Compose scene to render model

Composing a scene consists of selecting component appearances, lighting style, scene style, and camera positions.

Appearances

Select geometry, and then specify an appearance to apply to Autodesk Inventor a component. Appearances define the visual aspect of the model, such as metal or plastic texture, transparency or opacity, and so on.

  1. Select a component.
  2. In the QAT select an Appearance to apply to the component.
  3. Repeat as needed.

Lighting Styles

Create and edit lighting styles with the Lighting Styles dialog box, or interactively in the graphics window. Light types, including directional, point, and spot, are grouped into lighting styles. You can apply lighting styles to renderings and animations, and you can add your lighting styles to the library provided.

Create lighting style

  1. On the ribbon, click Render tab Scene panel Lighting Styles .
  2. There are two methods for creating lighting styles:
    • New Lighting Style Adds a new lighting style using the application defaults. Three lights are included in the style - directional, point, and spot. Each has application default settings.
    • Copy Lighting Style Adds a copy of the selected lighting style and its settings.
  3. Rename and modify the new style according to your needs.

Edit lighting style

  1. In the Lighting Styles dialog box, select the lighting style to edit. Set the options on the tabs:
    • GeneralSpecify values for the brightness and sky light lighting. Brightness controls all lights in the style. Sky Light settings simulate global lighting. Using sky lighting automatically uses bounced lighting and can be compute intensive.
    • Indirect Specify the ambient lighting and whether or not bounced light is computed for the scene. Bounced light can be compute intensive.
    • Shadows Specify a shadow type - None, Hard, or Soft. For soft shadows you can specify the Quality resolution. Specify shadow Density. For soft shadows, specify a Light Parameter equal to approximately 1.2 times the model extents.
    • Position In Orientation, select a ground plane from the list, or in the graphics area, select a work plane or model face to orient the lighting style. In Scale, move the slider to modify the scale of the light to accommodate the size of the scene. In Position, specify the style position using absolute coordinates relative to the assembly 0,0,0 location.
  2. When all options are set, click Done, perform test renders and adjust the style or individual lights to get the effect you want.

Create light within lighting style

  1. In the list of lighting styles, right-click, and click New Light.
    • General In Type, specify the light type as directional, point, or spot.

      In Placement, click Target, and then specify a model face.

      or

      Click Position and then click along the direction line of the light, or click any face on the model to set the position of the light.

      If necessary, use Flip Direction to reverse the direction of the light.

    • Illumination Move the slider to specify the amount of illumination the light provides.

      In Color, specify the color of the light if different from the default white.

    • Shadows Define the shadow type and quality, and indicate whether to use the settings from the parent style.
    • Point, Spot, or Directional Depending on the light type, specify the light location and related properties.

Edit light within lighting style

  1. In the Lighting Styles dialog box, expand the style containing the light you want to edit.
    • General In Type, specify the light type as directional, point, or spot.

      In Placement, use the Target selector to specify a different face or location as the target.

      or

      Click Position and then click along the direction line of the light, or click any face on the model to set the position of the light.

      If necessary, use Flip Direction to reverse the direction of the light.

    • Illumination Move the slider to modify the amount of illumination the light provides.

      In Color, change the color of the light.

    • Shadows Change the shadow type and quality, or indicate whether to use the settings from the parent style.
    • Point, Spot, or Directional Depending on the light type, modify the light location and related properties.
  2. When the options on all tabs are set, click Done.

Move light

  1. Select a light node or instance in the browser, graphics window, or in the Light Styles dialog box.

    In the graphics window, a 3D Move/Rotate triad graphic is displayed.

  2. In the graphics area, move the cursor over the position graphic, target graphic, or beam graphic connecting the position and the target.

    That portion of the light is highlighted. Select the beam graphic to reposition the entire light at one time.

  3. Click to start the 3DMove/Rotate command.
Note: If rendering results appear different from the interactive view, it is possible that the light point is too close to a surface. Move the light away from the surface until the condition is resolved.

Local Lights

The controls for creating a local light are the same as for creating lights in a lighting style. The only difference is that local lights are maintained in their own browser folder. They are separate from the Lighting Styles, and they act as individual objects, and not a collection.

Create local light

  1. On the ribbon, click Render tab Scene panel Local Lights , and then set the options on the tabs:
    • The Target selector is active. Move the cursor over a model face. A line previews to the light direction. Click to select the target face.
    • The Position selector is active. Move the cursor along the light direction line. The light glyph previews the location of the light along the directional line. Click to accept the current position.

      To reverse the light direction, use Flip Direction.

    • In the dialog box, on the General tab, In Type, specify the light type as point or spot.
    • Illumination Move the slider to specify the amount of illumination the light provides.

      In Color, specify the color of the light if different from the default white.

    • Shadows Define the shadow type and quality.
    • Point or Spot Depending on the light type, specify the light location and related properties.
  2. When the options on all tabs are set, click Done.

Edit local light

  1. In the browser, expand the Local Lights node. Double-click a light node to edit the parameters. Alternatively, right-click and click Edit, the dialog box displays. Set the options on the tabs:
    • Use the Target selector to change target locations.
    • Use the Position selector to reposition the light source.
    • Use Flip Direction if you want to reverse the light direction.
    • On the General tab, In Type, you can change the light type.
    • Illumination tab Move the slider to modify the amount of illumination the light provides.

      In Color, modify the color of the light.

    • Shadows Modify the shadow type and quality.
    • Point or Spot Depending on the light type, modify the light location and related properties.
  2. When the options on all tabs are set, click Done.

Local lights can be animated when created in the top level of the assembly. When contained in a subassembly, local lights “travel” with the animated component or assembly in which they are included.

Camera

Create and edit a camera in the active document to define a view for a rendering. Parameters that create a graphic representation that you can view or hide define a camera.

You can define multiple cameras, but use one at a time for rendering.

  1. On the ribbon, click Render tab Scene panel Camera .
  2. In the Camera dialog box, click Target.
  3. In the graphics area, click any face on the model to define the camera target.

    A small cube is placed at the target point of the camera. A black direction line displays, normal to the selected face, from the target point to the position point.

  4. Click a point along the camera direction line, or click any face on the model, to set the position of the camera.

    A wireframe representation of the view volume of the camera displays as a black square centered over the target point, facing the target position.

  5. With the camera graphics displayed, you can:
    • Drag the target or position to move it in the view plane at the same view distance as the target or position.
    • Move the camera. Click the target or position once to activate a 3D Move/Rotate triad. Use the triad to move the target or position. Changing the triad rotation does not affect the target or position. Click the direction line to move the camera and maintain the relative position and target location.
    • Zoom to change the field of view angle. Click the view volume square once to select it, and move the mouse to adjust the size of the view volume with a constrained aspect ratio. Release the mouse button to set the new size.
    • Change the roll angle. Click the roll market to select it, and then move the mouse to rotate the camera graphics around the target direction.
  6. If appropriate, select Link to view to update the active view to match the camera properties and hide the camera graphics.
  7. In Projection, set the camera view mode to orthographic or perspective.

    Projection is disabled in the animate camera operation.

    Note: Use the orthographic camera for traditional illustrative views and the perspective camera for more realistic views.
  8. If necessary, in Roll Angle, specify the angle of rotation around the direction axis of the camera, if different from the default.
  9. If necessary, in Zoom, specify the zoom angle of the camera to define the horizontal field of view, if different from the default.
  10. Click OK.

Depth of Field

You can use depth of field with any camera you establish. To use depth of field, do the following:

  1. In the camera definition dialog box, in the Depth of field section, check Enable. The depth of field controls are enabled.
  2. Choose Focus Limits, where you provide near and far focus plane positions, or f-Stop, where you specify a camera stop value and focus plane position.
  3. Specify the depth of field parameters for the appropriate method. For Focus Limits, you specify near and far focus plane positions. For f-Stop, you provide the f-Stop setting and the focus plane position.
  4. Optionally, you can check the Link focus plane to camera target, which has two advantages:
    • The focus planes stay positioned in relation to the target. If you edit the camera target the camera stays in focus in relation to it.
    • You can animate the camera target. The result is a moving depth of field, which provides a nice effect in an animation.

Scene Styles

Create or edit scene styles for use in renderings and animations. If you chose to render without a scene using Current background, the current modeling environment settings for ground shadows and reflections are used.

  1. On the ribbon, click Render tab Scene panel Scene Styles .
  2. In the Scene Styles dialog box, click a style from the list, and then set the options on the tabs:
    • Background Choose to use the background settings in Autodesk Inventor, or define the background.

      Define the background type, and colors, and describe a background image, if necessary.

      To use an image for the background, select image and browse to the file.

    • In Position, select Center, Tile, or Stretch options to display the background image.
    • In Repeat, you can select Horizontal or Vertical, and specify the number of times for the repeat.
    • Click Done.
    • Environment describes the space around the model being defined.

      Specify direction and offset of the ground plane, shadows, reflections, and spherical reflection map for the scene.

    • Select the check box for Show Shadows and Show Reflections as necessary, and use the sliders to set the values.
    • You can select Use Reflection Image, and then browse to and select a reflection image.
  3. When all options are set, click Done.
Parent topic: Rendered image