To Work with Ray Tracing

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

What's New: 2023

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 dialog 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 dialog auto-hides after a couple of seconds. Moving the cursor into the dialog area causes the bar to redisplay.

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.
   

   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

   • You can interrupt the rendering process at any time to save, pause, or disable the scene rendering, click the appropriate button. To resume rendering, click Continue.

     Save

     Saves the image at its current resolution state. Specify the name file type, and location in the Save As dialog.

     Pause

     Interrupts the ray tracing process. Click continue to resume. Scene changes such as orbit, zoom, and so on will cause the render to start over.

     Disable

     Halts the ray tracing process and returns to raster display mode. See below for more options.

Save Ray Tracing Result as an Image

If you want to specify the image size or output with a transparent background, use the following save method:

1. On the File menu, click Save As Save Copy As.
2. Specify a name, file type, and location for the image.
3. Click the Options button and specify the image size and whether it will render with a transparent background.
   Note: If you specify a different image size than the screen, the scene renders with at that size during the save operation. The default image options save immediately.
4. Click OK and click Save.

Disable Ray Tracing

Use one of the following methods:

• In the Ray Tracing dialog, 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.

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.

CPU Ray Tracing or GPU Ray Tracing

Perhaps you noticed in the Ray Tracing dialog, the upper right corner says CPU. Starting with Inventor 2023 GPU Ray Tracing is a Pre-release option. When the option is in use this area will show GPU.

To learn more about the option or make use of it, if your hardware supports GPU ray tracing, see GPU Ray Tracing (Pre-release) Details.