Render Studio Interface

The Scene list has a hierarchical approach to the scene, and can be thought of in terms of levels. For example, in the image below, Render Studio is the top level, Table is one level below Render Studio, and Part 1 is a part one level below the table parts.

This concept of levels is important when it comes to setting precedence. A property on a level at the top takes priority over all levels below. If no property is set at the top level, but is set at the next level below, that property takes priority, and its property is applied to all lower levels. The exception to this rule is if a property at a higher level has an override set. If an override is set, then all levels below are overridden and will instead use this top level property.

For example, in the image below, if the table Part Studio has a property set, then all elements below (Part 1 to Part 5) use this property. If, on the other hand, the table does not have its property set, but Part 1 does, then the property set at Part 1 is used for all levels below. If an override exists in a level further up (for instance, on the table), then this property setting takes priority over anything set below its level (table and all parts below for example), even if any of them have their property set.

Elements in a Scene list cannot move from one layer to another (i.e.: up or down in the Scene list). The transform matrix, which determines where in space an item is located, is stored with the element (as an element instance). These transforms accumulate as they are added to each element. Transform the top level element, and all lower level elements transform accordingly; they are moved together as a group.

For example, select the top level Render Studio in the Scene list, and scale the y axis from 1 to 0.1 using the Transform tool. All parts in the scene are scaled down together (shown in the second image below):

See Transform options for more information on part, Part Studio, and Assembly transforms.

Hover over the Scene list element and the hovered element's background turns light blue. A yellow outline surrounds the element in the graphics area (see the first image below).

Click on the Scene list element and the clicked element's background turns a darker blue. A yellow fill is placed over the element in the graphics area (see the second image below).

Both the outline and fill are visible even if the element is behind another element, as is the case in the images below, where the back face of the train's container is selected:

Alternatively, select elements directly in the graphics area.

Selections work like a toggle. Click to select, click again to deselect. You are also able to click to additively select and deselect (the same behavior you would expect from Ctrl+click).

See Selection for more information.

Components in the Scene list:

• Filter field - Filter items within the Scene list. This is useful for scenes that contain many parts, Part Studios, or Assemblies. Faces cannot be filtered.

• Render Studio - Root directory for the current scene. All other scene nodes are listed under the Render Studio: inserted parts, Part Studios, Assemblies, and Projectors.

• Part Studio/Assembly parent groups - When a scene is created, parts, Part Studios, or Assemblies are inserted into the scene. These are the top level groupings for any parts or faces contained within these parts, Part Studios or Assemblies.

  Entities found below the Part Studio or Assembly parent groups are:

  • Subassembly - An assembly within a parent Assembly. Subassemblies contain parts. surfaces, and faces.

  • Part - A single closed solid body with multiple faces. parts are the first level below the Part Studio/Assembly parent group or below subassemblies.

  • Surface - Entities that may have one or many faces but no volume, and are independent of parts. Surfaces are the first level below the Part Studio/Assembly parent group.

  • Face (mesh) - A portion of a part or surface region having area and bounded by edges. For example, a rectangular part has six faces. Faces do not necessarily need to be bounded by edges, such as a sphere. When the arrow to the left of the part name is clicked, the faces are expanded beneath.

• Transforms - Displays a list of all transforms (Translate, Rotate, Scale) performed in the Scene using the Transform tool on the Toolbar. See Transform options.

• Appearances - Displays a list of all imported (linked) and applied part/face appearances in the scene.

You can drag an Appearance from the Appearances list and drop it directly on an element in the scene list (Render Studio, Part Studio, Assembly, Part, or face). This is a quick way to assign appearances directly from inside the Scene list. See Adding an Appearance to a Scene list element.

• Projectors - Displays a list of all Projectors in the scene. Projectors can have influence over any element in the scene, and even the entire scene. Projection determines how the appearance texture mapping transforms, rotates, and scales when projected onto scene faces and/or parts.

Right-clicking on a Scene list element (Render Studio, Part Studio, Assembly, part, or face) provides the following context menu options:

• Show all - Shows all items in the Scene list.

• Hide () / Show () - Available from any Scene list item except Transforms, Appearances, and Projectors, this option toggles the visibility of a part or instance off or on in the scene. For example, when a part is selected, an eye icon is displayed to the right of its name. Clicking this icon hides the part's visibility in the scene. Clicking the icon again shows the part.

• Hide all parts - Hides all parts from the current selection and below.

• Hide all faces - Hides all faces from the current selection and below.

• Select children - Available from the top level Render Studio, Part Studio, Assembly, or Parts. When selected, all elements below are selected, but nothing beneath those elements are selected. For example, if Select children is selected from a Part Studio, all parts beneath are selected, but the individual part faces beneath those parts are not.

• Paste appearance - If you have copied an Appearance from the Appearances Library, Appearances list, or graphics area, use this option to paste it to the currently selected Scene list element. See Copying and pasting Appearances.

• Update linked document - Opens the Reference manager dialog where you can update to the latest version or selectively update the document version. See Updating a linked Scene element for more information.

• Open linked document - Opens the linked document (Part Studio or Assembly) in a new browser tab.

• Pin / Unpin reference - When pinned, the instance is linked to the latest version on its branch and is pinned.

• Exploded view - If an imported Assembly has one or more exploded views, use this option to open a dialog where you can select an Exploded view associated with the Assembly. The selected exploded view is now visible in the graphics area. See Accessing an Assembly's Exploded view.

• Change configuration - Opens the Select configuration dialog, where you can choose a different Configuration for the Part Studio Assembly. See Inserting Part Studios or Assemblies with configurations.

• Tessellation - Opens the Tessellation dialog where you can select a different tessellation value for the currently selected Scene list element (Render Studio, Part Studio, Assembly, or part). Options are: Auto, Coarse, Medium, Fine, Very fine, or Custom. If Custom is selected, additional options are available:

  

  Tessellation settings apply to all elements below that do not have an explicit setting. For example, applying a Tessellation setting of Fine to an Assembly applies this same setting to all instances underneath the Assembly that do not have an explicit setting.

  • Angular deviation - Controls how many segments curved surfaces are divided into during tessellation. For example, a value of 10 degrees will result in a cylinder with 36 planar faces.

  • Chordal tolerance - Maximum distance the tessellated geometry is permitted to vary from the underlying surface.

• Delete - Deletes the selected top level part, Part Studio, or Assembly. You cannot delete faces or parts underneath a Part Studio/Assembly.

Transforms context menu

Right-click on a transform thumbnail in the Scene list Transforms to display a context menu with the following options:

• Edit - Open the Transform dialog where you can make additional edits to the current transform.

• Select all elements - Select all parts that were part of the transform operation.

• Delete - Restore the state of the part to its original placement prior to the transform and removes the current transform from the Scene list.

You can use the undo () option on the toolbar to restore the transform, in the event you accidentally deleted it.

Appearances context menu

Right-click on an appearance thumbnail in the Scene list Appearances to display a context menu with the following options:

• Assign - Assign the Appearance to the part(s) and clear any attribute lower down in the Scene list.

• Rename - Rename the current appearance.

• Unlink appearance - Unlink the Material that was originally assigned to the part in the Part Studio and then mapped to a Render Studio Appearance when the part is brought into a new scene. See Part Studio material to Render Studio Appearance mapping.

Unlinked appearances cannot be renamed.

• Copy from [Appearance] () - Copies the currently selected Appearance in the Scene list to the clipboard.

• Paste Appearance on [Appearance] () - Pastes the Appearance from the clipboard (source Appearance) to the currently selected Appearance (target Appearance) in the Scene list. The source Appearance replaces the target Appearance.

  If the target Appearance was not previously renamed, the source Appearance name is used. If the target appearance was previously renamed, this name is retained when the source Appearance replaces the target Appearance.

• Remove unused Appearances - If there are any Appearances in the list that are not being used in the scene, this option removes all of them from the Appearances list. This is helpful to de-clutter a lengthy list with many unused Appearances. If no Appearances are unused, a blue information message alerts you that nothing was removed.

• Select all elements - Selects all parts/faces where this Appearance is applied in the scene.

Projector context menu

Right-click on a Projector thumbnail in the Scene list Projectors to display a context menu with the following options:

• Edit - Open the Projector dialog where you can make additional edits to the current projector.

• Rename - Rename the current projector.

• Select all elements - Selects all instances and parts where this projector is applied in the scene.

• Delete - Deletes the projector and removes its influence on the associated instances and parts in the scene.

You can use the undo () option on the toolbar to restore the projector, in the event you accidentally deleted it.

1. To insert a part, Part Studio, or Assembly into a Render Studio scene:

2. Click the Insert button () on the Toolbar:

   

3. The Select part, Part Studio, or Assembly dialog opens:

   

   Render Studio scenes can be thought of as a snapshot (version) of the Document at the time an element is first imported into the scene. For this reason, a version is required before an element is imported. Click the "Create a version in [Document]" link, fill out the information in the Create version dialog, and click the Create button. Once this is done, all Document assets become available, and you can import any parts, Part Studios, or Assemblies from the Select dialog.
   
   Once an element is imported into the Render Studio tab, anything created in (or imported into) the document outside this Render Studio tab is not accessible to this Render Studio scene unless a new version is created.
   

   You can also click the Create version button () on the Document panel to open the Create version dialog and create a document version at any time. See Versions and history for more information.

4. Select the element you want to insert into the Scene by clicking on it. This can be a part, composite part, surface, Part Studio, or Assembly from the Current document or Other documents.

   Only one element can be inserted into the scene each time you access the Select part, Part Studio, or Assembly dialog; however, you can insert as many elements as you like into the same scene.

   

See Insert Parts and Assemblies for more information about the Insert (Select part, Part Studio, or Assembly) dialog.

If an element used in a Render Studio scene is updated outside the Render Studio tab, the element displays an update linked icon () next to the scene element. This indicates the referenced element requires an update. Do the following:

1. If there is a newer version of the document, the update reference icon displays next to the element in the Scene list:

   

2. Right-click on the element and select Update linked document from the context menu:

   

3. The Reference manager dialog opens. Check the elements to update, and then click the Update selected button:

   

4. The Render Studio tab reloads in the browser with the updated version applied.

5. Click the x in the upper right corner to close the dialog.

If your Assembly has one or more an exploded views, once inserted into the Scene, you can access any of these Exploded views to view them in the graphics area.

1. Right click on the Assembly in the Scene list and select Exploded view:

   

2. The Exploded view dialog opens:

   

3. Click the Default dropdown to select the desired Exploded view. Note that this list can contain several Exploded views:

   

4. Click the checkmark () to accept the new view.

   

   Default (non-exploded) view (left), and Exploded view (right)

You can switch between other Exploded views or back to the default (non-exploded view) at any time by accessing the dialog again and selecting Default from the dropdown and clicking the checkmark () again.

1. Click the Insert button () on the Toolbar:

   

2. The Select part, Part Studio, or Assembly dialog opens:

   

3. Locate the Part Studio or Assembly with additional configurations (shown in the first image below). Click the dropdown and select the desired configuration (shown in the second image below):

   

4. Click the configured Part Studio or Assembly to insert it into the Scene.

   

5. To select a different configuration for the Part Studio or Assembly after it is inserted into the scene, right-click on the Part Studio or Assembly in the Scene list and select Change configuration from the context menu:

   

6. The Select configuration dialog opens:

   

7. Click the dropdown to select a new configuration, then press the checkmark () to accept the new configuration and update the Part Studio or Assembly in the scene:

   

When a scene is created from a Part Studio or Assembly, the origin point is preserved (shown below between a Part Studio on the left and Render Studio on the right after the Part Studio is imported). This origin point is used as the basis for any transforms:

Origin point of a Part Studio in Onshape (left). When brought into Render Studio, the center point is preserved.

To transform one or more Scene list element:

1. Click the Transform button () on the toolbar.

2. This opens the following dialog, where you can alter the Translation, Rotation, and Scale of the elements:

   

   • Instances and parts to transform - Select all instances and parts you would like transformed. This includes Part Studios, Assemblies, and parts. The top level Render Studio and faces cannot be transformed.

   Alternatively, you can pre-select the elements from the Scene list or graphics area before entering the Transform dialog. When you click the Transform button () on the toolbar, the Instances and parts to transform field automatically populates with the selected elements.

   • Transform dropdown - Select Translate, Rotate, or Scale. Only one transform operation can be performed per Transform dialog, but you can have multiple transforms in the same scene. All transforms are located in the Scene list. Transform options are:

     • Translate - Moves the selection along the x, y, and z axis, according to the origin point of the scene. Measurement units are in meters, and are negative or positive numbers.

     • Rotate - Rotates the selection along the x, y, and z axis, according to the origin point of the scene. Measurement units are in degrees, and range from -360 to +360 degrees.

     • Scale - Scales the selection up (larger) or down (smaller), along the x, y, and z axis, according to the center point of the selection. Measurements are based on the selection's original size. For example, a Scale of 1.000 x by 1.000 y means that the scale is 100% of the part's original size. Fractional numbers from 0.001 to 1 reduce the size of what is selected. Scale axes cannot be set to 0.

       • Scale uniformly - If the Scale transform is selected, keep this checkbox enabled to scale the instances and parts uniformly by the entered value. Uncheck to scale separately along the X, Y, and Z axes.

When using the Transform tool, you can adjust the manipulators in the graphics area if Translate or Rotate is selected in the dialog:

Translational manipulators (left); rotational manipulators (right).

Any Scene list element or group of elements (the entire Render Studio, Part Studios, Assemblies, parts, and faces) can have their own associated Projector.

To associate a Projector to an element:

1. Click the Projector icon () on the Toolbar:

   

2. The Projector dialog opens. Enter the following information into the dialog: 

   

   • Name [Projector 1] - Provide a name for the projector

   • Instances and parts to add projector to - All instances and parts affected by this projector. While the dialog is open, select any Scene list elements from the Scene list or graphics area. This includes the entire Render Studio, Part Studios, Assemblies, parts, and faces. They are added to the projector's influence.

   Alternatively, you can pre-select the elements from the Scene list or graphics area before entering the Projector dialog. When you click the Projector button () on the toolbar, the Instances and parts to transform field automatically populates with the selected elements.

   • Projection type - Select a projection type: Auto, Planar, Cubic, Cylindrical, Spherical, or Surface.

   • Normalized (Available only for Cylindrical or Spherical Projection types) - Check to have 1 rotation around the horizontal axis of projection cover 2 repeats of the texture, regardless of the size of the cylinder or sphere.

   • Capped (Available only for the Cylindrical Projection type) - Check to add a planar projection to the top and bottom of the cylindrical projection.

   • Apply per element - Check to take into account the transform of the selected elements so that it moves with the elements.

   • Position (X/Y/Z) - Enter the positional transformations in length measurements along the X, Y, and Z axes.

   • Rotation (X/Y/Z) - Enter the rotational transformations in degrees along the X, Y, and Z axes.

   • Scaling (X/Y/Z) - Enter the scalar transformations in ratio values, with 1 being the original scale, along the X, Y, and Z axes.

3. The projector is associated to the selected instances and parts and is located at the bottom of the Scene list under the Projectors dropdown:

   

The view navigation in Render Studio shares many of the same features as those found in Part Studios and Assemblies. For information on View cube navigation and usage, see View navigation and viewing parts.

View tools

Render Studio View tools options are:

• Isometric (shift+7) - A method to visually represent 3D objects in 2 dimensions. The isometric view provides visual depth to the model or design. It is an axonometric projection in which the 3 coordinate axes appear equally foreshortened and the angle between any two of them is 120 degrees.

• Dimetric - Denoting or incorporating a method of showing projection or perspective using a set of three geometric axes, of which two are of the same scale or dimension but the third is of another.

• Trimetric - A method of projection in which the object is shown with all three principle axes tilted unequally from the plane of viewing.

• Named views -A named view saves the scene view and view settings with an associated name. You can create as many named views as required. Once saved, you can switch between these named views at any time. View cube position, as well as all settings from the View tools menu (except Stylized) are saved with a named view. See Creating and using Named views for more information.

• Zoom to fit (shortcut: f; ()) - Zoom the entire scene into view.

• Zoom to window () - Select this option, and then create a bounding box that surrounds an area of the scene to zoom into that area. Alternatively, use the "w" shortcut key and then create the bounding box (shown below):

  

• Depth of field - Open a dialog to set the view's depth of field, controlling the location and distance from sharp in-focus areas to blurry out-of-focus areas:

  

  Depth of field options are:

  • Enable depth of field - Turn on the depth of field for the scene and access the other options in the dialog. Simulate the depth of field of a camera. Regions out of focus become blurred based on their distance from the lens and lens properties.

  • F-number - Focal ratio or F-stop number. The ratio of the focal length to the diameter of the aperture of the lens. Smaller values give shallower depth of field (more blurring in out of focus regions). Larger values give narrower depth of field (less blurring in out of focus regions).

    While Aperture numbers in real cameras follow a standard sequence (f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22), enter any value in the range from 0.063 to 64.

  • Aperture blades - Specify the number of aperture blades, which changes the shape of small, strong highlights in out of focus regions. For values between 0 and 2, highlights are circular. For values between 2 and 20, this activates a blade-shaped aperture with the specified number of blades. For example, a value of 5 results in pentagram-shaped highlights, while a value of 3 results in triangular-shaped highlights.

  • Aperture blade rotation - Available only when the Aperture blades value is greater than 2. Controls the rotation of the aperture blades, which also rotates the shape of the out of focus highlights. The value is entered in radians.

  • Radial bias - Control the bias of the lens system. At 0.5 the lens is treated uniformly. Values between 0 and 0.5 increase the importance of the edge of the lens, darkening the center of out of focus highlights. Values greater than 0.5 increase the importance of the edge of the lens, brightening the center of out of focus highlights.

  • Focus distance - Specify the distance from the lens where the resultant image is in focus. Objects further than or closer than this distance become progressively out of focus.

    Click the crosshair button () to the right of the Focus distance entry to pick the focus point of the object, then use the cross-hair cursor to click an area of the scene to set as a focus point.

    For example, in the left image below the larger front end of the part is selected as the focus point, and the front end remains in focus. As you move toward the back end, the background becomes increasingly out of focus. In the right image below, the reverse is true. The part's smaller back end is selected as the focus point. The background is in sharper focus. As you move toward the front end, the foreground becomes increasingly blurry:

    

  When enabling depth of field, make sure the camera position is final. Adjusting camera position after enabling depth of field requires a reset of the focus point and a re-evaluation of the F-stop number.

• Turn perspective off/on - Toggle perspective view on (default) and off. Perspective view shows the relative distance from the point of view to the model, and creates a vanishing point as the point of view (or imaginary camera) approaches the model.

• Position and rotation () - Opens a dialog to adjust the position (X, Y, Z) and Rotation (X, Y, Z) of the camera numerically. This is useful to precisely match the camera position in two different scenes:

  

• Field of view - Open a dialog to specify the Field of view as an angled degree value, from 1 to 179. Higher numbers produce a wider angled lens, with the vanishing point further from view (sinking into the background). Lower numbers produce a narrower angled lens, with the vanishing point closer in view (at the forefront). This option is only available if Perspective is turned on.

  

• Tone mapping - These parameters provide scene lighting adjustments such as Exposure, Tone and Contrast, Vignetting, and other Advanced attributes. These attributes are physically accurate, simulating how a digital camera takes photographs:

  

  • Exposure - Select between Photographic exposure, where you select normal camera settings, or Simple exposure, where only a brightness value is input.

    • Film ISO - Film ISO value. Higher values make the camera more sensitive to light. Lower values make the camera less sensitive to light. When set to zero, the shutter and aperture are disabled and have no effect, and all brightness is controlled by the Candela factor. Higher ISO values also increase noise and static in an image. This is common in photography, and can be a desired effect.

    • F-stop - Focal ratio or F-stop number defining the aperture, or how wide the lens opens, for the purpose of tone mapping. This value does not affect depth of field. This value has no effect when Film ISO is set to 0. The smaller the F-stop value, the larger the lens opens. This allows more light into the scene, and makes the scene brighter.

    • Shutter speed - In photography, the shutter speed is the length of time the aperture remains open, exposing the film to light. The Shutter speed parameter is defined as the camera shutter time expressed as fractional seconds; for example, a value of 100 defines a camera shutter of 1/100. This value has no effect when Film ISO is set to 0.

      Increasing this value creates a smaller fractional value, allowing less light to enter the scene, and making the scene darker. Decreasing this value creates a larger fractional value, allowing more light to enter the scene, making it brighter. A value of 0 allows no light into the lens, creating a black scene.

    • cd/m²factor - Conversion factor between pixel values and candela per square meter; the unit of luminous intensity in the scene. When Film ISO is set to zero, this becomes a direct multiplier.

    • Exposure (Simple exposure) - The overall exposure of the scene. Smaller or negative values are used for dimmer scenes, while larger positive values are used for brighter scenes. For example, -6 would be suitable for a scene at night with no moon, while 15 would be suitable for a bright sunny day.

  • Tone and contrast

    • Shadows - Higher values darken the shadow regions of the image. Lower values bring out more detail in shadow regions.

    • Highlights - Higher values brighten highlight regions of the image. Lower values compress highlights and reduce their contrast.

    • Saturation - Compressing bright color components inherently moves them toward a less saturated color. Sometimes, very strong compressions can leave the image in an unappealingly desaturated state. The saturation parameter allows an artistic control over the final image saturation. 1.0 is the standard, unmodified saturation. Higher values increase saturation, making the colors richer. Lower values decrease saturation, dulling the colors.

    • Highlight saturation - Controls the saturation of highlight areas which tend to look more realistic when desaturated. However, this also changes the color of highlight regions, which is not strictly accurate. Increasing the saturation restores the color of highlight regions.

    • Balance - The color which corresponds to white in the output image. This can be used to compensate for lighting effect.

  • Vignetting - In a real camera, the angle at which the light hits the film impacts the exposure, causing the image to be darker around the edges. Vignetting simulates this effect. Note that the field of view of the camera affects how much vignetting is visible. Vignetting has no effect for orthographic views.

    • Strength - At 0 no vignetting is visible. Higher values cause stronger darkening around the edges. A good default is 3, which is similar to what a compact camera would generate.

  • Advanced

    • Compression variant - Determines which tone mapping compression algorithm to use: Reinhard, Uncharted 2, or ACES unreal 4.

    • Gamma - Applies a display Gamma correction. If the image is displayed as-is, without further post-processing by the application, this value should be set to match the display's characteristic. Otherwise, a setting of 1 disables Gamma correction.

• Clipping - Parameters related to the Camera's clipping plane:

  

  • Enable near clipping plane - When enabled, objects between the camera and the specified distance are not visible or may be partially clipped out.

  • Distance - The distance from the camera before which objects are not visible.

• Background - Opens the background dialog. Edit the following parameters:

  • Enable background - Replaces the background environment with a solid color or a custom image. When disabled, the Environment from the Environment library is used (Standard environment is the default).

  Solid color

  

  • Color - Shows the color swatch used for the background. Click the pencil icon to edit the color used from the color picker. Colors can be selected visually by clicking on the color area, by entering a hex or RGB value, or by selecting a swatch at the bottom of the picker.

  • Reflect background - Enable to allow the background to be seen in reflections of the ground instead of the environment.

  • Refract background - Enable to allow the background to be seen through perfectly specular, non-thin-walled objects.

  Image

  

  • Select image - Opens the Select image dialog, where an image can be selected from the current document, other documents, or imported from your computer. See Adding a custom background to a scene section for more information.

  • Scale - How the background image fits to the size of the rendered image if the dimensions between them differ. Options are Fill, Fit, or Stretch,

  • Repeat (available only when Scale is set to Fit) - When enabled, if the background does not fill the image, then it will repeat in those areas. When disabled, those areas are filled with a solid color of your choice. This also affects the background when visible in reflections, so if this option is disabled, you may see the solid color in the reflections of the background.

  • Tonemapping - When enabled, the background image undergoes the same tonemapping as the scene; useful if the background is a high dynamic range image (HDRI).

  • Depth of field - When enabled, the depth of field is applied to the background; useful to make the background look out of focus if it was not already photographed that way.

• Photoreal - This mode produces a realistic render of the model in the scene. Photoreal (default) and Stylized are mutually exclusive; selecting one turns off the other. Photoreal is recommended for most scenes, unless performance is an issue.

• Stylized - This mode produces a stylized render of the parts in the scene. See Creating a Stylized render.

• Section view - Creates a section view plane and length/angle manipulators on the face or location of a part in the graphics area. Create as many section views and block the light for each view, as required. See Creating a Section view.

Creating and using Named views

A Named view saves the scene view and view settings with an associated name. You can create and save as many named views as required. Once saved, you can switch between these named views at any time. View cube position, as well as all settings from the View tools menu (except Stylized) are saved with a named view.

To create a Named view:

1. Bring the part, Part Studio, or Assembly into Render Studio.

2. Alter the scene view using the View cube, or change any of the view tool settings (except Stylized).

3. Once you have the model set up as required, select Named views under the View cube dropdown menu:

   

4. The Named views dialog opens:

   

5. Provide a name in the New view name field. Then click the add view button ():

   

6. Once several named views are set up, you can use the dropdown menu to select from them:

   

7. To delete a named view, first select it from the dropdown menu, and then click the delete view button ():

   

Creating a Stylized render

This mode produces a stylized render of the parts in the scene. Stylized and Photoreal (default) are mutually exclusive; selecting one turns off the other. When selected,

1. Bring the part, Part Studio, or Assembly into Render Studio.

2. Under the View cube dropdown menu, select Stylized.

   

3. The Stylized dialog opens.

   

4. Select from the following options:

   • Rendering - Select from alternate preset rendering options: Color drawing, Grayscale drawing, Black on white, White on black, Flat shaded, Smooth shaded, and Custom.

      When Custom is selected, additional settings are available for the parts in your scene:

     

     • Edge color - The color of the outline drawn around parts in the scene. Click the Edit color icon () to open the Select edge color dialog. Select a color either visually by clicking on the color area, by entering a hex or RGB value, or by selecting a swatch at the bottom of the picker:

       

     • Shading - Select from Smooth, Flat, or Graduated shading. Smooth provides the appearance of smoothly variegated lighting. Flat provides a uniform color across each part. Graduated provides a more cartoon-like stepped appearance.

     • Levels - Number of shading bands. More levels provides smoother shading, while less provides a more cartoon-like stepped appearance.

     • Replace appearances - Replace the color of all parts in the scene with a single color.

   Photoreal	Style: Color drawing	Style: Grayscale drawing
   Style: Black on white	Style: White on black	Style: Flat shaded
   Style: Smooth shaded Style: Custom Edge color: Hex 4A90E2; Shading: Smooth; Replace appearances: enabled; Appearance color: Hex 7ED321

Creating a Section view

Section view allows for the selection of a location on a part to be used to create one or more section planes to section the elements in a scene. Each section plane sections the entire scene. You cannot section individual parts.

Section view is a toggle that turns on/off all section planes. Settings are remembered between toggles.

1. Bring the part, Part Studio, or Assembly into Render Studio.

2. Click the View tools dropdown menu icon (), then select Section view.

   

3. The Section view dialog opens instructing you to select a face or location on a part.

   

4. In the graphics area, click a face or location on your model where you want the section view.

5. A plane with a length and rotation manipulator is placed at your cursor's location.

   

   No section view (left), and Section view enabled (right)

6. Adjust the arrow manipulator to move the section's length inward toward the model and/or adjust the rotational manipulator to alter the plane's angle, as required.

7. Optionally, when adjusting the length or rotation manipulator, a numerical value field appears, allowing you to enter the length or degree of rotation numerically.

   

8. Check Caps to add a cap to the section plane:

   

   Caps disabled (left), and enabled (right)

   With Caps enabled, you can click the Edit icon () to alter the cap color globally (shown in the first image below). By default, the cap is white. You can also check Override cap color to create a cap color for each section view individually (shown below right).

   

9. Check Block light if you wish to block the light affecting the section.

   

   Block light disabled (left), and enabled (right)

10. With the Section planes field selected, click any additional faces or locations where you would like additional sections created. Each section can have the Block light option enabled or disabled individually:

    

    You can only adjust one section plane/manipulator at a time. Use the Section planes field to select the plane you wish to adjust. The font for the Section plane is bold to indicate which plane has focus.

When a part or surface is selected in the Scene list or the graphics area, a yellow outline is placed around it. Right-click on the part to open a context menu with the following options:

• Show all - Show all parts in the graphics area.

• Hide [part] () - Hides the currently selected part.

• Hide selected parts - Hides all parts other than the one currently selected.

• Hide other parts - Hides all parts other than the one currently selected.

• Hide all parts - Hides all parts in the graphics area, both selected and unselected.

• Hide [face] () - Hides the currently selected face.

• Hide selected faces - Hides all faces other than the one currently selected.

• Hide other faces - Hides all faces other than the one currently selected.

• Hide all faces - Hides all faces in the graphics area, both selected and unselected.

• Select other - Opens a dialog where you can select parts or faces beneath the cursor that you might not be able to see in the graphics area because they are obscured by other elements. See Select other for more information.

  

  3 Faces of Part 1 are selected beneath the cursor.

• Zoom to fit (shortcut: f; ()) - Zoom the entire scene into view.

• Zoom to window () - Select this option, and then create a bounding box that surrounds an area of the scene to zoom into that area. Alternatively, use the "w" shortcut key and then create the bounding box (shown below):

  

• Copy Appearance from [Appearance] () - Copies the currently selected Appearance under the cursor to the clipboard.

• Paste Appearance to elements () - Pastes the copied Appearance from the clipboard to the selected parts and faces in the graphics area. If any of the selected parts and faces already have appearances applied, these Appearances are overwritten with the pasted Appearance.

  In the Scene list, if the target Appearance was not previously renamed, the source Appearance name is used. If the target appearance was previously renamed, this name is retained when the source Appearance replaces the target Appearance.

Located at the bottom right corner of the graphics area, the Maximize icon () maximizes the graphics area full screen and hides all surrounding panels. Click the icon again to reduce the graphics area size and reveal all surrounding panels.

To adjust the Scene list or Scene/Appearance/Environment panel width or the Appearances/Environments Libraries panel height, hover the cursor over a panel edge. When the cursor turns into a double-sided arrow, click and drag to resize the panel.

Right-click on an appearance thumbnail in the Appearance library to display a context menu with the following options:

• Assign - Assign the Appearance to the part(s) and clear any attribute lower down in the Scene list.

• Copy Appearance () - Copy the current Appearance to the clipboard.

When an Appearance is assigned to an element, all elements below in the Scene list that do not have an explicit Appearance assigned to them will have this Appearance assigned to them as well. For example, applying a metal Appearance to an Assembly in the Scene list applies this same metal Appearance to all instances underneath the Assembly that do not have an explicit Appearance assigned.

When assigning an Appearance to a part that has Appearances already assigned to faces below it, the following dialog is displayed:

Clicking the Clear face appearances link removes all of the part's underlying face appearances' assignments and applies the newly assigned Appearance to the entire part.

This procedure counts as 2 distinct undo steps: 

1. Clearance (removal) of Appearances from all the part's faces

2. Assignment of the new Appearance to the part (and all the part's faces).

If you instead press the x to dismiss the message, any of the part's faces that have assigned Appearances retain those Appearances, and the Part Appearance is applied only to the Part and all the part's faces without assigned Appearances.

In the example below, a brushed metal Appearance is assigned to the outer crown face of the Rook model. A blue ceramic Appearance is then assigned to the entire Rook part. Pressing x to dismiss the Clear face appearances message results in the blue ceramic Appearance applied to all part faces except the outer crown face that preserved the brushed metal Appearance (shown below left). Alternatively, pressing the Clear face Appearances link results in the brushed metal Appearance cleared (removed) from the outer crown face, and the part (and all underlying part faces) having the blue ceramic Appearance applied (shown below right):

Without face appearances cleared (left), and with face Appearances cleared (right)

There are 6 ways to assign an Appearance to a Scene element (Render Studio, Part Studio, Assembly, part, or face). Do one of the following:

To apply an Appearance to multiple Scene list elements, pre-select the elements in the Scene list or graphics area. Assigning or dragging and dropping the Appearance on one of the selected elements assigns the Appearance to all elements.

Some appearances are functions, and some of those functions cannot be added using the methods outlined below. See Using Appearance functions for more information.

1. Drag and drop the Appearance from the Appearances library to the selected part or face in the graphics area:

   

   When making selections in the graphics area, moving your mouse close to the center of the face selects the face (shown below left). Moving your mouse close to an edge selects the part (shown below right):

   

2. Drag and drop the Appearance from the Appearances library to the selected element in the Scene list. Using this method, you can apply the Appearance to the Render Studio, Part Studio, Assembly, part, or face:

   

3. Select the element in the Scene list or graphics area, then right-click on the Appearance in the Appearances library and select Assign from the context menu:

   

4. If the Appearance you want to assign already exists in the Scene list (under the Appearances list), drag and drop it directly on a part or face in the graphics area:

   

5. If the Appearance you want to assign already exists in the Scene list (under the Appearances list), select the element in the Scene list or graphics area, then right-click on the Appearance and click Assign from the context menu:

   

6. If the Appearance you want to assign already exists in the Scene list (under the Appearances list), select the element in the Scene list or graphics area, then drag and drop the Appearance from the Appearances list directly to one of the selected elements in the scene list:

   

An appearance cannot be removed from a part or a face, but you can apply the default Appearance to any part or face so its original Appearance is as it was when it was originally inserted into the scene.

1. Select the part or part face in the Scene list with the appearance to remove.

   

2. In the Scene list under Appearances right-click the Default Appearance and select Assign from the context menu:

   

3. The appearance is removed from the part; the part has its original diffuse white appearance:

   

Appearances can be copied from the following locations. In all cases right-click and select Copy Appearance from the context menu:

• An Appearance in the Appearances library

• An Appearance in the Appearances list (under the Scene list).

• The part or face in the Graphics area

Once the Appearance is in the clipboard it can be pasted into:

• One or more parts or faces in the graphics area. Right click over any highlighted element (part or face) and select Paste Appearance on element. If multiple elements are selected, you can paste the appearance to multiple elements using the same context menu option.

• An element in the Scene list. The appearance can only be pasted to one element. Pasting to multiple elements in the Scene list is not supported. However, you can paste to the top level Render Studio, which assigns the Appearance to all elements in the scene.

• An Appearance in the Appearances list (under the Scene list). Right click over an Appearance and select Paste Appearance on [Appearance]

Alternatively, instead of using the context menu to copy/paste, you can drag and drop an Appearance in the following ways:

• From the Appearances library to one or more selected elements in the graphics area

• From the Appearance library to an element on the Scene list (Render Studio, Part Studio, Assembly, Part, or Face).

• From the Appearance library to an Appearance on the Appearances list.

• From the Appearance in the Appearances list to an element on the Scene list (Render Studio, Part Studio, Assembly, Part, or Face).

• From one Appearance in the Appearances list to another Appearance in the Appearances list.

• From the Appearances list to one or more selected elements in the graphics area.

You can also use ctrl/cmd+c to copy and ctrl/cmd+v to paste Appearances, provided your cursor is in the right location to allow it. For example, copy when hovering over an Appearance in the Appearances library and paste when hovering over a selected face or part in the graphics area.

Things to keep in mind:

• Copying and pasting Appearances follows the same logic used when adding an Appearance. See Adding an Appearance to a Scene list element.

• If the target Appearance was not previously renamed, the source Appearance name is used. If the target Appearance was previously renamed, this name is retained when the source Appearance replaces the target Appearance.

• Copying an Appearance from the Appearances list (source) and pasting it to another Appearance on the Appearances list (target) replaces the target Appearance and removes it from the Appearances list. All elements that were previously assigned the target Appearance are now assigned the source Appearance.

  For example, in the image below the Hard plastic — Dark green Appearance is copied and pasted into the Gold brass — New Appearance. This removes the Gold brass — New Appearance from the Appearances list, and any previous elements which were assigned the Gold brass — New Appearance are now assigned the Hard plastic — Dark green Appearance.

  

• If pasting to a linked Appearance, the link is broken and the new Appearance replaces the linked Appearance.

Functions are a special type of appearance that perform a specific action on a part's appearance parameter. When a scene is created, every part has a default set of appearance parameters, viewable in the Appearance panel on the right.

All functions are located in the top-level Appearance functions folder. Additionally, functions are indicated by a function icon () at the top left corner of the Appearance thumbnail:

Tips

• Some functions cannot be assigned to parts directly. If the right-click context menu options are unavailable from the appearance thumbnail, or the context menu does not open when the appearance thumbnail is dragged and dropped on the part in the scene, this indicates the appearance is a function.

• See Appearance library - Functions for a complete list of all functions and a short description of each,

• Some functions can only be applied to parameters in the Selection panel, and depend on what is selected in the Scene list.

• For the Normal map — texture function, texture resources can optionally be treated as containing linear color data. When the texture represents something other than a color (for example a tangent space normal map or scalar data such as roughness) then it should be treated as linear to ensure the color data is correctly processed.

  For normal map textures specifically, the Linear option is automatically selected to ensure valid results. For other parameters you can choose how you want to interpret the colors using the Linear options on the context menu for the texture resource (see below):

  

Example 1: 3D checker texture and 3D Checker texture -- bump mapping

To apply a function to the part's Appearance parameter:

1. Select the part in the Scene list or graphics area. The Appearance panel displays the part's default Appearance parameters.

2. Select the Appearance functions folder In the Appearances library

   

   Locate the Checker pattern — 3D texture and Checker texture bump map functions. They are both used in this example. The lower box part in the following model is used for reference:

   

3. Drag the Checker pattern — 3D texture function over the Appearances panel. Before dropping, notice that many of the Appearance parameters are highlighted in blue. This indicates this function can be applied to any of these parameters. The function is applied to the parameter beneath the mouse cursor. Drop the parameter on the Transmission weight parameter in the Transmission submenu:

   

4. The texture function is applied and automatically opens in the Appearances panel. This is verified by viewing the hierarchical breadcrumb trail at the top of the Appearances panel (shown in the first image below). Click on the Appearance 2 link in this breadcrumb trail, and the Appearance for the part opens, where the link to the texture function next to the Transmission weight parameter is displayed (shown in the second image below).

   

5. The texture function acts as a mask for light transmission through the part (the checker texture is the function applied to the Transmission weight parameter of the part's Appearance). Anywhere the checker pattern is white, light shows through. Anywhere the checker pattern is black, the base part color shows through. The checker pattern is the part's light transmission mask:

   

6. Alternatively, drop the Checker texture bump map function on the Bumps parameter in the Appearance panel's Global submenu. The Bumps parameter is the only one to turn blue, indicating this parameter is the only one that accepts the Checker texture bump map function:

   

7. The Checker texture bump map function is applied to the Bumps parameter, shown below:

   

See Add a bump texture and Add a custom bump texture for more information.

Example 2: Invert Color

The next example applies an Invert color function to the Part's base color. Apply this method to any appearance color parameter, and use it to invert the color.

1. Select the part. In this example, the sphere is selected.

2. Drag and drop the Invert color function on the Base color in the part's Base submenu on the Appearance panel:

   

3. The Invert color function opens under the Appearance panel. Click the Input color swatch and select a color. The inverse of that color is used for the Part's base color. In the following example, selecting red creates a cyan base color, since cyan is the inverse of red:

   

Example 3: Surface blender and Gradient3-color/position texture

This example uses the Surface blender function to blend between two surface appearances. Once completed, an additional function (Gradient3-color/position texture) is applied to the first function's parameter (the Surface blender's Blend weight). This shows how to build one function on top of another function.

1. Select the part in the Scene list. In this example a square box is selected and viewed from the top plane. For reference, the box dimensions are .5 m length x .5 m width x .5 m height:

   

2. In the Appearance library, search for Surface. Right-click on the Surface blender thumbnail and click Assign (shown in the first image below). The Global submenu in the Appearance panel displays the Surface blender function parameters (second image below):

   

   • Base material - The appearance on which the blend is based.

   • Blend material - Blend appearance surface properties.

   • Blend weight - Blend weight or mask texture.

3. Search for the Metal weave 02 - brass steel Appearance and drag and drop the thumbnail on the Base material parameter (shown in the first image below). Then search for the Metal weave 02 - copper pure Appearance and drag and drop the thumbnail on the Blend material parameter (shown in the second image below). Adjust the Blend weight to 1. This blends the colors between the two appearances (the Base material and the Blend material). The result is shown in the third image below:

   

   

4. Click on the blend material link to open its parameters in the Appearance panel (shown in the first image below). Rotate the material 90 degrees in the Adjustments submenu. The horizontal pattern is now combined with the newly rotated vertical pattern (shown in the second image below). This better visualizes the blend between the two:

   

5. To return to the parent Surface blender layer, click the Surface blender link in the breadcrumb trail at the top of the Appearance panel:

   

The above procedure works to blend any two surface appearances together. Building on the above procedure, a gradient function is applied to the Surface blender function's Blend weight parameter to blend between the two appearances.

1. Open the 2 Appearances and change their Weave and bar colors to the following: red and green for the Base material, and blue and yellow for the Blend material. This better visualizes the blends in subsequent steps. The result is shown in the second image below:

   

2. Return to the parent Surface blender layer. Search for the Gradient 3-color/position texture function in the Appearance library, and then drag and drop the thumbnail on the Blend weight parameter.

   

3. The Gradient 3-color/position texture function is now applied to the Blend weight of the Surface blender function's parameter. The gradient is used as a mask between the Base material red and green colors (starting on the left) and the Blend material's blue and yellow colors (ending on the right). Where the gradient is black, the Base material shows through. Where the gradient is white, the Blend material shows through.

   Altering the Gradient parameters produces a variety of gradient results that blend between the two appearances. For example, the image below displays the Mode: Gradient box option (shown in the second image below):

   

Tips:

• To blend between two colors, use the Blend colors function and apply it wherever a color parameter is available in the Appearance or Selection panel. Using the blend colors function opens access to layer blending modes that are found in applications like Adobe Photoshop and GIMP (darken, screen, multiply, overlay, and others).

• To blend between two bump textures, use the Blend normals function and apply it wherever the Bumps parameter is available in the Appearance or Selection panel.

• Instead of the Gradient 3-color/position texture function, use any other texture functions, such as the Checker pattern or Bump map — Perlin noise texture to blend between the two appearances.

• Add a custom texture to blend between the two appearances. Drag and drop the Import bitmap file function on the Blend weight parameter (shown in the first image below), and then Click the Bitmap file to open the Select image dialog, where you can load the custom texture (shown in the second image below):

  

For a tech tip on blends, see Using textures and blends in Render Studio.

Example 4: Add Volume and Volume coefficient

This procedure explains how to add a specific volume and the Volume coefficient function to a part in the scene. Volume is added as an appearance to the part, while the volume coefficient is a function added to the Absorption coefficient parameter of the appearance.

For this example, a light-emitting ship object is placed in an underwater scene where the water acts as the volume.

1. To add volume, the scene must be encompassed by the volume itself. Model a part that surrounds the ship object on all sides, and is large enough to provide sufficient space.

   For reference, the surrounding box in this example is 5 m cubed. The rectangular "ship" is 0.6 m length by 0.075 m wide by 0.05 m height. A hole is placed at the front bottom of the rectangle with a diameter of 0.025 and is 0.03 m deep so it does not protrude all the way through the rectangle. Finally, a sphere with a radius of 0.004 m is created inside the hole, which is used as a light source. Each element (part) is referenced as volume, ship, and light source below.

   

2. In the Scene list, select the volume part. Search for volume in the Appearances library, right-click on the Add volume thumbnail and select Assign from the context menu. This results in a thick volumetric appearance applied to the surrounding part:

   

The following outlines the Add volume Appearance panel parameters:

• Base material - The material onto which the volume is applied. Default is transparent.

• Absorption coefficient - The probability density (per meter in world space) of light being absorbed by the participating medium. Default is white (R: 255; G: 255; B: 255). A higher absorption value makes the medium darker, due to more of the light being absorbed as it passes through the medium.

• Scattering coefficient - The probability density (per meter in world space) of light being scattered from its current direction. The default is white (R: 255; G: 255; B: 255). A higher scattering value distributes more of the light throughout the medium.

• Directional bias - Influence of light direction on scattering. A value of 0 specifies isotropic scattering, 1 forward scattering, and −1 back scattering. The default is 0.

3. In the Appearances Library > Appearance functions folder, locate, and then drag and drop the Volume coefficient function on top of the Absorption coefficient parameter in the Appearance panel (shown below left). Then adjust the Tint parameter to R: 139; G: 179; B: 198 (shown below right). This creates a volume of water that contains the ship.

   

4. Click the Transparent link next to the Base Material parameter, and adjust the Transmission color to R: 189; G: 208; B: 231, as shown below:

   

5. At the top of the Appearance panel, click the Add volume link to return to the volume parameters. Set the Directional bias to 0.7. This lightens the scene, so the ship is visible inside the water:

   

6. In the Scene list, deselect the volume part and select the ship part. Locate the Metal — Scuffed oxidized steel Appearance in the Appearance library, right-click on the thumbnail and select Assign from the context menu (shown below left). In the Appearance panel, adjust the following parameters: Scale: X: 2 by Y: 2; Rust bump strength: 0.4; Rust amount: 0.1; Rust reflection roughness: 0.5; Reflection roughness: 1:

   

7. In the Scene list, deselect the ship part and select the light part. Locate the Spot light Appearance in the Appearance library, right-click on the thumbnail and select Assign from the context menu (shown below left). Zoom into the ship to view it from the bottom up. The light is illuminated but is very faint (shown below right):

   

   Spot light parameters are:

   

   • Emission color - Light color. This is rescaled such that it does not influence the luminous flux. The default is white (R: 255; G: 255; B: 255).

   • Flux - The total luminous flux (in lumen) the light emits. The default value is 500. It is generally required to increase this value, depending on the scene.

   • Scene unit size - Convert m to scene unit. For example, if 1 in the scene is one foot (US customary units), then the scene unit size is 0.30481. The default value is 1.

   • Spot exponent - The higher the exponent, the more focused the emission. The default value is 0.

   • Spread angle - Spread angle in RAD. Hard limit for the spot spread. The default value is 6.283.

   • Two sided emission - If enabled, emission occurs on the front and backside of the geometry. The default is disabled.

8. Set the Flux to 20000 and Scene unit size to 0.8. The light now emits a higher intensity light, and is diffuse and unfocused:

   

9. To focus the light to a narrower beam, set the Spot exponent to 15 and Spread angle to 2.5:

   

10. To have the light color blend in with the water, alter the Emission color to R: 157; G: 189; B: 226. Bear in mind that any of these parameters can be adjusted to different specifications. This is one variation on the scene render:

    

Transforming an Appearance is similar to transforming a part, however, only the Appearance is transformed. The part remains static. This example uses a wood table. The wood appearance is transformed to make the table look more realistic.

Appearances generally have a transform submenu in the Appearance panel, with x and y axis values for Scale and Translate, and a degree value for Rotation, as shown below:

• Translation - Moves the selection along the x and y axis, according to the origin point of the selection. Measurement units are in meters, and are negative or positive numbers.

• Rotation - Rotates the angle of the texture about the center point of the selection's z axis, from -360 to +360 degrees.

• Scale - Scales the selection up (larger) or down (smaller), along the x and y axis, according to the center point of the selection. Measurements are based on the selection's original size. For example, a Scale of 1.000 x by 1.000 y means that the scale is 100% of the part's original size. Fractional numbers from 0.001 to 1 reduce the size of what is selected.

1. Create an Assembly of a table top and four legs, so there are five assembled parts.

2. Create a Render Studio scene and insert the table Assembly.

3. Select the table top in the Scene list. Search Floorboards in the Appearance library. Right click on the Wood floorboard — Walnut Appearance and select Assign from the context menu. The Appearance is applied to the table top:

   

4. In the Scene list, under Appearances right-click on the Wood floorboard Appearance and select Rename from the context menu. Rename the Appearance "Top". This also renames the Appearance in the Appearances panel on the right.

   

5. In the Scene list, deselect the table top, and multi-select (Ctrl/Cmd+Select) the table legs. Right click on the Floorboards - Walnut and select Assign from the context menu. The appearance is applied to all four table legs.

6. In the Scene list, under Appearances right-click on the Wood floorboard Appearance and select Rename from the context menu. Rename the Appearance "Legs".

   

7. Click on the Top appearance thumbnail to select it. In the Appearance panel's Transform submenu on the right, enter a scale of 3 x 3. This removes the floorboard grooves by translating the appearance pattern larger than the table:

   

Adjustments may not always yield the same results shown in the sample image here, especially with Transform options, which depend largely on model size. The Appearance may require a scale larger or smaller than X: 3 by Y: 3.

8. Click the Legs Appearance thumbnail in the Appearance library. Enter a Rotation measurement of 90 degrees in the Appearance panel's Transform submenu. This creates vertical planks of wood along the table leg appearance. Since the Legs appearance in the Scene appearances folder is associated with all four legs, they are all transformed simultaneously as a group:

   

   

   The Table model with default Walnut - Floorboards appearance (left), and after transforming the appearances (right).

Optionally, for more granular control of Appearance transformations, apply the same or different appearances to each part face and then transform each face appearance separately. To do this, click on the arrow to the left of the part name in the Scene list to expand all the part's faces. See Add an Appearance to a part face for more information.

When an appearance is applied to a part or face in a scene, it is placed in the Appearances section at the bottom of the Scene list. This helps keep track of appearances used in the scene. Apply the same appearance to multiple parts. When any part or face that uses the appearance is selected, and its appearance edited in the Appearances panel, all other parts and faces using the appearance are updated simultaneously. There is no need to individually update each part or face appearance.

1. Add an appearance to a part or face. In the image below, a blue cloth material appearance is added to one of the shoes.

2. Rename the appearance. This helps to locate the appearance in the Scene list later, especially if the scene is complex, with many appearances.

   

3. Locate the Appearance in the Scene appearances folder in the Appearances library, and assign the appearance to as many other parts or faces in the scene:

   

4. Edit the Appearance using the Appearances panel. For example, in the image below, the color of the shoe fabric is changed to gray. Notice that both shoes are updated with the new color attribute, even though only one shoe is selected:

   

Apply a texture to one of the part's appearance parameters. This procedure explains how to apply a texture to the part's Diffuse roughness parameter.

1. In the Scene list or graphics area, select the part.

2. Expand the Base submenu in the Appearance panel, if it is not already expanded.

3. In the Appearances library, select the Appearance functions folder.

4. Locate the Checker pattern function, then click and drag it from the Appearances library and drop it on top of the Base submenu's Diffuse roughness parameter in the Appearance panel on the right.

Before dropping the texture, notice that many of the Appearance parameters are highlighted in blue. This indicates the texture can be applied to any of these parameters. Drop the thumbnail on the parameter of choice. See Using Appearance functions for more information.



5. The texture is applied and automatically opens in the Appearances panel. This is verified by the hierarchical breadcrumb trail at the top of the Appearance panel. Adjust the Checker pattern's parameters to different specifications using the submenus in the Appearance panel:

   

6. Click the Appearance 1 breadcrumb link at the top of the Appearances panel (shown in the first image below) to return to the part's Appearance panel. To edit the texture again, click its link next to the Diffuse roughness parameter (shown in the second image below):

A bump texture (or bump map) simulates a part's surface texture. Normal maps are a specific type of texture where bump details (wrinkles, grooves, patterned divots, and the like) are added to the model. When light is reflected off the surface, real geometry is simulated.

A bump texture is not applied directly to the part. It is applied to the part appearance's Bumps parameter.

1. Select the part in the Scene list or graphics area.

2. Expand the Global submenu in the Appearance panel, if it is not already expanded.

3. In the Appearances library, select the Appearance functions folder.

4. Locate the Checker texture bump map function, then click and drag it from the Appearances library and drop it on top of the Bumps parameter in the Appearance panel on the right.

Before dropping the bump texture, notice that only the Bumps parameter is highlighted in blue. This indicates the bump texture can only be applied to this parameter. See Using Appearance functions for more information.



5. Once applied, adjust the bump texture parameters using the Appearance 1 > Checker texture bump map panel submenus:

   

6. Click the Appearance breadcrumb link at the top of the Appearance panel (shown in the first image below) to return to the part's Appearance panel. To edit the bump texture again, locate it in the Global submenu and click on its link (shown in the second image below):

   

A bump texture (or bump map) simulates a part's surface texture. Normal maps are a specific type of texture where bump details (wrinkles, grooves, patterned divots, and the like) are added to the model. When light is reflected off the surface, real geometry is simulated.

A bump texture is not applied directly to the part. It is applied to the part appearance's Bumps parameter.

1. Select the part in the Scene list or graphics area.

2. Expand the Global submenu in the Appearance panel, if it is not already expanded.

3. In the Appearances library, select the Appearance functions folder.

4. Locate the Import bump map file function, then drag and drop it on top of the Bumps attribute on the Global submenu.

Alternatively, use the Import bitmap file function (shown in the red box below) for more complex texture editing capabilities. Complex graphs of texture placement functions are connected to file_texture maps.

Before dropping the bump texture, notice that only the Bumps parameter is highlighted in blue. This indicates the bump texture can only be applied to this parameter. See Using Appearance functions for more information.



5. In the Appearance panel, click the Bitmap file (black.png). This opens the Select image dialog:

   

6. Do one of the following: 

   1. Select a bump map file from the Current document

   2. Click Other documents to locate a file in another Onshape document

   3. Click the Import link at the bottom of the dialog to locate a bump map file (.jpg or .png) from your computer. When selected, click the Open button:

      

      Once the notification indicates the upload is complete, you will not yet see the image in the Select image dialog. This is because the Render Studio scene is a snapshot of the part, Part Studio, or Assembly at the time of import, and this image is brought into the Onshape document post-import. A new version is now required, in order to update the scene. Click the Create a version in [Document name] link in the Select image dialog:

      

      The Create version dialog opens. Enter the version information and click the Create button.

If you don't see the Create version link in the Select image dialog, click the Create version button () on the Document panel to open the Create version dialog. Create the new version. Close and reopen the Select image dialog. The imported image should now be available.

See Importing files for more information about uploading files.

7. Once the new version is created, the .ies file is located in the Select light profile. Click it to select it:

   

8. Once selected, the file is loaded into the Bitmap file field. Use the Bitmap and Placement submenus to edit the bump texture parameters:

• Tiling - Control the scale of the texture on the part. Larger numbers reduce the texture size (more tiles), while lower numbers increase the size of the texture (fewer tiles).

• Clip - If enabled, the texture does not repeat and anything outside the texture shows as flat.

• Offset - Control the position of the texture on the part

• Rotation - Control the rotation of the texture on the part, in degrees.

• Bump mode - Define how the texture is evaluated to create the bumps.

• Bump strength - Control the intensity of the Bump map tiling.

There are several appearances devoted to adding and emitting light from a part, surface, or face in a scene. Which light appearance is used depends on the light source and how the scene in question should be lighted. Light emission appearances are outlined below:

In addition to the above light appearances, add a bloom filter via the Scene panel.

Adding a light using the Add emission Appearance

This is a simple way to add a light emission to any part in the scene:

1. In a Part Studio or Assembly, create a part used as a light source and add some walls around the part. In this example, a light bulb is modeled, with some side walls and a floor:

   

2. Select the walls in the Scene list.

3. In the Appearance library, search for apply. Right-click on the Apply clear coat Appearance and click Assign from the context menu. This adds reflective surfaces off which the light emission reflects:

   

4. In the Scene list or graphics area, select the bulb's glass cover.

5. In the Appearance library, locate the Thin glass Appearance. Right-click on its thumbnail and click Assign from the context menu.

   In the example below, a metal Appearance is assigned to the screw base, and a copper Appearance to the bottom bulb connector. Finally, the lamp, lamp shade, and table are removed, to better showcase the bulb's emission.

6. In the Scene list, select the part used for the filament inside the bulb (shown in the left image below).

7. In the Appearances library, locate the Add emission Appearance. Right-click on its thumbnail and click Assign from the context menu (shown in the middle image below). The filament appears dark at first (shown in the right image below):

   

   Appearance options are:

   • Base material - The material to which the emission is added. The default is diffuse.

   • Intensity - The brightness of the light source. The default value is 1000.

   • Color - The light emission color. The default is white (R: 255; G: 255; B: 255).

   • Unit for emission - The physical unit of "Intensity". The default is Lumen m2. Other options are Lumen, Candela, and Nit.

   • Unit scale - The modeling unit to meter conversion factor. The default value is 100.

8. In the Appearance panel, adjust the emission Intensity upward. Keep in mind this value depends largely on the scene dimensions. For reference, the dimensions of the room created below are 2.43 m length by .97 m wide by .84 m height. The Intensity value is set to 10000000. This creates an emissive white light:

   

9. Adjust the color to control the warmth or coolness of the light emission. The following example displays how the light emission changes when a new color is selected:

   

10. Zoom into the bulb, decrease the intensity, and change the color to blue to create the emission shown below:

    

11. The final example shows how the light bulb is used in a completed scene, with the addition of a lamp and table. Note how the shade over the bulb redirects the light emission upward and downward, and dulls the emissions where the shade is set between the light source and the walls:

    

Adding a thermal emission Appearance

Similar to the Add emission appearance, the Add thermal emission appearance adds light to a modeled part, surface, or face. However, the light source is meant to act as a source of thermal heat. The Color parameter is replaced by a Temperature parameter, which is adjusted to define the type of heat source.

1. Once the part is modeled, create a scene from the Part Studio or Assembly. The example used here is a Valve assembly:

   

2. Select the part in the Scene list or graphics area. This is the part used as the thermal emission origin. In the example below, the gasket is used as the emission source:

   

3. In the Appearances library, locate the Add thermal emission Appearance. Right-click on its thumbnail and click Assign from the context menu:

   

4. In the Appearance panel, adjust the Intensity upward. For this scene, the Intensity is set to 10000000. Then set the Temperature to 2000. This creates an orange-colored thermal emission:

   

5. Setting the Temperature value to 65000 changes the emission color to blue, which is used, for example, to indicate heat from a hydrocarbon source, such as butane or propane gas:

   

As a general guideline, values from 0 to 3500 are in the red-orange-yellow range, while numbers from 10000 upward are in the blue range. The default value of 6500 emits a white color.

Adding a custom IES light profile

IES light profiles describe the distribution of light from a lamp. This data is provided by many manufacturers so that designers can realistically render light within a room.

An example of several IES profiles.

Render Studio provides the ability to add an IES light profile to a light source.

1. Select the part or face in the Scene list or graphics area.

2. Search the Appearances library for Photometric. Right-click on the Photometric light thumbnail, and click Assign from the context menu. The example below is a living room with a very dark environment:

   

3. In the Appearance panel > Distribution submenu, click the IES file (downlight.ies). This opens the Select light profile dialog.

   

4. Do one of the following: 

   1. Select an IES file from the Current document

   2. Click Other documents to locate an IES file in another Onshape document

   3. Click the Import link at the bottom of the dialog to locate an IES file from your computer. When selected, click the Open button:

      

      Once the notification indicates the upload is complete, you will not yet see the image in the Select image dialog. This is because the Render Studio scene is a snapshot of the part, Part Studio, or Assembly at the time of import, and this image is brought into the Onshape document post-import. A new version is now required, in order to update the scene. Click the Create a version in [Document name] link in the Select image dialog:

      

      The Create version dialog opens. Enter the version information and click the Create button.

If you don't see the Create version link in the Select light profile dialog, click the Create version button () on the Document panel to open the Create version dialog. Create the new version. Close and reopen the Select light profile dialog. The imported image should now be available.

See Importing files for more information about uploading files.

5. Once the new version is created, the IES file is located in the Select light profile. Click it to select it:

   

6. Once selected, the file is loaded into the IES file field:

   

7. Edit the parameters in the Appearance panel submenus. For example, alter the Tint to change the light color, and increase the intensity of the light by adjusting the Lumens or multiplier. In the examples below, the IES profiles are applied to the recessed lights in the living room ceiling:

   

Below are two variations on the lighting. The first image uses an IES profile with a wider emission spread than the example above, while the second image uses an IES profile that emits a halo surrounding the bulbs. The Emission color is set to blue:

For a collection of free IES profiles, visit https://ieslibrary.com/en/home

Adding a Display screen Appearance

The Display screen is a very specific type of appearance used to replicate an image on a television, computer, or other digital screen. Options are:

• Image - Opens the Select image dialog, where you can locate an image to be mapped onto the display.

• Repeat image - If enabled, the image repeats across the UV coordinates. If disabled, a single instance of the image displays across the UV coordinates. The default is enabled.

• Intensity - The display emission intensity. The default value is 40. Note that when applying this appearance, the light source will most likely be black. Increasing the intensity to a higher value should yield a sufficient intensity to view the emission. This depends on scene size.

• Screen roughness - Higher roughness values lead to bigger highlights and blurrier reflections. The default value is 0.2.

• Translate - Controls the position of the image along the x and y axes.

• Rotate - The Rotation angle of the image in degrees.

• Scale - Scales the image size along the x and y axes. Larger numbers increase the size. Smaller numbers decrease the size.

Display screen light example (applied to the front face of the wall screen)
Intensity: 200000

Additional light examples

The following lights all use the same base Light source emitter parameters. Only the Color temperature value varies:

• Color temperature - Color temperature, in Kelvin.

• Lumens (flux) - The luminous flux, in lumens, the light emits. The default value is 1000.

• Two-sided emission - If true, emission happens on the front and back sides of the geometry. The default is disabled.

1900k candle Color temperature: 1900.000	7000k cool white Color temperature: 7000.000	5000k fluorescent Color temperature: 5000.000
3000k halogen Color temperature: 3000.000	4000k natural white Color temperature: 4000.000	2700k warm white Color temperature: 2700.000

The following are Diffuse area light options:

Diffuse area light:

• Flux - The luminous flux (in lumen) the light emits in total. The default value is 500.

• Scene unit size - Convert meter to scene unit. Examples: 1 in the scene is one foot: Scene unit size = 0.30481.0 in the scene is a centimeter: Scene unit size = 0.01.

• Emission color - The color of the light. This is rescaled such that it does not influence the luminous flux. The default value is white (R: 255; G: 255; B: 255).

• Two-sided emission - If true, emission happens on the front and back sides of the geometry. The default is disabled.

The following are Photometric light options:

Photometric light:

• Tint - Additional tint color for emitted light (for example, for simulating gels). The default value is white (R: 255; G: 255; B: 255).

• Color temperature - Color temperature, in Kelvin. The default value is 6500.

• IES file - The IES light profile used to specify the light distribution. See Add a custom IES light profile for more information.

• Flip orientation - Reorients the light profiles up vector, which is oriented towards the y direction by default, towards the z direction. The default is enabled.

• Rotation - Rotates the distribution around the light profiles up vector. The default is disabled.

• Lumens or multiplier - Light intensity. If Absolute Profile is disabled, then this is the lumen output of the light. If enabled, then this is a multiplier applied to the native light profile intensity. The default value is 2000.

• Absolute profile - Controls whether the intensity is lumen output of the light (disabled) or multiplies the native light output (enabled). The default is disabled.

• Intensity is power - If enabled, the intensity is interpreted as power. Consequently, the output is divided by the area of the light source to yield radiance. That means the scene brightness stays about the same if the light source surface area is enlarged. The default is enabled.

• Front emission only - Disables emission on the backface of an area light. This is required for cylindrical lights to prevent illumination from leaking out the open cylinder caps. Technically, this should also be set for spherical lights, even though these lights will not leak. The default is disabled.

• Additional emission - Used to add a basic Lambertian emission to the light. Useful for avoiding dark light sources when viewed directly. The default value is 0.

Photometric light example
Lumens or multiplier: 20000; Flip orientation: disabled

To create a transparency for a part face:

1. Select the part or face in the Scene list or graphics area.

   

2. Search the Appearance library for Transparent. Right-click on the transparent thumbnail, and click Assign:

   

   In the example below, the transparency is applied to the cylinder's front face. The face remains. but is now transparent through to the other faces:

   

A common task is to place a logo or text on a surface or part.

1. Create a model and bring it into a Render Studio scene.

Since even stickers have a small amount of height to them, create a face that is .1 mm in depth above the main face where the sticker is applied when the part is modeled. Then apply the sticker to this face, as outlined below. This creates more realistic sticker edges.

2. Select the part or face in the Scene list or graphics area:

   

3. In the Appearances library, search for sticker, then right=click on the Add sticker overlay thumbnail and select Assign from the context menu:



4. In the Appearance panel, set the Sticker mask to 1:

   

5. In the Appearances library > Appearance functions folder, Locate the Import bitmap file — Bitmap texture function, then drag and drop it over the Sticker color parameter in the Appearance panel. This allows selection of a file to be used for the sticker.

   

6. Click on the Bitmap file (black.png) to open the Select image dialog.

   

7. Do one of the following: 

   1. Select a bump map file from the Current document

   2. Click Other documents to locate a file in another Onshape document

   3. Click the Import link at the bottom of the dialog to locate a bump map file (.jpg or .png) from your computer. When selected, click the Open button:

      

      Once the notification indicates the upload is complete, you will not yet see the image in the Select image dialog. This is because the Render Studio scene is a snapshot of the part, Part Studio, or Assembly at the time of import, and this image is brought into the Onshape document post-import. A new version is now required, in order to update the scene. Click the Create a version in [Document name] link in the Select image dialog:

      

      The Create version dialog opens. Enter the version information and click the Create button.

If you don't see the Create version link in the Select image dialog, click the Create version button () on the Document panel to open the Create version dialog. Create the new version. Close and reopen the Select image dialog. The imported image should now be available.

See Importing files for more information about uploading files.

8. Once the new version is created, the sticker file is located in the Select image dialog. Click it to select it:

   

9. Once selected, the file is loaded into the Bitmap file parameter. Use the Placement options to set up the proper location for the sticker. By default, the Tiling is set to a repeating 1 x by 1 y, and is not offset or rotated:

   

10. Set Tiling to 6 x by 6 y to increase the image size, and check the Clip option, which forces the sticker not to repeat. Here, the sticker is also offset to show at the far left of the face. Write down these settings, as they are needed later, when applying a mask.

    

11. At the top of the Appearance panel, click the Add sticker overlay link. This returns the Appearance panel to the parent sticker.

    

12. Apply the same bitmap file (and settings) to the mask. Drag the Import bitmap file — Bitmap texture function from the Appearance library > Appearance functions folder, and drop it on the Sticker mask parameter in the Add sticker overlay Appearance in the Appearance panel. In the Placement submenu, enter the exact same settings entered previously for the sticker file: Tiling, Clip, Offset, and Rotation.

    

13. Select Mono alpha in the Scalar mode dropdown in the Bitmap parameters submenu:

    

14. The default Base material parameter is plastic; however, any Appearance can be applied to the face, without affecting the sticker. Locate an Appearance from the Appearance library and drag and drop it on the Base material parameter to add it to the face:

    

15. If desired, the face can be made transparent, while keeping the sticker in place, as shown below:

    

To alter the sticker and/or mask settings, click the Sticker color or Sticker mask's Import bitmap file link, respectively, then adjust the settings. To keep both sticker and mask in sync, both sets of settings must be updated to match:

To add an environment:

1. In the Environments library, select the environment to add to the scene.

2. Right-click and select Apply lighting from the context menu. This only applies environment lighting to the Part Studio or Assembly (the background is kept in place). Alternatively, select Apply lighting and background from the context menu. This removes the background and applies the lighting and environment to the scene:

   

Alternatively, drag and drop the Environment on an empty area of the scene.

Tips

• If only lighting is applied, to remove the background later, click the View tools icon ( ) in the graphics area, select Background, and then uncheck Enable background. Click x in the upper right corner to close the dialog. If the scene goes completely black, go into the Environment panel and increase the Lighting intensity value to between 15,000-20,000 or higher, depending on the environment image used.

• If lighting and background is applied, the next time a new environment is applied via the context menu, the Apply lighting option is unavailable. It is only available if a background color is first applied to the scene via the View tools () > Background menu.

When a scene is created, the default environment (Standard) and background (white) is used. If a different environment is added, do the following to return to this default:

1. Select the Environments library, and ensure you are on the top level Environments folder.

2. Enter Standard in the Search environments field and press Enter.

3. Right-click on the Standard thumbnail and select Apply lighting and background (or drag and drop the environment on the backdrop of the scene, not on a scene element, such as a part):

The background color from the environment is used. To optionally revert to the original white background:

1. Click the View tools menu (), and click Background.

2. Select Enable background. By default, the color swatch is white (shown in the first image below). If the color is different, click the Edit color icon () to open the color palette (shown in the second image below). Enter a hex value of #FFFFFF for white (or select the color of your choice):

   

3. Click the checkmark icon ( ) at the top right corner of the dialog to accept your changes and exit the dialog.

To add a custom environment to a scene:

1. To apply both the lighting and background of the custom image to your scene, click the View tools icon () in the graphics area, select Background, and then uncheck Enable background. Click the checkmark icon () to accept and close the dialog. Then follow the remaining steps below. If this step is not performed first, only the lighting from the custom environment image is applied to the scene.

2. Open the Environment panel ().

3. In the dialog, check Custom image:

   

4. The Select image dialog opens where you can select an image file (.hdr or .exr). Do one of the following: 

   

   1. Select an image from the Current document

   2. Click Other documents to locate an image in another Onshape document

   3. Click the Import link at the bottom of the dialog to locate an image from your computer. When selected, click the Open button:

      

      Once the notification indicates the upload is complete, you will not yet see the image in the Select image dialog. This is because the Render Studio scene is a snapshot of the part, Part Studio, or Assembly at the time of import, and this image is brought into the Onshape document post-import. A new version is now required, in order to update the scene. Click the Create a version in [Document name] link in the Select image dialog:

      

If you don't see the Create version link in the Select image dialog, click the Create version button () on the Document panel to open the Create version dialog. Create the new version. Close and reopen the Select image dialog. The imported image should now be available.

See Importing files for more information about uploading files.

5. In the Select image dialog, click on the image to select it and have it loaded into the scene:

   

6. If the scene is too dark or black, in the Environment panel, increase the Lighting intensity value to between 15,000-20,000 or higher. This largely depends on the image used.

   

Tips:

• Though .jpg or .png files can be used, for best quality, use HDRI images (.hdr or .exr).

• For a collection of free environments, visit https://polyhaven.com/hdris,

To add a custom background to a scene:

1. Select Background from the View tools dropdown menu:

   

2. In the Background dialog, switch from Solid color to Image:

   

3. The Select image dialog opens where you can select an image file (.jpg or .png). Do one of the following: 

   

   1. Select an image from the Current document

   2. Click Other documents to locate an image in another Onshape document

   3. Click the Import link at the bottom of the dialog to locate an image from your computer. When selected, click the Open button:

      

      Once the notification indicates the upload is complete, you will not yet see the image in the Select image dialog. This is because the Render Studio scene is a snapshot of the part, Part Studio, or Assembly at the time of import, and this image is brought into the Onshape document post-import. A new version is now required, in order to update the scene. Click the Create a version in [Document name] link in the Select image dialog:

      

If you don't see the Create version link in the Select image dialog, click the Create version button () on the Document panel to open the Create version dialog. Create the new version. Close and reopen the Select image dialog. The imported image should now be available.

See Importing files for more information about uploading files.

4. In the Select image dialog, click on the image to select it and have it loaded into the scene:

   

5. Select any additional options, such as the image Scale (Fill, Fit, or Stretch), Tonemapping, Depth of field, Reflect or Refract background:

   

Tips:

• Though .hdr or .exr files can be used, for best results, use .jpg or .png images.

Some environments use location and time to set the sun's location as a light source, which affects the scene's lighting and background. For example:

1. Select the Environments library, and ensure you are on the top level Environments folder.

2. Enter Preetham in the Search environments field and press Enter.

3. Right-click on the Preetham thumbnail and select Apply lighting and background (or drag and drop the environment on the backdrop of the scene, not on a scene element, such as a part):

   

4. In the Environment panel the scene's location and time settings are located under the Daylight section at the bottom:

   

5. Select City: New York; Date: 07/01/2021; Time: 9:00 AM; and Timezone: UTC-05:00. The sun and shadows now line up for the selected location and time:

   

6. Switching to a new time on the same day, for example 4:30 PM, shows a sunset view, with lighting and shadows aligned to match:

   

A bloom filter approximates the glare and glow around a bright light source.

1. Create a model for the light source. Here, a hollowed out box is used to show light reflections, and a sphere at the center is used as a light source:

   

2. Import the model into a Render Studio scene. Add a metallic appearance for the box part (Brushed aluminum - Medium brushing).

3. Assign a light source for the spherical object (Diffuse area light). The background is changed to solid black, to better emphasize the lighting. The light Appearance panel parameters are updated to:

   • Flux - 1000.

   • Scene unit size - 1

   • Emmission color - #9DCFED (R: 157; G: 207; B: 237) light blue.

   

4. Deselect everything in the scene (or press the spacebar).

5. Click the Scene panel icon () to open the Scene panel.

6. Check Bloom filtering:

   

7. Adjust the settings according to your desired results. These settings are outlined below:

   • Radius - Controls the size of the bloom. The maximum distance from the bright area where the effect can spread as a percentage of the size of the image. A value of 0.01 (default) means that the maximum spread is 1% of the image size, which is a good starting point. To spread the bloom further outward, increase this value.

   • Threshold - Controls at what brightness the bloom starts. A value of 0.9 (default) is most likely far too low a setting for most use cases, since most of the model usually has a brightness above this value. This results in the model being extremely blurred. Increase the threshold to 8000 as a general starting point. Increase the setting until less blur is seen in the model. Any areas below the threshold are unaffected, while the bloom is applied to those areas above it.

   • Brightness scale - (Optional). Artificially intensifies the effect of the bloom filter in the bright regions. Leave this setting at the default 1.000.

The following displays three different bloom setups applied to the scene:

White mode is similar to viewing a clay form of the model, common in many manufacturing design processes. When White mode is enabled, all scene elements (parts and instances) are shaded using a white diffuse appearance. This allows the visualization of the parts' curves, without viewing the effects of any light transmission or emissions from the parts. Environment lighting still affects the parts in the scene.

1. Click the Scene panel icon () to open the Scene panel.

2. Check White mode:

   

3. All scene elements have a diffused white appearance applied to them:

The image at left shows a part with a glass appearance. The image at right is the same part, with white mode enabled.

(Optional) Select an alternate color to use as the base:

If a Material is assigned to a part in a Part Studio using the standard Onshape Material Library, that material is mapped to a Render Studio Appearance when the part is brought into a new scene. The mapping provides an initial Render Studio Appearance that can be further edited in the scene. Some Render Studio Appearances also use the part's Appearance color (also assigned to a part in the Part Studio), while some do not. For example, ABS material tints the part based on its Appearance color, while Gold material ignores the Appearance color.

If Glass material is applied to the part, the part's transparency is also imported, in addition to its Appearance color.

Tips

• Scenes saved prior to the Onshape 1.158 release do not have their parts updated with the Material from the Part Studio when the scene is updated or re-saved.

• If a part's Material is updated in the Part Studio, it is used when the scene is updated in Render Studio, provided the part's Appearance was not previously edited in Render Studio. If the Appearance for the part is edited in Render Studio, the material and appearance mapping connection from the Part Studio is broken.

• Face Appearances inherit the Material of their part when opened in a Render Studio scene.

• If 2 parts in a Part Studio have the same Appearance but different Materials, 2 Appearances are created when they are opened in a Render Studio scene.

You can view all scene appearances in the Scene list (under Appearances). See Scene list components.

• If a Material from a Custom library has the exact same name as one from the Onshape Material Library, it is also mapped to its respective Render Studio Appearance.

To view all mappings, see the Part Studio Material to Render Studio Appearance mapping table.