Defining a Scene

This task gives you a quick methodology to define the parameters involved in the scene creation, i.e. light, camera, textures.

1. Create an empty environment (either box, cylindrical or spherical).

2. Choose the point of view you want to use then click Create Camera .

3. Click Create Spot Light to define a conical light source then orientate the light as you wish with the help of the light preview on the environment walls.

   Set the lighting attenuation in order that it does not end before the environment, otherwise the environment will be almost entirely shadowed.

4. Click Quick Render to check the result. Perform as many modifications as necessary and make sure that what you get is really what you want to lit.

5. Apply a texture on your environment and your part(s) by clicking Apply Material and check the result by creating a quick render:

   Once you are satisfied, you can create a shooting to have a finer result. To do so:

6. Click Create Shooting to define the shooting parameters.

   We advise you not to modify the default shooting parameters except those concerning accuracy. When the accuracy parameters is set beneath the mid value, you should obtain a result nearly as identical as the quick render.

7. Click Render Shooting then the Render Single Frame button to check the result. Go back to the material properties to correct the parameter definition if necessary.

   Here are a few tips for lighting parameters: Ambient: use very carefully this parameter ("good" values are around 10%) to avoid final color saturation Diffuse: start by setting the Diffuse parameter to the minimum intensity: when you define the material lighting, the sum of all parameters (except Shininess) should be roughly equal to 1 to render the material with realism, but nothing forbids you to choose higher or lower sum values to achieve special effects: they may simply be harder to control Reflectivity/Specular: set the Reflectivity and the Specular parameters simultaneously Transparency: if the material is transparent, define a Transparency value. We recommend you to define this parameter at the end.

8. When the result is satisfactory, adjust the shooting parameters to refine the result such as the reflection number, the anti-aliasing, etc. in the Shooting Definition dialog box.

9. Click OK when finished.