To Work with Ray Tracing

View designs automatically or manually, specify mode, display and save as an image, or disable ray tracing.

Changing the view orientation, or starting another command interrupts the ray tracing process. Where applicable, such as when using Orbit, the ray trace process reinitializes when the active command ceases to be used. For other commands, ray tracing disables automatically. To re-enable ray tracing use the ribbon access point.

When you enable ray tracing, the bar unfolds in the lower right corner of the display, providing access to the three modes. The process begins using the default settings. When complete, the ray tracing bar auto-hides after a couple of seconds. Moving the cursor into the bar area causes the bar to redisplay.

If a rendering process with ray tracing takes more than 3 seconds, a progress bar appears in the lower right corner of the display. Clicking the "X" disables ray tracing and closes the progress bar.

Manually View Designs with Ray Tracing

By default, Ray Tracing is not enabled to automatically render the scene.

1. On the View tab Appearance panel Visual Style select either Realistic or Monochrome.
2. Click Ray Tracing. Click again to disable the feature.

Note: Ray tracing is enabled only for Realistic and Monochrome visual styles.

Automatically View Designs with Ray Tracing

By default Ray Tracing is disabled. You can enable it for all models as an application option or on a per document basis using Document Appearance settings. Because ray tracing works only with two specific visual styles it automatically initializes only when one of those styles is active.

To use application settings:

1. In the Tools tab Options panel click Application Options.
2. On the Display tab Appearance section specify application settings.
3. Click Settings, and in the dialog Realistic Visual Style section check Enable Ray Tracing. Ray tracing is automatically enabled when you open the file.

To use document settings:

1. In the Tools tab Options panel click Application Options.
2. On the Display tab Appearance section specify document settings.
3. Click Settings, and in the dialog Realistic Visual Style section check Enable Ray Tracing. Ray tracing is automatically enabled when you open the file.

Ray Tracing dialog

Specify Ray Tracing Lighting and Material Accuracy

• In the Ray Tracing bar in the lower right of the display area, select the appropriate ray tracing mode:

  Low

  Rough and semi-rough materials are approximated. Consequently, materials may look shinier than expected. Direct lighting is approximated and indirect lighting is treated as a constant ambient color. Shadows will lack in details. Useful for quick previews of outdoor/product renderings, but unsuitable for interior scenes.

  Draft

  Rough and semi-rough materials are approximated. Consequently, materials may look shinier than expected. Lighting is approximated so shadows will lack in details. Useful for quick previews.

  High

  Soft shadows and soft reflections from semi-rough materials will be rendered with a high quality level. This is the standard setting for final high quality renderings.

Save, Pause, or Disable Scene Rendering in Process

• To save, pause, or disable the scene rendering, click the appropriate button. To resume rendering, click Continue.

Save Ray Tracing Display as an Image

• On the Application menu, click Save Copy As, and specify a name and location for the image.

  The default image options save immediately. If you specify a different screen resolution, the display renders that resolution during the save operation.

Disable Ray Tracing

Use one of the following methods:

• In the Ray Tracing bar, click Disable.
• On the ribbon View tab, Appearance panel, click Ray Tracing.
• Change from the Realistic or Monochrome visual style to any other visual style.
• Activate a command that disables ray tracing.
• Modify the application option or document display settings to remove the automatic setting from the Realistic visual style.