Hands on VRED

picture perfect

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

From CAD data (IGES) to high quality rendering

September 2009

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

General Information
picture perfect

To step through this tutorial, you need the files in the vred-tutorial directory.
The structure goes as follows:

iges-data

- This directory contains the necessary CAD files for import

- Filenames:
*.iges

licenseplate

- This directory contains the license plate geometry

as a VRED file

textures_and_environment

- This directory contains all needed textures, HDRIs and the

environment geometry

vred-data

- This directory contains the starting point file (if you dont
want to import the CAD files by yourself) and the final data
which shows how your scene can look like after going
through this tutorial

- Filenames
microracer_start.vpb (Starting point file after cad import)
microrace_final.vpb (Final file)

September 09

- Filename:
numberplate.vpb (Numberplate geometry)

- Filenames:
Environment.vpb (Environment geometry)
perfectStudio.mtd (Studio HDRI)
forrest.mtd (Forrest HDRI)
licenseplate.png (Numberplate texture)
pi-vr.tif (PI-VR logo texture)
tire_marking_bump.jpg (Tire texture 1)
tire_profile_bump.jpg (Tire texture 2)

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

File Import
picture perfect

VRED is an interactive render application. Before starting to prepare a VRED render-file CAD data has to
be loaded or imported.
To import data according to your needs the import options in the preferences have to be set.

Select Edit -> Preferences in the Menubar

In the Preferences Editor select Import -> CAD. Ensure that the checkbox Internal Tessellation is
set to active.

Select File -> Import -> CAD in the Menubar. Select all microracer IGES files and then press open.

Then select Import -> Tessellation. Set Tessellation Quality to 0.1.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

Optimize Scene
picture perfect

After all data has been imported the scene needs to be optimized.

Select all imported groups. All imported groups are indicated in a blue font.
Right click on any selected group node and select Edit -> Optimize.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

Optimize Scene
picture perfect

Click the default button in the Optimize Module.

In addition check both Flush transformation nodes checkboxes.This ensures that all transformations
will be set to 0, and all scale operations will be set to 1.

Also Check the Cleanup group nodes checkbox.The Cleanup group nodes function will remove
all groups which have less than two childnodes.

Press Optimize to execute the optimization process.

After the scenegraph optimization execute the MaterialEditor optimization.

Right click on any material in the Materials tab of the MaterialEditor.

Select Edit ->Optimize Materials. All multiple identical materials will be replaced by a single material.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

Optimize Scene
picture perfect

The imported data is split into separate patches which still need to be merged to a connected part on an
object basis. The optimization process will merge all meshes, with identical materials and which are located
in the same group, to a single object.

Select File -> Optimize Scene in the menu bar.

Select Merge/ Optimize/ Share Geometries in the drop down box.

Execute by clicking OK.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

Rearranging the Scenegraph

picture perfect

To get a better overview about all objects in the scene, it is recommended to prepare a
structured scenegraph.

Right click on any node in the scenegraph and select Create->Group to create a group node.The
new group node will be created as a child of the node you clicked on.

Right click on the root node and create a new group. Enter the name Microracer.

Right click on the Microracer group and create two further groups as children, and name them
Interior and Exterior.

Create another group called Chassis as a child of the group Exterior.

Now place the Kasko.igs group node into the chassis group, by either doing a cut and paste

operation in the scenegraph, or simply use the drag and drop functionality.


To use cut and paste function, select the group node which has to be repositioned, press

ctrl+x, select the designated parent group node, press ctrl+v.

September 09

To use the drag and drop function, click and hold left mouse button on the group which has
to be repositioned, drag to the designated parent group and drop. If a red indicator line
appears between two nodes, the moved group will be positioned between these. If a blue
frame is shown, the group will be placed into the framed node.

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

Rearranging the Scenegraph

picture perfect

Create further groups and reposition all nodes to achieve a logical structure in the scenegraph.
Since the merge operation is highly optimized, it may occur that physically separated parts are also
merged. An example is the rim_blends.igs node. These parts need to be separated.

Right click on the rim_blends.igs group node in the scenegraph and create two new group
nodes called rim_blend_front and rim_blend_back. Right click-> Create-> Group.

Right click on the geometry node in the rim_blend.igs group and split the mesh into
separated triangles. Right click-> Edit-> Split geometry in triangles.

A new group will be created containing all separated triangles. Clear the current selection. Hold
Shift+Y+Crtl (watch the order) and left click on any triangle of the front rim_blend. All
seamless connected triangles will be selected. Add the other two parts to the selection.
Move the selection with cut (Ctrl + X) and paste (Ctrl + V) to the rim_blend_front group.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

Rearranging the Scenegraph

picture perfect

Right click on the rim_blend_front group node and select Edit->Unsplit geometry with
one triangle.

Repeat the same steps with the rear blends.

September 09

Three polygons will be left which resulted from errors during modelling. These faces can
be deleted.

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

Creating geometry switches

picture perfect

A geometry switch node offers an option to make one object, of a series of objects, visible. There are two
versions of front bumpers in this file. Add both front bumpers into a geometry switch node.

Right click on the node, where the switch will be created in the scenegraph and
select Create-> Switch.

Cut and Paste both front bumper group nodes into the switch node.

You will notice that both geometries are invisible. This is because the initial state of the switch
node is set to -1, which means that no child is shown. To change the switch state select the
switch node, go to the Editor Tab in the NodeEditor and set the choice value to 0. This means the
first child object will be drawn. 1 means the second child object will be drawn and so on.

September 09

The completely rearranged scenegraph could be like:

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

10

Duplicate and mirror

picture perfect

After the scenegraph has been rearranged it becomes obvious that there are parts, which are only partially
modelled and have to be duplicated and mirrored for the co drivers side.

Left click on the group node Bumper_front_b.igs and rename the group node
to bumper_left.

Right click on the group node Bumper_front_b.igs and select Edit -> clone

Clone Options:

Enable the mirror checkbox

Set the mirror axis to X

Enable the Flush matrix

Enable deep clone

Press OK.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

11

Duplicate and mirror

picture perfect

The right half of the bumper needs to be mirrored.

Rename the new group node to bumper_right

Clone and mirror all missing parts, rename them and place them appropriately in the scenegraph:

Headlights interior parts

Rims and tires

Rear lights interior parts

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

12

Surface direction and normals

picture perfect

The surface normals define the direction each surface is pointing at. To view the surface directions switch
to the Vertex/Face normal rendering render mode.

Press F5 or click and hold the button Render Options in the Icons Tab and select Vertex/Face
normal rendering

Each surface has a green and a blue drawn side. All surfaces viewed from the outside are supposed
to be rendered in green to receive proper shading and ambient occlusion rendering results at a
later stage. Green means the vertex and surface normals are pointing towards the camera. Blue
means the vertex and surface normals are pointing away from the camera.

To adjust the surface normals open the Appearance->GeometryEditor->Normals module.

Select any geometry with blue shaded parts from the cameras point of view. Press the Face and
Vertex button in the normals tab. All normals of the selected object will be flipped.

It may happen that only parts of the selected object`s normals have to be flipped.
Therefore press and hold the Alt key and click the right mouse button on the blue parts of the surface.
VRED will then only flip the adjacent blue faces. The adjacency crease angle can be set in the
Appearance->GeometryEditor->Normals module in the Adjacency Selection section.

Adjust the normals direction for the car`s frame, brakes, headlights interior, rear
window and others.

Afterwards press F3 to change the render mode to Realistic High Quality rendering

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

13

Ambient Occlusion
picture perfect

The precalculated ambient occlusion will only be used in OpenGL and Raytracing-Precomuputed Illumination render mode on surfaces which have TruelightShaders assigned. In Raytracing GI rendering mode the
pre-calculated ambient occlusion will be ignored. All information will then be rendered at runtime.
Before calculating the ambient occlusion, there is a ground plane needed to be taken in account for the occlusion information at the car`s bottom side. Create a polygon plane and place it as a ground plane.

Select the Root node.

Click and hold the Create Geometry button in the Icons Tab and select Create Plane.

Enter as size 10000 for x and y axis.

Enter resolution 32 for x and y axis.

Press create.


Rename the new plane to Ground Plane.

Press F7 to switch to Ambient Occlusion rendering render mode.The scene appears completely
black since no ambient occlusion has been calculated yet.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

14

Ambient Occlusion
picture perfect

Select the Microracer group node and the Ground Plane object node in the scenegraph.
Open the Appearance->AmbientOcclusion module.
Set the Shadow Quality to Low Quality.
Press Calculate.

The result is not smooth in all areas of the car. The ambient occlusion calculation is vertex based,
which makes it sometimes necessary to recalculate some parts, which dont not have a mesh fine
enough to offer a smooth transition from dark to bright.VRED will add further subdivisions to these
parts if necessary. Subdivisions will be added to all.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

15

Ambient Occlusion
picture perfect

Select the Ground Plane and all glass objects.

In the AmbientOcclusion module enable the subdivision checkbox.
Set the SubdivisionQuality to High Quality.
Set the Minimum Edge Length to 1
Press Calculate.
All selected parts will be rerendered, and all visible parts will be taken to account.

Select the headlight glass. Right click on the headlight glass node in the scenegraph and hide it.
All geometries behind the glass is black. This is because the headlight glass was not recognized as a
transparent object during occlusion rendering. To define objects as transparent objects for ambient
occlusion rendering, the material assigned to them needs to be a transparent material.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

16

Ambient Occlusion
picture perfect

Unhide the headlight glass.

Press F3 to switch to Realistic High Quality render mode.

In the MaterialEditor-> Materials tab right click on the Material assigned to the glass objects
and select Convert->ToTruelightMaterial->GlasMaterial.

Switch back to AmbientOcclusion render mode (F7) and recalculate the whole car and
the ground.

Set the Shadow Quality to Medium Quality

Press F3 to switch to Realistic High Quality render mode.

September 09

Deactivate Subdivision in the AmbientOcclusion module before recalculating and

press Calculate.

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

17

picture perfect

Creating and assigning

Materials

VRED offers a wide range of material types. To create materials for the different surfaces open
the MaterialEditor->Materials tab.
First create a ShadowMaterial. The Shadow Material is a special material for ground surfaces. The ShadowMaterial is a completely transparent material and only opaque where ambient occlusion is calculated or
shadows casted by light-sources or EnvironmentSphereMaterials(only raytrace rendering mode) hit the
ground.

Right click into the Materials tab and select Create->CreateTruelightMaterial->ShadowMaterial.

Rename the ShadowMaterial to GroundMaterial.

Drag and drop the GroundMaterial into the scenegraph or the renderwindow onto the Ground Plane.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

18

picture perfect

Creating and assigning

Materials

Create a UnicolorPaintMaterial for the car`s chassis.

Right click into the Materials tab and select:

Create->CreateTruelightMaterial->UnicolorPaintMaterial.

Rename the UnicolorPaintMaterial to CarPaint_01.

Assign the CarPaint_01 to all body parts of the car.

Select with Shift+Ctrl+left mouse click all body parts in the RenderView.

Right click in the Materials tab on the CarPaint_01 material and select Apply to selected nodes.

Set the CarPaint base color in the ColorChooser to red.

Set the CarPaint clearcoat color to white.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

19

picture perfect

Creating and assigning

Materials

Create a PlasticMaterial for the car`s plastic parts.

Right click into the Materials tab and select Create->CreateTruelightMaterial->PlasticMaterial.

Rename the UPlasticMaterial to BlackPlasticGrill.

Assign the BlackPlasticGrill material to the two front grills.

Set the BlackPlasticGrill material`s diffuse color to black.

Set the specular color to mid-grey.

Set the roughness to 2.

Enable the Use Structure checkbox in the BumpTexture menu.

Set the Bump Intensity value to 2.

Set the Structure Size to 0.3.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

20

picture perfect

Creating and assigning

Materials

Create a GlassMaterial for the car`s headlight glasses.

Right click into the Materials tab and select Create->CreateTruelightMaterial->GlassMaterial.

Rename the UGlassMaterial to HeadlightGlass and assign it to the headlight glass parts.

Create a GlassMaterial for the car`s indicators.

Right click into the Materials tab and select Create->CreateTruelightMaterial->GlassMaterial.

Rename the UGlassMaterial to IndicatorGlass and assign it to the indicator glass parts.

Set the exterior transparency color to a strong orange color.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

21

picture perfect

Creating and assigning

Materials

Create a ChromeMaterial for the car`s chrome parts.

Right click into the Materials tab and select Create->CreateTruelightMaterial->ChromeMaterial.

Rename the UChromeMaterial to ChromeMaterial.

Assign the ChromeMaterial material to the Chrome parts in the headlights.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

22

picture perfect

Creating and assigning

Materials

Create a BrushedMetalMaterial for the car`s chrome parts.

Right click into Materials tab and select Create->CreateTruelightMaterial->BrushedMetalMateriall.

Rename the UBrushedMetalMaterial to Aluminium.

Assign the Aluminium material to the brushed _alu parts in the headlights.

Set the specular color to a light grey color with a value of 0.8.

Set the U roughness to 0.5 and V roughness value to 1.

Set the metal type to Aluminium.

Set the brush mapping to planar YZ.

Set the Size U value to 5 and the Size V value to 0.3

Enable Bump Texture/ use structure.

Set the bump intensity to 1.1

Set the specular weight to 0.75

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

23

picture perfect

Creating and assigning

Materials

Create a GlassMaterial for the LED_glasses.

Right click into the Materials tab and select Create->CreateTruelightMaterial->GlassMaterial.

Rename the UGlassMaterial to LED_glas.

Assign the LED_glas material to the frosted_glas parts in the headlights.

Check on the Use Frosted Glass checkbox.

Set the roughness value to 0.05

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

24

picture perfect

Creating and assigning

Materials

Create a BrushedMetalMaterial for the rims.

Right click into Materials tab and select Create->CreateTruelightMaterial-> BrushedMetalMaterial.

Rename the UBrushedMetalMaterial to rim_material.

Assign the rim_material material to the front_left and front right rim.

Set the metal type to Aluminium

Set in the Brush Orientation section the Brush Mapping orientation to Radial YZ.

Set the size U and V value to 0.3

Select the front left rim and press the Get Center button in the material`s Radial Mapping
Settings section.

Enable the use structure checkbox in the Bump Texture section.

Set the bump intensity value to 1.

Duplicate the rim_material and assign the duplicated material to the rear rims.


Right click on the rim_material in the MaterialEditor->Material tab. Select Edit->Duplicate.

Rename the duplicated material to rim_material_back.

Assign the rim_material_back material to the rear rims.

Select the left rear rim and press the Get Center button in the material`s Radial Mapping

Settings section.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

25

picture perfect

Creating and assigning

Materials

Create a TireMaterial for the car`s tires.

Right click into the Materials tab and select Create->CreateTruelightMaterial->TireMaterial.

Rename the UTireMaterial to tire_front_left.

Assign the tire_front_left material front left tire.

Set the Diffuse color to black.

Set the specular color to white

Set the roughness value to 1.5

Enable the Specular Texture checkboxes

for Use Marking and Use Profile.

Load the file tire_marking_bump.jpg as

the specular marking texture.

Load the tire_profile_bump.jpg as the

specular profile texture.

Load the file tire_marking_bump.jpg as

the bump marking texture.

Load the tire_profile_bump.jpg

as the bump profile texture.

Set the bump intensity to 10.

Set the parallax intensity to 0.8.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

26

picture perfect

Creating and assigning

Materials

Select the front tire and press the Get Center button in the Texture Settings section
in the materials attributes.

Set the textures repeat U value to 11 and the repeat V value to 5.These two values define
the repeat behaviour of the profile area of the tire.

Set the Scale value to 1.7.This value defines the position and size of the markings.

Duplicate the tire_front_left material and rename the new material to tire_front_right. Assign the

tire_front_right material to the front right tire.The profile will not be placed correct.To update the

profile placement, select the front right tire and press the Get Center button in the material`s

attribute section Texture Settings in the tire_front_right material.


Repeat this procedure for the two rear tires.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

27

picture perfect

Creating and assigning

Materials

Create a CarbonMaterial for the car`s backdoor.

Right click into the Materials tab and select Create->CreateTruelightMaterial->CarbonMaterial.

Rename the UCarbonMaterial to backdoor.

Assign the backdoor material to the backdoor.

Set the carbon Pattern type in the Carbon Pattern section to 3X1 staircase.

Set the pattern size to 2.

Enable the use structure checkbox.

Set the bump intensity to 1.5.

Set the structure size to 2.5.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

28

picture perfect

Creating and assigning

Materials

Create the following materials for the rest of the car.

Create a black ReflectivePlasticMaterial for the door handles called door_handle.

Create a black PlasticMaterial for the car`s ground surface called black.

Create a ChromeMaterial for the car`s exhaust called axhaust.

Create a ChromeMaterial for all Logos and types called Logo.

Create rough ChromeMaterial called cover for the gas cover.

Create a red GlasMaterial for the rearlights called rear_glass.

Create a white GlasMaterial for the interior rearlights called int_rear_glass.

Adjust the windshield`s glass material transparency. Set the Exterior Transparency color to black.

Assign the LED_glas material to the side blinker`s internal light geometry.

Create a BrushedMetalMaterial for all screws and ventiles called dark_metal with the metal type

Tungsten. Assign it to the brake, the screws and the rim covers.

Create a BrushedMetalMaterial called brakedisc for the brake disks.

Create a light grey UnicolorPaintMaterial for the rim blends called rim_blends.

Create a ChromeMaterial for the side mirrors called mirrors.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

29

picture perfect

September 09

Creating and assigning

Materials

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

30

Creating an environment
picture perfect

HDR images can be used as spherical environments surrounding all objects in the scene. The HDR image
can also be used to define the lighting in the scene.VRED has an default HDR image which is connected to
all TruelightMaterials and is used to light the scene.


At the bottom of each material`s attributes list (not the ShadowMaterial) there is a

EnvironmentSettings section.


The value of Environment is set to <noname>, which indicates that the default HDR image

is in use.


To use an individual HDR image as an environment, a SphereEnvironmentMaterial is needed.


Select the MateriaEditor->Environments tab.


Create a SphereEnvironmentMaterial.

Right click into the Environments tab and select

Create->CreateTruelightMaterial->SphereEnvironmentMaterial.

Rename the SphereEnvironmentMaterial to EnvForrest.

In the EnvForest material`s attributes Select the HDR image forrest.mtd.

The HDR file will be loaded.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

31

Creating an environment
picture perfect

Assign the new Environment to all TrueLightMaterials.

Right mouse click select Apply environment to all materials

Press o.k. without any entry.

In the EnvForest material`s attribute set the Reflected Saturation value to 0.65.

Select the root node in the scenegraph.

Assign the EnvForest SphereEnvironmentMaterial to the Dome geometry node.

In the EnvForest SpehreEnvironmentMaterial attributes set the HDR image position.

Set the z axis position to -1000

Save the the project file.

September 09

The previuos lighting information will now be replaced with the lighting of
the new EnvForest material.

Select File-> Add..in the menu and add the file Environment.vpb.

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

32

Creating projected textures

picture perfect

Select the root node in the scenegraph. Add the file licenseplate.vpb to file. Rename the Group node to Licenseplate.
Open the Animation->Transform module and select the Basic tab.
Set the transform values for the license plate group node:

Scale X - 10
Scale Y - 10
Scale Z - 10

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

33

Creating projected textures

picture perfect

Create a ReflectivePlasticMaterial for the numberplate.

Right click into the Materials tab and select:

Create->CreateTruelightMaterial->ReflectivePlasticMaterial.

Rename the UReflectivePlastik to licenseplate.

Set the materials Environment value to EnvForest in the Environment section of

the numberplate material.

Assign the licenseplate material to the license plate.

Enable the Use Texture checkbox and select the texture licenseplate.png.

With the licenseplate geometry node selected open the Textures tab.

Enable the instant mapping checkbox.

Move the plane visibility slider to max.

Position the projection plane appropriate for a planar projection and press the
Align plane projection to fit the alignment.

Rotate the texture by 180 degrees.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

34

Creating material switches

picture perfect

A SwitchMaterial is a material node that enables the assignment of different materials. I.e. it can be used to
switch between all color variations of all chassis parts.
Create a SwitchMaterial as a bucket for different car paints.

Right click into the Materials tab and select Create->CreateTruelightMaterial->SwitchMaterial.

Rename the SwitchMaterial to carpaintSwicth.

Assign the carpaintSwitch material to the car chassis.

Right mouse click on the CarPaint_01 material in the eMaterialEditor->Materials and

select Select nodes. All objects with the CarPaint_01 material assigned will be selected.

Right click on the SwitchMaterial carpaintSwitch and select Apply to selected nodes.
All chassis parts will turn black, since there is still no shading added to the
carpaintSwitch node yet.

Right click the CarPaint_01 material and select Edit->Copy.

Select the carpaintSwitch node and paste the CarPaint_01 material into the context
box of the carpaintSwitch node.

Duplicate the CarPaint_01 material. Rename the new CarPaint_ material to CarPaint_02.

Add the CarPaint_02 Material also to the carpaintSwitch node. Set the carpaintSwitch
node attribute Choice to 1.

Set the CarPaint_02 material`s color to yellow.

Right click into the Materials tab and select

Create->CreateTruelightMaterial->MetallicPaintMaterial

September 09

Create a MetallicPaintMaterial.

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

35

Creating material switches

picture perfect

Rename the UMetallicPaintMaterial to CarPaint_03.

Set the CarPaint_03 materials Environment parameter to EnvForest.

Add the new material to the carpaintSwitch material node.

Set the carpaintSwitch Choice parameter to 3.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

36

picture perfect

Creating environment material

switches

An EnvironmentSwitchMaterial is a material node that enables the instant assignment of different HDR
surroundings to all shaders. The lighting situation can be switched instantly, based on the used HDR image.
Create an EnvironmentSwitchMaterial.

Right click into the Materials tab and select

Create->CreateTruelightMaterial->EnvironmentSwitchMaterial.

Rename the UEnvironmentSwitchMaterial to EnvSwitch.

Right click into the EnvSwitch content box and select the EnvForrest entry in the dialogbox
to add the EnvForrest HDR as a choice value.

Create new SphereEnvironmentMaterial called EnvStudio.

Load the HDR image called perfectStudio.mtd.

Add the EnvStudio material to the EnvSwitch.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

37

picture perfect

Creating environment material

switches

Apply the EnvSwitch material to the Dome geometry node.

Right click on the EnvSwitch material and select Apply Environment to all material..

Leave the dialog box empty.The EnvForrest value in the environment parameter in all
TruelightMaterials will now be replaced with the EnvSwitch value.

In the EnvSwitch Choice parameter the HDR image which has to be used can be selected.
Set the choice ID or simply double click on the HDR in the list.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

38

Creating multipass materials

picture perfect

A MultiPassMaterial is a material that layers an unlimited amount of shaders on top of each other.
Create a MultipassMaterial.

Right click into the Materials tab and select Create->CreateTruelightMaterial->MultiPassMaterial.

Rename the UMultiPassMaterial to backdoor_multi.

Copy and paste the backdoor material into the context box of the backdoor_multi material.

Create a Truelight ReflectivePlasticMaterial, rename it to backdoor_logo.

Load the file PI-Logo.png as color texture. Activate Use Texture, activate the
Use Alpha Channel and set the Repeat Mode to Decal.

Add the backdoor_logo material to the backdoor_multi material.

Assign the backdoor_multi material to the geometry node rear_door.igs-> Shell1->Backdoor.

Select the Backdoor geometry node and the backdoor_logo material and open the
MaterialEditor->Textures tab. Position the logo texture.
Set the Repeat X and Y value to 20. Set the Offset X value to -0.4. Set the Offset Y value to -0.35.

Adjust the backdoor_logo material. Set the diffuse color to white. Set the Environment
value to EnvSwitch.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

39

Creating light-sources
picture perfect

Besides the HDR lighting model which is directly connected to the shaders, additional light sources can be
added to a VRED scene. Light sources can be freely positioned in the 3D environment. By default In VRED
there is always a Headlight activated, which will be switched off as soon as the first TruelightMaterial
is created.
Create a SpotLight.

Select the Root node in the scenegraph.

Open the Appearance->LightEditor module.

Right click into the LightEditor-Scenegraph and select Create->Spotlight. A Spotlight node will
be created in the VRED scenegraph and in the LightEditor-Scenegraph.

Select the Microracer node in the VRED scenegraph and select the Top-View on the
Navigation-Cube.

Press the Use Camera button in the Spotlight`s attributes.This places the Spotlight with the
same position and orientation the camera has.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

40

Creating light-sources
picture perfect

Spotlight Settings.


Rename the Spotlight to Keylight_studio.

Click the checkbox Enable. Deactivate the Local Lighting checkbox.

In the Shadow section of the light attributes set the Intensity to 1.You will not immediately see
the shadows casted by the spotlight.To see the OpenGL shadows the Realtime Shadow
rendering must be activated.

Select Render Options in the Icons Tab and activate Realtime Shadows.

Set the Shadow Map Resolution in the shadow section of the light attributes to 2048 to raise
the shadow quality.

Disable the Keylight-studio and create another key-light source for the forest environment
called Keylight_forrest.

In the Color section of the light attributes set the Intensity value to 4.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

41

picture perfect

Positioning pivot and

creating object animations

Animations can be created in VRED in the CurveEditor module.VRED supports the creation of keyframe
animations. Keyframe animations can be rearranged and retimed in the ClipMaker module.
Create a backdoor animation.

Select the Back_door group node in the VRED scenegraph. Activate the TransformTool in the
Icons Tab.

Right click into the RenderWindow and press Shift + Q to activate the PivotTransformTool.
Position the rotate pivot (yellow pivot) at the top edge of the backdoor.

Press Shift + E to activate the RotateTool.

Open the Animation->CurveEditor module.

The Back_door transform parameters will be listed in the CurveEditor`s scenegraph. Press the
Key All button in the CurveEditor to key the initial Back_door position. All parameters will be
coloured to indicate that they are keyed.

Move the upper Timeline in the CurveEditor to frame 24. Rotate the x-Axis of the
Back_door geometry by 95 degree. Again press the Key All button.

Press the Center button to frame all created keyframes in the CurveEditor`s Graph.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

42

picture perfect

Positioning pivot and

creating object animations

Hold Shift click the left mouse button and drag to create a frame selection around all keyframes. Press the
Flat button to define a flat tangent at all keyframes.

Scrub through the timeline to view the animation.To store the animation press the Block
button in the CurveEditor. An animationBlock called Back_door_Block_1, in which all animated
parameters are listed, will be created and added to the CurveEditor`s scenegraph. Selecting the
Back_door_Block_1 parameter the stored animation can be accessed and played.

Right click on the Back_door_Block_1 parameter in the CurveEditor`s scenegraph and

select Duplicate Block.

Then select Flip_Block

Rename the new Block to Back_door_Block_1_reverse.

Scrub through the timeline and select the different Blocks to view the different animations.

The Back_door parameters themselves are now free for further keyframe animations. An
unlimited number of Animation Blocks can be created.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

43

Creating camera animations

picture perfect

Camera animations can also be created using the CurveEditor module.

Open the Appearance->CurveEditor module.

Set the Endframe value in the CurveEditor to 100.

Press the Cam button the activate the camera node. All camera modules are listed in the
CurveEditor`s scengraph.

Select the degree parameter in the CurveEditor`s scenegraph and set the value to 0.

Select the Microracer group node in the VRED scenegraph and press right view on the
NavigationCube in the RenderView.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

44

Creating camera animations

picture perfect

Press the Key Sel button in the CurveEditor.

Go to frame 50 in the timeline, set the degree value to 180 and create another keyframe. Press
the Key Sel button.

Go to frame 99 and set the degree value to 357 and create a final keyframe.

Select the three created keyframes in the CurveEditor`s Graph and set the tangent to linear.
Press the Lin button.

Press the Block button to store the animation. A Camera Block will be created.

Press the Cam button to deactivate camera animation mode.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

45

Using the ClipMaker

picture perfect

Using the ClipMaker, all created animationBlocks can be arranged on a global timeline to setup perfect
timings and animation length.

Open the Animation->CurveEditor module and the Animation->ClipMaker module.

Select the Back_door group node in the VRED scenegraph.The transform parameters of the
Back_door group node and animationBlocks are listed in the CurveEditor`s scengraph. Drag the
Back_door_Block_1 animationBlock into the ClipMaker timeline. A new Clip called Clip1 will
be created.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

46

Using the ClipMaker

picture perfect

Add the Back_door_Block_1_reverse animationBlock to the Clip1.

Scroll through the Clip1 timeline to view the animation.

To export the Clip1 select the Clip1 node in the ClipMaker scenegraph and press the Export
button in the ClipMaker.

A dialog box opens.

Set the Supersampling value to Low.

Press O.K.

Select an image directory and enter the image name back_door_ani.png.

The image sequence will be rendered and saved.

Set the Stopframe to 50.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

47

Rendering
picture perfect

VRED supports two different rendering modes. OpenGL rendering and raytraced rendering. Each render
mode has it`s advantages.

There is no further preparation needed to switch between both render modes. To activate the
raytraced rendering press Render Options in the Icons Tab and select Raytracing. Or Press
the F4 key.

OpenGL:

Raytracing:

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

48

Rendering
picture perfect

To improve the interactive performance in the RenderView press Render Options in the Icons
tab and select Raytracing downscale.

For antialiasing calculations when no interaction is taking place activate press Render Options
in the Icons tab and select Still antialiasing.

You will notice that while in OpenGL mode all reflections are approximated against the environ-
ment and are where cube mapped, in Raytracing mode they are traced physically correct.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

49

Rendering
picture perfect

All color variations, geometry switches, environment switches and animations are still accessible in
the same way they were in OpenGL mode.

Switch to the studio environment, change the keylight and change the carpaint to silver.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

50

picture perfect

Creating area lights

(Raytracing rendering mode)

Direct light sources can be converted to area light sources.

Press F4 to activate the Raytracing rendering mode.

Activate Raytracing Downscale and Still antialiasing.

Create a new ground material.

Create a PlasticMaterial and assign it to the Ground_Plane.

Rename it to ground_plastic.

Set the Environment value to EnvSwitch.

Whith the studio environment and studio keylight activated double click the
Keylight_studio light node in the LightEditor to select the light object.

Set the light intensity to 2.

Enable the Area Light checkbox

Enable the Visible in Reflections checkbox.

Open the TransformTool to scale the light source.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

51

picture perfect

Creating area lights

(Raytracing rendering mode)

Set the scale value to 4000.The hard shadows will become softer relating to the
size of the Area Light.

Adjust the light`s position.

The whole scene is still being lit by the HDR image used and the Area Light added. To only
use the Area Light`s light emission set the EnvStudio Exposure value to 0.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

52

Using GI
picture perfect

In Raytracing rendering mode full global illumination can be activated. This will activate more than one
bounce of light reflections on all surfaces. All shadows will be calculated on the fly.

Adjust the ground_plastic material.

Set the Roughness value to 0.02.

Set the Reflectivity value to 0.5.

Open the Rendering->RaytracingSettings->Quality tab

and set the MAX Reflection Depth, Max Refraction Depth and Max Shadow Depth to 6.

Open the Rendering->RaytracingSettings->Overrides tab

and activate the Illumination Mode Override and Enable Material Quality Override checkbox.

Set the Interactive override value in the Illumination Mode Overrides section to
Full Global Illumination

Set the Still Frame override value in the Illumination Mode Overrides section to
Full Global Illumination

Set the Interactive Quality value in the Enable Material Quality Override section to 1.

Set the Stillframe Quality value in the Enable Material Quality Override section to 1.

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

53

Final result
picture perfect

September 09

Creating an interactive VRED presentation

54