Environment Enhancements

Multiple Environment Support

We have added support for multiple environments for both Alias and VRED render modes with a new environment switch. Now, when you create multiple environments in your scene, you can quickly switch between them, similar to the functionality in VRED. This is especially useful when you want to compare how different environments affect the appearance of your model. You can also capture Variants with different environments, allowing you to easily showcase different lighting scenarios for your designs.

To create a new environment, open the Environment Editor, select the More menu, then select Create Environment. Choose the type of environment you want to create from the list. When prompted, browse to the location of the .hdr image you want to use, then adjust the environment attributes. Note that you can also right-click an environment in the editor to access the Create Environment option.

For detailed information, see the following:

• Working with VRED Environments
• Create an environment

New Inactive Shader Previews

Updates to Alias visualization now include simultaneous previews of both active and inactive Alias shaders and VRED material equivalents. Turn on Inactive Preview by clicking this icon in the Shader Editor. Now, you can see a new smaller preview of the shader or material in addition to the main preview. Whether the smaller preview is an Alias shader or a VRED material, depends on which renderer mode is currently set.

For example, when in Alias render mode, the main preview is the Alias shader, while its VRED material equivalent displays in the smaller preview. Switching between render modes switches the previews in the Shader Editor right away, allowing you to easily view each shader and material's equivalents for quick comparisons.

Replace Shader and Material Properties

With the new Inactive Preview in the Shader Editor, you can now quickly replace shader or material properties by dragging materials or shaders from the Shader Library onto the preview swatches in the Shader Editor. For example, in VRED Render mode, you can drag onto the main preview to update the VRED properties, or onto the smaller Alias preview to update only the Alias properties.

Also, if you plan on routinely using both Alias and VRED render modes in your workflow, you can use this option to easily create a custom asset library that includes material and shader versions of each render asset. Drag materials and shaders from their respective asset libraries onto the VRED or Alias preview in the Shader Editor as desired. Then, add the material to your custom asset library. This way, you have versions of Alias shaders and VRED materials that are linked, while leaving your previous shader or material libraries unchanged. When assigned to geometry, the linked material and shader are used for their respective renderers.

For detailed information, see the following:

• Using VRED Rendering in Alias

• Create a custom asset library of linked materials and shaders.

VRED Render Mode Enhancements

VRED Skylight Environment Support

We've added the VRED Skylight environment to Alias. You can select the Skylight environment when creating new environments. Note the this environment is only supported in VRED Renderer mode.

For detailed information, see the following: VRED Environment Settings.

New Shadow Material Properties

New Shadow Material properties in the Environment Editor now let you remove the shadows on surfaces with any transparency below the ground plane. This update addresses the issue where surfaces with transparency below the ground plane still cast shadows. This enhancement provides you with more control over the rendering of shadows for transparent surfaces.

The new properties include:

• Show Ambient Occlusion - Toggles ambient occlusion on and off in the viewport.
• Occlusion Color - Sets the color of the ambient occlusion effect.
• Occlusion Intensity - Sets the intensity of the ambient occlusion effect. A higher value results in a more pronounced effect, making occluded areas appear darker.
• Shadow Color - Sets the color of the shadow effect.
• Shadow Opacity Mode - Choose either Transparent or Solid. Transparent renders the shadow transparent by default. Solid renders the shadow white by default.
• Visible in Screen Space Refractions - Lets you control whether the material is visible in screen space refractions. When off, transparent objects behind the shadow material appear in the correct order. When on, transparent objects behind the shadow material may not be sorted correctly.

For detailed information, see the following: Shadow Material.

New Sheen Material Property

We’ve added a new Sheen material property to the plastic material. This property replicates the soft, light-scattering effect characteristic of microfibrous materials such as fabrics and velvet.

See the following: Sheen.

New Manipulate Button Added

When in VRED render mode, a new Manipulate button has been added to the Light Editor and Information Window. Clicking this button displays the Alias transform manipulator, allowing you to manipulate the light selected in the editor or the object selected in the Information Window.

Shader Editor and Shader Library Improvements

The Shader Editor and Shader Library now include the Assign to Objects () icon and RMB menu option, which allows you to assign the active shader to selected objects. The Shader Editor also includes the Pick Objects () icon and RMB menu option, which lets you pick objects currently assigned to the selected shader. In previous versions, these icons were only available in the Shader Lister.

Shader Lister Auto Scrolling Behavior

We've added auto scrolling behavior to the Shader Lister, making it easier to drag-and-drop shaders and materials when creating switch and layered shaders or multipass and layered materials.

New Shader Editor and Environment Editor More Menus

We added a new More menu to the Shader Editor and Environment Editor. In the Shader Editor, when editing Switch Shaders, Switch Materials, Layered Shaders, Multi Pass Materials, or Layered Materials, the More menu offers many of the same options as the Shader Lister, including the Assets submenu. In the Environment Editor, the More menu provides options to create, save, and import environments, replacing the icons used in previous versions.

Shader Lister Filter Enhancements

The Shader Lister filter now displays shader type categories beneath the All, Picked, and Unused filters. Click the filter icon to show or hide these categories. When a specific shader type filter is active, the filter icon turns blue; it returns to white when All Types is selected.

Optimize During Tumble Updates

To improve performance and usability on various hardware configurations or with large scenes, we've added new options to the Optimize During Tumble feature in the Hardware Shade window. You can now toggle off Ambient Occlusion and Shaded Anti-Alias when tumbling in Alias and VRED render modes. When you turn on these options, the visualization attribute is turned off while you are tumbling, and is updated when you release the mouse button.

Variant Lister Improvements

Environment Switching for Variants

Variant switching can now include environments. When you switch a variant, the associated environment updates automatically without affecting other properties, such as shaders, materials, or cameras. Combined with switch shaders, variants now allow quick changes to both materials and environments, enabling faster iteration and more accurate visual comparisons.

To include environments in variant switching, select the environment mask icon or select Active Environment from the filter list.

In addition, Variants can now be included in Live Reference data transferred between Alias and VRED. Switching variants in Alias updates the environment in VRED accordingly. For more information, see Live Reference Environments and Variants in the Live Reference Additions (2026.1).

Improved Capture Variant in Variant Group

You can now capture variants directly inside a Variant group by selecting the Capture Variant icon in the Variant Lister. This improvement streamlines variant creation and reduces clicks.

Image Reference Improvements

We've made improvements to Image References, which makes it easier for you to identify and manage embedded images.

The file names for embedded images can now be displayed. This improvement makes it easier for you to identify embedded images in your files by their file names.

You can now save embedded image references to disk by clicking the Extract Image icon on the image reference, or by clicking the Extract... button in the toolbar.

An icon now shows which images are embedded in Alias shaders and which ones are embedded in VRED materials . This allows you to differentiate between embedded texture images in Alias shaders and VRED materials, and ensures that you can easily identify and manage the image sources.

Use the new Find and Replace bar to update text in file paths. This is useful when a batch of images have been moved from one folder to another, for example. You can show or hide this bar from the Settings menu.

For detailed information, see Image References.

Light Editor and Light Lister Improvements

Link Directional Lights to Cameras

You can now link a directional light to an active camera while in Alias or VRED render modes. When linked, you can rotate the camera using standard view commands (tumble, track, dolly) while keeping the lighting direction consistent with the camera's orientation.

This improvement supports workflows that involve fixed lighting setups requiring manual light adjustments during camera movement. It is especially useful for design reviews and shape evaluation workflows, where consistent lighting helps reveal surface quality and form.

To link a directional light to the active camera, select the light in the Light Lister, then click the camera icon . Or, open the Light Editor for the selected, and turn on Link to the Active Camera.

When linked, a camera icon displays superimposed on the in-canvas light indicator.

Light Editor

Access to Shadow Quality and Resolution

The Light Editor now provides access to shadow quality and resolution settings when in VRED render mode. This allows you to adjust shadow settings directly from the Light Editor without needing to switch to the Environment Editor, streamlining your workflow.

Transform Manipulator Added

The Light Editor now includes a Manipulate button, which turns on the transform manipulator in the viewport. Note that the Manipulate button also appears in the Information Window. Use the manipulator to easily adjust the position and orientation of lights in your scene.

Other Visualization Improvements

• Displacement Textures - Shader previews for displacement textures now display bump maps.

  

• VRED Render Settings - When in VRED render mode, you can now access the VRED Render Settings from the Visualization menu. In the previous version of Alias, the VRED Render Settings were only available by selecting Edit Render Settings in the Hardware Shade window.

• Color Editor improvements - A newly designed Color Editor provides enhanced usability allowing you to change colors for environments, shaders, textures, and lights faster and easier.

• Replace Shaders by Name - Replace Shaders by Name now has a progress indicator.

• Global Tessellation and Tessellator - You can now interrupt the execution of tessellation by pressing the Esc key on your keyboard.

• New Switch Materials are no longer created empty. They are now populated with the previously selected material. This matches the behavior of newly created Alias Switch Shaders.