User Manual
Copyright Notice
COPYRIGHT © 1992-5 Radiance Software International
Published by:
Radiance Software International
1726 Francisco Street
Berkeley, California 94703
Tel: (510) 848-7621
Fax: (510) 848-7613
E-mail: Ez3d@radiance.com
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or translated in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
Documentation Version 2.0-A: November 1995
Chapter A1 INTRODUCTION
Product Information
About the Manual
Notations Used in the Manual
Interface Notation
Additional References
Chapter A2 INSTALLATION
System Requirements
Ez3d 1.0 users: Using your old Ez3d projects in 2.0
Installation from a Tape
Installation from a CD-ROM
Installation from Radiance's WWW/FTP Site
Installation Menu
Chapter A3 GETTING STARTED
Opening an Ez3d Project
Getting Online Help
Orienting Yourself in a 3D World
Manipulating Objects
Potter: Let's Start Modeling
More Modeling
Setting Object Attributes
Creating a 3D (VRML) Web Page
Creating Photo-realistic Images
Wrapping Up
Chapter B1 FILE - Project Management Operations
File - New
File - Open
File - Save
File - Save As
File - Revert to Saved
File - Import
File - Export
File - Publish
File - Notes
File - Print
File - Install - Software
File - Install - License
File - Hide All Tools/Show All Tools
File - Exit
Chapter B2 EDIT - Editing Operations
Edit - Undo
Edit - Redo
Edit - Cut
Edit - Copy
Edit - Paste
Edit - Delete
Edit - Duplicate
Edit - Select Parent
Edit - Select All
Edit - Deselect All
Edit - Group
Edit - Ungroup
Edit - Hide
Edit - Show
Edit - Show Clipboard
Chapter B3 MODEL - Modeling Operations
Object Types
Model - Potter
Model - Spline Surfer
Model - Face Builder
Model - 3D Text
Model - 2D Text
Model - Lines
Model - Merge
Model - Mold
Model - Slice
Model - Mirror
Model - WWW Inline
Chapter B4 ATTRIBUTE - Display, Color, Materials and Textures
Attribute - Display Style
Attribute - Color
Attribute - Material
Attribute - Texture
Attribute - Transform
Attribute - Complexity
Attribute - Level of Detail
Attribute - WWW Anchor
Chapter B5 SCENE - Lights, Camera, Action...
Scene - Object List
Scene - Lights
Scene - Environment
Scene - Camera Viewpoints
Scene - Background Image
Scene - Render Options
Scene - Render Process Sheet
Scene - Test Render
Scene - Render
Scene - VR Browser
Chapter B6 OPTIONS - User Preferences
Options - New Viewer
Options - Selection Highlight
Options - Snap to grid
Options - Grid options
Options - Image utilities
Options - Show Info
Options - Show Icons
Options - Preferences
Chapter B7 HELP - On-line help
Help - On Context
Help - On Topic
Help - On Help
Help - Help Mode
Help - On-line Tutorial
Help - On-line Manual
Help - On Ez3d Series...
Help - On Radiance Software
Radiance Home Page
Product Support
Appendix A Tips And Tricks
System Configuration
Improving Speed
Known Problems And Work-arounds
Appendix B Ez3d resource file
Appendix C Desktop tools, Drag & Drop
Copy & Paste
Drag & Drop (SGI only)
Appendix D File Formats/ Translators
Ez3d's native file format
Import Translators
Export Translators
Installing Inventor Translators (SGI only)
Advanced Import Translator Options
Part A User's Guide
Ez3d 2.0 series from Radiance Software consists of the following products:
Ez3d VRML Author
Ez3d Modeler Pro
Ez3d VRML Composer
Ez3d RenderWorld
Ez3d Series offers the following:
A quick and easy model-building to work with animation programs such as Alias, Wavefront and SoftImage.
Virtual world building for the Internet (VRML) and other VR applications.
Photo-realistic 3D image generation for publishing and visualization.
An ideal modeling environment for Open Inventor and Performer programmers.
High end features such as splines, deformations, flying logos, texture mapping, bump mapping and ray-tracing.
Real time modeling features such as Level of detail control and automatic polygon reduction!
An intuitive interface for all VRML extensions including Inlines, Anchors, and camera vantage points...
Scene composition features such as precise positioning and alignment of objects, hierarchical object list editor and much more!
Based on SGI's Open Inventor 3-D framework with a complete Motif interface, Ez3d provides native VRML authoring capabilities without the need for an external translator.
Ez3d Version 2.0
Copyright © 1993-5
Radiance Software International
1726 Francisco Street
Berkeley, Ca 94703
E-mail: Ez3d@radiance.com (for product information)
E-mail: support@radiance.com (for product support)
http://www.radiance.com
The manual is divided into two parts:
Part A: User's Guide contains the following chapters:
Chapter A1 provides a brief introduction to Ez3d.
Chapter A2 describes the Ez3d Installation process.
Chapter A3 contains a short tutorial to get you started with Ez3d.
Part B: Reference Guide contains the following chapters:
Chapter B1 provides a complete description of "Model" which explains all the modeling tools in Ez3d.
Chapter B2 provides a complete description of "Attribute",
which explains the tools to map materials and textures.
Chapter B3 provides a complete description of "Scene" which explains all the rendering tools in Ez3d.
Chapter B4 provides a complete description of "Options",
which explains how to customize your Ez3d environment.
Chapter B5 provides a complete description of "Help", Ez3d's on-line help system.
The following notation is used throughout the manual:
"File - New", for example, describes a tool or a functionality that is accessed using the "New" option available under the "File" pull-down menu.
Courier font is used for all literals such as directory paths, values typed in a text-field, shell, etc. Example: "Ez3d_projects"
Italicized text is used to describe an interface selection. Example: "Spline steps".
The terms "Folder" and "Directory" are used inter-changeably in this manual to refer to directories on your UNIX system.
The following conventions are used in the Ez3d interface:
1. Blue colored items in the interface refer to features that affect only the photo-realistic rendering (ray-tracing) module. Setting values for these items will cause no change in the appearance of the Ez3d scene. Example: "Mist" in the "Environment Editor".
2. Grayed-out items in the interface refer to features that are non-functional in the current mode. Example: "samples" slider in "Render Options" when you have "Open-GL" set as your "render program".
3. "Option..." (interface items with a "..." next to their name) signify that selecting these items will bring up a new interface dialog.
4. Icon Menu items can also be accessed from the main interface.
5. Hourglass/ clock cursor indicates that Ez3d is currently busy and that you should stand-by till the cursor changes back to regular mode.
Neither this manual nor the product requires an in-depth knowledge of 3D computer graphics to use. All it needs is your creative imagination and a willingness to learn and experiment with new intuitive tools.
If you want to learn more about the technical aspects of 3D computer graphics, the following reference is recommended:
"Introduction to Computer Graphics", Foley, J.D., A. van Dam, S. Feiner, J.F. Hughes and Phillips, Addison-Wesley, 1993
If you want to learn more about the technical aspects of VRML, the following reference is recommended:
"VRML - Browsing & Building Cyberspace", Mark Pesce, New-Riders Publishing, 1995
The following Web sites will give all the information you ever wanted on VRML and 3D Web page creation:
http://www.sdsc.edu/VRML
http://www.sgi.com/Products/WebFORCE
This chapter describes the installation procedure. The fully functional version of Ez3d is currently shipped either on a tape ( 1/4" QIC or a DAT) or on a CD-ROM. It can also be downloaded from Radiance's web site (http://www.radiance.com). After installation, you can use the product in "demo" mode where you can use most of the tools available in the fully functional version, but you cannot save your work or render. You must then contact us to obtain a fully-functional license for Ez3d.
Hardware Requirements
Ez3d is currently available for the following platforms:
Silicon Graphics, IRIX 5.3 or higher
Sun SPARC, Solaris 2.4 or higher
Fujitsu SPARC, Solaris 2.4 or higher
Ez3d can run on the base memorymemory configuration of 16 Megabytes, but it is recommended that you have at least 24 to 32 Megabytes of memory. Graphics projects, especially those with lots of textures require a lot of disk space. Make sure you have at least 25 Mb of disk space for installing Ez3d, and another 25 Mb of free disk space for your projects. You may also need a tape drive (DAT or Q150) to save and load your work.
IMPORTANT: If you have Ez3d 1.0 projects that you'd like to use in Ez3d 2.0, please follow the instructions below before installing Ez3d 2.0:
1. First create a folder to store your old Ez3d 1.0 scene files (Example "Ez3d.old" in your home directory).
2. Run Ez3d 1.0, select "File - Open" and open an old project (Example "MyScene.ez3d"). Select "Sculptor - Save" and save your entire scene in "INVENTOR2.iv" format in the folder created in Step 1.
3. Follow Step 2 for each Ez3d 1.0 project that you'd like to use in Ez3d 2.0.
4. After you have installed Ez3d 2.0, select "File - Import", change to the directory created in Step 1 and load the scene file created in Step 2.
1. Insert the tape in the drive.
2. You have to be logged on as super-user to install Ez3d. If you are on a network, please login on the server on which you are installing Ez3d.
To install Ez3d, go in the console window (or a shell window), type:
cd /usr/local/bin; su
3a. For a system with a tape drive connected, type:
tar xv Ez3d_install
This will extract the software that will do the installation of Ez3d on your system. It is normal for the tape drive to run for a while, wait until the tape drive has stopped before executing the next step.
3b. Or, for reading from a tape on another machine on the network, type:
tar xvf guest@<machine-name>:/dev/tape Ez3d_install
4. After the tape drive stops, at the prompt, type:
./Ez3d_install
5. Now follow instructions in the "Installation Menu" section.
1. Insert the CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive.
2. Next double click on the "Install" icon in the CD-ROM directory (/CDROM or /cdrom).
3. Now follow instructions in the "Installation Menu" section.
1. Download the Ez3d 2.0 system from our web site (http://www.radiance.com), or our FTP site (ftp://www.radiance.com/pub/radiance/www/ftp).
2. Follow instructions in the Web page or README.
1. In the "Ez3d Installation" menu, first enter the path of a location on your system (that has enough disk space) where you want to install Ez3d. Example /usr/local. Next, select the product you are installing which is one of:
Ez3d VRML Author
Ez3d Modeler Pro
Ez3d VRML Composer
Ez3d RenderWorld
2. Ez3d comes bundled with the following (optional) subsystemssubsystems:
Clip art - Textures
Clip art - Projects
Clip art - Models
Clip art - Materials
Import translators
Export translators
Photo-real renderer
Picture gallery
Translators
Misc. source
If you're short of disk space on your system, you may want to turn off a few subsystems before installing Ez3d.
3. Click on "Install". This will take a few minutes.
4. Once the program is installed, you will be presented with a dialog containing the list of users on your system. Select the name of a user and click on "Install" to add an executable icon to the user's desktop. You can also install the Ez3d script in any other location you want (say, /usr/local/bin) by typing the full pathname. The Ez3d script is also added to /usr/sbin for your convenience.
5. For licensed users only: Now you are ready to install license(s) for Ez3d. Click on "Install License" and follow instructions from there.
6. You can run Ez3d by double-clicking on the icon in your home folder (called "Ez3d-VRPro" or "Ez3d-ModelerPro" or "Ez3d-RenderWorld" or "Ez3d-VRComposer" depending on the product you've installed). You may wish to move this icon on to your desktop. You can also run Ez3d from a shell, by typing:
rehash # Only the first time
Ez3d2.0 # To run Ez3d
Removing Ez3d subsystems from your system
After Ez3d has been installed, you can remove subsystems by running the install program again (using the "File - Install software" selection) and turning off the subsystems in the installation menu and clicking on "Remove".
We give you a very brief overview of Ez3d, to get you started immediately, before you start on a "real" project. Since Ez3d is extremely user-friendly, it will be far easier to learn than other software packages of this nature. Use the on-line context-sensitive help cards to get detailed help on the various tools.
Ez3d comes up with the "Project - Open" interface. Type in a new name, say, "Test" and click on "Ok". A new project, called "Test.scene.iv" will be created.
The interface in front of you has a main 3D viewer with a title bar and an icon menu bar on top, and an "info" window below.
The title bar has several drop-down menus. "File" contains operations to manage your project. "Edit" contains common editing operations like "Cut" and "Undo". "Model" contains all the modeling operations. "Attribute" contains operations to assign colors, materials and textures to objects. "Scene" contains operations to set lights and environment, and to create a photo-realistic image of the scene. "Options" contains interfaces to customize your work settings. "Help" gives you help in using the program.
The icon menu is a shortcut for some of the more important operations in the title bar menus. When you move the cursor over an icon, the text at the right end of the icon menu bar tells you what the icon does.
Choose "Help - On Context" in the main title bar. This will bring up the help card on opening a new project. As you go on to do more things, the help card will constantly update to give you help on whatever you are doing. If you have "Help - Help Mode" on, and then click on a button, Ez3d does not perform the action, but only gives you help on it. If you have an Internet browser installed, choose "Help - Online Manual". This will bring up the entire user manual in hypertext!
Choose "Help - On Topic". Select a topic from this list to obtain help on that particular topic.
Hint: It is recommended that you constantly refer to "Help" while you are still learning the product. Depending on your style, you may either follow the tutorials as it is, or experiment on your own as you go along.
Your computer screen and mouse are essentially 2D devices. For someone new to 3D modeling, it takes some time to get used to creating and moving in a 3D world on the computer. What you see in front of you is the main 3D view with a magenta grid representing the ground. Notice the hand-shaped cursor. Press down with the left mouse button and move the hand. Notice how the scene rotates. What is actually happening is that "you" are moving around the scene. There is a camera placed at your eye that is capturing a "perspective" view of the scene and projecting it onto the screen. Press down on the middle mouse and move up and down or left and right. Press both the left and middle mouse buttons and move up or down. Notice how you get closer and further from the center of the scene.
Now let us set up a traditional "CAD"-style viewer interface. Choose "Options - New Viewer - Front". This brings up a 2D front view. A 2D viewer has a camera that projects one of six right angle (front, back, left, right, top or bottom) views of the scene. Bring up two more 2D viewers using "Options - New Viewer - Top" and "Options - New Viewer - Right". Now resize and rearrange the windows to your taste. If you are reasonably familiar with 3D interfaces, you may want to get rid of one or more viewers (by double-clicking on the top-left corner). Having more viewers slows down the display.
Let us insert an object into this scene now. Choose "Model - Primitive". Double-click on "Cylinder". Notice the various camera views of the object. Notice the green box around the object in all four views. This is called a "3D manipulator", because it allows you to move, resize and rotate the object in 3D space. Get familiar with moving in the 2D viewers. Use the left mouse to zoom in and out. Notice how the object appears to get bigger or smaller in that one viewer alone. This means that you are only changing that viewer's camera to zoom closer or farther, not resizing the object itself. Use the middle mouse to "pan", that is, move in the plane of the camera.
The viewer has a pop-up menu that you access by pressing the right mouse inside it. Choose "Draw Style - Move wireframe". If you move the view, you will notice that the object is displayed as "wireframe" (using lines) when the view is changing, but "as is" (shaded) when you stop moving. Experiment with different draw styles.
Now let us try to move and resize the object using the intuitive "3D manipulator". The viewer has two modes. So far, we have been in "View" mode and have been moving the camera only. To interact with the objects in the "TOP" viewer, go into "Edit" by pressing the <SpaceBar> or <Esc> key, or by clicking on the "Arrow" icon in the viewer decoration, or turning off "Viewing" in the viewer pop-up menu (using the right mouse button). Press down the left mouse button somewhere inside the green box, and start moving. Notice that the manipulator turns yellow when you select it. Notice how the object moves in the various views. Notice in the 3D view, that the object is moving on the ground. Move the object in all directions in all views, and observe the results.
In the 3D view, go to "View" mode, and turn the camera right around so that you are looking at the back of the object. Now move the object the same way as you did before. Notice the difference in how the object moves in the 4 views.
Let us try to resize the object. Using the left mouse button, grab the little cube in the corner of the manipulator, and pull outward. Notice the object growing in size.Do the same thing, but with the <Shift> key pressed. Notice the object grow or shrink in the direction in which you move. Notice the effect in all 4 views.
Let us try to rotate the object. Grab the sphere in the middle of one of the sides. 2 circles appear, indicating the possible directions along which you can rotate. Move, and notice how the object rotates. Note that if you keep the <Shift> pressed, the object rotates about the opposite side.
Choose "Attribute - Transform". This tool allows you to type in precise values for the position, scale and rotation attributes of the object. Type in a value, and notice how the position of the object changes. You can also use this tool as a replacement for the 3D manipulator. Choose "Options - Selection Highlight - Box". Notice that the 3D manipulator around the object is replaced by a bright green box. You can now move the object only using "Attribute - Transform", but the display will be faster.
Let us now use another manipulator to rotate the object. Choose "Options - Selection Highlight - 3D Trackball". You will notice three rings appear around the cylinder. Drag one of these rings using your left mouse button. You will notice the ring turning yellow, and the object rotating in that direction. Switch back to "Options - Selection Highlight - 3D Manipulator". See the help card for complete details on the "3D manipulator".
Go back and forth between moving the object, and moving the camera(s) to get a better view. Use the <Spacebar> or <Esc> key to switch between the "View" and "Edit" modes.
Use "Edit - Undo" to undo the last change. Notice that if you repeatedly use "Undo", the system keeps undoing the history of changes. Use Edit - Redo" to undo the undo!
Choose "Edit - Cut" or click on the "scissors" icon to remove the object from the scene.
Choose "Edit - Duplicate" or click on the "duplicate" icon. Then use the left mouse to drag the copy of the cylinder to a new location.
Click on the first object. Notice how the first object is selected instead of the duplicate. Now click on the duplicate object, while keeping the <Shift> key pressed. Notice how both objects are now selected. Click on an empty space in the screen and notice how all objects get deselected.
Choose "Scene - Object List" or click on its icon. Notice that there are two objects listed. Select the first object in the list, then select the second with the <Shift> pressed. Notice that both objects are now selected. You can deselect the objects by selecting the selected (highlighted) entries in the object list. The "Object List" is a convenient alternative to selecting objects by picking in the viewer (especially when the scene is very crowded).
If you have both objects selected, and move one of them, notice that both the objects move. You can change this behavior using another option in "Attribute - Transform - Move". An interesting option is "Snap to Object". When you move one of the objects, Ez3d will try to snap to the other selected object in the direction of movement. This is useful for assembling objects together.
Choose "Edit - Group". Notice that the two objects now move as one group. Choose "Edit - Ungroup" to ungroup them.
Pick one object, and choose "Edit - Hide - Selected". Notice how the other object disappears. Use this operation to concentrate on the object that you are currently working on. Chose "Edit - Show" to unhide all objects. Click on a region outside of all the objects to deselect all selected objects.
Choose "Edit - Select All", then "Edit - Cut" or the "Cut" icon to delete all objects in the scene.
This ends our section on getting used to the 3D environment and manipulating simple objects. If you want to end this session, Ez3d will remember all the options you have set (such as number of viewers, and their positions). The next time you invoke Ez3d, it will come up in your customized style.
(Ez3d VRML Author and Ez3d Modeler Pro only)
Choose "Model - Potter" or click on the icon. This brings up the "Potter" interface. If you like, bring up the help card and read the introduction to Potter. The cubical object in the scene is built by using a straight profile (in the lower Potter window) and a square section (in the upper window).
Move the cursor over a spline point in the main "Potter" window, until a green box appears. Press down and move the spline point. Notice how the object changes shape. Move the cursor over the spline curve, and click once, to add a new spline point. Change "Spline Steps" to make the object curved. There are many other things you can do in the spline editor. Read the help card for more details.
(Optional) In "Potter", choose "File - Section Hole - Spline Primitive". This brings up a list of pre-defined spline templates. Choose "Circle". Notice how a circular extruded hole appears in the object.
Choose "Profile" to edit the profile curve. Try moving the "Spline steps" slider to make the object denser. If you have a circular section (using "File - Spline Primitive", changing the profile hasthe effect of creating a "surface of revolution".
(Optional) Choose "Axis". Notice how a red axis spline appears in the viewer window(s). Choose "Viewer Type - Front" in the viewer pop up menu.(or click on the "Front" icon in the left decoration. Move your cursor over the end of the axis spline, and when a green box appears, press down with the left mouse button and move it vertically. Notice how the object stretches as you change the axis. Click on the middle of the axis to create a new spline point. Now move any spline point and see how the object bends.
"Potter" is the central modeling tool in Ez3d. It offers simultaneous use of basic modeling operations such as "Extrude", "Surface of Revolution" and "Extrude along a 3D path" in one compact interface. As you learn more about it and become more comfortable with it, you will realize that this tool can be used to make incredibly complicated shapes such as machines, snakes and even dinosaurs.
(Ez3d VRML Author and Ez3d Modeler Pro only)
Select an object that you built with "Potter" and choose "Model - Spline Surfer". Little blue spline points appear on the surface of the object. You can now drag these points any way you want. "Close" the "Spline Surfer" tool, and "Delete" all objects.
Let us now make an object by directly creating faces (triangles). Let us make an outline for a flat stage "prop" (such as the New York city skyline, or a person's silhouette). Change the main viewer to "Front" view (using the icon in the left decoration, or "Viewer Type - Front" in the pop-up menu).
(Optional) You can also create the outline from an image. In the viewer pop-up, choose "Background", and use the file selector to choose an appropriate image. Notice that the viewer now has the image in the background (which does not change even if you move the camera). Use "Remove" to get rid of the background image.
Choose "Model - Face Builder". With the <Ctrl> key pressed all the time, click once on the left mouse button. This creates a vertex, and gives you a green rubber band. Click again. This creates a green line (one side of the face you are creating). Keep on clicking until you get a nice outline. If you want to select an existing vertex, just move the cursor over it until a green box shows up, then click. When you are done, double-click on the last point or release the <Ctrl> key. The outline gets "triangulated" into a set of faces.
Move the cursor over a vertex. A green box comes up on the vertex. Press down and move. Press down the middle mouse and select more than one vertex. A "3D manipulator" comes up around the selected vertices. Move or resize. Click again on the middle mouse to get rid of the 3D manipulator.
Select a face using the left mouse. Choose "Finer". Notice how the face is split into 3 triangles. You can make portions of the object finer in this fashion.
There are more modeling tools like "Mold", "Slice" and "Mirror", that you can learn as you go along (or play with now, if you like!)
Choose "Attribute - Color". This brings up the color editor. Move the little marker on the color wheel, and observe the color change on the object.
Choose "Attribute- Material" or click on the "Material" icon. This brings up the Material editor. Choose a material from the "palette", say, "Bronze.mtl". Notice how the object looks like it is made of bronze. Play around with "Transparency"and other values. Use the color editor to change the color back to white.
Select an object and choose "Attribute - Texture" or click on the icon. This brings up the texture editor interface and gives you a default "palette" of texture images.
Click on one of the images, and see the object in the preview window get texture mapped. Try different textures by clicking on them. If you want to view the texture image, choose "Texture - View". Try translating, scaling and rotating the texture map using the sliders on the left. Once you have the texture map set up right, click on "Update" for the texture map to appear on the main scene. "Close" the texture interface.
Choose "Scene - Lights". This brings up the light editor. You will notice that "Headlight" is the currently selected light. Headlight is a light that moves with the camera and always lights up the scene. Try changing the color of the headlight.
Let us create a new light. Select "Spotlight" to create a new spotlight and click on "Create". Notice the spotlight icon in the viewer window(s). You can move the light in 3D by grabbing the icon with the left mouse and moving it. This allows you to move in a single plane. If you grab the thin cylinder in the center of the light icon, you can move the light up and down. If you grab the end of the arrow, it allows you to change the direction of the spotlight. Try changing its color. Select an object in the main viewer, then choose "Point at Object" in the "Light Editor". Notice how the light now shines on the selected object. You can "Remove" the light or turn off "Display - on/off". Try other types of lights.
(Ez3d VR-Pro and Ez3d VR-Composer only)
Let us now create a very simple 3D Web page in VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) ".wrl" format.
Start a Project:
Save the current project and choose "File -Open". Since the VRML files need to be in a location different from your Ez3d projects (usually, along with all your other Web related files), you can specify a "Publish Location" in the "File - Open" interface, say, "{Home-directory}/WWW". Open a new project, say, "Tutorial".
Modeling:
Let us say that we want to create a simple room with walls, some furniture, a TV, and so on. You can either create the objects using the modeling tools available in Ez3d, or import them using "File - Import". You can even directly specify the Internet location of a 3D VRML file (such as http://www.acme.com/VRML/foo.wrl)and Ez3d will automatically fetch it for you! If you are using Ez3d modeling tools, keep "Attribute - Complexity" up, to keep track of the polygon count, which should be kept to the minimum.
To save time while learning about VRML, you may just want to use some simple "Primitive" and "Potter" objects, instead of doing some elaborate modeling.
When you are assigning textures to the objects, choose "Texture - Storage Options", and set the "Relative Path" option, so that the references to external texture files are relative to the location of the VRML files.
VR Scene Composition:
Composing a scene for VR is trickier than building the scene for ray-tracing. The scene needs to be interesting as well as interactive (the user should be able to walk through the scene in real-time).
Inlining:
One way to make the scene interactive is to have the VR browser load objects only when needed. This is done by "inlining" the object, that is, storing the description of the object in a file, and only including a reference to the file in the main scene. Select an object, and choose "Model - WWW Inline". This will output the object onto a ".wrl" file in the "Publish Location" folder, and create an "Inline" reference to the file.
Level of Detail:
You can specify multiple representations of the object, any one of which gets displayed at any given time, based on the distance from the eye to the object. Thus you can make an object become more detailed as the user comes closer to it. Select an object (preferable a curved "Potter" object), and choose "Attribute - Level of Detail". By default, the original object is the first representation. Move the "Level" slider to 2. By default, the second level of detail is a copy of the first. Now in the "Complexity" interface (which comes up as a companion tool to "Level of Detail"), set the number of triangles to be about half the original, and press "Ok". Create 1-2 more levels of detail, and set "Last Level Empty". Now choose "Idle", and zoom in and out in the main viewer. Notice that the object changes from one level of detail to the next as you zoom. You can set the ranges for the levels, by going into "Edit" mode, changing the camera in the main viewer, and choose "Set to View", to set the transition points between any two levels.
WWW Links:
You can link 3D objects in the scene to WWW resources. Select an object, and choose "Attribute - WWW Anchor". Type in "http://www.yahoo.com", and press "Apply". You can also use the file selector to choose a local file (in your Web page folder hierarchy), and Ez3d will automatically set the relative path as your WWW link.
Camera Viewpoints:
Choose "Scene - Camera Viewpoints". Zoom in to an interesting location in your scene, and give it a descriptive name. Create many camera vantage points - all of them will be automatically listed while browsing using a Web browser.
Previewing:
If you have a 3D browser configured in your Web browser system, you can directly preview your VRML scene without having to export files. Choose "Scene - VR Browser" or click on the "VR" icon. If you have problems, set your browser command in "Options - Preferences".
Publishing VRML:
To write out selected objects or the entire scene, choose "File - Publish". By default, files get written to the "Publish Location". Set a "Title" (this title will show up in the Web browser). There are some "Options" while writing out VRML. Turn on "Optimize Output" and "Compress after Save" (this is almost the norm for VRML). If you want to verify references in your scene to remote Internet resources, turn on "Verify Remote Links".
Congratulations! You've just created a 3D Web page using Ez3d!!
(Not available in Ez3d VRML Composer, and in demo (unlicensed) versions)
Create a simple scene (or use your current scene). Choose "Scene - Render Options" . Click on "Test Render". After a little while, a rendering window comes up. Notice how the scene is ray traced progressively. Depending on your scene, you may notice shadows and reflections. When you are satisfied with the way the test rendered image looks, you may want to perform a complete rendering by clicking on "Render". You may have noticed that some of the interface items in Ez3d (such as "Layer" in the "Texture Editor") are colored blue. This means that you will see the effect of your actions only in the rendering stage, not in the viewer window(s).
(Optional) In the "Render Options" interface, choose "Program Selection". You will see two or more different renderers listed. "Rayshade" is a high-quality ray-tracer (that supports shadows, reflections, multiple layers of textures, and so on), but rendering takes a longer time. Choose "Open GL" if you want a quicker rendering. To set high-quality options for "Open GL", in the pop-up menu for the main viewer, choose "Anti-aliasing" and "Transparency" , and set appropriate values.
Save your project by choosing "File - Save" or clicking on the "diskette" icon.
Choose "Help - Product Support" or "Help - Radiance Home Page". Let us know in the most verbose terms, your first impressions of Ez3d. If you have access to electronic mail, or have access to a printer, you can type in your comments, and send it to us by e-mail or fax. Otherwise, just call us!
Choose "File - Exit" to quit your current Ez3d session. The next time you start Ez3d, the interface will come up exactly as you leave it now. This allows you to customize the interface to suit your needs.
Hopefully you have now got a head start on Ez3d. However, the best way to learn Ez3d is by working on a real project on your own and using on-line help as you go along.
Part B Reference Guide
The operations under "File" deal with managing your Ez3d project and
export/import of files.
New Ctrl+N
Open Ctrl+O
Save Ctrl+S
Save as...
Revert to Saved
Import Ctrl+I
Export Ctrl+E
Publish Ctrl+P
Notes
Print Alt+P
Install > Software
Licenses
Hide All Tools
Exit Ctrl+Q
By being both restrictive and flexible at the same time, Ez3d tries to make the task of managing complex projects as easy as possible. Some of the operations can be accessed through their icon in the icon menu window (for example, using the "diskette" icon for "File - Save"), or by using the "hot key" while the cursor is in the main window (for example, using <Ctrl-N> for "File - New").
(Same as "File - Open")
Hot Key: Ctrl+N
This is used to start a new Ez3d project, or continue on an existing project. It brings up a file selector, using which you can either select an existing project, or type in a new name. If the new name contains new folders in its path (such as {HOME}/objects/Test), the system automatically creates the new folder "Ez3d_projects". It is recommended that you keep your Ez3d project together in a single folder.
Important: Ez3d 2.0 does not directly load projects created in Ez3d 1.0. In Ez3d 1.0, use "Model - Save" to write out "INVENTOR2.iv" or "INVENTOR-OPT.iv" format, and load those into Ez3d 2.0 using "File - Import". The Ez3d 1.0 format is not directly supported by Ez3d 2.0.
There are two types of project styles that you can choose from:
Project File: If you type in a name, say, "Test", and press "Ok", a project file "Test.scene.iv" will be created. This file will contain the current state of the project. By default, individual objects are exported (see File - Export) to the same location (see "File - Export"). The project file maintains the current state of the project at given time.
Project Folder: For users who are not comfortable with navigating in UNIX file hierarchies, type in a name, say, "Test", and press "Ez3d Folder". Ez3d provides a separate folder "Test.ez3d" for the project, into which all the work is saved. The project folder has the
following:
a. A "scene" folder, which contains the main scene file, all object files that you create and texture .rgb files used by the objects.
b. An "image" folder, which contains rendered and finished images.
c. A "NOTES" file to maintain a log on your project (see "File - Notes").
d. A "tmp" folder used by Ez3d for internal use.
Ok: This will open a project using the "Project File" paradigm
Ez3d Folder: This will open a project using the "Project Folder" paradigm.
Remove: This will remove the selected project file or folder.
Publish Location (VR only):
This allows you to specify a location where VRML files will be exported by default. Relative paths for auto-inlining (See "Model - WWW Inline") will be computed with this location as a base. It is recommended that you set a VRML location before you start on the project. This way, your VRML file tree will be distinct from your Ez3d projects.
(Same as File - New)
Hot Key: Ctrl+O
Hot Key: Ctrl+S
"Save" is used to save your current project. It saves the entire scene (including objects, lights, environment, and so on) on the main scene file. Do not remove or overwrite this file. To save off selected objects onto separate files, use "File - Export".
You can also turn on the auto-save option to make a backup at regular intervals (see "Options - Preferences"). Note that the backup file is different from the original, and is used while restarting the program after an abnormal exit (like a system crash, a power failure etc.). So it is recommended that you use "Save" frequently, to make your changes permanent.
Hint: If you are at that stage of the project where you are just building several objects (not setting up the scene), then use "File - Export" to save off each object to a separate file after you build it, and remove it from the current scene. This will not only keep the main scene uncluttered, but will also speed up saving and auto-saving of the scene.
"Save As" is used to save the current project using a different file name. Generally this option is used at a point in a project where you wish to save the project and try something different but do not want to permanently alter the existing project. "Save as" makes a complete copy of the existing project that you can revert back to at a later point.
This allows you to restore the state of the project to when it was
last saved.
Hint: If you are embarking on some wild experimentation, checkpoint your project by saving it. When you find that things are too wild for comfort, you can "Revert to Saved", rather than press "Undo" 50 times!
This option is used to load object and scene files into your current Ez3d project. The default load location is the project scene folder, but you may use the file selector to choose another location.
You can also drag a file icon from your desktop and drop it into the main viewer. The system will automatically translate it (if the format is supported), and load the contents in!
You can also type in a WWW Universal Resource Locator (URL) name, say, "http://www.sgi.com/VRML/low_mid11.wrl.gz", and Ez3d will try to fetch it from across the Internet.
Before loading, you can "Preview" the file in the Ez3d clipboard. While loading, if the file contains one or more objects, all the objects are added to the current scene. If the file contains a scene, all objects and lights in the file are added to the current scene.
Important: "File - Import" is the only way to load objects created using Ez3d 1.0. In Ez3d 1.0, use "File - Export" to write out "INVENTOR2.iv" or "INVENTOR-OPT.iv" format, and load those into Ez3d 2.0. The Ez3d 1.0 format is not directly supported by Ez3d 2.0.
Format:
The interface displays a list of supported formats. The following formats are supported directly:
EZ3D-INVENTOR.iv: This is the native Ez3d format, and maintains Ez3d-specific information that may otherwise be lost when converting to other formats.
OPEN-INVENTOR.iv: This is the standard Open Inventor 2.1 format.
INVENTOR-1.0.iv: This is the standard Open Inventor 1.0 format
INVENTOR-2.0.iv: This is the standard Open Inventor 2.0 format
VRML.wrl: The VRML format is rapidly becoming the standard for 3D data viewing and interchange on the Internet and beyond. There are vast repositories of free 3D clip art in VRML format, that you can directly import in Ez3d, by just typing in the URL in "File - Import".
The following formats are also supported by Ez3d, provided you have obtained and installed the translators (For SGI, they are available free of cost at http://www.sgi.com/Works/translators.html, or ftp.sgi.com:private/translators, or translators@sgi.com):
3DSTUDIO.3ds
ALIAS.alias
AUTODESK.dxf
IGES.iges
SOFTIMAGE.dsc
WAVEFRONT.obj
You do not have to choose a format before loading a file. Ez3d will automatically read in a file that is in any of the supported formats. If the file has been compressed (using "gzip" or UNIX "compress"), the system will automatically uncompress before loading.
Format Info
You can get information (if available) on a particular format by clicking on the name in the list and choosing "Format Info".
Non-Ez3d Files
The file you are loading could be in the "INVENTOR.iv" format, or in an external format (such as "AUTODESK.dxf"). If it is an external format, Ez3d first converts it to "OPEN-INVENTOR.iv". Now you have a choice of converting the objects in the file into "EZ3D-INVENTOR" object, or leaving them as-is.
If you have the toggle set to "Convert to Ez3d", Ez3d will do the best job to convert them. You will now be able to use the modeling tools on these objects, as well as set materials and textures. However, some object geometries and material properties may change. Also note that some Ez3d will not be able to convert some "OPEN-INVENTOR.iv" primitives such as lines and points. In these cases, Ez3d will either ignore the primitives, or leave them "as-is", as with the objects described below.
If you set the toggle to "Leave As-is", you will not be able to do any further modeling on the loaded objects. But you will be able to set colors, materials and textures (if the object doesnt already have these attributes set), as well as move and resize them in the scene.
Resize to Fit World:
Sometimes the loaded object may be too big or may be positioned too far to fit into the Ez3d world (whose extents are defined by the grid). If the "Resize to Fit World" option is on, Ez3d will automatically resize and reposition these objects.
Hot Key: Ctrl+E
This allows you to save parts of the current scene to a separate file (different from the project scene file). By default, these files are saved in the project scene folder (or the "Publish Location" if you have set it in "File - Open"). But you can use the file selector to select another location. If the path you typed in contains new folders, the system will automatically create the new folders and create the exported file in the specified location.
This operation allows you to create a library of objects, or save off multiple versions, or save off objects in different formats for use by other applications, while keeping the current scene uncluttered. If you choose a file in the selector, you can perform the following operations on it:
File - Preview: View the file using the clipboard viewer or VR browser.
File - Edit: Bring up a text editor on the file (assuming the file is a text file). You can specify your favorite editor in "Options - Preferences".
File - Remove: This removes the file indicated in the selection box.
Command: This allows you to invoke a system command on the file. There are pre-defined commands such as a directory viewer, gview (Open
Inventor scene graph editor), and so on. You can also type in your favorite shell command.
Options
This pull-down menu provides an elaborate set of options for your file output.
Save Options
You can save one of the following items:
Entire Scene
This option will cause the entire scene (including objects, lights, environment, etc.) to be saved to a file.
All objects
This option will cause all the objects in the current scene to be written out to a file. Scene information (such as lights, environment etc.) will not be saved.
Selected objects
This option will cause the selected object(s) to be written out to a file. This can be particularly useful if you are done working on an object and want to now concentrate on modeling another object. The file name for the object defaults to the object's name. Therefore all you have to do is to click on "Ok".
Hint: You will find it more productive if you model each object separately, save it off to a file after modeling. Finally, when you have modeled all the objects in the scene, you can use "File - Import" to read them all back in to assemble your final scene.
The file can be saved in one of the following forms:
Ascii Text: This format is useful if you want to save the file in a readable Ascii text form.
Binary: This format is faster to read and write than the "Ascii Text" format.
Decimal Places
By default, upto 6 decimal digits are written out for floating point
values. You can set it to any number from 0 to 8. The less the number of decimal digits per number, the more compact the file, and less precise the 3D description.
Hint: For high-precision design or ray-tracing, use more decimal places (or, don't change the default). For VR applications, esp. VRML/Internet, use as few decimal places as possible, because loading time will be reduced. Accuracy is not critical for VR browsing.
Optimize Output
By default, the file that is written out preserves all object names, the object grouping hierarchy, and so on. While this may be good for a scene that is "under construction", it may not be optimal for fast browsing in VR, or other applications that will use the file. If you turn on "Optimize Output", the system does its best to merge several objects, get rid of unnecessary grouping hierarchies, and so on when it writes to the output file. The current scene remains unaffected.
Hint: "Optimize Output" is highly recommended for the final output of VRML files.
Compress After Save
If this option is turned on, the output file is compressed using the "gzip" utility. The resulting file will have a ".gz" extension. This option will save disk space, but loading the files back into Ez3d may be a little slower.
Hint: For VRML file creation, "Compress after Save" should almost be the norm. Compression is critical for reducing WWW download time.
Verify Local/Remote Links (VRML only)
If the option(s) are turned on, the system will check for undefined WWW Inline and WWW Anchor references to local and remote items respectively. The file will be saved anyway, but the system will provide a warning message on all undefined links. In the case of remote links, Ez3d actually tries to fetch the URL. If your machine is not connected to the Internet, you can get an error, even if your link is legitimate.
See Model - WWW Inline, and Attribute - WWW Anchor for more details.
File Title (VRML only)
This sets a title for the output file. The VRML browser makes use of this information to set a title while browsing.
File Format
Finally, choose the file format to write to.
EZ3D-INVENTOR.iv: This is the default native Ez3d format.
It is recommended that you save all your work in this format, even if your desired output is some other format. This is because this format is the most "intelligent" format, and maintains Ez3d-specific information which may be lost when converting to other formats. EZ3D-INVENTOR files cannot be loaded or viewed by other Open Inventor programs such as "ivview" or "Showcase".
OPEN-INVENTOR.iv: This is the standard Open Inventor 2.1 format.
INVENTOR-1.0.iv: This is the standard Open Inventor 1.0 format.
INVENTOR-2.0.iv: This is the standard Open Inventor 2.0 format.
VRML.wrl: The VRML format is rapidly becoming the standard for 3D data viewing and interchange on the Internet and beyond. There are vast repositories of free 3D clip art in VRML format, that you can directly import in Ez3d, by just typing in the URL in "File - Import".
The following are popular modeling formats that are used by other applications in animation, design and ray-tracing.
AUTODESK.dxf: The most popular CAD 3D format
WAVEFRONT.obj: A popular format for 3D animation
RAYSHADE.ray: A popular rendering format
EZ3D-INVENTOR file names have the form "ObjectName.Type.iv", where "Type" can be one of "scene", "object", "spline" and so on. Files created in other formats have the form, "ObjectName.Extension", for example "Dinosaur.dxf", or "Room.wrl".
You just have to type in a name (Example: "dinosaur"), and Ez3d will automatically add the extensions for file type and file format (Example: "dinosaur.scene.iv", or "carbody.wrl"). If the file needs to be compressed, the name will have a ".gz" extension.
Format Info
This brings up some information on the selected format.
Hot Key: Ctrl+P
"Publish" is a more specific version of "File - Export", used for VRML Web authoring. The default file location is the user-defined "Publish Location" (see File - Open). Also, "Publish" applies only to the VRML file format. To choose other formats, use "File - Export".
Hint: For VRML authoring, use "File - Export" to save off individual objects or scenes in EZ3D-INVENTOR format (so that the current state of the project is relatively uncluttered). But use "File - Publish" to export VRML output files for Web authoring.
"Notes" is a tool which you can bring up to save important information about the project you are currently working on. It brings up a text window to edit the information.
Hint: "Notes" can be used to write down the concept of your project, before you actually start the work, and can be updated as you go along. It can also be used as log of time spent, resources used and so on.
This option allows you to print the main window scene to a Postscript printer or file. It is useful to get high-quality wireframe hard-copies of your project scene.
The interface has the following items:
Print Output:
If you choose "To Printer", you can choose from a list of printers connected to your machine. If you choose "To File", specify a filename to write the Postscript information.
Print Quality:
You can specify "High" or "Draft" quality.
Page Format
You have a choice of printing out in "Portrait" (vertical page) or in "Landscape" (horizontally, or sideways) mode.
Print Size
By default, the print size is the same as that of the main viewer. You can change this in the text fields.
DPI
This specifies the resolution in dots-per-inch.
Click on this button after you've setup your print options and you are ready to start printing.
Note: "Print" is a fairly time-consuming operation. For large projects, "Print" may take up to 10 minutes or longer to create a
print file for the printer.
This option brings up Ez3d's installation program and allows you to install and remove subsystems, install desktop icons, and so on.
Note: Use this option only if you're running Ez3d on the same machine on which you installed the software.
This option brings up Ez3d's installation program and allows you to install a license for the software.
Note: Use this option only if you're running Ez3d on the same system on
you installed the software.
This will hide all the secondary windows that are in open in your Ez3d session, but will leave the main window open.
Hot Key: Ctrl+Q
"Exit" will save the project if needed, clean up the system and close
down Ez3d.
The "Edit" drop down menu contains the following options:
Undo Ctrl+Z
Redo Ctrl+Shift+Z
Cut Ctrl+X
Copy Ctrl+C
Delete Ctrl+Shift+X
Duplicate Ctrl+2
Select Parent
Select All Ctrl+A
Deselect All Ctrl+Shift+A
Group Ctrl+G
Ungroup Ctrl+Shift+G
Hide > Selected
Unselected
Show Ctrl+Shift+H
Show Clipboard
These are generic operations performed on objects in the Ez3d scene. Most of the operations work on the currently selected object(s). To select an object, just click on it in any of the viewers, or select using "Scene - Object List". To select another object instead of the first, just click on the second object. But if you want to select the second object in addition to the first, click on it while keeping the <Shift> key pressed. To deselect all objects, click on an empty part of the scene, or choose "Edit - Deselect All".
When an object is selected, by default, a 3D manipulator appears around it. You can use the manipulator to move and scale the object (see "Attribute - Transform"). You can also set the selection highlight to other forms by using "Options - Selection Highlight".
Hot Key: Ctrl+Z
"Undo" is used to undo or step back in the work you are doing with the program. The menu tells you the last operation that you did, that can be undone. For example, if you moved an object, then use "Undo", and the object will move back to where it used to be. To undo the "Undo", use "Edit - Redo".
Ez3d provides multiple levels of Undo and Redo. That is, you can repeatedly use "Undo" and "Redo" to step backward and forward in the history of your editing session.
You can set the number of levels of undo (the maximum number of times you can go back in your editing history) using "Options - Preferences". The more the number of levels, the more you can undo, but the more memory the system needs for "remembering" your actions.
Note: From time to time, the system empties the undo stack even if it is not full. For example, after you open a new project, the operations performed in the old project cannot be undone. The undo stack also gets emptied when a modeling tool is closed.
Hint: The "Undo" and "Redo" menu items update dynamically to tell you what operation you can undo at any moment. If either item is greyed out, it means that there is nothing to be undone.
Hot Key: Ctrl+Shift+Z
See "Edit - Undo"
Hot Key: Ctrl+X
"Cut" is used to remove the selected object or group of objects from the scene. "Cut" copies the object(s) to a 3D clipboard. The contents of clipboard can be "pasted" back onto the scene, or into another program like SceneViewer or Showcase.
Hint: Because it copies objects to a clipboard, "Cut" can be slower than "Delete". Use "Edit - Delete" if you are sure you are not going to use "Paste" in Ez3d or another program. To undo the "Cut", use "Undo" rather than "Paste" the objects back.
Hot Key: Ctrl+C
"Copy" copies the selected object(s) onto a 3D clipboard. The contents of the clipboard can then be "pasted" back into the Ez3d scene, into any OpenInventor-based application such as SceneViewer, Showcase or WebSpace Author.
The 3D clipboard can only contain one object at any time. You can use "Edit - Show Clipboard" to view the contents of the clipboard. The clipboard contents don't change until you do a "Cut" or "Copy" again.
Hint: If you are going to paste the selection back to the scene to make an identical copy, use "Duplicate" rather than "Copy" and "Paste". It is not only easier, but also memory-efficient, because only one copy of the geometry is maintained in the system's memory. This is particularly relevant for scenes with several identical geometries (Example: a city).
Hot Key: Ctrl+V
"Paste" adds the contents of the 3D clipboard onto the main scene. The contents may be the result of a "Cut" or "Copy" within Ez3d, or by an OpenInventor based application such as SceneViewer, Showcase, or WebSpace Author.
Hot Key: Ctrl+Shift+X
"Delete" is similar to "Cut" in that it removes the selected object(s) from the scene, but it does not copy the removed object(s) to the clipboard. Hence you cannot re-paste the removed objects using "Paste". You can use "Undo" however to reverse the action of "Delete".
Hint: "Delete" is faster than "Cut. So if you know you are not going to
use the 3D clipboard to "Paste", use "Delete".
Hot Key: Ctrl+2
"Duplicate" makes identical copies of the selected objects, and adds them to scene.
Hint: Use "Duplicate" rather than "Copy" + "Paste". It is not only easier, but also memory-efficient, because only one copy of the geometry is maintained in the system's memory. This is particularly relevant for scenes with several identical geometries (Example: a city).
"Select Parent" is used to select the parent of an object, in the
hierarchically linked scene. Object hierarchies are typically created using "Group" or "Level of Detail".
Hint: Use "Scene - Object List" to view and edit object hierarchies
Hot Key: Ctrl+A
"Select All" is used to select all objects in the scene. It is typically used when you want to group or delete all the objects in the scene.
Hint: <Ctrl+A><Ctrl+X> will delete all objects in the scene. <Ctrl+A><Ctrl+G> will group all of them (See "Edit - Group").
Hot Key: Ctrl+Shift+A
"Deselect All" is used to deselect all currently selected objects. This is equivalent to clicking on an empty area in the viewer window(s). You may use this when there is very little empty space in the scene.
Hot Key: Ctrl+G
"Group" is used to create a group of objects from several unrelated objects for selection and manipulation purposes. If you select two or more objects and use "Group", a new "Group" object is created, with the selected objects as its children. From then on, the objects acts a single group for selection and manipulation. You can use "Ungroup" to ungroup them later on.
The newly created "Group" object can only be moved and re-sized. You cannot perform any modeling operations on it. If you click on any object in the group, the entire group will be selected. To select an individual sub-object, use "Scene - Object List".
Grouping objects can be particularly useful under the following circumstances:
a. When you want to organize your objects in a cohesive structure (similar to organizing files on your computer disk!). Use "Scene - Object List" to view the hierarchy.
b. When you want to move a group of objects together as though it were one whole object. (Note: You can also move two ungrouped objects together by selecting both of them and manipulating one of the objects. However, this operation does not preserve the connection between the two objects).
c. When you want to assign the same attribute (such as color or display style) to all objects in the group. (Note: Again, you can do this in a non-permanent fashion by selecting more than one object and changing the color, and so on).
If you "Cut" the "Group" object, all objects that belong to the group will be removed.
Note: You cannot apply a texture map to a grouped object. You will need to ungroup the objects (or select using "Scene - Object List") and apply texture maps on each object individually.
Hot Key: Ctrl+U
"Ungroup" is used to break an existing group of objects. The "Ungroup" option will only work on groups created with "Group".
See "Edit - Group" for a description of the grouping operation.
Hot Key: Selected: Ctrl+J
Unselected: Ctrl+H
"Hide" is used to hide objects in the scene so that only the objects you are currently working on are displayed and edited. This option is very handy to keep object creation speed at its peak. It is also very useful in placing tightly grouped objects. "Show" will re-display the hidden objects "Hide" option contains two sub-choices:
a. "Hide - Selected" will hide all the currently selected objects.
b. "Hide - Unselected" will hide all objects not selected. The latter is useful to hide away all objects that you are not working on.
Hot Key: Ctrl+Shift+H
"Show" is used to re-display all the objects hidden using "Hide". (See
Edit - Hide).
Ez3d and other Inventor-based 3D applications feature a clipboard, much like word-processors. This can be particularly useful for sharing/ inter-changing objects between different Inventor-based 3D applications.
The "Show clipboard" option brings up a window that shows the contents of this virtual 3D clipboard. When you do a "Cut" or "Copy" in Ez3d, the selected object(s) gets copied to this virtual clipboard. You can then "Paste" the object(s) inside Ez3d or another Inventor-based product like Showcase or SceneViewer. Or you can "Copy" an object in another product and use "Paste" in Ez3d to insert the object into your scene. This just presents an elegant alternative to the tedious task of writing and reading files.
This is the third menu in the Ez3d title bar. This menu has a set of modeling operations that can be used to create and manipulate 3D objects. "Model" has the following options:
Primitives...
Potter...
Face Builder...
3D Text...
2D Text...
Lines...
Merge...
Mold...
Slice...
Mirror...
WWWInline...
Ez3d offers a simple yet powerful spectrum of modeliong tools to meet the most demainding needs, while keeping the interface as simple as possible.
Ez3d has a top-down approach to 3D modeling, going from high-level "Primitive" or "Potter" objects down to "Faces". As you go from one level down to the next, you are offered more flexibility at the cost of losing higher level editability. Hence when an object is selected, only a certain set of tools can be applied to it (The Ez3d interface grays out those tools that cannot be applied).
The following are the object types:
"Primitive": For normal modeling, you usually start with one of the "Primitives". You can choose from a simple set of primitives such as cube or cylinder.
"Potter": For modifying the basic shape, you can invoke the powerful "Potter" tool. This spline-based tool allows you to modify the profile/sections/axis spline curves of the basic object, and create a more complicated object. You will find "Potter" adequate for a majority of your basic modeling needs.
"Spline": If you want to fine tune the shape of the object, invoke "Spline Surfer". This tool allows you to directly manipulate the surface spline control points.
"Faces": The next level is "Face Builder", which allows you to directly manipulate the triangles of the object's surface. You can also invoke "Face Builder" directly, to create polygonal objects from scratch.
"3D Text": You can use the "3D Text" tool to create polygonal 3D lettering.
"2D Text": This is used to create 2D annotations located in 3D space
"Lines": This is used to create 3D lines.
"WWW Inline": For VRML users, the WWW Inline tool is a way of "auto-inlining" objects in the scene, as well as include objects from across the Web.
"Group": When you take two objects together and group them together, a parent of type "Group" is created.
"Unknown": When you read in an external file and want to leave the contents "as-is", the contents are read in as an "Unknown" object, which cannot be modeled using any tool.
"Potter" is the primary object creation tool in Ez3d. "Potter" is a unique tool, because it combines many traditional tools (extrude, sweep/spin, axis path and twist) into a single new approach to modeling 3D objects. In its simplest form this tool extrudes and spins or sweeps at the same time. If you take a little time and understand the concepts behind "Potter", you will find creative ways to create both simple and complex objects using a combination of spline curves.
By default, "Potter" comes up with a square "Section" (in the main Potter window) and a straight "Profile" (in the smaller window below). The section and profile are each 2-dimensional curves. Sweeping the profile about the section results in a 3-dimensional object. For example, sweeping a vertical line about a square results in a cube. If the section is a circle, the 3D object will be a cylinder. If the section is a circle, and the profile is a sloping line, the object will be a cone. You can also create holes in the section, and the holes are extruded all along the profile. "Potter" also allows you to modify the section "locally". For example, an object can be round at the top, then square around the middle, and so on. By default the object has a straight "Axis" (backbone). You can actually specify and modify an axis spline path in the viewer window, and see the object contort itself about the axis! Finally, you can specify a twist to be applied to each sectional plate. The profile/sections/axis/twist curves can be a continuous set of both lines and splines. The resulting object will be a mesh of spline surfaces, and treated as a single continuous mesh of vertices for rendering.
Object Name
You can give a meaningful name to the object using the "Object Name" text field by selecting the default name (by dragging the left mouse pressed) and deleting it, and typing in a new name.
Current Operation
There are 5 choices:
Profile
Section
Axis
Local Section
Twist
These options control what parts of the "Potter" object you will be working on. Except in the case of Axis, the spline that has been chosen appears in the main Potter window. The Axis spline is edited in the scene viewer(s). All the operations in the interface now operate on the chosen spline. See "Spline Editing" later on this section, to learn how to modify the spline.
Profile
This selects the "Profile spline" for editing in the main spline editor (Large window). The "Section spline" will appear on the smaller window.
Section
This selects the "Section spline" for editing in the main spline editor (Large Window). The profile spline appears on the smaller window.
Local Section
This allows one or more sections to be edited without affecting any of the remaining sections. Select one or more points in the Profile editor (using the middle mouse drag box). These are the points, whose local sections you want to modify. Then choose "Local Section". It brings up the local section in the editor window, which you can now modify. To restore a group of sections back to the shape of the "global section", select the points in the Profile window (using the middle mouse), and choose "Section". The local section effects go away.
Axis
This selects the object's "Axis" (backbone) for editing. The 3D axis spline should be edited in the viewer window(s). See "Spline Editing" later on in this section, to learn how to modify the axis spline. The axis may be bent or formed into almost any curve shape, and the object will extend and contort itself along that curve. Axis editing is best done in a 2D view (either change the viewer type of the main viewer to a 2D view, or bring up a new 2D view by choosing "Options - New Viewer ".
Note: If you have "Axis" selected, all the Potter operations will work on the axis in the main Ez3d viewer, not the spline in the two Potter viewers. However what you do inside the "Potter" viewers will affect the spline there (profile or section). This can be a little confusing, but it allows you the flexibility of modifying the section, profile and axis all at the same time. For example, while manipulating the "Axis", you can increase the number of points in the "Profile", so that you get smooth bending.
Twist
The twist spline specifies how much each section plate rotates with regard to the previous. By default, the twist spline is a vertical line, so the object is not twisted. If you move the top or bottom point, you will see the 3D object twisting by a proportional amount. You can twist specific portions of the object by creating more points within the twist spline, and moving them.
Spline Editing
This is a very powerful 3D curve editor used for creating and modifying splines. In the "Potter" tool, it is used for editing the section/profile/axis curves. In the "3D text" tool, it is used to edit the bevel of the text. The spline is usually colored white, and the spline control points are colored blue, except for the starting point, which is red. The cursor is a red cross-hair. A green rubber-band extends from the current cursor position to the nearest end of the spline. If you move the cursor over the spline, that part of the spline turns green. If you move the cursor over a spline point, a green box appears over it.
Note: If you are editing the axis spline in the main window, you may have difficulty selecting or adding points in the middle of the spline. To avoid this problem, first move the cursor over an end point of the spline until the green box appears. From then on, you should have no problem.
Moving a Spline Point
To move a spline point, move your cursor over it until a green box appears. Press on the left mouse button. The green box turns yellow. Move the point while keeping the mouse button pressed. Notice how the spline changes shape! In a 2D viewer such as the "Potter" viewer, the point can only be moved in the viewing plane. In a 3D viewer, you can actually move it in any direction. The manipulator chooses to move along the X, Y or Z axis direction based on the side of the box that the cursor is touching. If you keep the <Shift> key pressed, the movement will be constrained along the nearest axis. If you keep the <Ctrl> key pressed, the movement will be constrained perpendicular to the plane.
You can constrain the movement of points by choosing "Options - Snap To Grid". You can even set the coarseness of the invisible "snap" grid in "Options - Grid Options".
Moving a Group of Spline Points
To move a group of points together, press down the middle mouse button and drag a rectangular box around the required points. When you let up on the button, a 3D manipulator shows up around the box. You can now press down on the left mouse to move the box (and the points inside it). If you are in the 3D viewer, you will notice that the manipulator box (and the points inside it) move in the plane of the side that the mouse touches. You can also resize or rotate the box by pressing down on the corner and side "handles". For more details on the 3D manipulator, please see "Options - Selection Highlight - 3D manipulator".
To select more points, keep <Shift> pressed while dragging the middle mouse around the points. The 3D manipulator will then expand to surround both the original and additional points.
Hint: You can create gears or corrugated pipes by <Shift>-selecting every alternate spline point in a section!
If you have the "Transform" tool up (see Attribute - Transform), the text boxes will indicate the accurate cursor position during spline editing. If you box-select one or more points, the text boxes will indicate the center of the selected region. You can specify an accurate location for the spline points by typing a value, or moving the thumb wheels in the "Transform" tool.
Adding a Spline Point
To add a new spline point, simply click on the left mouse button at the desired location in the spline window. The green rubber band indicates which end of the spline will be extended. To add a new point in the middle of the spline, go over the spline until that part of the spline turns green, then click on the left mouse button. The new point can then be moved the usual way.
In some cases, you will not be allowed to add points at the ends of
the spline (for example, if the spline is a closed loop, as in a "Potter" section). In this case, the green rubber band from the nearest end of the spline will not appear. But you can add points in the middle.
Creating Multiple Spline Segments
The spline itself can consist of several curve segments. To start a new curve segment, keep the <Shift> key pressed while clicking on the left mouse button to create a new point. The new point will now be in a different curve segment. Notice that the junction spline point is red. You can "split" a curve segment into two by pressing <Shift> while clicking the left mouse on the curve. You can use multiple curve segments in a spline either to create portions of the curve composed entirely of straight lines, or to create "cusps" in the spline.
Deleting Points
To delete a point, move over it until the green box appears. Then press "d" or "<Backspace>" or "<Delete>" on the keyboard. If you are not over a vertex, but there is a green highlight from the end of the spline to the cursor, it will delete that end point. You can also box-select one or more vertices, then press "d" or "Backspace" or "Delete".
Most tools that use the spline editor also have a "Delete" button (such as the "Delete Region" button in Potter). You can select one or more points using the middle mouse, and use this button to delete those points.
The spline/vertex editor does take a little while to learn, especially if you want to use its full power. But since it is at the heart of all modeling tools, it will be well worth the effort.
Potter Edit Operations
The top menu bar in "Potter" has some "Edit" operations that work hand-in-hand with the spline editor.
Select Piece
If you have one or more points selected using the middle mouse, this selects the whole spline piece. If the section has holes (see "Potter - Section Holes" below), the spline has multiple pieces. The "Select piece" option is useful for selecting individual pieces.
Finer Region
This will double the number of spline points in the region that has
been selected using the middle mouse.
Delete Region
You can box-select one or more points in the spline, and press "Delete Region" to delete them. In some cases where the splines have to be closed loops, as in "Potter" sections, you cannot have less than 4 points in the spline.
Delete Piece
This will delete the entire spline piece of which one or more points have been selected.
Delete All
This will clear the entire spline. In some cases, such as a Potter section, you cannot clear the spline - you will always have to start with an existing spline curve and modify it.
The Potter interface has these two buttons for convenience. These have the same functionality as their main counterparts.
Delete Region
Undo
Spline steps
Each spline consists of spline control points (blue markers on the
editing window). The spline is created by generating curve points in between the spline points. The "spline steps" slider determines the number of curve points between consecutive spline points. The more the spline steps used, the finer or smoother will be the curves produced by the main spline points. And consequently, the finer or smoother will be the appearance of the object.
You can set spline steps to be 1 to create line segments instead of curved spline segments. For example, for the default square section, the spline steps is 1.
You can also set spline steps for each piece (hole) in a section spline by selecting one or more vertices in the piece, and changing the steps. If no points are selected, the spline steps for all pieces are changed.
Hint: Use a low number of "spline steps", say 3 to 5, for fast modeling of the object, then bump up the smoothness while rendering by increasing spline steps, to say, 15 (or even 50 for that super-smooth look!).
Hint: In VR, modifying spline steps is a good way of creating multiple levels of detail with varying complexity. (You can also use "Attribute - Complexity" for that)
Join Ends
This option specifies whether the spline being edited is always a closed loop or not. If it is a closed loop, moving the starting point will also move the end point so that the spline is always a loop. In the case of "Potter" sections, "Join Ends" will always be on.
Auto-Update
By default, the "Potter" object in the Ez3d scene instantly changes with any change to its profile/section. If the instant feedback slows things down, turn off "Auto-Update". Now whenever you move a single spline point or a group of points, the object updates only when you let go of the mouse.
Parts
The top menu bar of the Potter interface has 3 toggle buttons to turn various parts of the 3D object (sides, top cap and bottom cap) on or off.
Hint: If you turn only "Top Cap" on, you can create VR stage props with holes. To add a thickness to the prop, create a short vertical profile spline, and turn "Sides" on. Alternatively, you can use "Model - Face Builder" to build flat props.
Potter File Operations
The top menu bar of the Potter interface has some "File" menu items that affect the object more globally.
Spline Primitive
This brings up a menu of spline templates or primitives. These can be loaded as the currently selected spline. The menu includes standard spline shapes like "Circle", "SemiCircle", "Square", and so on. By using the right combination of splines for the section, profile and axis, you can create a number of "Potter" shapes.
Info: If you click on "Info", it brings up information on the selected spline primitive.
Examples of using spline templates
a. A helical spring made of a straight profile, a circular section and a helical axis
b. A torus made of a circular section, and a circular profile reduced and shifted entirely to the right of the center
c. Another torus made of a circular section, a straight profile, and a circular axis.
d. Same as c., but use a rectangular section and profile, and you get a nice picture frame.
e. A pyramid made of a square section and a sloping profile
f. A twisted gear, made of a toothed section and a closed vertical profile, and a twist factor.
The possibilities are endless. Experiment on your own.
Load Spline
This brings up the "File - Import" interface. This allows you to load an EZ3D-INVENTOR (see "File - Import") file that contains the description of a spline curve. This feature is always used in conjunction with "Potter - Save Spline" to create a library of re-usable spline curves.
The current spline is replaced by the spline in the file. For example, you can change the default square section by choosing "Circle". Observe how the 3D object becomes a cylinder.
Save Spline
This brings up the "File - Export" interface, and allows you to save the current spline onto a file. The spline can then be load back into Potter using "Load Spline".
Section Hole
This unique feature allows you to create complex extruded objects. The section hole has to be a pre-defined spline. You have 3 choices:
Copy Outer: This will make a scaled down copy of the outermost section spline piece. This is useful for creating "double-skinned" objects.
Spline Primitive: You can load a primitive such as "Circle" or "Square" to create holes
Load Spline: You can load a spline saved using "Save Spline". In all cases, the hole is created with a nice default size at the center of the section, and a manipulator around it. You can use the manipulator to position and resize the hole the way you want.
You can create multiple holes, even holes inside holes (a hole inside a hole will be capped!).
Delete All: This will remove all the holes in the section.
Note: If you have intersecting or self-intersecting spline pieces in the section, the top and bottom cap will not be created, but the sides
will still be valid.
New Object
This is used when you want to work on a new "Potter" object without having to close the tool and bring it up again.
Close
This closes the "Potter" tool.
"Spline Surfer" is the next step to "Potter". For many simple and even reasonably complex objects, "Potter" is more than adequate. But if you want to "fine tune" the object, you may need to directly manipulate the spline control points on the surface. Note that if you invoke "Spline Surfer" on a "Potter" object, you will lose the section/profile information. The object is now represented by its surface spline control points.
Object Name
You can give a meaningful name to the object using the "Object Name" text field by selecting the default name (by dragging the left mouse pressed) and deleting it, and typing in a new name.
Mode
The tool has 3 modes:
Idle
In this mode, you can select/deselect and move this and other objects in the scene. The other two modes "grab" all the attention, so you cannot do anything else.
Tweak Spline Pts
In "Tweak Spline Pts" mode, you can tweak individual spline control points using direct 3D interaction in the viewer windows.
To move a point, move the cursor over it until a green box appears. Then press down on the left mouse button and move the point. In a 2D viewer (see section on Options - Viewer), the point can be moved in the viewing plane. In a 3D viewer, you can actually move it in any direction. The manipulator chooses which 3D axis direction to move in, based on your mouse movement. If you keep the <Shift> key pressed, the movement will be constrained along the nearest axis (which will be colored a brighter yellow). If you keep the <Ctrl> key pressed, the movement will be constrained to be perpendicular to the plane.
You can also move a group of points by dragging a rectangular box around them using the middle mouse button. A 3D manipulator appears around the selected vertices. You can move the box (and the points within it) by pressing the left mouse button and moving the mouse. Notice that the box moves in the plane of the side that you are pressing down on. You can also resize or rotate the box by pressing on the corner and side "handles" of the manipulator.
See "Options - Selection Highlight" for details on the 3D manipulator. If you have the "Transform" tool up (see "Attribute - Transform"), you can type in precise values for spline point locations.
Parts
These are the same as the "Potter" parts. You can turn the "Sides", "Top cap", or "Bottom Cap" on or off individually.
Join Ends (X, Y)
This allows you to specify whether the object is closed in the left-to-right direction, and in the top-to-bottom direction. For example, if you are "spline surfing" a cylinder created in "Potter", you will notice that "Join Ends X" is set. This means that the surface of the object always wraps around to touch itself in the left-to-right direction, and the ends will always move together during any tweaking operation. If you turn "Join Ends" off, you can "unwrap" the surface in X or Y.
Spline Steps
As in "Potter", this allows you to increase or decrease the number of steps between consecutive spline points. You can either move the slider or type in the number of steps in the text box.
Make Region Finer
Select a few spline points by dragging a box using the middle mouse. Then choose "Make Region Finer". Notice more spline points in the region selected. You can repeatedly use this to add more detail to smaller portions of the spline mesh.
Bend Axis
This is very similar to the axis manipulation in "Potter", only more general (see section on Model - Potter for details on axis manipulation). The "Spline" object has an "intrinsic axis" or backbone. You can bend, stretch and twist the object by just adding more points in the axis spline, and moving them. This gives you better control than having to move the actual vertices themselves.
When you choose "Bend", a bright red axis shows up inside the object. This may be the original axis of the object when it was in "Potter". You can now start bending and stretching the object by manipulating the axis spline. (See section on Model - Potter for details on spline editing). You can add more points in the middle of the spline, and start bending the object about those points.
Move the cursor over an end-point of the spline, until a green box appears. Press down with the left mouse and drag the point. Notice how the object stretches according to your movement. Click in the middle of the axis spline. Notice a new spline point (blue marker). Drag this point with the left mouse, and notice how the object bends along its axis.
Note: Before picking or adding points in the middle of the axis spline, first move the cursor over one of the end points until the green box appears over it. From then on, you will be able to add or pick points in the middle easily.
Section Size
Use this thumb-wheel to increase or decrease the sectional size of the object around the axis.
Auto Update
If you turn "Auto Update" on, the object updates immediately when the axis is bent. If you turn this option off, the object updates at the end of the interaction.
Hint: Bending can be slow for complex objects, so it is better to have "Auto-Update" turned off.
New
To "spline surf" another object, choose "Idle" mode, select the object and click on "New".
Close
This option closes the "Spline Surfer" tool.
"Face Builder" is used to create individual polygons, add polygons to existing objects, and to create connections between different objects. It provides ultimate low-level control to the user.
If "Face Builder" is invoked on an existing selected object, and if that object is a Potter or Spline object, the object is first polygonized into triangles. If you invoke "Face Builder" on more than one object, you can fuse them into a single mesh of faces, and then start stitching faces between the two groups of faces to create smooth shading effects. The newly fused object will take the properties (color, material, textures) of the first selected object. (If you just want to fuse the objects and don't need to edit the result, just use "Model - Merge".)
Object Name
You can give a meaningful name to the object using the "Object Name" text field by selecting the default name (by dragging the left mouse pressed) and deleting it, and typing in a new name.
Mode
In "Edit" mode, the face builder tool is active and does not allow any other activity in the scene. In "Idle" mode, you will be able to select and move objects in the scene.
Creating New Faces
You can create new faces or add new faces connected to existing ones by keeping <Ctrl> pressed while clicking the left mouse button. As you click one point after the other, you get a green rubber-band outline of the face that is being created. When you have entered the required number of points (say, 3 for a triangle, or 15 for a complicated face), either double-click or release the <Ctrl> key. That will immediately create triangles to make the polygonal outline that you just entered. While defining the vertices of the polygon, you can use the vertex of another connecting face by moving the cursor over the vertex until a green box appears, and then click on it. That vertex is now shared by the old face(s), and the new face that you are creating. While building a face, you can press <Backspace> or <Delete> to delete the most recent point entered.
Moving Faces
The "Face Builder" allows you to move the vertices around once you have created faces. To move a vertex, move the cursor over it until a green box appears, then press down on the left mouse button. You get a yellow highlight. Move the vertex while keeping the mouse button pressed. You can also move a group of vertices by first dragging a rectangular box around the vertices using the middle mouse button. This brings up a 3D manipulator around the box. You can now move the box by keeping the left mouse button pressed. You can also scale or rotate the box by pressing on the corner and side "handles" of the manipulator. (See "Options - Selection Highlight").
Box-selecting vertices also selects the faces involved. You can select additional faces by box-selecting with <Shift> pressed. You can also select a face for manipulation by either directly clicking the left mouse on it. If you keep <Shift> pressed, you can select more than one face.
Edges
This turns the display of triangle edges on or off. If you have the viewer draw style "as is", the edges helps you visualize the triangle editing.
Sel Box
When you box-select one or more faces with the middle mouse, it brings up a 3D manipulator. To turn the manipulator off, but still keep the faces selected, you can turn "Sel Box" off.
You can perform the following operations on the selected faces:
Delete: This will delete the selected faces. You can also press <d> or <Backspace> or <Delete> when you are inside the viewer.
Detach: This will detach the selected faces into a separate object. The "Face Builder" tool will now operate on this new object.
Hint: "Detach" can be used when you want to apply different textures on different parts of the same geometry.
Hint: Use "Detach" to create explosion effects where certain faces of the objects fly off.
Flip
This will flip the selected faces inside-out. If the display style of the object is "Both Sides" (see "Attribute - Display Style"), then it will not make a visual difference. But if the object has a display style of "Outside" or "Inside" only, then the faces will get flipped.
Finer
This will cause each selected face to be split into 3 equal triangles. This is a good way of increasing the detail of portions of the object. The newly created center vertex can now be moved for finer adjustment. You can also press <f> while inside the viewer.
Reduce
This powerful tool is used to reduce the triangle density on any arbitrary object. This tool is especially useful in VR applications to create levels of detail. It is also useful for reducing the complexity and redundancy in 3D scanned data.
You can use the slider or type in the desired number of triangles. For example, you may want to reduce from 2000 triangles to 500.
You can reduce one of the following:
Delete Selected: This will delete all the selected faces, and replace them with minimal "healing" triangles.
Reduce Selected: This will try to iteratively reduce only the selected portion of the object
Reduce Unselected: This will try to reduce everything but the selected portion of the object. This is useful when you want to preserve certain critical features in the shape.
Reduce All: The reduction system tries its hand on the entire object.
Preserve Creases: This toggle tells the system to preserve all triangle boundaries that are shaded sharply. For example the top and bottom circles of a cylinder are sharp edges, but the sides are smooth. The sharpness of the edges can be modified using "Attribute - Display Style - Crease Angle".
When you press "Start", the system repeatedly processes all vertices to see which ones can be eliminated. The system tries to do just enough so that your desired goal is achieved. This is a process of trial and error, and may take more than a minute sometimes. If you change your mind or if it is taking too long, you can press "Stop". If the final results are not what you expected, use "Undo" and start again.
Crease Angle: This brings up the "Attribute - Display Style" interface, which has a slider to set the crease angle (or smoothness) of the object. When reducing triangles of the object, you may reach a point where no more faces can be reduced, because the system may have to preserve creases. In this case, you can increase the crease angle, thus making the object smoother, and then reduce further.
New
This is used when you want to work on a new "Face Builder" object. If you select another object and choose "New", that object is now loaded into "Face Builder" (if the other object is already of type "Faces", you don't have to say "New"). If no object is selected, you can start with an empty "Faces" object.
Close
This closes the "Face Builder" tool.
"3D Text" is a tool to create "flying logos" and captions. The 3D Text can not only have thickness, but also a profile curve that defines the shape of the bevel.
The interface has the following components:
Object Name
You can give a meaningful name to the main object using the "Object Name" text field by selecting the default name (by dragging the left mouse pressed) and deleting it, and typing in a new name.
Input Text
This tool takes its input from the keyboard. Just type in whatever you wish. To start a new line, press <Enter> and type in the new line. When you are done, click on "Update".
Automatic
If you turn on "Automatic", you can see the text appear as you type. This may slow things down, but you get instantaneous feedback.
Update
If "Automatic" is off, click on "Update" to update the "3D Text" object with the text you typed in.
Font name
There are two modes of operation for choosing the 3D Text font.
Name: This will give you a list of fonts available. Select a font by choosing an item in the list. You can change the font any time while editing the text.
Family: This is a more generic style of setting the font. You can set
the Font family to one of Serif, Sans Serif or Typewriter, and optionally set "Bold" and/or "Italic".
Hint: For VRML, the "Family" style of specifying fonts is recommended, as that will ensure correct display on all VR browsers.
Complexity
The complexity value, ranging between 0 and 1, indicates the fineness of the font outline.
Hint: Using a lesser complexity value significantly reduces the number of triangles used, which is good for VR. For ray-tracing, you may want to use a higher complexity value.
Font Size
You can change the size of the font by entering a new value in the "Font Size" text field.
Line Spacing
You can change the vertical spacing between lines of text by entering a new value in the "Line Spacing" text field.
Justify
You can set the justification of the text to "Left", "Center" or "Right", with respect to the location point of the text.
Parts
The "3D Text" object has 3 parts -- "front", "sides" and "back". You can turn each of these parts on or off.
Hint: If you turn only "Front" on, the number of triangles becomes significantly lesser, and the scene becomes more efficient for VR.
Hint: Turning on "front" and "back", and turning off "side" creates a nice "shadow" effect for the lettering.
Profile Editor
On the right side of the "3D Text Editor", you will find the "Profile Editor" window. This tool is used to change the profile contours (beveling) of the "3D Text".
To use this tool start by moving the mouse cursor over the blue point marker at the left side of the profile spline. When the control point is selected, a small green box will appear around the blue control point. Now press the left mouse button and hold it, this will change the display to a yellow drag manipulator. Still holding the left mouse button down, drag the mouse up or down. You will see the profile of the 3D text object change. Move the cursor over the line till it turns green, and click the left mouse button to create a new intermediate point on the profile. Press "D" or "Backspace" or "Delete" to remove the point. When you are moving a point, its numerical location is displayed in the "Transform" tool (see "Attribute - Transform"). If you drag a box around a vertex using the middle mouse, then you can type in a precise location in the X and Y boxes.
(See "Model - Potter" for a full description of spline editing, which is similar to the 3D text profile editor).
New
This is used when you want to work on a new "3D Text" object. You can use this option to create/ edit a new 3D text object without having to close the tool.
Close
This closes the 3D Text tool. If the input text is empty, no object is created.
"2D Text" is a tool that provides for the creation of 2D annotation text on the screen. The text always stays flat on the screen and does not rotate with the camera. 2D text is useful for annotation and titling. However, it cannot be ray-traced.
If an existing 2D text object is selected while invoking this tool, that object will be edited, otherwise a new object will be created.
Object Name
You can give a meaningful name to the main object using the "Object Name" text field by selecting the default name (by dragging the left mouse pressed) and deleting it, and typing in a new name.
Input Text
This tool takes its input from the keyboard. Just type in whatever you wish. To start a new line, press <Enter> and type in the new line. When you are done, click on "Update".
Automatic
If you turn on "Automatic", you can see the text appear as you type. This may slow things down, but you get instantaneous feedback. If "Automatic" is off, click on "Update" to update the 2D text object with the text you typed in.
Font
The "Font" list field contains a list of fonts available. Select a font by choosing an item in the list. You can change the font any time while editing the text.
Font Size
You can change the size of the font by entering a new value in the "Font Size" text field.
Line Spacing
You can change the vertical spacing between lines of text by entering a new value in the "Line Spacing" text field.
Justify
You can set the justification of the text to "Left", "Center" or "Right", with respect to the location point of the text.
New
This is used when you want to work on a new "2D Text" object. You can use this option to create or edit a new 2D text object, without having to close the tool and invoke it again.
Close
This will close the tool. If the input text is empty, no object will be created.
The "Lines" tool can be used to create 3D lines in the scene. Lines can be used for annotating 3D polygonal objects, as well as fast representations of true 3D objects.
By default, a vertical line of length 2 is created, with one spline control point at each end. The line manipulator works the same way as all other spline editors in Ez3d. See "Potter - Spline Editing" for a detailed description of spline editing. You can move one or more points, create new points within and outside the existing spline, delete one or more points, and so on. If you have the Transform interface up (See "Attribute - Transform"), you can get the precise location of the cursor. You can also select more than one point using the middle mouse, and type in precise location values in the Transform text boxes.
Object Name
You can give a meaningful name to the main object using the "Object Name" text field by selecting the default name (by dragging the left mouse pressed) and deleting it, and typing in a new name.
Spline Steps
This can be used to control the fineness of the curve. Set steps to 1, if you want straight line segments.
Width
This specifies the pixel width of the line. By default, lines are 1
pixel wide.
Pattern
Using this option menu, you can set the pattern of the line.
Join Ends
This option can be used to keep the ends of the line together all the
time, forming a closed loop.
Markers
Use this to display or turn off markers for the spline control points
Finer
If you have a region of the spline selected using the middle mouse, and choose "Finer", you can double the number of spline points in the region. This allows you to add more detail to that area.
Delete
You can delete one or more spline control points by selecting them using the middle mouse, and choosing "Delete".
New
This allows you to start on a new curve without having to close and
start it again.
Close
This closes the "Lines" tool. Since you cannot select any other object or perform other scene operations while the "Lines" tool is up, you should close the tool as soon as you are done editing.
You can merge two or more polygonal objects into a single mesh of triangles, by selecting all of them and choosing "Model - Merge". The individual objects will be converted to "Faces" if necessary (thus losing "Potter" and other information), then fused into a single "Faces" mesh. There will be no visual changes due to "Merge", but the selected objects are now treated as a single object.
Note: The resulting object will have the same material, textures and other attributes of the first selected object. The other objects will lose their attribute information.
Hint: Applications of the "Merge" tool:
"Mold" works exactly the same way that a sculptor's fingers do with modeling clay. You are given a second object as a "mold tool". By default, it is a sphere, but you can choose from the given list of tools. To use another object in the scene as a custom tool, select that object, then choose "_Selected_Object" in the list. Note that "Mold" will work well only if the selected tool is "convex and closed" (that is, it does not have holes and depressions).
You can move, resize and rotate the tool using the 3D manipulator (see "Options - Selection Highlight")
When the tool is "hot", it is colored yellow and it is ready to mold the object. Move the tool toward the object, and press it against the surface. The tool turns red whenever it touches a part of the object and begins to mold it. Notice how the shape of the object changes. As soon as you let go of the tool, it turns blue (cold!). Move it to the next desired position. Press "h" or turn the "Hot" toggle on, and start molding again. If you move the tool (while it is cold) inside the object, turn it hot, then press it against the surface, you get the effect of pushing out on the surface.
Note: Since the triangle density of the object does not change, if the object is coarse compared to the tool, molding may have the effect of pushing the object surface, rather than creating the impression of the mold tool on the object. Using the modeling tools, make sure that the object has enough triangle density.
The "Slice" tool allows you to slice an object using an infinite plane. This tool uses another familiar real-world paradigm - the carving knife.
Object Name
You can give a meaningful name to the object being sliced using the "Object Name" text field by selecting the default name (by dragging the left mouse pressed) and deleting it, and typing in a new name.
Slice position
By choosing from the set of toggle buttons, you can set the initial position of the knife to be to the left, right, top, bottom, front or back of the original object.
Knife Movement
You can move the knife by moving the cursor to the base of the arrow until a green box appears. Then move the knife while keeping the left mouse button pressed. You can rotate the knife by moving the cursor to the head of the arrow until a green box appears, and moving it with the left mouse button.
If you have the Transform tool up (see "Attribute - Transform"), you can set accurate location and rotation values for the knife.
Note: Sometimes picking the head of the arrow to rotate may be difficult. In that case, first move the cursor to the base of the arrow until a green box appears, then go the head of the arrow.
Hint: Use a combination of views to make your task easy. Use a 2D view (either change the viewer type of the main viewer to a 2D view, or bring up a new 2D view by choosing "Options - New Viewer".
Flip Direction
By default the portion of the object along the direction of the arrow gets sliced off. If you choose "Flip Direction", the direction of slicing is reversed.
Continuous
If this option is on, the object gets changed with every slice of the knife. If this option is off, each slicing operation is done on the original object only. The latter lets you experiment with slice movements before committing.
Cap Surface
This turns the "healing" surface on or off.
Interactive
If "Interactive" is turned on, the object changes instantly with every movement of the knife. If the toggle is turned off, you can position and rotate the knife anyway you want, and then choose "Slice" to update the operation.
Close
This closes the "Slice" tool. Since the tool does not allow you to perform other operations in the scene, you need to close the tool before you move on.
"Mirror" is used to create mirrored objects, like a right hand from a left hand. The tool brings up a mirror in the viewer window(s), close to the object, and the mirrored object appears behind the mirror.
Object Name
You can give a meaningful name to the mirror object using the "Object Name" text field by selecting the default name (by dragging the left mouse pressed) and deleting it, and typing in a new name.
Mirror position
By choosing from the set of toggle buttons, you can set the initial mirror position to be to the left, right, top, bottom, front or back
of the original object.
Mirror Movement
You can move the mirror by moving the cursor to the base of the arrow until a green box appears. Then move the mirror while keeping the left mouse button pressed. You can rotate the mirror by moving the cursor to the head of the arrow until a green box appears, and moving it with the left mouse button.
If you have the Transform tool up (see "Attribute - Transform"), you can set accurate location and rotation values for the mirror.
Note: Sometimes picking the head of the arrow to rotate may be difficult. In that case, first move the cursor to the base of the arrow until a green box appears, then go the head of the arrow.
Hint: Use a combination of views to make your task easy. Use a 2D view (either change the viewer type of the main viewer to a 2D view, or bring up a new 2D view by choosing "Options - New Viewer ".
Interactive
If "Interactive" is turned on, the mirror object changes instantly with every movement of the mirror. If the toggle is turned off, you can position and rotate the mirror anyway you want, and then choose "Mirror" to update the operation.
Close
This closes the "Mirror" tool. Since the tool does not allow you to perform other operations in the scene, you need to close the tool before you move on.
The "WWWInline" feature in VRML allows you to reference other (local or remote) "VRML" worlds in your scene by specifying the URL for the external worlds. It allows the VR browser to load in a 3D object only when necessary ("lazy" loading). Use WWW Inlines for objects that are far away form the initial view or take time to load.
Ez3d's "WWWInline" tool works in one of the following two ways:
1. When you invoke the "WWWInline" tool with an object selected, Ez3d will "inline" the object by saving it in "VRML" format in your publish folder. This is the quickest and most elegant way to create "inline" objects in Ez3d. But do note that some information may be lost during the process of conversion to a "VRML" file.
2. When you invoke the "WWWInline" tool without an object select, Ez3d allows you to create a new "inline" object.
The URL for a "WWWInline" object can be of the one of the following types:
Local
A local resource file is a VRML file on your local system and can be selected using the file selector in the "WWWInline" dialog. When you select a file, Ez3d will determine the path of the file relative to your "Publish" folder. For example, if you select file "/usr/people/joe/www/NewWorld.wrl" and if your publish folder is "/usr/people/joe/vrml", Ez3d will set "../www/NewWorld.wrl" as your URL in the Universal Resource Locator text field. Using relative paths for local URL fields make your VRML file portable.
Remote
A remote resource file is a resource file on the Internet and is specified using the remote resource's URL path: For example, "http://www.radiance.com/vrml/logo.wrl".
Object Name
You can give a meaningful name to the object using the "Object Name" text field by selecting the default name (by dragging the left mouse pressed) and deleting it, and typing in a new name.
Show Bounding Box
When this toggle is selected, Ez3d will wrap a bounding box around the "WWWInline" object so you can distinguish it from all the other objects in the scene. This option is particularly useful if you are modeling your VRML world on a system that's not on the Internet, and if you want a form of representation for remote VRML files that cannot be fetched.
Show Object
When this toggle is selected, Ez3d will display the object represented in the VRML file.
Universal Resource Locator (URL) path
This text field is used to enter the URL path of a VRML file. When you specify a remote URL path, Ez3d will attempt to fetch the URL from the remote site.
Apply
Click on this button to apply your settings to the object. If you press <Enter> after typing in a field (such as the URL path). Ez3d applies your setting right away to the object and you don't need to click on "Apply".
Preview
When you click on this button, Ez3d will bring up a VR browser to preview your URL. See section on "Options - Preferences" for information on selecting a VR browser.
Close
The "Close" button closes the "WWWInline" dialog.
The "Attribute" menu provides tools to set an object's attribute. In addition to assigning colors, materials and textures to objects, it provides a way to set an object's display mode.
The "Attribute" menu has the following selections:
Display Style... Ctrl+D
Color... Ctrl+K
Material... Ctrl+M
Texture... Ctrl+T
Transform... Ctrl+F
Complexity... Ctrl+Y
Level of Detail... Ctrl+L
WWWAnchor...
The "Display" selection provides an interface to set the display mode of an object to "shaded", "wireframe", "points" or "bounding box" mode. The "shaded" display mode creates the most realistic display model for an object, but it is also the slowest display model. "Bounding box" display model is the fastest and is a particularly useful representation for objects that you are not currently editing.
The "Color" selection brings up a color editor that you can use to set the color of an object. The "Material" selection brings up Ez3d's material editor to set material properties for objects. And finally, the "Texture" selection brings up Ez3d's intuitive texture editor that lets you "clothe" an object with a color bitmap image.
The "Display Style" dialog has the following selections:
Draw Style
This option sets the drawing style of the selected object.
Shaded
This option sets "Shaded" display mode for objects. In this mode, the (selected) objects appear filled.
Wireframe
This option sets wireframe display mode for objects. In this mode, the (selected) objects are drawn as non-filled outlines. Objects are drawn at a faster rate than in "Shaded" mode. This is the default display mode.
Points
This option sets "Points" display mode for objects. In this mode, the (selected) objects are drawn as points representing the vertices of the objects. In this display mode, objects are drawn at a faster rate than in "Wireframe" display mode.
Bounding Box
This option sets "Bounding Box" display mode for objects. In this mode, the (selected) objects are represented as simple boxes. This display mode is the fastest of all modes and is useful to have for objects that you are not currently editing, and to speed up display if you have many complicated objects in the scene.
Note: "Picking" objects in a viewer window may be difficult in "Bounding Box" mode sometimes. In such cases, you may want to use the "Scene - Object List" option.
Shading
This option is used to set the type of shading to be used while displaying the objects in "Shaded" draw style mode. This menu is not active when the "Draw Style" option is set to "Wireframe" or "Points" or "Bounding Box".
Smooth
When this option is selected, Ez3d displays the object smoothly shaded. One normal is used for each vertex of the object.
Faceted
When this option is selected, Ez3d displays the object as facets by using a different normal for each face of the object, so the overall object looks faceted.
Show Sides
Outside
When this option is selected, Ez3d displays both the inside and the outside of the selected object.
Inside
When this option is selected, Ez3d displays just the inside of the selected object.
Outside
When this option is selected, Ez3d displays just the outside of the selected object.
Line Width
This slider sets line width of objects in "Wireframe" or "Bounding Box" display mode. The default line width value is 1.
Create Angle
This slider sets the crease angle to be used for displaying the object. The crease angle is the minimum angle between two adjacent face normals required to form a sharp crease at the edge when default.
Use As Default
When you select this option with display options set (like "Wireframe" and "Line Width"), Ez3d will use these display mode settings for all objects you create thereafter.
Close
This button when selected closes the "Display Style" dialog.
When this option is invoked with an object selected, it can be used to set the color of the object.
Color chips
The color chip on the left shows the currently selected color. The chip on the right shows the stored color. The arrow buttons can be used to switch which color is current or stored. For example, pressing the arrow button on the left copies the left hand color chip to the stored color chip. The center double arrow reverses the color chips, and pressing the right arrow copies the stored color chip to the current color chip.
Using the Color Wheel and Value Slider
The simplest way to use the "Color Editor" is as follows: Using the left mouse, move the color wheel to the desired color. To change the value (the lightness or darkness of the selected color) move the pointer on the slider. At value 0.0, the color will be black, at value 1.0, the color will be at its full brightness.
Color Editor Top Menu Options
Edit
The "Edit" menu contains the following options that control how the color is edited.
Edit - Continuous/ Manual
Changes made in the "Color Editor" are updated continuously in "Continuous" mode. In "Manual" mode, an "Accept" button appears under the color chips. Changes are updated only when this "Accept" button is pressed.
Edit - WYSIWYG
WYSIWYG stands for "What You See Is What You Get". The effects of this mode are seen in the color wheel and in the sliders. In this mode, what appears in the slider is what you will get when you move the slider to that position. The colors in the sliders appear only in the color chip.
Edit - Copy
This option copies the current color to the "paste buffer".
Edit - Paste
This option pastes the color stored in the "paste buffer". You will notice the color wheel set itself to this color. And consequently, if an object's color is being edited with the color editor, the object will be assigned this color.
Edit - Help
This option brings up a document containing more elaborate help information on the color editor.
Sliders
The "Sliders" menu sets the type of slider/ editor displayed in the color editor.
Sliders - None
No sliders are used. Choose colors from the color wheel.
Sliders - Value
Sets Value slider only.
Sliders - RGB
Sets RGB sliders (Red, Green, and Blue). Each slider value ranges from 0.0 (black) to 1.0 (full color) for each.
Sliders - HSV
Sets Hue, Saturation, and Value Sliders. Hue is the color, Saturation is the level of white added to the color, and Value is the lightness or darkness of the color. All range from 0.0 to 1.0.
Sliders - RGB V
Sets RGB plus Value sliders. Each slider value ranges from 0.0 to 1.0.
Sliders - RGB HSV
Sets RGB plus HSV sliders. Each slider value ranges from 0.0 to 1.0.
The default color editor is an "RGB V" color editor.
Hint: If you find the color changes taking a long time to update the selected object in the viewer window(s), you may want to turn off "Edit - WYSIWYG".
Hot Key: Ctrl+M
The "Material Editor" allows you to edit the color and material properties of selected object(s) in the scene. The "material" of an object refers to the properties of the surface of the object. These properties affect the way the object looks and responds to lights in the scene. Materials may be assigned in one of the following two ways:
1. By selecting a material from a list of materials (called a "palette").
2. By creating a new material inside the editor by setting values for material properties like ambient color, specular color etc. (described below).
Material Palette
A material palette is simply a folder or a directory on your system that holds material files. They provide an elegant way of classifying your materials based on type. For example, if you have a series of materials representing metals and another series of materials representing plastic, you may wish to create separate palettes for each of them called "metal" and "plastic". This will create separate folders of the same name in your personal material folder. You may then use your desktop environment or the shell to move all metal materials to the "metal" folder. Or you may use the utilities provided in the "Material" drop down menu (explained later) to transfer materials to the newly created "metal" folder.
A material palette may be of one of the following types:
1. System palette: This is a palette of materials that is shipped with the Ez3d system. They are "read only", meaning that you cannot save or load materials to this palette. You can only read in materials found in this palette and map them to objects in the scene.
2. Personal palette: This is a custom palette created by a user and can be modified by that user only. Other users can read in these materials, but they cannot save or load them back to this palette. But the user who created these palettes owns these palettes and can load and save materials at will to this palette.
3. Project palette: This is a palette that is specific to the current project that you are working on. If you create a material specific to a project, you may want to save it in the project palette. The materials in the system palette and personal palette are meant for sharing between different projects. The personal material palette, by default, is created in the ".Ez3d2.0/materials" folder in your home directory. But you may change this location by setting the "Personal Material Palette Folder" field using the "Preferences" selection available under the "Options" menu (See section on "Options - Preferences").
Material Editor Top Menu Options
The Material editor contains the following top menu selections:
Palette
The "Palette" menu provides controls that affect material palettes in Ez3d. It contains the following options:
Palette - New
This option brings up the "New Material Palette" dialog that lets you create a new palette into which materials can be loaded and stored. You need to enter a name for the palette (or use the default name provided) and press "Ok". This will cause Ez3d to create an empty palette with that name. You may then move your material files to this palette using the options in the "Material" menu (explained later). Or you may wish to store newly created materials in this palette.
Palette - Load
This option brings up the "Load Material Palette" file selector that lets you create and load a remote folder containing materials. This file selector can be used to select a folder or a directory anywhere on your system and read the contents of that folder in to a newly created palette. The "Load" selection contains the following options:
Palette Name
This text field can be used to set the name of this new palette folder. If you do not assign a name for the new palette, Ez3d will try to assign it a unique name (like "palette001").
Load Palette Type
The Load Palette Menu provides 3 options for loading palettes:
symbolic link (save space)
(default) To avoid duplicating a complete folder which can take up a lot of disk space, Ez3d creates a symbolic link to that folder. This creates a permanent palette which will show up in all Ez3d sessions thereafter. Since Ez3d creates a symbolic link with this option, deleting files from the original folder through your desktop environment or from the shell will cause materials to be deleted from this palette folder as well.
copy entire palette
This option will cause the entire contents of the folder to be copied to the material palette area. This way, even if materials from the original folder are deleted, the newly created palette folder will retain copies of the materials. The down side to this option is the disk space required to make copies of material files.
use for this session only
This option creates a "virtual" palette. Ez3d remembers the names and paths of the materials only during the current session. If you exit and restart Ez3d, this palette information will be lost. This option is useful if you just want to browse through the contents of a remote folder.
Load Palette File Selector
Use this file selector to select a palette folder by choosing an entry from the "Palettes" list.
Palette - Remove
This option can be used to remove the current palette folder. Every single material in the palette will be removed. System palettes, being "read only", cannot be removed.
The "Remove" option is active only if the currently selected palette is a personal palette.
Palette - Rename
This option brings up the "Palette Rename Menu". Entering a name in the "New palette name" text-field and clicking on "Ok" will rename the current palette to the newly entered name.
The "Rename" option is active only if the currently selected palette is a personal palette.
Palette - Project Palette
Selecting this toggle button causes your project palette to become the currently selected palette. The project palette is a folder that is specific to the project you are currently working on. All materials saved onto the project palette will be visible only in this project. They will not be visible when another project is loaded. They thus provide a nice way of organizing materials with projects.
Palette - System Palette
This cascade menu contains a list of all system palettes. Selecting an item from this list will cause the system palette with that name to become the currently selected palette.
Palette - Personal Palette
This is a custom palette created and owned by you to help you organize your material files. The personal material folder, by default, is created in the "materials" folder inside a hidden directory (".Ez3d2.0") in your home directory. But you may change this location by setting the "Personal Material Palette Folder" field in the "Options - Preferences" menu.
Material
The material menu contains the following options:
Material - Copy To
The "Copy To" menu is used to copy materials from the current palette to a project or personal palette. When you have a material selected from the material list selector, you can copy the material onto another palette by choosing the palette from the list of palettes in the "Copy To" cascade menu. Since system palettes are "read only", they are not listed in the "Copy To" menu.
Material - Load
The "Load" option brings up the "Material Load Menu" file that lets you load a material file from any location in your system. You can browse through directories on your system to locate the material file you want. When you click on "Ok" in the file selector with a material file selected, Ez3d will load the material onto the current palette. You will notice your material list selector re-drawing as it tries to add another material to its list.
The "Load" option is active only if the currently selected palette is a personal palette or a project palette.
Material - Remove
The "Remove" option removes the currently selected material from the current palette. This option is active only if the currently selected palette is a personal palette or a project palette.
Note: For loading materials onto a palette or copying materials to a palette, you need to have file write permission in that palette folder.
Material - Save
The "Save" option brings up the "Save Material" dialog which lets you enter a name for the material to be saved. When you've entered a name, click on "Ok" in this dialog. Ez3d will then save your current material settings onto the specified file and stores the material file in the current material palette. This material file can then be selected at any future time and mapped onto objects.
The "Save" option is active only if the currently selected palette is a personal palette.
Material editor types
Ez3d provides two different editors - a "default editor" and a "simple editor". The "default editor" in Ez3d consists of controls that set the ambient, diffuse, specular and emissive color properties of a material in addition to transparency and shininess properties. The "simple editor", on the other hand, lets you set the plasticity/ metalicity of an object, its roughness/ smoothness, its opacity/transparency and its diffuse color.
While the "simple editor" is more intuitive, the default editor offers you more flexibility.
"Default Editor" Controls
The "default editor" has the following controls:
Amb
(Ambient) This option sets the reflected color of the selected object in response to the ambient lighting in the scene. The slider sets the ambient coefficient, while the toggle to the left brings up a color editor that sets the ambient color value. See section on "Attribute - Color" for more information on using the color editor.
Diff
(Diffuse) This option sets the base color of the selected object in Ez3d. The slider sets the diffuse coefficient, while the toggle to the left brings up a color editor that sets the diffuse color value. See section on "Attribute - Color" for more information on using the color editor.
Spec
(Specular) This option sets the reflective quality of the selected object's highlights. The slider sets the specular coefficient, while the toggle to the left brings up a color editor that sets the specular color value. See section on "Attribute - Color" for more information on using the color editor.
Emis
(Emissive) This option sets the light emitted by the selected object. The slider sets the emissive coefficient, while the toggle to the left brings up a color editor that sets the emissive color value. See section on "Attribute - Color" for more information on using the color editor.
Note: The emissivity value of an object is ignored by the photo-real rendering module. It is not recommended that you use this control very often.
Shininess
(Shininess) This option sets the degree of shininess of an object's surfaces, ranging from 0.0 for a diffuse surface with no shininess to a maximum of 1.0 for a highly polished surface..
Transp
(Transparency) This is the level of transparency of the object selected in Ez3d. A value of 0.0 corresponds to an opaque surface and a value of 1.0 to a completely transparent surface.
"Simple Editor" Controls
The "simple editor" contains the following controls:
plastic/ metal
This slider lets you set how "metallic" or "plastic" you want the object to be.
rough/ smooth
This slider lets you set how rough or smooth you want the object to be.
opaque/transp
This sliders lets you set how opaque or transparent you want the object to be.
Color Wheel
This color wheel lets you set the base (diffuse) color of the object. Please refer to section on "Attribute - Color" for more information on how to use the color wheel.
Material Preview Window
This window contains a sphere that shows you how editing changes affect the material being applied to the selected object in Ez3d. When you invoke the material editor without an object selected, you can use the preview sphere to study material mapping effects of the materials in your palette and the effects caused by moving the editor controls (like "Amb", "Diff" sliders).
Material Palette Browser
Ez3d offers 2 different browsers to help you select a material file on your system:
Graphical Browser
This option uses an an intuitive browser that displays a list of spheres each representing a material in the palette. It presents a more visual way of selecting and mapping a material on to an object. To select a material from the palette browser, simply move your left mouse to the sphere representing the material you want and click on the left mouse. If it is a non-empty material file, you will immediately see the material preview sphere in the material editor mapped by this material. If you have object(s) selected, you will see them all update to have the same material properties as that of this selected sphere.
When you change material palettes using the "Palette" menu, you will notice the spheres in the material "Palette Browser" change to represent the new materials. The "Palette Browser" can be Closeed by turning off the toggle in the "Editor" menu.
File Browser
This option uses a simple file selector that lists all the files in the current material palette.
Binding
This option sets the type of binding:
Overall
When this option (default) is set, the object has the same uniform material property throughout.
Face
When this option is set, you can set a different material for each face of an object. The "Model - Face Builder" tool has to be operating on this object. Select one or more faces in "Face Builder" and set the material.
Hint: Use per-face materials for a single object
Vertex
When this option is set, you can set a different material for each vertex of an object. The "Model - Face Builder" tool has to be operating on this object. Select one or more vertices in "Face Builder" and set the material.
Hint: Use per-vertex materials to create a shading effect without using lights or even textures. This significantly speeds up 3D walk-throughs.
Photo-real Properties
You will notice all the menu items in this part of the editor colored blue. This means that these settings will not affect objects in the main Ez3d scene. But rather, they will affect the photo-real look of the object when rendered using the photo-real "Render" feature in Ez3d. (See section on Scene - Render for more information).
Reflectivity
This slider sets the specular reflectivity of the surface of the object selected in Ez3d. In other words, it sets how reflective the object will appear when rendered.
Translucency
This slider sets the translucency, diffusely transmitted color, and Phong exponent for transmitted specular highlights for the selected object.
Extinction Coefficient
This slider sets the extinction coefficient value of the interior of the object. This coefficient is raised to a power equal to the distance the transmitted ray travels through the object. The overall intensity of specularly transmitted rays will be proportional to this factor multiplied by the surface's body color multiplied by the transparency of he object.
Index of Refraction
This thumb wheel sets the index of refraction for the object. Index of refraction is a measure of how much a light ray distorts when traveling through the inside of the object. The default value is equal to the index of refraction of the atmosphere surrounding the eye. Move the thumb-wheel clockwise (to the right) if you want to increase the index of refraction. Move it counter-clockwise (to the left) if you want to decrease the index of refraction. If you'd like to enter a precise value, you can do so by entering the value in the refraction value text-field next to the thumb-wheel.
Auto
This toggle turns on the automatic update option for the material editor. When this option is on, Ez3d updates the selected object in the main scene everytime a material setting is changed. When the option is turned off, Ez3d updates just the test sphere. The main scene is updated only when the "Update" button is selected.
Update
When the "Auto" update option is off, selecting "Update" will update the material properties of the selected object.
Close
This button when selected Closees the "Material Editor".
Hot Key: Ctrl+T
This menu item when selected, brings up Ez3d's "Texture Editor".
The "Texture Editor" allows you to map textures onto your objects. A "texture" is a nothing but a bitmap image that can be wrapped around a 3D object. Textures are selected/created in one of two ways:
The "Texture Editor" when invoked with an object selected can be used to map a 2-D texture image to a 3-D object. Since texture mapping can be a fairly slow operation, Ez3d provides a smaller "Mapping Preview Window" that you can use to "preview" your texture map on the object, interactively translate, rotate and scale the texture on the object, and so on. And when you are satisfied with the way your texture looks, select "Update" to update the texture map of the object.
Texture Palette
A texture palette is simply a folder or a directory on your system that holds texture bitmap images. They provide an elegant way of organizing your texture images based on context. For example, if you have a series of images of Michelangelo's paintings and another series of images of Picasso's paintings, you may wish to create separate palettes for each of them and call them "Michelangelo" and "Picasso" respectively. This will create separate folders called "Michelangelo" and "Picasso" in your texture directory. You may then use the desktop tools or UNIX shell commands to move all Michelangelo images to the "Michelangelo" folder. Or you may use the utilities provided in the "Texture" drop down menu (explained later) to transfer images to the newly created "Michelangelo" folder.
A texture palette may be of one of the following types:
1. System palette: This is a palette of texture images that is shipped with the Ez3d system. They are "read only", meaning that you cannot save or load textures to this palette. You can only read in textures found in this palette and map them to objects in the scene.
2. Personal palette: This is a custom palette created and owned by you to help you organize your 2-D images. The personal texture folder, by default, is created in the "textures" folder inside a hidden directory (".Ez3d2.0") in your home directory. But you may change this location by setting the "Personal Texture Palette Folder" field in the "Options - Preferences" menu.
3. Project palette: This is a palette that is specific to the project you're currently working on. It contains all the textures that have been mapped to objects in the scene.
Texture Editor Top Menu Options
The "Texture Editor" contains the following top menu selections:
Texture - Palette
The "Palette" menu contains the following options:
Palette - New
This option brings up the "New Palette Menu" that lets you create a new palette into which texture bitmaps can be loaded and stored. You need to enter a name for the palette (or use the default name provided) and press "Ok" in the "New Palette Menu". This will cause Ez3d to create an empty palette with the same name. You may them move your texture bitmap images to this palette using the options in the "Texture" menu (explained later).
Palette - Load
This option brings up the "Load Palette Menu" file that lets you create and load a remote folder containing texture bitmaps on to a texture palette folder in your texture directory. The file selector can then be used to select a folder or a directory anywhere on your system and read the contents of that folder in to a newly created palette.
Palette Name
This text field can be used to set the name of this new palette folder. If you do not assign a name for the new palette, Ez3d will try to assign it a unique name (like palette002).
Load Palette Type
The "Load Palette Menu" provides 3 options for loading palettes:
symbolic link (save space)
To avoid duplicating a complete folder which can take up a lot of disk space, Ez3d creates a "symbolic link" to that folder. This creates a permanent palette which will show up in all Ez3d sessions thereafter. No extra disk space will be used up on your system. when you use this option. However, since Ez3d creates a "symbolic link", deleting files from the original folder using desktop tools or from the shell will cause images to be deleted from this palette folder as well.
copy entire palette
This option will cause the entire contents of the folder to be copied to the texture palette area. This way, even if images from the original folder are deleted, the newly created palette folder will retain copies of the texture bitmap images. The down side to this option is the disk space required to make copies of images.
use for this session only
This option creates a "virtual" palette. Ez3d remembers the names and paths of the images only during the current session. If you exit and restart Ez3d, this palette information will be lost. This option is useful if you just want to browse through the contents of a remote folder.
Load Palette File Selector
Use this file selector to select a palette folder by choosing an entry from the "Palettes" list.
Palette - Remove
This option can be used to remove the current palette folder. Every single texture bitmap in the palette will be removed. System palettes, being "read only", cannot be removed.
The "Remove" option is active only if the currently selected palette is a personal palette.
Palette - Rename
This option brings up the "Palette Rename Menu". Entering a name in the "New palette name" text-field and clicking on "Ok" will rename the current palette to the newly entered name.
The "Rename" option is active only if the currently selected palette is a personal palette.
Palette - Project Palette
Selecting this toggle button causes your project palette to become the currently selected palette. The project palette is a folder that is specific to the project you are currently working on. All textures saved onto the project palette will be visible only in this project. They will not be visible when another project is loaded. They thus provide a nice way of organizing textures with projects.
Palette - System Palette
This cascade menu contains a list of all system palettes. Selecting an item from this list will cause the system palette with that name to become the currently selected palette.
Palette - Personal Palette
This cascade menu contains a list of all personal palettes. Selecting an item from this list will cause the personal palette with that name to become the currently selected palette.
Texture
The "Texture" menu contains the following selections:
Texture - Copy To
The "Copy To" menu is used to copy textures from the current palette to a project or personal palette. When you have a texture selected from the texture list selector, you can copy the texture onto another palette by choosing the palette from the list of palettes in the "Copy To" cascade menu. Since system palettes are "read only", they are not listed in the "Copy To" menu.
Note: For loading images onto a palette or copying images to and from palettes, you need to have file write permission in that palette folder.
Texture - Load
The "Load" option brings up a file selector that lets you load a texture bitmap RGB from any location in your system. You can browse through directories on your system to locate the image file you want and when you click on "Ok" in the file selector with an image file selected, Ez3d will load the image onto the current palette. You will notice your texture palette browser redrawing as it tries to add another image icon to its list.
The "Load" option is active only if the currently selected palette is a personal palette.
Texture - Remove
The "Remove" option removes the currently selected bitmap texture from the current palette.
The "Remove" option is active only if the currently selected palette is a personal palette.
Texture - Save
The "Save" option brings up the "Save Texture" menu. Entering a name in the "Name" text-field and clicking on "Ok" will make a copy of the currently selected texture in the same palette.
The "Save" option is active only if the currently selected palette is a personal palette.
Texture - View
The "View" options lets you view the selected texture bitmap.
The "View" option is active only when you have an image selected in the palette browser.
Texture - Paint
The "Paint" option brings up the currently selected paint program and lets you paint/edit the texture bitmap selected. Please see section on "Options - Image Utilities" for more information on selecting a paint program.
The "Paint" option is active only if the currently selected palette is a personal palette.
Texture - Monochrome
The "Monochrome" option makes a black and white image out of the currently selected image in the palette browser. For example, if you have a color image called "my-image.rgb" selected in the palette browser, clicking on "Monochrome" will create a grey-scale image of "my-image.rgb" in the same palette. This image will be called "my-image.bw" and will be added to the images in the palette browser.
The "Monochrome" option is active only if the currently selected palette is a personal palette.
Inline/remote image
This options when selected brings up the "Inline Texture" menu. If you enter the URL path of a remote texture image (Example: "http://www.radiance.com/logo.gif"), Ez3d will attempt to fetch the remote image if your system is on the Internet and map it to the object. This could be particularly handy if you're creating 3-D content (VRML) for the Internet.
Storage Options
This menu item when selected brings up the "Texture Storage Options" dialog. You can use this dialog to set the storage option for the texture image:
Symbolic link to current folder
When this option is selected, Ez3d creates a symbolic (UNIX) link in the current folder that points to the original texture file location.
Copy to current folder
When this option is selected, Ez3d copies the texture file to the current folder.
Set path relative to current folder
When this option is set, Ez3d will set relative pathnames for textures. For example, if your texture file selected is in "/usr/people/foo/pictures/monalisa.gif" and if your current project folder is "/usr/people/foo/vrml", the texture path encoded in the scene file is "../pictures/monalisa.gif". This option is particularly useful if you're authoring 3-D (VRML) content for the Internet.
Encode in object/scene file
When this option is set, Ez3d will encode the texture information in the object or scene file at the time of saving. The original texture image is not required to texture map the object later in Ez3d or any other 3-D application. While this makes your 3-D objects and scenes more portable, do remember that this will increase the size of your model and scene files.
Ez3d offers 2 different browsers to help you select a texture image file on your system:
Graphical Browser
This option uses a graphical browser to view the texture images in the current palette. This browser contains graphical icons for all the texture bitmaps in the current palette. An image icon is a shrunk view of each image in the palette and when you move your mouse on top of the icon, you will find information on the image printed in the "Image Information" window. Clicking once on an icon in browser will cause the texture bitmap to be mapped onto the object in the preview window.
File Browser
This option uses a simple file selector that lists all the files in the current texture palette.
Image Information Window
This window in the center of the texture editor displays the following information on the currently selected image:
Texture Mapping Controls
The texture editor was designed to make object texture mapping as intuitive as possible. More importantly, it was designed to give the user immediate feedback to all control inputs. To do this, two view windows have been provided. The top window ("Texture Palette Browser") displays the images contained in the current texture palette. The second window ("Mapping Preview Window") just below displays the selected object to be mapped. As you apply a texture onto the object, you will see its effects on the object in this preview window. You can then interactively use the other mapping controls (like translate, rotate, scale, etc.) on the object. When you are happy with the way your textures map on the object, click on "Update" to display textures on the object in the main scene.
Translate X
This slider is used to move the image in the X direction of the surface of the object relative to its orientation. In most cases, you will see right-left movement of the image on the object when the "Translate X" control is used. For more precise control, enter the "Translate X" value in the text field next to the slider.
Translate Y
This slider is used to move the image in the Y direction of the surface of the object relative to its orientation. In most cases, you will see up-down movement of the image on the object when the "Translate Y" control is used. For more precise control, enter the "Translate Y" value in the text field next to the slider.
Rotate
This slider is used to rotate the image relative to its original position and orientation in the original texture. In most cases, you will see an angular movement of the image on the object when the "Rotate" control is used. For more precise control, enter the "Rotate" value in the text field next to the slider.
Scale X
This slider controls the X scale of the map on the surface of the object. This tool works in conjunction with the "Wrap Type" control. The effects of changing the X scale are quite different depending on the "Wrap" being used (see Wrap Type below). Generally, you will see the image map get larger or smaller in a horizontal direction when the this control is used. For more precise control, enter the "Scale X" value in the text field next to the slider.
Scale Y
This slider controls the Y scale of the map on the surface of the object. This tool works in conjunction with the "Wrap Type" control. The effects of changing the Y scale are quite different depending on the "Wrap" being used (see Wrap Type below). Generally you will see the image map get larger or smaller in a vertical direction when this control is used. For more precise control, enter the "Scale Y" value in the text field next to the slider.
Mirror X
When you have this toggle turned on, the texture gets mirrored in the X direction.
Mirror Y
When you have this toggle turned on, the texture gets mirrored in the Y direction.
Mapping
Ez3d offers a choice of techniques to map textures on to objects. For some mapping types, you can edit the mapping function using a 3D manipulator in the texture window, if you have the "Edit" toggle turned on. The mapping technique affects the "texture coordinates", not the transform of the texture map, and hence offers you an additional degree of freedom to get the texture displayed as you want it.
Default:
This applies only to "Primitive" and "3D Text" objects, not to polygonal objects created using Potter and so on. "Default" mapping is different for different shapes, and cannot be edited any further.
Sphere: The texture covers the entire surface of the sphere, wrapping counterclockwise from the back of the sphere (from -Z axis)
Cube: The entire texture is applied to each face. On the front, back, right and left sides, the texture is applied right side up. On the top and bottom of the cube, the texture is oriented toward the +Z axis.
Cylinder/Cone: The texture wraps counterclockwise around the sides, beginning at the -Z axis. For the top/bottom of the shape, a circle cut from the center of the texture is applied.
3D Text: The texture is mapped flatly on the front (and back). On the sides, it is mapped back to front.
Parametric
This applies to "Potter" and "Spline" objects only, where the objects are defined in terms of rectangular meshes. The texture is mapped "skin-tight" on top of the mesh, and stretches or shrinks with the geometry of the mesh. The end caps are not mapped. This mapping cannot be edited further.
The texture is mapped in the "parameter space" of the mesh. To comprehend the mapping, assume that the mesh is stretched out so that it is a flat rectangular plate. Then project the texture onto this plate, and finally put the mesh back to its original shape.
Planar, Cylindrical, Spherical:
These apply to all polygonal objects (such as those created by "Potter" or
"Face Builder".). If you want to use these mappings on Primitives or 3D Text, invoke "Face Builder" on the object to first convert them to "Faces" objects.
Planar mapping is like a film projector that casts the texture on the object along a given direction. This is a very common form of texture mapping.
Cylindrical mapping wraps the texture around an imaginary cylinder that fits the object. Only the sides are mapped, not the top and bottom caps. Also, there may be a seam at the point where the texture wraps around. It is up to you to either hide the seam away from the view point, or make the object denser in the region, so that the seam is minimized.
Spherical mapping wraps the texture around an imaginary sphere that fits the object. There will be a seam in this case also.
To edit the direction of mapping, turn on the "Edit" toggle. This brings up a 3D trackball in the viewer window. Rotate the 3D trackball until you get the direction you want (see "Options - Selection Highlight" for details on the 3D trackball). If you have "Attribute - Transform" up, you can also type in precise values for the rotation.
Environment
This option when selected maps the texture as if the object reflects the surrounding world. Hence the texture mapping changes as the view changes. Also, this works best when you use a special type of image - a spherical reflection map.
Note: Environment mapping is not available in the VRML output format.
Custom (experts only):
Sometimes you may not get the result you wanted, even if you used all combinations of mapping types and texture scaling. You can set the mapping type to "Custom", write out the object out to file, then hand-edit the texture coordinates of the object. When you read it back in, the object looks like what you want (provided you don't edit the texture map again!)
Model Type
This control is used to set the texture model to be used. It can be set to one of the following:
Modulate
The "Modulate" option multiplies the shaded color with the texture color to obtain the final color for the object.
Decal
The "Decal" option replaces the shaded color of the object with the texture color.
Wrap Type
This control sets the type of wrapping to be performed on the object. It can be set to one of the following:
Repeat
In "Repeat" mode, the image is mapped to the object as many times as it takes to cover the object with an equal number of duplicate maps. You can use the translate/ scale tools to fit the clamped texture map exactly the way you want.
Clamp
In "Clamp" mode, the texture image is only mapped once to the object no matter what alterations are made using the editor.
Quality
Use this slider to set the quality of the texture map. Values for this setting range from 0.0 to 1.0. A value of 1.0 creates the best quality texture map, a value of 0.0 creates the worst. Higher values for texture quality result in more realistic texture maps, but the trade-off is that they will be slower to display and render, particularly on systems that do not support hardware accelerated texture mapping.
Component
This control is used to set the component of the texture map. Component of a texture may be set to any of the following types:
Intensity
This component when set specifies that after the object is shaded, the shaded color is combined with the texture color to obtain the final color for the object.
Transparency
This component when set specifies that the transparency value of the object be replaced by this value. Only texture images that have a single component, such as monochrome (black and white) images, can be mapped using this option.
Reflectivity
This component when set modifies the reflectivity property of the object. This option is colored blue meaning that its effects only show in the final rendered image. Only texture images that have 1 component (channel) can be mapped using this option.
Shininess
This component when set modifies the shininess property of the object. This option is colored blue meaning that its effects only show in the final rendered image. Only texture images that have 1 component (channel) can be mapped using this option.
Bump
This component when set affects the gradient (normal) of the object. This option is colored blue meaning that its effects only show in the final rendered image. Only texture images that have 1 component (channel) can be mapped using this option. Beautiful effects of surface depressions and protrusions can be produced using this component in the final photo-real rendered image. For example, you can create an image of a rough floor by mapping a bump map representing the floor's roughness onto a flat plate created using "Primitives".
Hint: To create a single component image that you can use as a transparency map or a bump map, you can use the "Texture - Monochrome" option to create a black and white (single component) image from a color image.
Size
This thumb-wheel is used to set the size of the bump when a single-component image is mapped to the object. If the texture component is set to bump, this value controls the size or amount of bumpiness on the object. Negative bump sizes causes depression effects on the object, while positive bump sizes causes protrusions. Use the text field on the right to enter precise values or move the thumb-wheel to the desired value.
You will notice this option colored blue, meaning that the effects of this control will only show in the final rendered image.
Layer
This control is used to apply a "layer" of textures on the object. You will notice this control slider colored blue indicating that the effects of this control are visible only in the final rendered image. Only the outer-most (0 th) layer of texture of an object is visible in the main Ez3d scene. This is the first layer of texture you apply on the object. You can then apply layers of textures one after another below. These additional layers (called "inner layers") up to a maximum of 20 layers and the outer-most (0 th) layer are all overlapped one on top of another in the final photo-real rendered image to produce beautiful effects of texture layers. But each layer's texture can be previewed inside the preview window of the texture editor to see exactly how it is mapped on to the object before being overlapped in the final rendered image. If you have an object with say, 4 layers of textures, only the bottom most (0'th) layer is visible in the main Ez3d scene. But if you invoke the texture editor with the object selected, you will be able to go from one layer to another and have the preview window "peel off" one layer after another and show effects of the currently set layer.
Note: Layered textures are more useful when wrap type is set to "clamp". It then presents a way of "stamping" many images at desired locations on the object.
Here's an example of how you would use the layered texture feature. If you wanted to produce a photo-real image of a dinosaur, you would want to map a three-component RGB image representing the texture of the surface of the dinosaur onto layer 0 of the dinosaur object. And on layer 1, you could map a single-component bump map representing the dinosaur's scales. When you render this object using the photo-realistic rendering module, you will obtain a beautiful textured, bumpy dinosaur surface.
Update
The texture editor works in one of two ways. In manual mode, you must click on the "Update" button to see the texture map selection get updated in the main scene. If you have the "Auto" option turned on, you don't need to click on the "Update" button every time you want to update the main scene. Every single texture editor action updates the preview window and the main scene if the "Auto" option is on. Having this option on can make things slow.
Auto
The "Auto" toggle when turned on disables manual mode of updating. Every time you apply a texture on the object or modify the texture controls, you will see the changes reflect in the object in the main scene as well.
Remove
This button when selected removes the texture map.
Close
This button when selected closes the "Texture Editor".
Hot Key: Ctrl+T
The "Transform" tool allows you to specify precise values for the position, size and rotation of individual objects, vertices for spline manipulation, lights and so on.
If you have an object selected, and choose "Attribute - Transform", that object's transform information is displayed in the tool. If you select another object, the tool updates to show the latter's transform. The object's name appears on the title bar.
Mode
At any given time, you can edit a single aspect of the object's
transform:
Translate: The object's position in its world space. If the object is part of a group, the position is in the space of the grouped parent.
Scale: This is the factor in X, Y and Z, by which the original size of the object is scaled. For example, a "Primitive" cube has a default size of 2. Therefore to make the cube's width be 10, set the X scale to 5.
Global Size: If you are only concerned with the actual size of the object, rather than the scale, you can set the "Global size". For the example above, you can set "Global Size" X value to 10 directly.
Rotate: This specifies the rotation of the object with respect to the X, Y and Z axes. The rotation is specified in degrees by which the object is rotated (360 degrees is a complete rotation). (Specifying the orientation of the object in terms of X, Y and Z rotations is known to the techie types (!) as "Euler Angles")
The tool has 3 thumb-wheels and text boxes for showing X, Y and Z values (the 3 orthogonal directions in 3D space). These get automatically updated depending on object or tool selection, and the Mode selected. The fields also get updated when you move the objects or vertices using 3D manipulators. You can move the thumb wheels left or right, or type in precise values in the text box.
Move Option
This option applies when more than object is selected, and any one object is moved using the 3D manipulator.
Together: By default, all selected objects move, scale or rotate "Together" according to the manipulation of one of the objects.
Separate: Only the object being manipulated changes.
Snap To Object: This object is used to accurately position objects relative to each other. The object being moved snaps to the nearest selected object in the direction of movement. In other words, when you let go of the manipulator, the object tries to continue moving along the same path and stops when it hits another selected object. You can use this in conjunction with constrained motion in the 3D manipulator to accurately position objects with respect to each other.
Snap To Object Rotate: This is the same as "Snap To Object", but it also rotates the moving object so that the surfaces of the two objects in the moving direction lie against each other. This is again, very useful for relative position.
Snap To Grid: This will snap the bounding box of the object to nearest snap grid location along the direction of movement.
Edit Functions
You can also do the following to the current transform being edited:
Copy - copy it to buffer
Paste - paste the transform buffer to current object. This is useful when you want to apply the same rotation or scale to many objects.
Reset - this will set the object to its default position, scale and rotation.
Close
This closes the "Transform" tool.
The "Complexity" tool is a handy general-purpose tool to change the fineness of the object geometry. This is very important for VR and creation of multiple levels of detail. The "Complexity" tool allows you to make the object less or more dense without having to go specific modeling tools.
If no object is selected, the text information window displays the number of objects, textures and most importantly, total number of triangles in the scene. If one or more objects are selected, the information will pertain to those objects only.
Desired # Triangles
You can use the thumb wheel or type in a desired number of triangles, and press "<Enter>" or press the "Ok" button. The system will take each selected object, and try to proportionally reduce or increase the geometric complexity. For example, in the case of "Primitive" objects, Ez3d changes the internal complexity, and for "Potter" objects, Ez3d tries to change the spline steps. For arbitrary "Faces" object, it invokes the powerful polygon reduction system (see "Model - Face Builder"), and the operation may take some time. When it is done, the tool displays the resultant # triangles (which it tries to make as close as possible to your desired goal).
Edit: If you want to fine-tune the complexity even more, or do some modeling on the object, the "Edit..." button brings up the appropriate modeling tool for the selected object.
Update: This updates the text information, which may be out of date, if some modeling tools are being used at the same time
Close: This closes the "Complexity" tool.
Hint: VR users, use the "Complexity" tool in conjunction with the "Level of Detail" tool. Also, it is useful to have this tool up to check the polygon count frequently.
In virtual reality, it is important to ensure that the application will run fast in real-time. Hence as few polygons as possible need to be displayed at any time. At the same time, the objects should have sufficient detail to be interesting. The "Level of Detail" tool offers a mechanism to do both. It offers the ability to create several versions of the same object, and specify that the object should switch from one version to another depending on how far the eye is from the object. This way, when the object is far away, it uses a very coarse representation (perhaps even nothing!), and as the eye comes closer, it gets more and more detailed.
Object Name
This allows you to change the name of the object for which multiple levels of detail are created.
Mode
In "Edit" mode, you are always dealing with a single level, irrespective of the eye point. "Idle" mode shows how the object will be displayed in the final output - including transitions from one level to the next.
Level
By default, one level is created. This is is called the "highest" level of detail. If you move the slider from "1" to "2", by default, it makes a copy of the previous level. You can then use the "Complexity" tool, or use any modeling tool to reduce the complexity of the second level of detail. After specifying the required levels of detail, you can also specify that the last level of detail be "empty" (that is, nothing is displayed, when the object is far away).
Eye Range
The next step is to set the distances at which the object transitions
from one level to the next. By default, the system takes the current view, and doubles the distance for each subsequent level of detail. You can fine-tune the range for each level, by moving the Level slider to choose the particular level, zooming in the main viewer to where you want the transition to happen, and press "Set to View". Experts in 3D geometry can even type in values in text field!
Insert
This is used to insert a new level before the current level. By default, the current level is copied, and the eye range is set to half that of the current level.
Set Selected
This is used to replace the geometry of the current level by another object in the scene that has been selected (perhaps after loading from another file). This is useful when you don't want to derive each level of detail from the same geometry, but load separate pre-defined objects instead.
Remove
This removes the current level of detail.
Close
This closes the tool.
If you now bring up "Scene - Object List", you will notice that a hierarchy (similar to "Edit - Group") has been created, with the several levels of detail appearing as "children" of the parent object. When you zoom in and out, you will see different children appearing at different times. When you select the object in the viewer, the child that is displayed at that moment is selected. But when you then transform the child using the 3D manipulator, the entire object (including all other levels of detail) move as a group.
Hint: As a rule, always "WWW Inline" the first one or two levels of detail. This saves the VR browser from having to load the most detailed geometries if the eye never gets near the object. Select the specific level, and use "Model - WWW Inline".
This brings up the "WWWAnchor" dialog that lets you "anchor" the selected 3-D object to a (local or remote) Internet resource (URL). You can "anchor" your objects to anything in the Web -- an html document, a GIF image, an MPEG video, an audio resource file or even another 3-D (VRML) world. When you "publish" your 3-D world and view the world using a 3-D Internet browser, the "WWWAnchor" attribute comes into the picture. Clicking on the 3-D object in the browser will link you you to the URL specified.
An Internet resource (URL) file can be of the one of the following types:
Local
A local resource file is a resource file on your local system and can be selected using the file selector in the "WWWAnchor" dialog. When you select a file, Ez3d will determine the path of the file relative to your "publish" folder. For example, if you select file "/usr/people/joe/www/MOZART.aif" and if your publish folder is "/usr/people/joe/vrml", Ez3d will set "../www/MOZART.aif" as your URL in the Universal Resource Locator text field. Using relative paths for local URL fields make your VRML file portable.
Remote
A remote resource file is a resource file on the Internet and is specified using the remote resource's URL path: For example, "http://www.radiance.com" or "ftp://www.sgi.com".
Universal Resource Locator (URL) path
This text field is used to enter the URL path.
Description
The (optional) "Description" field for the WWWAnchor attribute allows for a more friendly prompt to be displayed by Internet browsers as an alternative to displaying the URL field. Most 3-D Internet browsers will allow the user to choose the description, the URL or both to be displayed for a candidate WWWAnchor.
Apply
Click on this button to apply your settings to the object. If you press <ENTER> after entering a field (like "Description" or "Universal Resource Locator path"), Ez3d applies you setting right away to the object and you don't need to click on "Apply".
Preview
When you click on this button, Ez3d will bring up a VR browser to preview your URL. See section on "Options - Preferences" for information on selecting a VR browser.
Remove
The "Remove" button when selected removes the "WWWAnchor" attribute for the currently selected object.
Close
The "Close" button closes the "WWWAnchor" dialog.
This is the fifth drop-down menu found in the main Ez3d title bar.
The "Scene" menu has the following options:
Object List... Ctrl+O
Lights...
Environment...
Camera Viewpoints...
Background Image...
Render Options Ctrl+R
Render Process Sheet
Render
VR Browser... Ctrl+B
"Scene" is a group of tools used to setup and then render the scenes created in the Ez3d environment. It may be used to setup rendering options on a full scene or individual objects within a scene. Normally, different objects will have different rendering requirements. Rendering may be done in the background while other Ez3d operations are in progress.
Hot Key: Ctrl+O
This menu item when selected brings up the "Object List" editor.
"Object List" is used to find objects by name. This tool can be used to "grab" objects singly or in groups for selection. This can be very handy in densely packed scenes where it would be difficult to "reach through" to a particular object or group of objects. Once you have activated "Object List", you may use it as an alternate selection tool. You may also use it to select and rename objects as you build a complex scene.
Object Names
Select an object by clicking on its name in this object list. Deselect by clicking on it again. You can select more than one object by clicking on the names with the shift key pressed. The selected object names will be highlighted. You can deselect an object by clicking on its highlighted name. Once an object is selected using "Object List" it will be treated as if it had been selected in the active window.
Objects are listed in hierarchical order. For example, if you've grouped objects "Cube001" and "Sphere001" into a group called "Group001", the objects will be listed as follows:
o Object001
o Object002
v Group001
o Cube001
o Sphere001
The "v" in front of the group object "Group001" signifies that you want the children of the group listed as well. Double-clicking on "Group001" will turn off display of the children and the tag in front of the "Group001" object will indicate a ">" as shown below:
o Object001
o Object002
> Group001
Ez3d uses the following types of symbols in front of object names:
o A child object
> A grouped object whose children have not been listed
v A grouped object whose children have been listed below
h A hidden object
List Menu
Arrange
Chronological
When you select this option, objects in the list are arranged in a chronological order -- objects created earlier are listed above objects that were created later.
Alphabetical
When you select this option, Ez3d will list objects in an alphabetical order.
Display
All Children
When you select this option, Ez3d will list the children of all grouped objects in the scene.
No Children
When you select this option, Ez3d will not list the children of any grouped objects in the scene.
Hidden Objects
When you select this option, Ez3d will list objects that have been hidden using the "Edit - Hide" selection. Hidden objects have an "h" symbol in front in the object list to signify that they have been hidden.
Search
Case sensitive
If you turn on "case sensitive" search, Ez3d will perform upper and lower case sensitive search when you use the "Search for" option to search an object by name.
Select Parent
When you select this option with a child object selected, Ez3d will traverse up the object hierarchy and select the parent of the object selected.
Object Menu
Remove
When you have an object selected, you can remove it by clicking on the "Remove" button. This is equivalent to choosing "Edit - Delete".
Rename...
When you have an object selected, you can rename it by clicking on the "Rename..." button. This will bring up the "Object Rename" dialog. Enter a new name for the object in the "New Name" list field and click on "Ok". Click on "Cancel" if you don't want to change the object's name.
Hint: Use "Rename..." to give meaningful names to your objects (which usually have default names like "Potter001"). As your project becomes more complex, it might help to give meaningful names to objects. Each modeling tool (Like "Potter", "3D Text", etc.) also provide an interface for setting/ changing object names.
Search for
Use this option to search for objects by name. Ez3d will try to match all object names that contain the search string entered. For example, if you have objects "Cube001", "Cube002" and "Sphere001", entering "Cube" and clicking on "Ok" will select objects "Cube001" and "Cube002".
Close
This button when selected closes the "Object List" tool.
Hot Key: Ctrl+L
This menu item when selected brings up the "Light editor".
The "Light Editor" provides utilities to create and modify the attributes of a light source. 3 different types of lights may be created -- "Directional" light, "Spot" light and "Point" light in addition to 2 other lights already present in the scene. ("Headlight" and "Ambient" light). Their attributes like color, on/off switch, position, direction, etc. may be set using the "Light Editor".
Once a light has been created and positioned in the Ez3d scene, the light editor controls may be used to make changes which will be seen immediately in the Ez3d scene.
Light Editor Top Menu
The top menu in the "Light Editor" contains the following menu options:
Display
The "Display" pull-down menu in the light editor has the following options:
Display - on/off
This toggle is used to turn on or off a light created in the "Light Editor". It thus simulates the effect of a real life light switch. By default, a light when created is turned "on". You may then turn the light "off" any time you want and the light will not affect any object in the scene. You can, of course, turn it "on" again anytime you wish. Ambient light is always "on".
Display - show icon
This toggle is used to turn on/off display of the light icon in the Ez3d environment. You may want to have the "show icon" option on if you want to manipulate the light's parameters using the light's icon in the main Ez3d view. Light icons visible in the Ez3d environment are not rendered in a test or final rendered image.
Attributes
The "Attributes" pull-down menu in the light editor has the following options:
Attributes - Cast Shadows
Turns on or off shadow casting ability of a light. This menu item is colored blue indicating that the effects of this selection are only visible in the final ray-traced image (See "Scene - Render Options")
Attributes - Spot Light Options
This option only works when the currently selected/ created light is a spot light. When selected, it brings up the "Spot light Options" menu containing more options for a spot light. (described below)
The "Spot light options" menu is only active if the currently selected/ created light is a spot light.
Light Editor Controls
In addition to the top menu items, the "Light Editor" contains the following options:
Light Name
This text field used to set the name of the light source for future referencing. Light icons are treated as objects for manipulation usage but will not appear in the final rendered image. The names of headlight and ambient light cannot be changed. For all other lights, you can type in a new name by clicking the cursor in the text field, deleting the default name and choosing "Ok" after entering a new name.
Light list
This is a listing of all lights in the current Ez3d scene. By default, Ez3d creates an Ambient light source and a headlight attached to the camera in the main view. The simplest way to select a light source is to "pick" the light icon in the main window. Lights may also be selected using this light list menu if the light icon is not displayed in the main window or if it is in such a position that it is inaccessible or inconvenient to select using the mouse in the main window.
Light type
A Ez3d light may be one of the following types:
Headlight
The headlight is a directional light that is always attached to the current camera position in the main view and moves with the camera. So this light affects all objects no mater what their positions might be. The headlight is often used for better viewing while modeling and usually turned off before rendering. A headlight cannot be created -- they can only be turned on or off.
Ambient
This light is like the sun. It has no location and affects all objects in the scene. It produces a constant illumination on all surfaces, regardless of their orientation. Unfortunately, ambient light by itself produces very unrealistic images since few real environments are illuminated solely by ambient light. There can be only one ambient light in the Ez3d scene. You cannot turn off the ambient light, but you can set its color.
Directional
This light illuminates uniformly along a particular direction. Since it is infinitely far away, it has no location in 3-D space. The icon for a directional light is for manipulating the direction only -- you will find that moving it along some direction does not produce any change in light effects. In other words, the light intensity does not change with distance. An angular change of the light icon arrow produces an increase or decrease of light falling on the object. The angular shift in shadows is the same as would be expected in nature. This means that as you change the direction of the directional light, you will see a corresponding change in shadows. The directional light's icon may be used to change its direction by "picking" the end of the arrow in the icon and dragging it in the desired direction.
Spot
This light works like the traditional spot light producing a tight and adjustable light source. It may be placed anywhere in the Ez3d environment and pointed in any direction. The cone of the light is adjustable in size.
Point
This light is like a star radiating light in all directions evenly. It is much like a solar source with the exception that it may be positioned anywhere in the Ez3d scene. It will produce proper sun rise shadow effects.
There is no limit on the number of spot lights, directional lights or point lights that can be created in Ez3d.
Light Color
The light color editor is used to set the color of the light being edited. This editor consist of three main parts, the first is a set of windows which set the main and secondary color of the current light. The second part is a color wheel which contains all the colors selectable with this editor. The third is a set of 4 sliders which can be used to set the values of the color component that make up any given color emitted from the light being created. The user may vary the color of the light by dragging the circular cursor from one point to another in the color wheel or by moving the color sliders to the desired value. One nice feature of this system is that the two "sub editors" are linked so that if one is used, the other also moves to reflect the changes made in the first. This makes it possible to set the color in any of the two ways. The sliders provide a more exact way of setting the Red, Green and Blue components of the light color.
Please see section on "Attribute - Color" for more information on using the color editor.
Light Position Controls
The easiest way to edit a light's position and direction is to pick on the light's icon (if you have the show icon option on) and drag it the location you want. For directional and spot lights, you can modify the light's direction by picking on the light icon's arrow and dragging it in the direction you want.
The transform editor offers a more accurate way of setting a light's position and direction. See "Attribute - Transform".
Point At Object
When you click on this button for a spot light or a directional light with an object in the scene selected, the light is oriented to point towards the center of the object. If you have more than one object selected, the light source points to the center of the object selected first.
Hint: The "Point At Object" option presents a convenient way to set a light's direction, after moving it to the desired location.
Spot light Options Menu
Spot lights offer additional controls that can be set by choosing "Attributes - Spot Light Options". When selected, it brings up the "Spot light Options" menu which has the following controls:
Cone Angle
This slider sets the cone angle of a spot light. The spot light effects are felt only along a cone whose cone angle can be set with this slider.
Drop-off Rate
This slider sets the rate at which the light intensity of a spot light drop off from their primary direction.
Create
This button when selected creates a light of the selected light type and other light parameters and adds it to the scene.
Delete
This button removes the currently selected light source from the Ez3d scene.
Close
This button closes the "Light Editor".
This menu item when selected brings up the "Environment Editor".
The "Environment Editor" is used to edit the global attributes of the environment in Ez3d. This environment will affect all other lighting elements as might be expected in a real world context. Stunning effects of fog, haze, pollution, and smoke may be simulated using the following options in the dialog:
Environment Type
Five different environment types are possible -- fog, haze, smoke, mist and none.
Fog
This sets the environment type to fog and simulates an effect of fog. Opacity of the environment increases exponentially with distance from the eye when this option is used.
Haze
This sets the environment type to haze and simulates an effect of haze. Opacity of the environment increases linearly with distance from the eye when this option is used.
Smoke
This sets the environment type to smoke and simulates an effect of smoke. Opacity of the environment increases exponential squared with distance from the eye when this option is used.
Mist
You will notice that this toggle button is colored blue. What this means is that setting the environment type to "Mist" will not cause any change in the Ez3d scene. The effects only show in the final rendered image produced using Ez3d's photo-realistic rendering module (See "Scene - Render Options"). A global low-altitude mist effect of the specified color is produced in the rendered image with this option. The density value sets the transmitivity value of the fog/mist for each color channel.
None
This option sets the default environment with no fog, haze, smoke or mist effects.
Fog visibility
This slider sets the visibility of the fog. In other words, how quickly the opacity of the fog increases with distance from the camera. A higher value results in a thicker fog or haze.
Refraction Index
This slider is colored blue meaning that its effects will only show in the final rendered image. This sets the index of refraction of the specified medium -- fog, mist or default. Index of refraction is a measure if how much a light ray deviates when passing through the medium. You may also use the text field to the right of the slider to enter a more precise value for index of refraction.
Environment Color
This color editor sets the color of the environment when the environment type is set to "Fog", "Haze", "Smoke" or "Mist". You can use either the color wheel or the RGB-value color sliders to set the value of the background color. See section on "Attribute - Color" for more information on using the color editor.
Use Defaults
This button resets the environment settings to default values.
Close
This closes the "Environment Editor".
Hot Key: Ctrl+O
This menu item when selected brings up the "Camera Viewpoints" editor that allows you to create and edit camera locations or viewpoints in the main scene. You can use it to record interesting locations in your 3-D world.
Camera List
This list field contains all the camera viewpoints that have been recorded for the current project. Selecting a viewpoint from the list will make the main viewer's camera jump to that viewpoint.
Create
Clicking on "Create" will bring up the "Camera Viewpoint Name" dialog. Enter a name for the camera viewpoint and click on "Ok" to record the current camera position.
Set to View
This button is active only when you have a camera viewpoint selected. It sets the selected camera viewpoint to the current main viewer camera position.
Rename
This button when selected brings up the "Camera Viewpoint Name" dialog and entering a new name for the camera viewpoint will rename the camera viewpoint.
Remove
This button when selected removes the currently selected camera viewpoint.
Close
The "Close" button closes the "Camera Viewpoints" dialog.
This menu item when selected brings up the "Background Image" editor to set attributes for the main viewer's background. If you select an image file in one of several image formats supported (SGI .sgi, GIF, JPEG, etc.), Ez3d will load the image file into the viewer's background. This image will not interfere with your camera or object movements, and on most hardware, it should not drastically affect performance/speed.
The "Background Image" feature is meant purely for modeling and does not get rendered while ray-tracing. It can be particularly handy in modeling tools such as "Face Builder" or "Potter". In "Face Builder", you can use the image to extrude a 3-D shape using the outline of the background image by clicking on the mouse along the contours of the image. In "Potter", you may want to use this to create a profile or a section curve using the outline of an image as a reference.
Fit to window
When you select this option, Ez3d will rescale the image (if needed) to fit exactly to your viewer window. If you have the "Maintain aspect ratio" option turned on, the image will be fitted only to the window's width or height whichever is smaller.
Custom Size
With this option selected, you can resize and position the image using the "Image Position" and "Image Size" controls.
Original Size
When you select this option, Ez3d reverts to using the original size of the image.
Maintain aspect ratio
When this toggle is turned on, Ez3d will maintain the original aspect ratio of the image when the image is scaled using the "Image Size" controls.
Interactive update
When this toggle is turned off, Ez3d will update the image in the main scene only when you let go of the "Image Position" and "Image Size" sliders so it's more interactive. With the toggle turned on, Ez3d will update the image interactively as you move the sliders.
Background Color
This button when selected brings up a color editor that you can use to set the viewer's background color. See section on "Attribute - Color" for more information on using the color editor.
Image Position
Use the X and Y sliders to move the image across the viewer to the position you want.
Image Size
Use the X and Y sliders or the text fields to scale the image in the X and Y direction respectively.
File Selector
Use this file selector to select an image file on your system.
Load
After you select an image file, selecting "Load" will cause Ez3d to read the image file from your hard disk and load it to the viewer's background.
Remove
The "Remove" button removes the viewer's background image.
Close
The "Close" button closes the "Background Image" dialog.
Hot Key: Ctrl+R
When this menu item is selected, Ez3d brings up the "Render Options" editor. This editor contains options to create a photo-realistic image of the scene, using the objects, materials, textures, lights, and environment information present in the scene. Ez3d uses a high-quality ray-tracer called "Rayshade" to create the photo-realistic image. A ray-tracer is a process that creates a realistic image of a 3D scene by determining the visibility of surfaces by tracing imaginary rays of light from the viewer's eye to the objects in the scene. It is, however, a fairly slow process and can take hours or days, particularly for large scenes.
Interactive rendering (what you see in the main window and all other viewer window(s)) is done by a much faster (sometimes hardware accelerated) process called "OpenGL" rendering. This is the native rendering system on most hardware. This image generated, in near real time, in your viewer window(s) may by itself be fairly realistic. Especially for scenes that have textures and materials mapped to objects. In such cases, you may want to save a "snapshot" of this image and Ez3d provides a way to do that.
Each of these two rendering systems is called a "render program" in Ez3d. You can switch from one rendering system to another by selecting the "render program" from the "Render Options" menu. And when you click on "Render" after doing so, Ez3d will automatically fire up the right rendering process. As mentioned earlier, "OpenGL" rendering is an interactive process and a final image is produces in less than 10 seconds on most hardware. "Rayshade", on the other hand, takes much longer. In order to keep you productive when this is going on, Ez3d runs "Rayshade" in the background (render to a file) so you can continue working on Ez3d.
What's more, Ez3d's intuitive "Render Process Sheet" allows you to monitor the progress of your "Rayshade" rendering. For smaller scenes, you can "Render To Window", in which case, you can see the rendered image being produced right in front of your eyes. For most scenes, it is recommended that you try a "Test Render" first, and when you are satisfied with the way the rendered image looks, you can start the actual rendering.
Render Options Top Menu
The top menu in "Render Options" offers the following selections:
Render
The "Render" pull-down menu has the following options:
Process Sheet
This option when selected brings up the "Render Process Sheet" dialog. This dialog contains a list of all rendering processes that are currently underway. Please see section on "Render Process Sheet" for more documentation. This selection is also available under the "Scene" drop down menu in the main Ez3d interface.
Program Selection
This button when selected brings up the "Render Program Selection" dialog. This dialog has a list selector which contains a list of "render programs". In order to select your current "render program", select a program name ("Rayshade" or "OpenGL") from this list and click on "Ok", The next time you start a rendering, Ez3d will use this program to create the rendered image. If you click on "Info" with a program selected, Ez3d brings up an information dialog with a short description on the "render program".
The title-bar of the "Render Options" dialog records the name of your current "render program".
OpenGL
"OpenGL" rendering with the "Render to File" option turned on renders to an off-screen bitmap to create a high quality image.
"OpenGL" rendering with the "Render to Window" option turned on creates a "snapshot" image of your main Ez3d window. When you select this "render program" and click on "Render", you will notice an information dialog pop up asking you to click on "Ok" when you are ready to begin rendering. After you've clicked on "Ok", do not move or change any window configuration on your system. "OpenGL" rendering takes just a few seconds to start and when it does, you will see two grey lines go from bottom to top of your main Ez3d window. When this is complete, Ez3d will bring up an information dialog saying your rendering has completed.
If you select "OpenGL" as your "render program", you will notice a few selections (like "Filter", "Cutoff", etc.) get greyed out. In addition, you will notice the "Test Render" button get greyed out as well.
Rayshade
Rayshade is a program for creating ray-traced images. It reads a description of the scene to be rendered and produces a photo-realistic true color image corresponding to the description. Rayshade was designed to make it easy to create nice rendered pictures. It was also meant to be flexible and relatively fast.
Features in Rayshade include Adaptive jittered sampling/ anti-aliasing, reflectivity, refractivity, translucency, fog, mist and other atmospheric effects, layered texture mapping, bump mapping, reflectivity/ shininess/ transparency mapping and a host of other features.
Process - Remote
Ez3d's ray-tracer (Rayshade) can be run remotely on a system that meets the following criteria:
1. The remote system must be on your local network and must be accessible from your local system.
2. The remote system must have an executable version of Rayshade installed.
The easiest way to set up your local network for remote rendering is by using a file sharing system (such as NFS). Make sure the Ez3d system directory is mounted and "visible" on all the other systems on your network.
Scratch folder
Ez3d requires a scratch (or temporary) folder that it can write to during rendering. Make sure this folder has at least 10 Mb disk space.
Scratch folder is transparent
If your scratch folder (Example, "/usr/tmp") is mounted at the exact same location on the remote system, turn this option on. It'll speed up rendering quite a bit.
Hostname
Enter the remote system's hostname in this field.
Rayshade location
Enter the location where the "rayshade" executable is installed on the remote system. If Ez3d has also been mounted and is visible on the remote system, you may want to use the rayshade subsystem supplied with Ez3d. The Rayshade executable ("rayshade") is located in "subsystems/render/rayshade" under "Ez3d_system".
Scratch folder
This is the folder that Ez3d uses to store temporary files during rendering. Make sure this folder allows write permission and has at least 10 Mb of disk space.
Remote Command
You typically don't need to fill in this field. Ez3d uses "rsh" to start a rendering process on the remote system. If you'd like to add additional arguments to "rsh", use this field to enter them. For example, "rsh -l guest RemoteSystem..."
Ok
When you've entered all the parameters required for remote rendering, click on "Ok" to activate remote rendering.
Turn off
This button when selected will turn off remote rendering and revert to rendering on your local system.
Process - Notify Options
This option when selected brings up the "Render Notify Options" menu which has the following selections:
Notifier type
This radio button sets the type of notification to be performed after rendering is complete. There are 3 choices:
Graphical
This option (the default) sets a "graphical" type of notification. When rendering is complete, Ez3d will bring up the final rendered image and a report on the rendering.
E-mail
This option sets an "e-mail" type of notification. The "E-mail address" field at the bottom of this menu is used to set the e-mail address to which electronic mail is to be sent. When rendering is complete, Ez3d will send an e-mail to this address with a complete report of the rendering process.
Note: Please make sure your workstation is configured for sending and receiving electronic mail before setting the "E-mail" option. If you machine is not configured well, mail may get bounced repeatedly and your disk could get filled with bounced mail.
None
This option turns off all forms of notification after rendering is complete.
Sub-window
This pull-down has following options that enable rendering a "sub-window" of your Ez3d scene. A "sub-window" is a portion of your Ez3d window that you can selectively ray-trace. If you want to render just a part of the scene (with just a few objects), the "Render sub-window" option presents an elegant way of doing that. Since the rendering region will be smaller than the entire window, rendering will be quicker.
Hint: You may want to render parts of your scene using "Rayshade" (which takes a much longer time) and other parts using "OpenGL". You can then overlap these rendered images using a "Paint" program to create the final rendered scene.
Sub-window - Render sub-window
When this toggle is selected, Ez3d renders only objects in a "sub-window". Use the "Set sub-window" push button to set the "sub-window" to render.
Render - Set sub-window
When you click on push button, Ez3d brings up the "Render sub-window size" dialog. You will notice the rest of the Ez3d interface disabled, meaning that you cannot do anything else in Ez3d until you've pressed the "Accept" button in this dialog. Now simply move your middle mouse across the main window and you'll notice a green colored rubber-band appear. Position and resize the rubber-band with your middle mouse to the location and size you want. When you let go of the mouse, you will notice the "Min X", "Max X", "Min Y" and "Max Y" text fields update to reflect the newly set render sub-window. When you click on "Accept", Ez3d uses these sub-window settings whenever you render with the "Render sub-window" toggle turned on. You can enter also enter value manually in the "Min X", "Max X", "Min Y" and "Max Y" text fields.
Render To Window
When this option is selected, photo-realistic rendering will be done to a window. This is typically done for small scenes that don't take more than half an hour or so to render. For larger scenes, the "Render to File" option is recommended. Iconifying the render window, or a screen saver kicking in, can disrupt the rendering process in this mode.
Render to File
Renders to the specified file. When rendering is complete, you will see a message box informing you that rendering is complete and a window with the complete rendered image will appear. You will also find the final rendered image of the specified name, format and resolution in the image folder. This option is recommended for scenes that take more than half an hour to render and will not be disrupted by screen savers or any other process.
Width
The "Width" slider sets the width of the rendered image. The maximum slider value corresponds to the width of the main Ez3d window. If you want your rendered image to have a larger width than the main Ez3d window, you can use the width value text field (next to the slider) to enter the width you require for the rendered image.
Height
The "Height" slider sets the height of the rendered image. The maximum slider value corresponds to the height of the main Ez3d window. If you want your rendered image to have a larger height than the main Ez3d window, you can use the height value text field (next to the slider) to enter the height you require for the rendered image.
Image file
This text field is used to set the name of the rendered image. When rendering is complete, you will find an image file of this name in the render image folder. The image will be in a format set using the "Render Image Format" list field.
Set Image Folder
This option when selected brings up the "Render Image Folder" file selector which can be used to set the folder in which you want the rendered image to be created.
Render Image format
This list field is used to select the format of the rendered images. The following image formats are currently supported in Ez3d:
"gif" CompuServe GIF
"jpeg" JPEG
"rgb" SGI rgb
"bw" SGI black and white
"ras" Sun raster
"ps" Adobe PostScript
"ppm" PPM
"targa" Type 2 Targa
The default image format is "rgb" (SGI rgb).
Render Image file path window
This window records the complete path of the render image file. When you set your image folder using the "Set Image Folder" option, you will notice the text in the "Render Image file path window" updating to reflect the new image path.
Ray-tracing
Note: The following discussion is technical in nature. You may wish to skip directly to the "Ray-tracing Options" section.
Before we describe the options that control the look of the final ray-traced image, we provide a short description of the ray-tracing process itself. This will enable you to understand the ray-tracing options better.
A ray-tracer is a process that creates a realistic image of a 3D scene by determining the visibility of surfaces by tracing imaginary rays of light from the viewer's eye to the objects in the scene.
The Ray tree in a ray tracer
When ray tracing a scene, reflected or transmitted rays may strike other reflective or transparent objects. Further reflected or transmitted rays will be spawned, and so on. Taken together, such a family of rays is termed the ray tree. Care must be taken to control the depth of this tree. If it is allowed to grow too deeply, one may spend a great deal of time computing rays that contribute little to the final rendered picture; if it is not allowed to grow far enough, this premature tree pruning may be evident in the final rendered image.
Anti-aliasing in Ray tracers
Given a screen of a fixed size, creating an image in the rendering module is accomplished by sampling each pixel one or more times in order to determine what can be seen "through" that pixel by the camera. If a pixel is not sampled at the proper rate, aliasing will result. Aliasing usually appears as "jaggies" or "stair steps" in the image. In order to reduce these and other artifacts, most ray-tracers provide an adaptive jittered anti-aliasing scheme that attempts to detect where increased sampling rates are needed. In jittered sampling, the location at which a sample is taken is perturbed by a random amount. This perturbation reduces aliasing but may add noise to the image. The adaptive sampling scheme begins by sampling each pixel on the current scan-line once. For each pixel on the scan-line, the contrast between it and its four immediate neighbors is computed. If this contrast is greater than the user-specified maximum in any color channel, the pixel and its neighbors are all super-sampled by firing an additional (<number of samples> x <number of samples> - 1) rays through those pixels that have not already been super-sampled. This process is repeated for the current scan-line until a pass is made without any pixel being super-sampled.
Ray-tracing Options
Samples
This slider sets the number of samples to be used in rendering. If the sample value is set to n, the photo-realistic rendering module uses nxn samples while performing jittered sampling. More the number of samples, the longer will be the rendering time but better will be the anti-aliasing effects in the ray-traced image. The default number of samples in Ez3d is 3 and the maximum value that can be set is 5.
Maximum Ray depth
This controls the depth of the ray in the ray tracing operation. This option informs the ray-tracer to not spawn rays deeper than those at the given level. Larger ray depths produce more accurate renderings, but can also take up a longer time.
Hint: Setting ray depth to a value higher than 4 can slow down rendering quite a bit, particularly for large scenes.
Cutoff
Sets the rendering cutoff (threshold) in the rendering process. This informs the ray-tracer to not spawn rays whose contribution to the final color of the eye ray is less than the set threshold/cutoff value for each color channel. A lower cut-off setting speeds up rendering, while a higher cut-off produces a more realistic image.
Filter
This is used to select the file type in the anti-aliasing process. Two different filter options -- Box and Gaussian filters are available. Anti-aliasing involves setting a pixel's value to a weighted average of an area of neighboring pixels. In a "Box" filer, the weighting is uniform. In a "Gaussian" filter, the weighting tapers off as you go away from the pixel.
Render Shadows
With this option on, shadows created by light sources are rendered. When this option is turned off, rendering is faster, but no shadows are produced.
Optimize
This option toggles between speed and memory optimization. When the "Speed" toggle is on, Rayshade will optimize for speed and this will make rendering faster, but you will require more memory/swap. On the other hand, when the "Memory" toggle is on, your system will require less memory/swap to complete the rendering, but it will take a longer time.
Hash table (Grid) size
Rayshade while rendering divides the region of space it occupies into a number of discrete box-shaped voxels. Each of these voxels contains a list of the objects that intersect the voxel. This discretization makes it possible to restrict the objects tested for intersection to those that are likely to hit the ray, and to test the objects in nearly "closest-first" order.
The hash table size slider is active when the "Optimize" option is set to "Speed". In this mode, it can be used to set the number of voxels in which the region of space is divided. Higher hash table values result in faster rendering, but will require more memory and swap space.
Process priority
Rendering in Ez3d happens in the background without interfering with your Ez3d session. But for large scenes or scenes with a lot of textures, rendering can take up a lot of your CPU cycles especially on slower hardware. If you are unable to continue working on Ez3d when you're rendering, you may want to set your renderer's "Process priority" to a lower value. While rendering will take a longer time to complete, you'll be able to work with more efficiency with Ez3d.
Render
This button when selected starts the actual rendering process based on the settings you have chosen. When you click on "Render", you will notice your cursor change to a "stop watch" cursor and the hand on the stop watch will start to move to indicate that Ez3d is setting up data for the rendering process. When the hand on the stop watch completes one full circle, it means that Ez3d has finished setting up data and that rendering is about to start. You may then continue working on Ez3d and may wish to monitor rendering from time to time using the "Process - Process Sheet" option if you are rendering to a file.
Test Render
This button when selected starts a quick preview of the entire rendering operation to a much smaller size window. This is typically done before the actual rendering to make sure the scene appears the way you want it to. "Test Render" takes a much less time than the actual rendering operation and should take just a few minutes for even large scenes.
Note: Under normal circumstances, "Test Render" renders to a window on the screen. But if your machine is very busy or if the scene is too large, Ez3d may choose to render to a file to ensure that rendering does not get disrupted.
Close
This button when selected closes the "Render Options" menu.
The "Render Process Sheet" menu contains a list of all rendering processes that are currently underway. Each process in the list is listed by its system process ID ("PID"), the name of the user who started the process ("User"), the process name ("Process"), and the time when the process was started ("Start Time"). If you select a process from the list, you will notice the "Terminate" button get activated. If the selected rendering process is rendering to a file, you will also notice the "Show Status" button get activated.
Show Status
This option can be used to get an idea of the amount of rendering complete if you are rendering to a file. If you are rendering to a window, you already have an indication of the status of the rendering. So you will find this button greyed out if the currently selected rendering process is rendering to a window.
If you have the "Image" option on for showing rendering status, Ez3d will attempt to bring up the image created that far. This gives a good indication of how much of the rendering is complete. You will notice that ray-tracers (like "Rayshade") take a longer time in areas that have objects and textures than in areas that have no objects. What this means is that the "Show Status" image will not grow in size and picture linearly.
Note: It is safe to close the "Show Status" image after you've viewed it. This will not affect rendering in any way.
If you have the "Report" option on for showing rendering status, Ez3d will attempt to bring up a render report on the rendering created that far.
Show Status Options
Image
When this toggle is on, Ez3d brings up only the rendered image when you click on "Show Status" for a process rendering to a file.
Report
When this toggle is on, Ez3d brings up only the render report when you click on "Show Status" for a process rendering to a file.
Both
When this toggle is on, Ez3d brings up both the rendered image and the render report when you click on "Show Status" for a process rendering to a file.
Terminate
This button when selected will terminate the selected rendering process before it is completed. This option can be useful if you don't find the image shaping up the way you wanted. You may then want to terminate the process and go into Ez3d and change parameters of objects and the scene and re-render the scene.
Update List
This button when selected will update the process list. Processes that have since completed will no longer be listed in the process sheet.
Close
This button when selected closes the "Render Process Sheet" menu.
"Test Render" shows you a quick preview of what your rendered image will look like. It takes a lot less time than the actual rendering process, so it is advisable to try it out to make sure that rendering effects such as shadows, reflections, transparencies, anti-aliasing etc. appear the way you expected.
When you click on "Render", Ez3d will invoke the rendering process based on the settings you've selected in the "Render Options" menu. You will notice your cursor change to a "stop watch" cursor and the hand on the stop watch will start to move to indicate that Ez3d is setting up data for the rendering process. When the hand on the stop watch completes a full circle, it signifies that Ez3d has finished setting up data and that rendering has just begun in the background. You may then continue working on Ez3d and monitor rendering from time to time using the "Process - Process Sheet" option if you are rendering to a file.
When you select this option, Ez3d will invoke a VR browser (such as WebSpace, WorldView, perfly, etc.) and lets you preview your real time scene. Use the VR Browser field in "Options - Preferences" to choose a VR browser. The default setting for this field is "netscape". If you have Netscape installed on your system and if it is configured to run a 3-D Internet browser such as WebSpace or WorldView, Ez3d will invoke Netscape to preview your real time scene.
Please see section on "Options - Preferences" for more information.
The "Options" menu contains items that are not related to the project or scene. These are user preferences that can be customized to suit a user's tastes and needs. The "Options" menu has the following items:
New Viewer > Front
Right
Top
Back
Left
Bottom
Examiner
Walk
Fly
Selection Highlight > 3D Manipulator
3D Trackball
Box
None
Snap to grid
Grid options...
Image utilities
Show info
Show icons
Preferences...
Viewers allow you to change the camera position, and also allow to interact with the scene (select and move objects, vertices, and so on). Since most of your interaction is through viewers, please read this section very carefully to maximize your productivity.
A "3-D Viewer" (the default viewer that comes up at start time) gives a perspective view of the scene. A "2-D Viewer" gives an "orthographic" or plane (top, front, etc.) view of the scene. The "3-D Viewer" is typically used for general scene operations and viewing. The "2-D Viewer" is used for specific modeling operations. You can bring up any number of these "2-D/3-D viewers". You can also change each viewer to be either a "2-D" or "3-D viewer". You can interact with the objects in any of the viewers, and all viewers will be updated automatically to reflect the change.
Hint: Since viewers are memory-intensive (especially on low-end graphics machines), it is recommended that you don't open too many viewers. One "3-D viewer" (usually the main window), and one or two "2-D viewers" (say, the "Front" and "Top" views) should suffice even for intense modeling operations.
The Viewer consists of a viewing area and a "decoration" around it. Pressing the right mouse inside the viewer brings up a pop up menu that has all the operations that can be performed. Some of these operations can also be accessed through the "decoration" buttons and the mouse.
Viewer Functions
Although each viewer performs a different function, all have some characteristics in common, which will be documented in the following pages. All will use pop-up menus with many similar functions. All can have "border decoration" on or off. The border decoration is the area surrounding the render area which may contain buttons, sliders, and thumb-wheels. Standard buttons and thumb-wheels, when applicable, will be located in the same position on each viewer. All decoration functionality is duplicated with menus, mouse, and keyboard operations. Some viewers may add new buttons and thumb-wheels to the common set. A zoom slider may be used also when applicable to the viewer. All will have cursors indicating at least whether you are in viewing or picking mode. Other cursors and feedback will be specific to each viewer.
The most common operations are performed by using the left mouse button. The middle mouse button is usually used for less frequent operations. Occasionally, the two are used simultaneously. The right mouse button is always reserved for pop-up menus. The left mouse button can also be used with the modifier keys <Shift> and <Ctrl>. The <Shift> key is used for constraint, the <Ctrl> key is for alternative use. The Alt key is reserved for application shortcuts (like pull-down menu entries).
Viewer Modes
Each viewer has two modes - "Viewing" and "Editing". In the "Viewing" mode, the cursor has the shape of a "hand". If you have the decoration on, the topmost button on the right will have an "open eye". In this mode, you can only change the view (camera position), but you cannot select or manipulate the objects in the scene. You can change to "Editing" mode by either clicking on the "eye" button, or by turning off the "Viewing" toggle in the viewer pop up menu, or pressing the <SpaceBar> or <F1> key. In "Editing" mode, the cursor changes to an arrow. You cannot change the camera position using the mouse, but you can interact with the objects.
Moving the Camera
In the "Viewing" mode, when the cursor is inside the viewer, you can use the left and middle mouse to change the view. In a "3-D Viewer", moving the cursor with the left mouse button pressed, rotates the camera in a "virtual trackball" fashion around the center of the scene. The middle mouse button pans (translates) in the plane of the camera. If you keep both the left and middle mouse buttons pressed, you can dolly in and out (move forward and backward). In a "2-D Viewer", left mouse button is used to zoom in and out, and the middle mouse is used to pan (translate) in the plane of the camera. In both viewers, if you keep the <Ctrl> key pressed, you can "roll" the camera in the viewing plane. Notice the anchor cursor as you do this. You can also use the thumb wheels and sliders in the decoration to do some of these operations. These are particularly useful in "Editing" mode, where you cannot use the mouse to change the view.
Viewer Pop up Menu Functions
Pop-up menus are always accessed by pressing the right mouse button. The functions available via the pop-up menus are common across the viewers.
Functions Menu
Functions - Help
Displays help cards for viewer.
Functions - Home
Resets camera to "home" position.
Functions - Set Home
Allows user to set new home position.
Functions - View All
Reposition camera so all objects are visible.
Functions - Seek
Choose Seek, then click on object in scene. The camera then animates to center the object on the screen.
Functions - Copy View
Copies cameras parameters to memory
Functions - Paste View
Replaces current camera parameters with the copied parameters.
Draw Style Menu
The first 7 items in the menu control for how the image is displayed when the camera is not moving. Draw styles are listed from best to fastest.
Draw Style - as is
Leaves the scene unchanged.
Draw Style - hidden line
Displays the objects as wireframe, but only show the object front faces. (this is a 2 pass rendering - first the objects are rendered solid with the background color, then rendered as wireframe).
Draw Style - no texture
Displays the objects without any textures.
Draw Style - low resolution
Displays the objects without textures and with low complexity.
Draw Style - wireframe
Displays the objects as base color wireframe (and no texture).
Draw Style - points
Displays the objects as points (and no texture).
Draw Style - bounding box
Displays the objects as bounding boxes (fastest).
The next 7 items in the "Draw Style" menu control draw styles that apply when doing interactive work.
Draw Style - move same as still
Draw Style - move hidden line
Draw Style - move no texture
Draw Style - move low res
Draw Style - move wireframe
Draw Style - move points
Draw Style - move bounding box
The last 3 items in the "Draw Style" menu control frame buffer modes. Interactive mode uses single buffer, but switches automatically to double buffer only while doing interactive work.
Draw Style - single buffer
Draw Style - double buffer
Draw Style - interactive buffer
Note: On a 24-bit graphics display, you should ignore "buffer style" altogether. It will not make any difference in display quality.
Grid
Grids are "pseudo-objects" that allow you to orient yourself in a 3-D/2-D world. They also allow you to position objects precisely. But they are not really part of the scene, and will not be ray-traced. The following are the settings for each separate viewer. You can also set the global properties of grids (such as number of grid divisions, and "Snap to Grid" using "Options - Grid Options").
Grid - Visible
The default starting 3-D viewer has a magenta grid on the ground plane (XZ plane). You can choose the "Visible" toggle to turn the grid on or off.
Grid - Subdivisions
The grid consists of coarse division lines. You can turn on the finer subdivision lines by choosing the "Subdivisions" toggle. By default, the subdivision lines are turned off for the main viewers, and turned on in the special "Potter" (see Model - Potter) and "3-D Text" (see Model - 3-D Text) viewers.
Grid - Axes
If you turn on "Axes" you get little green X, Y and Z markers to indicate the 3 axes.
Grid - Ruler
If you turn on "Rulers", you get numbers along each grid division. Each coarse grid division is 1 unit. (Ez3d does not use any specific unit measure like inches or meters).
Grid - Ground/Side/Front
In a "3-D viewer", you can turn on one or more of the 3 grid planes to orient yourself in the 3-D world.
Viewing
This allows you to switch between the "viewing" and "editing" modes for the viewer. You can also use the "eye" button, or the "SpaceBar" or <F1> key to do this.
Decoration
This allows you to turn on or off, the interface around the viewing area.
Headlight
By default, a directional light (see "Scene - Lights") is attached to the camera. This light moves with the camera, and always points in the direction the camera is looking at. This allows you to keep the scene well-lit at all times. You can change the color of the headlight by going into "Scene - Lights".
Hint: Headlight is very useful while you are modeling. But for rendering out a scene, you may want to set up spotlights and point lights in the scene.
Background
This bring up the background image dialog that lets you display a background image or color to your viewer's background. See section on "Scene - Background Image" for more information.
Transparency
This brings up the "Transparency type" selection menu for the viewer that has the following controls:
Screen-door
This option when selected uses a fill pattern to simulate transparency effects (fastest, least photo-realistic)
Alpha blending
Alpha blending option produces more realistic transparency effects (slowest, most photo-realistic). Alpha blending types are as follows:
Additive
Additive blending option adds the transparent object to the colors already in the frame buffer.
Delayed additive
Renders opaque objects first and transparent objects last.
Sorted delayed additive
Draws opaque objects first followed by transparent objects, then sorts the transparent objects by their distance from the camera and draws them from back to front.
Multiplicative
Combines source and destination colors and alpha factor to produce transparency effects.
Delayed multiplicative
Renders opaque objects first and transparent objects last.
Sorted delayed multiplicative
Draws opaque objects first, then transparent. Transparent objects are sorted by their distance from the camera and drawn from back to front.
Antialiasing
This option when selected brings up the "Antialiasing effects" dialog that lets you set anti-aliasing options for the viewer. Anti-aliasing is a technique to reduce jagged lines and make objects appear smoother.
Smoothing
This is a relatively inexpensive anti-aliasing technique and applies to lines and points only.
Multi-pass
Uses the accumulation buffer technique that requires more processing time than smoothing but applies to the whole image and results in superior anti-aliasing.
Number of passes
Sets the number of passes the "multi-pass" rendering algorithm has to go through to produce anti-aliasing effects. Higher values result in better anti-aliasing effects, but also take a processing time.
Preferences
Some preferences are common to all viewers: these appear as part of all viewers, and are given below. Others will be specific to certain viewers.See the help cards for each viewer to see its own specific preference sheet information.
Settings for the Seek function. Set Seek animation time to 0 for instant seek. Seek to allows two levels of accuracy. Seek to Point will use the picked point and surface normal to align the camera, while "Seek to Object" will only use the object center. Seek distance controls how close to the camera the object will appear. This distance can be either an absolute distance or a percentage of the distance to the picked point.
The Zoom range is 1.0-179.0 by default, but the min and max are user-settable.
Clipping planes may be set in two ways. Auto clipping does a best dynamic fit for the object on the screen. In manual mode, the user may move the clipping planes by using the dials which appear.
General Keyboard Use
<Home> key for Home function (Reset)
<Esc> key toggles between viewing/picking
<s> key toggles Seek function On/Off
Arrow Keys for translation of camera in viewer plane: <Up>, <Down>, <Right>, <Left>
2-D Viewer
This viewer lets you translate the camera in the viewing plane, as well as roll (rotate along camera forward direction) and dolly (move forward/backward). Camera can be aligned to X,Y or Z axes. A possible use could be the incorporation of the three plane views with a fourth Examiner viewer to simultaneously see all orientations. This could be used for modeling, in drafting, and architectural work.
Ez3d supports 6 different types of 2-D (orthographic) viewers:
Front
Right
Top
Back
Left
Bottom
Mouse Use
<Left Mouse>: Translate up,down,left,right
<Ctrl> + <Left Mouse>: Used for Roll action
<s> + <Left Mouse>: Alternative to Seek button. Press (do not hold down) <s> key, then click on target object.
<Middle Mouse>: Dolly (In and out of screen)
<Right Mouse>: Pop-Up menus
Examiner Viewer
This viewer uses a virtual trackball to rotate the view. The point of rotation is by default the center of the scene bounding box, but can be placed anywhere in the scene. This viewer also allows you to translate in the screen plane, as well as dolly in and out (forward/backward movement).
Mouse Use
<Left Mouse>: Rotate virtual trackball
<Ctrl> + <Left Mouse>: Used for "Roll" action
<s> + <Left Mouse>: Alternative to "Seek" button. Press (do not hold down) <s> key, then click on target object.
<Mid Mouse>: Translate up, down, left, right
<Left + Mid Mouse>: Dolly in and out
<Right Mouse>: Pop-Up menus
Walk Viewer
The paradigm for this viewer is a walk-through of an architectural model. Its primary behavior is forward, backward, and left/right turning motion while maintaining a constant "eye level". It is also possible to stop and
look around at the scene. The eye level plane can be disabled, allowing the viewer to proceed in the "look at" direction, as if on an escalator. The eye level plane can also be translated-similar to an elevator.
Mouse Use
<Left Mouse>: Move up and down for forwards and backwards motion. Right and left for turning. Speed increases exponentially with distance from mouse-down origin.
<Ctrl> + <Left Mouse>: Allows motion in "look at" direction, not necessarily in "eye level" plane ("Escalator")
<s> + <Left Mouse>: Alternative to "Seek" button. Press (do not hold down) <s> key, then click on target object.
<u> + <Left Mouse>: Press (do not hold down) <u> key, then click on target object to set "up" direction to surface normal.
<Middle Mouse>: Rotate viewpoint-Look around while stopped.
<Right Mouse>: Pop-Up menus
Fly Viewer
This viewer is intended to simulate constrained flight through space, with a constant world up direction. The viewer only constrains the camera to disallow the user to fly upside down. No mouse buttons need to be pressed in order to fly-mouse position is only used for steering. Mouse clicks are used to increase or decrease speed.
Mouse Use
<Left Mouse>: Click to increase speed.
<s> + <Left Mouse>: Alternative to "Seek" button. Press (do not hold down) <s> key, then click on target object.
<u> + <Left Mouse>: Press (do not hold down) <u> key then click on target object to set "up" direction to surface normal.
<Middle Mouse>: Click to decrease speed.
<Left and Middle Mouse>: Click both simultaneously to stop.
<Right Mouse>: Pop-Up menus
This option is used to indicate how selected objects are highlighted. An object can be selected by clicking on it, or selecting its name in "Scene - Object List". Additional objects can be selected if the <Shift> key is pressed.
There are 4 options available for selection highlight:
3D Manipulator3D Manipulator
A green manipulator surrounds the selected object. This is the slowest than selecting using the above two methods, but once the manipulator is displayed, you can transform the object in a variety of ways. The 3D manipulator is a very powerful tool that is used everywhere in Ez3d, so it is worth learning all its features.
The manipulator is shaped like a box. It has small cubes at the corners and small balls sticking out of the middle of each face. Click and drag any face of the box for 2D translation in the plane of that face. Drag any corner-cube to scale the box uniformly. Pick any of the mid-face balls to rotate the whole manipulator about its center. The part you are about to select before pressing the mouse button is highlighted in gold.
Click-drag any face to translate the manipulator within the plane of that
face. The face you selected will highlight in yellow. While you drag, yellow feedback arrows display the two directions of motion. Press the <Shift> key and the arrows turn orange; you may now pick between these two directions to constrain the motion. The direction you move the cursor in will determine which direction is chosen. Press the <Control> key and the manipulator will translate perpendicular to that plane.
Click a corner to scale the manipulator. The corner you selected will turn yellow and radial lines will indicate that you may move toward and away from the center of the box. Drag radially and you will perform uniform scale. Press the <Control> key to scale about the opposite corner instead of the center of the box.
To stretch the manipulator non-uniformly, press <Shift> when you drag the corner cube. Now you will see three orange arrows indicating that your gesture will determine which direction to choose. Move the cursor and the selected arrow will turn yellow while the others disappear. Now the manipulator will stretch only in the direction you selected. Pressing <Control> at the same time as <Shift> allows you to stretch the manipulator while keeping the opposite side pinned in place.
Click one of the spherical knobs to rotate the manipulator. When you first click, you'll see two orange lines and two purple circles. The purple circles indicate the two ways you can rotate. The orange lines are, once again, the two choices for your mouse gesture. Each line begins you moving around one of the two circles. Once you move the cursor far enough, the selected line turns yellow and you begin rotating the manipulator about the selected circle. The other circle and line will disappear. To perform unconstrained ("free") rotation, just press <Shift> while you drag the spherical knob. There will be no choices; instead all three purple circles will be displayed, forming a ball that you can roll around.
Pressing the <Control> key will change the center of rotation in both the constrained and unconstrained (<Shift>) case. By default, rotation occurs about the center of the bounding box. With <Control> depressed, rotation occurs about the middle of the opposite side of the bounding box. The purple feedback will change to illustrate this; the feedback circles increase in size and purple cross-hairs sprout at the new rotational center.
3D Trackball3D Trackball:
The 3D trackball is a ball wrapped in three circular stripes. The stripes are oriented like wheels that spin around the x, y, and z axes. Drag the stripes to rotate the trackball around those axes. You do not have to hit the lines; pick anywhere within the stripe's outline. To rotate the trackball freely in 3 dimensions, click the area between the stripes and then drag. An invisible but pickable sphere initiates this dragging. If the mouse is still moving when you release it, the trackball will continue to spin.
Press the <Control> key to scale the trackball uniformly instead of rotating.
Press the <Shift> key and the user axis appears; this is a draggable axis with an extra stripe around it. Moving the mouse along the surface of the sphere drags the 'pole' of the axis. Release the <Shift> key and the user axis remains; drag the new stripe for constrained rotation around the user axis. To make the user axis disappear, press <Shift> and drag the pole to where two of other stripes intersect. This aligns the user axis with a primary axis, at which point the user axis disappears.
Box
A bright green box surrounds the object. But you cannot manipulate the object using the green box
None
The object does not get highlighted, but its name is selected in the "Object List". This is the fastest, but does not give good visual helps.
Toggles on/off the "Snap to Grid" option in Ez3d.
The "Grid Options" interface allows you to set the global properties of all grids in Ez3d. In Ez3d, there is one universal world, which has no intrinsic dimension. Each coarse grid is 1 unit. Everything else is relative to this unit. You may choose to set the Ez3d unit to be a certain number of feet, inches or meters or even light years (depending on your application). When you select an object its position (in terms of Ez3d units) appears in the X-Y-Z text boxes in the bottom right corner of the main window.
Grid Divisions
You can set the number of grids divisions in the scene. You may want to reduce clutter by having less number of grid divisions. On the other hand, if you have a large scene with lots of objects, you may want to have a large number of grid divisions.
# Subdivisions / Division
This sets the resolution of the grid subdivisions. Irrespective of the number of subdivisions, each coarse grid division is always 1 Ez3d unit.
Axis Size (in subdivisions)
This sets the spacing of the X-Y-Z annotations for the 3 axes.
# Snap Divisions / Division
When you are moving vertices in "Potter" (see Model - Potter) or "Mold" (see Model - Mold), you sometimes want to position them precisely. If you have "Snap to Grid" on, the vertex that you are moving will automatically snap to the nearest subdivision crossing. You can set the fineness of the snap grid to be finer that the displayed subdivisions. For example, if you set the "# Snap divisions / subdivision" to be 2, and turn on "Snap to Grid", you will notice that when you are moving spline points in "Potter", the points will snap to an visible grid twice as fine as the subdivisions that are visible.
Hint: If you are really concerned about precise positioning, you should "box-select" the vertex using the middle mouse, and type in the position values in the X-Y-Z text boxes. (See Model - Potter and Model - Mold for details).
Snap to Grid
Toggles on/off the "Snap to Grid" option in Ez3d.
The option when selected brings up the "Image Utilities" dialog which contains some useful 2-D image utilities. These include converters from one format to another and an option to invoke a paint program from within Ez3d.
File Selector
First select an image file using the file selector. If it is in a format that Ez3d recognizes, you will see the format listed in square braces next to the filename on top of the file selector. You can now do one of the following:
View
This will display the selected image in a separate window.
Paint
This will invoke a paint program that'll let you paint and make modifications to the image. See section below on "Paint Options" for information on selecting a paint program.
Convert
This will bring up the "Image Format Conversion" menu. Ez3d supports all the different image formats listed in the "Image Format" list. To convert the image to another format (say "gif"), simply select the format from the list and click on "Convert".
Paint Options
When selected, this will bring up the "Paint Options" dialog.
This dialog is used to select a paint program to be used in Ez3d. This paint program will then be invoked for the selected texture bitmap in the "Texture Editor". (See section on Attribute - Texture). You can also start the paint program by using the "Paint" option in the "Attribute" menu.(See next section).
Paint Program Selector
A paint program may be selected/ created in one of two ways:
(1) Selecting a paint program from the "Paint Program Selector". You will notice the paint program name and the paint program path fields update to reflect the current selection. When the "Select" button is pressed with a paint program selected, this program will thereafter become your paint program of choice for your current Ez3d session.
(2) By entering a new paint program name and the UNIX file path for locating this program.
Name
Enter the name of your paint program in this text field and click on "Ok".
Path
Enter the UNIX file path of your paint program and click on "Ok".
For example, for a paint program called "My_Paint_Program" located in "/usr/sbin", you will need to enter "My_Paint_Program" in the "Name" text field and "/usr/sbin/My_Paint_Program" in the "Path" text field.
When you press the "Ok" buttons after entering the respective fields, you will notice the "Select" button change to a "Create" button. When you click the "Create" button, a new paint program with the entered attributes will become the paint program of choice for your current Ez3d session.
Info
The "Info" button brings up an information text window with information on the selected paint program.
Close
The "Close" button closes the "Paint Options" dialog.
Turns on or off display of the info window at the bottom of the viewer.
Turns on or off display of the icons under the title bar at the top.
The option when selected brings up the "Preferences" dialog which contains the following user preferences:
USER SETTINGS
Save after every session
This toggle when turned on will cause Ez3d to save your "settings" after every Ez3d session. In other words, every time you "Exit" the program.
Window Positioning
Some users prefer dialog windows (like the "Potter", "Texture" windows) in an application to come up at certain default locations so as to save themselves the trouble of positioning each window. This is called "Automatic positioning" in Ez3d. Other users prefer to position windows themselves. This is called "Manual positioning" in Ez3d. Dialog windows, by default come up in factory set positions. But you can over-ride this feature by setting "Manual" window positioning.
Note: "Window Positioning" setting will not have any effect in the current session. But when you "Save" your settings after you've set the type of "Window Positioning" you want, all future Ez3d sessions will conform to this method of positioning windows.
Warning: Your own window manager preferences may sometimes be configured to over-ride such settings.
User
This label field stores the name of user currently using Ez3d.
Auto restore File
This label field contains the "Auto restore File" for the current Ez3d user.
Settings File
This text field is used to enter the name of the file to save your "settings" to. By default, it points to your "Auto restore File". If you click on "Save" without changing this field, your "settings" will be stored in your "Auto restore File". What this means is, henceforth, whenever you run Ez3d, your current "settings" will always be loaded when Ez3d starts up.
COMMAND SETTINGS
Text editor
Enter your favorite text editor (Example "vi", "emacs" or "jot") in this field.
VR Browser
Ez3d invokes a real time browser to preview your real time scene. The default VR Browser is set to "netscape -remote". Although Netscape is not a 3-D browser, it is usually configured to invoke another 3-D browser like WebSpace or WorldView when it encounters 3-D world files. If you use the "-remote" argument for "netscape", Ez3d will first check to see if there is a Netscape process already running, and if so, it will issue a command to that process to display your 3-D world. If you set your "VR Browser" to "netscape", Ez3d will startup a new Netscape process every time you want to "Preview" a World Wide Web link in Ez3d (See sections on "Model - WWWInline", "Attribute - WWWAnchor" and "Scene - VR Broswer".
AUTO SAVE SETTINGS
You can set up Ez3d to automatically save your current work, so that you can recover as much as possible in case of an abnormal exit (for example, if the program crashes, or if the machine goes down, or there is a power outage). You can set it up to do one of the following:
At Regular Intervals
Performs "auto save" at regular intervals. You can set the interval in minutes, using the slider, or typing in the text field to the right of it.
Note: "Auto save at regular intervals" can be bothersome sometimes, especially if you have a large scene. When the auto save happens, it may interrupt your current interaction for a brief while.
Every Tool Close
Performs "auto save" after every tool (such as "Potter") is Closeed.
Off
Turns off auto save altogether. (default)
Save Interval
If you choose "At Regular Intervals", use this slider/ text field to set the auto save interval in minutes.
Note: Ez3d will save the auto saved current scene onto a separate backup file. If you want to make your changes permanent, you should still use "File - Save".
Levels of Undo
Ez3d supports multiple levels of undo and maintains a history of operations that can be undone. Use the "Levels of Undo" slider to set the number of levels of undo (history size) you want. Bear in mind that higher undo level settings require more memory.
INFO SETTINGS
Ez3d prints out useful information about your session (Example "Reading file: /usr/share/data/models/bird.iv") in the information window at the bottom of the viewer. You can choose to record all information printed by Ez3d on to an external file that you can view later.
History Size
Use this text field to set the number of lines (history) of information that is displayed in the "Info Window" Click on the "Ok" button after you've entered the text to update the interface.
Write To File
This toggle when turned on enables writing of the information printed in the "Info Window" to a history file. Use the "History File" text field to enter the UNIX file name/path of the history file.
Show Window
This toggle turns on/off display of the "Info window" at the bottom of the viewer.
History File
If you've turned on the "Write to File" option, use this text field to enter the name/ path of your history file. Ez3d will write all information printed in the "Info Window" to this history file that you can view at any time.
FOLDER SETTINGS
Personal Texture Palette Folder
This text field records your personal texture palette folder. The default folder is ".Ez3d2.0/textures" in your home directory. Texture palettes in this directory get listed under the "Palette" menu in the texture editor (Please see section on Attribute - Texture). You can change the default settings by entering the path for your personal texture palette folder and clicking on the "Ok" push button. If you turn on the toggle next to the "Ok" button, you will be provided with a Motif directory/ file selector that you can use to browse through your UNIX system to get to the directory you want.
Personal Material Palette Folder
This text field records your personal material palette folder. The default folder is ".Ez3d2.0/materials" in your home directory. Material palettes in this directory get listed under the "Palette" menu in the material editor (Please see section on Attribute - Material). You can change the default settings by entering the path for your personal material palette folder and clicking on the "Ok" push button. If you turn on the toggle next to the "Ok" button, you will be provided with a Motif directory/file selector that you can use to browse through your UNIX system to get to the directory you want.
Display PostScript Font Folder
Ez3d uses Display PostScript fonts for creating 2-D and 3-D texts. If the display PostScript fonts on your system are installed in a different location (and not in the default system location), enter the UNIX file path for the location in this field.
Load
This will bring up the "Load Settings" dialog. It contains 3 choices:
Load Settings Options
You can load user preferences from any of the following 3 locations:
Factory Settings
This option loads "settings" that are shipped with the Ez3d system. "Factory Settings" are "settings" that are common to all users.
User Auto Restore Settings
This option loads settings from the user's auto restore file. This file contains your custom "settings" saved with the "Save" option in the "Options - Preferences" dialog. "User Auto Restore Settings" are automatically loaded every time you run Ez3d.
Settings File
This option brings up a file that you can use to select the "settings" file to load from. When you click on "Ok" in the "Settings File Selector" with a path/ file name selected, Ez3d will attempt to read "settings" from that file.
Ok
Click on the "Ok" button after you've selected the "settings" file to load from.
Cancel
Click on "Cancel" if you don't want to load settings at this time.
Save
This will cause Ez3d to save your current settings to the file specified in the "Settings file" field. These include your user interface settings (including window sizes and locations) and user preferences.
Close
This closes the "Preferences" menu.
Ez3d's on-line help system is an exact replica of the "Ez3d Manual". Only easier to navigate!
The "Help" menu has the following selections:
On Context F1
On Topic...
On Help...
Help mode
On-line Tutorial...
On-line Manual...
On Ez3d series...
On Radiance Software...
WWWAnchor...
Hot Key: F1
This option when selected provides context-sensitive help on the tool you're currently using. If you keep the help window up, the help information is constantly updated to give you help on whatever you are doing currently. As a beginner, you will find the context-sensitive help invaluable. More experienced users may want to use this as a reference.
This option when selected brings up the "Help on Topic" list. Selecting a topic from this list will bring up help on that topic.
This option when selected brings up a help card with this information.
When this toggle is turned on, the cursor changes to a "question mark" cursor. Subsequent actions by the user do not perform the actual operation, but bring up on-line help on that feature instead. This is an excellent way to get answers for "What does that do? And this one?". When you've learnt about the features you want in the product, you can turn this toggle off and you will notice the cursor change to a regular cursor.
This option when brings up an on-line tutorial. If you are running Ez3d for the first time, this comes up automatically. It is strongly recommended that you go through the tutorial before starting to use the program seriously.
This option when selected brings up the html version of this manual. By default, the "VR Browser" field set in "Options - Preferences" is used as the html browser to view the user manual.
This option when selected brings up information about Radiance Software's Ez3d 2.0 series of products.
This option when selected brings up information about Radiance Software.
This option uses your "VR Browser" to take you to Radiance Software's home page (http://www.radiance.com) if you are running on a system that has web access.
This option is used when you need to reach Ez3d customer support, either to get help or to give your comments on the product or even make suggestions for new features in future releases for the product. Use this option to also report a defect in the product. You can reach customer support through electronic mail, fax or telephone.
Choosing "Product Support" brings up the "Ez3d support" interface. You can keep this window iconized, and open it whenever you want to document a comment, or report a problem. The interface displays your "Customer ID" (or serial number), Ez3d version, and specifics about your system.
Choose the "Type" of the entry (Comment, Defect Report, Feature Request or Question). Then choose an appropriate "Priority" (Low to Highest). Type in a description in the big text window. When you are done, you can start on a new entry by choosing "Save Entry". Your current entry will automatically get appended to a log file.
When you want to send all the logged entries to Ez3d support, you can do one of the following:
a. If you have direct, external access to the Internet, and have used electronic mail ("e-mail") on your machine before, choose "E-mail Log". You can specify additional e-mail addresses (such as your own, or your colleagues) in the text box. Watch out for errors on the console window.
b. If you have a printer hooked up, choose "Print Log" and fax or mail it to Radiance Software. You can specify your own print command in the text box.
c. During office hours (10 AM - 7 PM Pacific), you can call Radiance Software at (510) 848-7621. Before calling, write down your description, and have the "Product Support" window up.
You can then clear the log file by choosing "Clear Log" and start entering new entries afresh.
You can specify another log file by editing the text box. You can view or edit the log file by choosing "Edit Log". This brings up a text editor on the log file.
This appendix gives you some things to keep in mind, and some smart things to do (and not to do) so that you can get the most out of Ez3d.
Ez3d's low price (compared to existing solutions) will give you a little more leeway in upgrading your hardware.
Rebooting your system will now cause virtual swap to be turned on.
Because of underlying system software, and because it is a new product, Ez3d can appear to be slow sometimes, especially for complex projects. But you can overcome many of these problems by being smart.
When you use the "Save" option in the "Preferences" menu or if you have the "Save preferences after every session" option turned on, Ez3d will save 3 different types of user preferences or "resources" to a file for use in subsequent sessions:
1. Window Position: These resources relate to the location and size of the Ez3d main window, viewer window(s) and tool dialog windows (like "Potter", "Texture", etc.). When you save your preferences, the locations and sizes of all dialog windows created that far will be saved to the resource file. If this file happens to be your "Auto restore file" (described below), you will notice that the next time you run Ez3d, these windows all come up at the same location and have the exact same size as in the current session.
2. Open dialogs: These resources refer to tool dialogs that you have open and visible at the time of saving your preferences. Ez3d will then always start up with these dialogs open. Dialogs that create objects in the scene (like "Potter" or "3D Text") are not saved.
3. Interface defaults: You can also load and save all interface settings. They refer to your preferences for how you want the Ez3d interface to look like. For example, let's say you want Ez3d to always start up with 2 viewers (Top and Front) in addition to the main Ez3d window, and have the "Show Info" window turned off. You can do so by saving your "settings" after you've brought up these 2 viewers at the desired locations and turned off the "Show Info" option from the "Settings" menu.
Ez3d integrates well with the desktop tools on your system. If you have another Open Inventor based application, you can share the same 3-D clipboard between the two applications. If you'd like to copy an object from one application to another, select "Edit - Copy" first with the object selected in the first application, then select "Edit - Paste" in the second. This will load the object from the first application in the second. No file conversion, no object exporting or importing involved!
Ez3d supports drag and drop of the following 3-D resources from your desktop:
Ez3d's native file format is an extended form of Silicon Graphics Inventor format. Please refer to the following books for more information on this format:
1. "Iris Inventor Programming Guide", Vol I Silicon Graphics Computer Systems.
2. "The Inventor Mentor", Josie Wernecke, Addison Wesley Publishing Company
The following import and export translators come bundled with the base Ez3d system:
Ez3d can read in (import) files in the following formats:
Open Inventor
Autodesk DXF
Wavefront obj
Alias
3D Studio
IGES
SOFTIMAGE
NOTE: Please see the section below on "Installing Inventor Translators" for more information on installing import translators for Wavefront, Alias, 3DStudio, IGES, and SOFTIMAGE formats.
Ez3d comes bundled with export translators to the following formats:
Inventor-1.0
Inventor-2.0
OpenInventor
VRML
Autodesk DXF
Wavefront .obj
Rayshade
RenderMan .rib
These translators (with the exception of the RenderMan rib export translator) do not require any additional files or subsystems to be installed. Please see the section below on "Installing Inventor Translators" for more information on installing the RenderMan export translator.
Import translators from Wavefront (ObjToIv), Alias (AliasToIv, AliasToIv_6.0), 3DStudio (3dsToIv), IGES (IgesToIv) and SOFTIMAGE (SoftimageToIv) formats, and export translator to RenderMan (IvToRib) all require installation of the "OpenInventor Translators" subsystem that's available free of charge from Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Please contact Silicon Graphics Geometry Hotline at 1-800-800-4744 or send e-mail to Radiance Software Customer Support at support@radiance.com (or call (510) 848-7621) for information on obtaining this subsystem.
Ez3d assumes that these translators (ObjToIv, AliasToIv, etc.) are installed in "/usr/sbin". If they are installed elsewhere on your system, please set the environment variable RS_TRANSLATOR_DIR to point to the location where they are installed.
For example, if the Inventor import translators are installed in "/usr/local", you may want to append the following line to your .login:
setenv RS_TRANSLATOR_DIR /usr/local
Most objects in Wavefront, Alias, 3DStudio, IGES and SOFTIMAGE formats should work well when read into Ez3d. If you are an advanced user of these products, you may want to use the "Format Info" option in "File - Import" with the format selected to learn more about these translators. Many of them take in additional options that may help your translators work better.
Ez3d uses shell scripts to access these translators from within the product. These shell scripts have a ".trn" extension and can be found in the "subsystems/translatorsIn" folder in the directory where Ez3d is installed.
For example, the shell script used to run the 3DStudio import translator is:
"subsystems/translatorsIn/3DSTUDIO.3ds/3DSTUDIO.3ds.trn"
This import translator (ObjToIv) has an option ("-t") that disables inclusion of texture map information in output. If you'd like this option to be always used while importing 3DStudio files, simply set the following environment variable in your .login:
setenv RS_3DSTUDIO_TRANSLATOR_OPTION "-t"
Following are the environment variables that can be used to set additional options for the import translators:
| Wavefront | RS_WAVEFRONT_TRANSLATOR_OPTION |
| Alias | RS_ALIAS_TRANSLATOR_OPTION |
| 3DStudio | RS_3DSTUDIO_TRANSLATOR_OPTION |
| IGES | RS_IGES_TRANSLATOR_OPTION |
| SOFTIMAGE | RS_SOFTIMAGE_TRANSLATOR_OPTION |