Scene » Variant Sets
There are a collection of states, that are not user-defined. These are relatively self explanatory. For example, the “!Next” state changes to the next state within that variant when the hotkey is pressed. Some states are not available in all contexts.
!Next activates the next object in the switch list and stops when the last object is reached. !Next(loop) is similar to !Next but returns to the beginning of the list after the last object is selected.
Operate in the same principle as the !Next/!Next(loop) options but in the reverse direction.
!Enable and !Disable respectively enable or disable the variant set contained lights in the scene. !Toggle switches the related variant to the opposite state.
The Variant set list on the left contains entries of already defined variant sets. The context menu can be used to create new sets as well as to perform other actions on its nodes. The tabs can be used to switch between the different types and options available for variant sets.
Creates a Variant Set.
In order to support the user at organizing all variant sets, groups can be created which behave like folders. You can drag a Variant Set in any group or you can remove a Variant Set from a group by dragging it on its parent folder. It is not possible to recursively store folders within folders.
Collapse the list of groups in the Variant Sets dialog box.
Removes all Variant Sets and groups.
Removes all links (parts) of the Variant Sets which don’t assign to something in the current scene.
Renders a preview that is automatically assigned to the selected Variant Set as an icon.
The so called Dissection Mode is a special mode of operation in VRED used for creating screenshots only of specific parts of the loaded model. When entering the Dissection Mode, all geometry is disabled, thus your screen is empty at first. Then you can gradually enable geometry either using the Show functionality of the scene graph or using some predefined Show/Hide-lists in the Variant Set module. When the desired geometry is visible, you can create a screenshot using the corresponding button, either in the Variant Set module or in the VRED toolbar. When leaving the Dissection Mode, in the context menu, the previous state of all nodes and switches are restored.
Possibility to load a csv file with embedded logics.
Verify imported maya variants.
The general tab is where Hotkeys for variant sets can be defined.
The hotkey for switching between variant sets can be defined here. The first box is for a modifier key such as Alt or Ctrl while the second is for selecting an alphanumeric character for the shortcut. The second field is required to assign the hotkey (for example, letter or sign).
Adds a custom comment to each Variant Set.
Creates a quick rendering of the view port using the currently selected variant set and render settings. VRED asks for a location and format to save the image, which is an 800x600 bitmap format image by default.
Geometry variants can be created or modified on that tab. To create a geometry variant, drag a geometry node or group node to the right section in the geometry variants tab.
Material variants can be created or modified in this tab. To create a material variant, drag a material node to the right section in the material variants tab.
Light variant sets can be created or modified in this tab. To create a light variant set, drag a light variant to the right section in the light variants tab. Instructions for creating a light variant can be found in the Variant section.
Viewport variants can be set within the view tab by dragging a previously created view in the Camera Editor to the right side of the view variants tab. Instructions for creating a viewport can be found in the Camera Editor section.
Overlay variants can be created in this tab. To create a new overlay variant set, an overlay can be dragged from the Overlay Editor to the right side of overlay variant set window. If this variant set is selected, the overlay will be set to active. If another variant set is activated, the new overlay will be set to active. It is possible to add multiple overlays to one variant set and it is also possible to add one overlay to multiple variant sets.
Animation variants can be created or modified in this tab. To create an animation variant set, drag an animation from the Clips (Clip Maker) window to the right side of the animation variant set window.
The analyzer tab offers to enable, disable, or modify clipping planes within a variant set.
Enable / Disable Clipping: Enables or disables the clipping plane.
Only Clipping Values: Enables you to adopt value changes but not its state (enabled/disabled).
Get Current Position: Adopt the position and orientation of the clipping plane that is selected within the clipping module on feature execution.
For advanced users, each variant set can contain a Python script that is executed automatically each time the variant set is activated, whether through the variant set module, a hotkey, or another script.
There can be added generic key / value pairs to any variant set if the exported XML data should be processed personally (see Import and Export). On the left side is the list of all keys and on the right side the value belonging to the currently selected key can be changed. By using the context menu keys can be created or deleted. VRED does not process this data in any way; it is only available in the exported Variants XML data.
Primarily Show / Hide tab used in the dissection mode and contains a list of scenegraph nodes that are shown or hidden when using the menu entries Show Geometry or ‘Hide Geometry” in the context menu of a variant set in the variant sets list. This is especially useful for making screenshots of isolated parts of the model that belong to a specific variant set. Nodes can simply be added by dragging them from the Scenegraph into the list. They can be removed by using the context menu in the nodes list.
Shortcut icons for Create Variant, Duplicate Variant, and Delete are available in the lower bar.