are in

serted as vertices;
default is gmode=AF_GRID_NONE
301
CAD Converter CLI

edgeSagTol <frac> edge sag tolerance as fraction of surface: sets the ratio be

tween face surface/normal tolerance and edge surface/normal

tolerance; default is frac=0.5;
maxGL <mgl>

specifies maximum number of grid line (limitation of grid subdivision); default is mgl=512
minUGL <mugl>

specifies minimum number of grid line in the u direction of the

parametric surface;
default is mugl=0.0 (to ignore max. number of grid lines in u
direction)
minVGL <mvgl>

specifies minimum number of grid line in the v direction of the

parametric surface;
default is mvgl=0.0 (to ignore max. number of grid lines in v
direction)
aspectRatio <ar>

specifies the intended maximum aspect ratio of a quad facet in

3D space; the minimum value is 2; it is not always possible to
attain user-specified aspect ratio;
default is ar=0.0 (to ignore the aspect ratio)
adjust <amode> OBSOLATE: this parameter has no effect on the conversion;

AF_ADJUST NONE is always used, because other options

breaks tolerance contracts and causes other defects;

302
303
Hotkeys
Hotkeys
Overview
VRED Professional Hotkeys
Hotkeys Scenegraph:
Rename
Ctrl + R
Delete
del
Copy
Ctrl + C
Cut
Ctrl + X
Paste
Ctrl + V
Paste Clone
Ctrl + Shift + V
Merge Geometry
Ctrl + M
Ctrl + T
Unsplit Geometry with one Triangle Ctrl + Shift + T
Group Selection
Ctrl + Shift + G
Optimize
Ctrl + O
Optimze Execute
Ctrl +Shift + O
Hide
Ctrl + H
Show
Ctrl + J
Hide All
Ctrl + Shift + H
Show All
Ctrl + Shift + J
Select All
Ctrl + A
Deselect All
Ctrl + Shift + A
Invert Selection
Ctrl + I
Find...
Ctrl + F
Scroll to selected
Ctrl + G
Go to parent node
Left Arrow
Go to child node
Right Arrow
Go to previous node
Up Arrow
Down Arrow

Render Window:
Delete
del
305
Hotkeys
Overview
Copy
Ctrl + C
Cut
Ctrl + X
Paste
Ctrl + V
Merge Geometry Ctrl + M
Split Geometry into Triangles Ctrl + T
Unsplit Geometry with one Triangle Ctrl + Shift + T
Go to parent node Left Arrow
Go to child node Right Arrow
Go to previous node Up Arrow
Go to following node Down Arrow
Select node Shift + left mouse button on node
Add node to selection Shift + Ctrl + left mouse button on node
Remove node from selection
Shift + Ctrl + right mouse button on node
Clear selection Shift + right mouse button into empty
space
Change camera
Ctrl + space
CurveEditor
frame curves
double left click
pan view middle mouse button + drag
zoom y right mouse button + drag up and down
zoom x
right mouse button + drag left and right
set focus center
double right click
select key/curve
Shift + left click
deselect key/curve Shift + right click
frame selection
Shif t+ left drag
frame deselect
Shift + right drag
deselect all
Alt + right click
move key/curve Shift + middle drag
move tangent Ctrl + middle drag
if isolated curve view: insert key Ctrl + left click on curve
306
if isolated curve view: del key Ctrl + right click on curve

if isolated curve view: del key Ctrl + right click on curve
ClipMaker
pan view middle mouse button + drag
zoom
set focus center double right click
move clip left mouse + drag
MaterialEditor/Materials
Find
Ctrl + F
Select nodes Ctrl + N
Add nodes to selection Ctrl + Shift + N
Apply to selected nodes Ctrl + A
Add to material library Ctrl + L
scroll to selected Ctrl + G
Copy
Ctrl + C
Paste
Ctrl + V
Paste clone Ctrl +Shift + V
Rename Ctrl + R
Delete
del
remove unused material Ctrl + U
Optimize material Ctrl + O
optimize textures Ctrl + Shift + O
Lock
Ctrl + L
Unlock
Ctrl+Shift + L
MaterialEditor/Library
Update
F5
307
Hotkeys
Overview
Variants/Geometry Variants, Material Variants & Light Variants
Create All
Ctrl + N
Rename
Ctrl + R
delete
del

Sequencer
Rename
Ctrl + R
Delete
del
Active
Ctrl + A
Move up
Ctrl + up
Move down
Ctrl + down
LightEditor
Rename
Delete
Select all
Deselect all
Invert Selection
Find
Select nodes
Toggle
Ctrl + R
del
Ctrl + A
Ctrl + D
Ctrl + I
Ctrl + F
Ctrl + N
Ctrl + T
VariantSets
New Set
New Group
Ctrl + N
Ctrl + G
308
simply
impressive
www.pi-vr.com

VREDProfessional 5.5 Dokumentation Online

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

VREDProfessional 5.5 Dokumentation Online

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

VRED Professional 5.

virtual prototyping and interactive multimedia solution

System Requirements .......................... 08

Using VRED Professional

Render Settings ....................................

Standard Materials ..............................

Edit ......................................................... 216

TimeLine ............................................... 243

CAD COnverter CLI

A qualified hardware-accelerated OpenGL graphics

(32-bit) Windows XP Professional (SP2)

Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view the PDF

Space Mouse. Make sure you install the latest Space

2. A security warning may appear.

3. The VRED Installation Wizard appears.

4. The PI-VR GmbH Software License

7. Choose whether to install the cluster

8. The installer now creates the folders

9. The installation process is completed.

If you encounter problems installing VRED on your computer, feel

Node Locked Licensing

Setting up a license server

Using VRED Professional

Using vred professional

Using VRED Professional

USING VRED PROFESSIONAL: INTERFACE

Using VRED Professional

Click left mouse button.

Click middle mouse button.

Click right mouse button.

Setup Navigation Mode

Using VRED Professional

Using VRED Professional: selection

Shift + Click Right Mouse button

Shift + Drag Left Mouse button

Shift + Drag Left Mouse button

Shift + Drag Right Mouse button

Shift + CTRL Left Mouse button

Shift + Click Right Mouse button

Using VRED Professional

Using VRED Professional

Important: Only advanced users should alter values in the Editor!

Using VRED Professional

turns the anti-aliasing on or off

Menus, Toolbar & Statusbar

Menus, Toolbar & Statusbar

Menus, Toolbar & Statusbar

Menus, Toolbar & Statusbar

To write other file types go to File export.

To write other file types go to File export.

Menus, Toolbar & Statusbar

Menus, Toolbar & Statusbar

Add VRML animation

Menus, Toolbar & Statusbar

Menus, Toolbar & Statusbar

Menus, Toolbar & Statusbar

Menus, Toolbar & Statusbar

Menus, Toolbar & Statusbar

Menus, Toolbar & Statusbar

Backplate: Sets the backplate to visible/invisible.

Off: Disables realtime antialiasing.

Advanced OpenGL Settings

Realtime shadow: Activates/deactivates real time shadows. Only available in

Menus, Toolbar & Statusbar