To Work with Lighting Styles and Lights

Composing a scene consists of selecting component appearances, lighting style, and camera positions. (not available on Inventor LT 32 bit operating system)

Create 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.

Create lighting style

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.
Note: All newly created lighting style will be associated with the default IBL automatically. You can change the associated IBL to other ones as desired.
  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, as well as the Grid Light IBL. Each has application default settings. By default, the directional, point, and spot lights are turned off. You can turn them on by changing individual light properties.
    • 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:
    • Environment tab Specify values for:
      • Exposure Affects the intensity of all lights, and works like a global dimmer switch. The default is 100 per cent on a scale of 0 to 100 percent.
      • Rotation Rotates the IBL environment to a desired orientation.
      • Scale Modifies the lighting style scale. The initial 100% scale is defined in relation to the model when the light style is selected as the active style. Subsequent scaling is manual, ranging from 10 to 1000 percent.
    • Shadows tab Specify values for Directional lights:
      • Softness Affects the intensity of all lights, and works like a global dimmer switch. The default is 100 per cent on a scale of 0 to 100 percent.
  2. Click the drop-down arrow to select the environment for the local lighting style.
  3. Select Display Scene Image to sets the image to display as the background image.
  4. When all options are set, click Done, perform test renders and adjust the style or individual lights to get the effect you want.

Create and edit a light within lighting style

  1. In the list of lighting styles, right-click: Click New Light to create a new light or Edit Light to edit an existing light.

    • General tab Controls the type and placement of a light. Specify values for:
      • Type Specifies one of the following light types to control the amount of illumination provided by the light. The default is Directional.
        • Directional simulates parallel beams of light from a single direction in space, from a light source that is an infinite distance away, such as the sun.
        • Point simulates light emitted in all directions from a single point in space, such as a light bulb. The target is used to create and edit point lights, and does not affect where the light falls.
        • Spot simulates a conical light emitted from a single point in space in a particular direction, such as a stage light.
      • Placement
        • Target sets a target point on the model when you click anywhere on the model, or sets the target on the view plane at the same view distance as the existing target when you click in space. Move the mouse over a surface to display a preview of the new light target/direction.
        • Position sets the position of the light when you click along the direction line of the light. The direction line extends to the standard direction line distance if that distance is longer than the current light distance.

          or

          sets the position at the click point when you click anywhere on the model, or sets the position on the view plane at the same view distance as the existing position when you click a point in space.

      • On/Off Click to turn the light on or off.
        • Light On turns the light on in the lighting style. The default is On.
        • Light Off turns lights on or off. When you turn off a light, the light color face changes to black, and in the browser the light icon in the lighting style tree is disabled.
      • Flip Direction If necessary, use Flip Direction to reverse the direction of the light.
        • Click the button on the right to reverse the direction of the light. The position and target are swapped as long as the button on the right is pressed. The default is Normal (not reversed).
    • Illumination tab Determines how lights of any type emit light and cast shadows.
      • Intensity Specifies the amount of illumination provided by the light. The default is 0 in a range of 0 to 100.
      • Color Specifies the color of the light. The default color is white.
      • Attenuation Compensation Compensates for attenuation of detected light.
    • Directional tab Determines how lights of any type emit light and cast shadows. Available only when the light type on the General tab is set to Directional.
      • Latitude Drag the slider or enter a value to specify the latitude angle of the light off the XY plane. The values are based on inputs when creating the light. The range is from -90.0 to 90.0 degrees.
      • Longitude Drag the slider or enter a value to specify the longitude angle of the light off of the YZ plane. The values are based on inputs when creating the light. The range is from -180.0 to 180.0 degrees.
    • Point tab Sets properties for point lights. Available only when the light type on the General tab is set to Point.
      • Position Specifies values for the X, Y, and Z coordinates of the position of the light source.
    • Spot tab Sets properties for spot lights. Available only when the light type on the General tab is set to Spot.
      • Position Specifies values for the X, Y, and Z coordinates of the position of the light source.
      • Target Specifies values for the X, Y, and Z coordinates of the target of the light.
      • Hotspot Specifies the angle of the spot light. The default is 45 degrees in a range of 1.0 to 150.0 degrees.
      • Falloff Specifies the falloff angle of the spot light. The default is 50.0 degrees in a range of 1.0 to 150.0 degrees.

For best results, instead of rendering soft shadows with a point light, use a soft shadow casting spotlight and set the shadow quality to the highest setting.

If you have a space-ball type controller, and you manipulate it while you render an animation, the camera view might shift. To avoid the shift, turn off the controller during long render operations.

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.

Create and edit a 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.
Parent topic: About Styles for Rendering