Table of Contents
Tree Window Properties
The properties documented below control several aspects of the window contents including viewports, background images, and rendering settings. Access these properties via the “Window” pull-down menu or by selecting the “Window Properties” button on the Property Bar when nothing is selected.
Viewport
The properties in this group control the layout and rendering of the viewports.
Layout
Sets the number and arrangement of the viewports.
Grid lines color
Sets the color of the grid lines.
Grid Spacing
Sets the amount of space between each grid line.
Lightmap View %
In versions where lightmap UVs are computed and the lightmap render mode is selected, this property sets how big the lightmap preview image is in the window.
Background
Style
Use this property to set the style in which the background is rendered. Choose from the following options:
| Ambient light | Use the ambient environment colors to color the ground and the sky. |
|---|---|
| Solid color | Use the color in the next property as the uniform color of the background. |
| Full frame image | Use the “Image” property below to select an image and use it to fill the background of each viewport (some of the images may not be visible, depending on the aspect ratio. |
| Letterboxed image | Use the “Image' property below to select an image and ensure the entire image fits in the background, letterboxing if necessary. |
| Stretched image | Use the “Image” property below to select an image and have it exactly fill the background, stretching if necessary (image aspect ratio is ignored). |
| Spherical panorama | Use the “Image” property below to select a spherical panorama image for the background. The image should be twice as wide as it is tall and be formatted according to standard spherical (sometimes called 3D) panorama definitions. |
Color
The color used for “Solid” background rendering.
Image
Selects an image file used for all four image-based background rendering styles.
Panorama Adjustments
Brightness
Increase or decrease the brightness of spherical panorama backgrounds.
Contrast
Increase or decrease the contrast of spherical panorama backgrounds.
Rotation
Rotates the panorama about the “Z” axis.
General Rendering
The properties in this group control render states and icon size.
Transparency
Sets the transparency algorithm from among these options:
| Best available | Alpha testing with alpha to coverage (A2C) if the hardware permits. |
|---|---|
| Alpha test only | Alpha testing. |
| Blending only | Alpha blending (artifacts will appear, geometry is not sorted). |
| Alpha testing and blending | Both alpha blending and alpha testing on at the same time (artifacts will appear, geometry is not sorted). |
| None | No transparency rendering enabled; however, render mode shaders may still implement alpha testing. |
Tree Selection Style
Selects the method used to indicate selected model components from the following options:
| Outline | Selected objects are outlined. |
|---|---|
| Wireframe | Selected objects are scribed. |
| Solid | Selected objects are rendered in a solid color. |
| Box | Selected objects are indicated by a box showing their extents. |
Anisotropic Filtering
Sets the level of anisotropic texture filtering.
3D Icon Scale
Scales the size of 3D icons (most notably Forces) in the scene.
Manipulator
The properties in this group address the 3D manipulator used to move scene objects (most notably Forces and Force Meshes).
Mode
Sets the type of transformation the manipulator will perform.
Coordinate System
Choose between global and local coordinate systems for transformations.
Size Scale
Increases or decreases the size of the manipulator gizmo.
Screenshot Safe Frame
The screenshot safe frame sets an aspect ratio that can be used to guide all image exports. Use the same aspect ratio in your image exports to match the overlay.
Show
When enabled, a red box is drawn over the window to indicate how the aspect ratio set by the following two properties will align with the camera:
Width
The width value used to compute the screenshot safe frame aspect ratio.
Height
The height value used to compute the screenshot safe frame aspect ratio.
User Shader Constant 1
The properties in this group are uploaded as a shader constant named “g_vExperimental1”. This constant can be accessed by custom render modes. Use these options to experiment with shader values without having to recompile the shader. These values are saved in the .spm file.
X
This value is uploaded to the shader constant “g_vExperimental1.x.”
Y
This value is uploaded to the shader constant “g_vExperimental1.y.”
Z
This value is uploaded to the shader constant “g_vExperimental1.z.”
W
This value is uploaded to the shader constant “g_vExperimental1.w.”
Capture Camera
The properties in this group impart a constant camera and light motion while the window is animating. This mode is useful when capturing frames for video productions.
Note: Enabling wind is the easiest way to make the window contents animate.
Style
This property controls where the capture camera inputs are applied from the following options:
| Disabled | Camera inputs are not used. |
|---|---|
| Interactive | Camera inputs are applied in the Tree Window. This mode is useful for moving the camera and light during real-time captures of the application. |
| Sequence render | Camera inputs are applied when using “File→Render image sequence…”. This mode is useful for turntable renders or growth sequence preview renders. |
Left X
Simulates the left mouse button being held down and moving the mouse along the X-axis this amount each frame.
Left Y
Simulates the left mouse button being held down and moving the mouse along the Y-axis this amount each frame.
Middle X
Simulates the middle mouse button being held down and moving the mouse along the X-axis this amount each frame.
Middle Y
Simulates the middle mouse button being held down and moving the mouse along the Y-axis this amount each frame.
Light azimuth
The horizontal angle of the light is changed by this amount each frame.
Light pitch
The vertical angle of the light is changed by this amount each frame.