Render Properties Window

Preset

Used to select a preset paper size for the rendered scene

Output Size

Used to select the resolution and output size to use when rendering the scene

Width

Determines the width and unit of measure of the rendered scene

Height

Determines the height and unit of measure of the rendered scene

Resolution

Used to determine the resolution of the image or how many pixels are defined in the boundary of a square inch, when rendering

Orientation

Used to select an orientation when rendering (portrait or landscape)

Margins (Millimeters)

Controls the margin settings

Render with Alpha Channel

Used to select a transparent background when rendering the scene

Image Format

Used to select the pixel format (color depth) to use when rendering the scene.

Close Statistics after Rendering

Closes the Render Statistics window after the render is complete.

Render in New Window

Displays the rendered scene in a separate window

Show Output Size

Used to display the output size of the illustration on the screen

Watermark

Controls the watermark settings.

• Add Watermark: Used to add a watermark

• File: Used to select the watermark image to be rendered with the file

• Opacity: Determines the opacity (transparence) of the watermark

• Alignment: Select a checkbox to determine the placement of the watermark on the page

Render

Renders all selected files to the selected format

Antialiasing

Used to select the amount of antialiasing to apply. The higher the value, the smoother the rendered output.

Note that the higher values slow down the processing speed.

• None: Renders pixels without antialiasing

• Adaptive: Uses adaptive antialiasing; antialiasing pixels that are different to any of the adjacent pixels. Edges are detected and smoothed by comparing edges of subdivided pixels. If the color difference is more than a set tolerance, the sub-pixels are again divided and so on, until no edge is detected.

• 2x2: 2x2 sub-pixels are calculated within each pixel, and then averaged.

Double-Sided Polygons

Renders both sides of all faces. Used when you need to render the inside and the outside of objects, or if you have imported complex geometry in which the face normals are not properly unified. Selecting this option increases the rendering time.

Filter Texture Maps

Filters the texture mapping. The texture value for each pixel is calculated using the average of the nearest texture elements to produce smoother results and works with both ray tracing and outline render.

Raytrace Reflections

Applies true reflections using ray tracing from the camera view back to the light source. Models mapped with raytrace reflections act as mirrors.

Refraction

Applies refraction to the rendered scene

Shadows

Applies hard shadows to the rendered scene

Soft Shadows

Applies soft shadows to the rendered scene

Use Multithreaded Rendering

Uses all available processors to render the scene and increase the speed of rendering. This option is dependent on the number and power of your processors.

Quick Controls

Used to control the quality and illumination.

• Quality: A slider to set the quality of the render.

• Global Illumination: Used to switch on Irradiance Caching, and set the defaults.

Advanced Controls

Select to enable the Advanced Controls area

Rendering

Used to control the rendering settings.

• Rays Per Pixel: Used to control how many main rays are shot through each pixel of the image. The greater the number of rays, the slower the rendering.

• Environment Samples: Used to control how many samples of the HDR environment map are used to calculate lighting and shows. Low values (1, 2, 4) result in quick renders, but with grainy shadows and lighting. Higher values (8, 16) result in much smoother images, which in turn render more slowly.

• Ray Bounces: Used to control how many times a ray can bounce before stopping. Most scenes only require a few bounces, so the default of 8 is acceptable in most situations.

• Pixel Filter Size: Used to control how the samples are assembled to form the final image. Larger values result in a softer look to the image; smaller values result in a crisper but grainier look.

• Calculate Alpha against black: Used to turn off all backgrounds, and render the image against black.

• Render Ground Plane Reflections: Used to treat the ground (the lowest point of the scene, as a reflective plane, and render a reflection of the scene in it). If you are placing objects onto background images with flat surfaces that the objects are sitting on, this can make shiny surfaces look very realistic.

• Use Local Lights Only: Used to prevent the background environment from casting light on the scene. Light only comes from any point/spot light sources in the scene, or from any objects with emitting materials that are set to light the scene.

• High Quality Gloss Reflections: Used to turn on an alternative sampling scheme for glossy reflections that samples the environment more efficiently.

• Render 360 Environment Map: Renders the current scene as an HDR environment map that you can reload as a background. A spherical image is rendered in all directions from the current camera location.

Global Illumination

Used to control the Global Illumination settings.

• Path Tracing: Used to switch on the path tracing global illumination algorithm. This is a very slow, but very accurate rendering algorithm that captures all lighting effects in the scene. You need to increase the Rays Per Pixel value to very high levels to get good results (sometimes up to 1024 or more rays per pixel).

• Irradiance Caching: Used to turn on a much quicker, but less accurate global illumination. Secondary lighting effects are calculated at a few points throughout the scene, and interpolated to fill in the gaps.

• Sample Quality: Used to determine the quality of each sample in the irradiance cache. Higher setting will create better quality images, but will take more time. There is rarely much need to go above about 2/3rds quality.

• Sample Density: Used to control how closely the samples are placed in the scene.

Antialiasing

Used to select the amount of antialiasing to apply. The higher the value, the smoother the rendered output.

Render Additional Items

Renders all additional items such as the grid, axis, and others