Rendering

Rendering lighting looks

In WYSIWYG, you can render lighting looks to produce high quality images of your set and lighting. Rendering uses a full range of effects, including depth of field, motion blur, soft shadows, and antialiasing settings to produce a photorealistic image.

Based on the product level that you are running, when you are creating a rendering, you have two choices:

• Render Wizard: (all product levels except Report) You can use the interactive editing and advanced visual effects of the Render Wizard to set up the look that you want to render, and then create the rendering. In this case, you must leave WYSIWYG running while the Render Wizard finishes the image. You have the choice of saving the image to an external folder that you specify or within WYSIWYG on the Images tab.
• Background Rendering Manager: (all product levels except Report and Perform - Console Edition) You can use the Render Wizard to set up the look that you want to render, and then send the render job to the Background Rendering Manager to create the rendering.

This feature lets you use the Windows taskbar to queue render jobs that will execute in the background without requiring WYSIWYG to run, letting you do other tasks while the Render Engine works independently. You can also pause and resume renderings without losing your render, and shut down/restart your computer without losing your rendering progress. For details on this feature, see Background Rendering Manager.

To render a lighting look

1. In the working area of the screen, display the lighting look that you want to render.
2. From the Design menu, choose Render.

Tip: You can also click the Render Wizard icon in the Design toolbar.

Result: The Render Wizard appears and guides you through a series of options.

Step 1 - Set Output Destination and Image Size

Click in the right pane to arrange the image that you want to render. You can click and drag the image around, zoom in and out with the mouse wheel (or PAGE UP / PAGE DOWN keys), or set up your shot accurately using a camera.

Note:

• Make sure you use the appropriate aspect ratio (height vs. width) for the output device that you will be using to present the pictures. For example, TV is 4x3 (normally 640x480), HDTV is 16x9.
• If this is the first time you are using the Background Rendering Manager, you must configure it before the rendering process will begin. Upon clicking Finish in the Render Wizard, the Background Rendering Manager Configuration Wizard appears, enabling you to configure settings such as the Network Port, the default folder for storing rendering files, and other Manager settings. For details, see To configure the Background Rendering Manager.
1. Dimensions: Type a value in pixels for the width and height of the final image.
2. Job Name: Type a name for the rendering job.
3. Connect to Local Host: Select this checkbox to use the default values and have the Render Wizard send all jobs to the Background Rendering Manager that is running on your computer. To send render jobs to another computer in your network that is running the Background Rendering Manager, clear this checkbox and then type the server name and port number in the boxes provided. Note that when you send render jobs to a network computer, the Background Rendering Manager must be open and running on this destination computer; in this case, the act of sending a job from the Render Wizard does not launch the Background Rendering Manager.
4. Server Name: Type the name of the server in your network that is running the Background Rendering Manager where you want the Render Wizard to send all render jobs. The server must be running WYSIWYG Release 18 (or higher) and have a dongle attached.
5. Server Port: Type the port number that the WYSIWYG Render Wizard will use to send render jobs to the Background Rendering Manager, or accept the default port number shown. It must be a value between 1025 and 65,535. For proper communication, this number must match the port number that is configured in the Background Rendering Manager on the destination computer; therefore, if you change this value, you must also change it in the Background Rendering Manager on the destination computer. For details, see To configure the Background Rendering Manager.

Note: By default, the Background Rendering Manager runs on the same system as WYSIWYG. You can also run it on a separate machine. For more information, see Background Rendering Manager.

Step 2 - Set Camera and Simulation Type

Options in Step 2 affect the composition of your image.

1. Scene: Select a scene for the rendering. Scenes are groupings of layers used to organize a plot. For more information on scenes, see Scenes.
2. Follow Current Scene: Select this checkbox to use the scene that is displayed in the Scene drop-down list. Clear the checkbox, and then select the desired scene from the Scene drop-down list.
3. Camera: Select the camera for the rendering. Cameras are set up in CAD mode. For more information on cameras, see Drawing cameras.
4. Aperture size: Use the slider to adjust the camera aperture. This adjustment changes the depth of field of the final image. The larger the aperture, the “fuzzier” the rendering. The focus point is always the target of the camera.

Note: By default, the red lines indicating the Camera Target are visible. This is to aid in the composition of the image. It will not, however, be visible in your final rendering. To turn the target off (that is, set to not visible), right-click in the preview pane, and then choose View Options. For more information on Shaded view, see Modifying shaded views.

5. Ambient Light: Use the slider or type a value in the box to set the ambient light level. This adjusts the overall light level, where 0% is complete black and 100% is a bright room. This does not affect the intensity of the fixtures in your lighting look.
6. Pan tool moves objects: The Pan tool does not affect the outcome of your rendering. Rather the tool rotates the model on the target (if checked) or rotates the camera around the target (if unchecked). Both settings help you to compose your image.

Step 3 - Add Atmospheric Effects to Your Rendering

Options in Step 3 affect the atmospheric conditions in your rendering.

1. Atmospheric Options: The options that you set here affect the atmospheric conditions that are visible in your final rendering. To simulate atmospheric dust or fog, select Haze. For additional opacity, select Smoke.
2. Density: Use the slider to set the visibility of the haze particles. A setting of 0% indicates that the particles cannot be seen.
3. Granularity: Use the slider to set the granularity of the smoke. This setting affects how fine smoke particles are. This option is available only if you choose Smoke under Atmospheric Options.

Step 4 - Select How Shadows Will Be Simulated

Options in Step 4 affect the projection of shadows in your rendering.

1. Shadows: Select how you want shadows to be projected in the final rendering. If you choose None, then no shadows are calculated by WYSIWYG; that is, objects in the path of the light beam do not create shadows. Instead, all objects in the path of the virtual beam are illuminated, even if an object would normally block the beam from reaching another. As illustrated in the rendering below, all three surfaces are illuminated and the beam continues into infinity.

To calculate which objects the beam of light will hit and which objects it will not hit, select Objects. Objects in the path of the virtual beam will not be illuminated by the beam if the beam has already been blocked by another object. However, WYSIWYG still does not calculate where the beam stops. As illustrated in the rendering below, the first surface is illuminated, but the beam is still continuing into infinity.

Select Atmospheric to calculate which objects the beam of light will hit and where the beam of light will end. This is a true representation of how light behaves. As illustrated in the rendering below, the first surface is illuminated and the beam also stops there.

2. Beam Saturation: Use the Beam Saturation slider to change the relative brightness of fixture beams. When set to Realistic, WYSIWYG accounts for all variations in lamp output, including gel transmission, color temperature, fixture efficiency, and lamp. When set to Standard, all fixture beams are rendered at the same general intensity.

Step 5 - Define How Light Reflection Will Be Simulated

Options in Step 5 affect the radiosity level. Radiosity is defined as the combined processes of emission, transmission, and absorption of rays or reflecting beams of light. When using Radiosity, it is not necessary to use ambient lighting.

1. Radiosity: To generate a rendering that uses radiosity, select the Radiosity checkbox, and then choose from the available radiosity options. Fast radiosity results in a rendering with constant, flat lighting. Each subsequent option shows more calculated lighting. The number of bounces determines how many levels of reflection are permitted.
2. Disable Ambient Light: Select the Disable Ambient Light checkbox to ignore the ambient light settings from Step 1.
3. Render as Screen: Select the Render as Screen checkbox to display the LED wall as a screen with a projected image instead of a detailed grid of LED pixels forming the image. Render as Screen is only available if the source of your LED wall is color, image or video. Render as Screen does not work if the source of the LED wall is Dynamic DMX patch.

Step 6 - Add Environmental or Outdoor Lighting to Your Rendering

Options in Step 6 affect the presence and quality of environmental or outdoor lighting. Note that for environmental lighting to have an effect, your show must not be contained within a venue.

1. Enable Environmental Lighting: To generate a rendering that considers outdoor lighting conditions, select the Enable Environmental Lighting checkbox.
2. Date and Time: The date and time of the rendering determines the position of the sun and/or moon and the resulting amount of light available. The position of the sun is also determined by the geographic settings that are configured in Document Options and the north direction that is set in CAD mode. For more information on regional settings, see Regional Settings tab. For more information on setting the direction that is north, see Drawing a compass.
3. Sky Conditions: The amount of light available determines the brightness of the resulting rendering. Use the Sky Conditions slider to adjust the quality of light.
4. Soft Shadow: Select the Enable soft shadow checkbox, and then use the slider to set the softness of shadows that are created by sunlight. The softer the shadow, the less sharp the resulting shadow.

Step 7 - Use Anti-Aliasing to Smooth or Sharpen Rough Edges

Options in Step 7 affect the antialiasing settings. Antialiasing is a method of smoothing out and sharpening rough or jagged edges of images to produce a more polished result. This method subsamples the pixel area and averages the results of neighboring samples to reduce the areas of high contrast (edges).

1. Antialiasing Options: Choose how you want edges to appear in your final rendering. The Fast method samples the pixels quickly, but does not produce the highest quality.
2. Click Finish to start rendering. The total rendering time depends on the options that you selected and the complexity of the scenery and lighting. Based on the location where you chose to save the completed rendering in Step 1, your options vary upon clicking Finish:

WYSIWYG sends the render job to the Background Rendering Manager, then a status window appears, showing the progress as the render job is sent to the Background Rendering Manager on the destination computer (either your own or another server in the network).

When the job has been sent successfully, you can open the Background Rendering Manager to check its progress. You can close the Render Wizard and WYSIWYG, queue jobs, pause and resume them, and shut down/restart your computer without losing the rendering progress. For details, see To use the Background Rendering Manager.

Note: If this is the first time you are using the Background Rendering Manager, you must first configure it before the rendering process will begin. Upon clicking Finish in the Render Wizard, the Configuration Wizard appears, enabling you to configure settings such as the Network Port, the default folder for storing rendering files, and other Manager settings. For details, see To configure the Background Rendering Manager.

Saving render settings

You can save the options that you set in the Render Wizard as a shortcut for quick access to these settings at a future time. There are two ways of saving a Render shortcut:

• From the Render Wizard.
• From the Render shortcut bar, in a similar manner as other shortcuts.

The Render shortcut bar is prepopulated with two shortcuts: Quick Render and Full Render. Quick Render shortcuts provide settings for a small, lower-quality render, while Full Render shortcuts provide settings for a larger, high-quality rendering.

To create a shortcut from the Render Wizard

1. From the Design menu, choose Render.
2. While working through the steps in the Render Wizard, you can, at any time, click Add Shortcut to save the current settings as a shortcut.
3. Type a name for the shortcut.
4. Click OK.

Result: The shortcut is added to the Render shortcut bar.

To create a shortcut from the Render shortcut bar

1. Right-click in the open space on the Render shortcut bar, and then choose New Render.
2. Type a name for the new render.
3. Click OK.

Result: The Render shortcut is saved on the Render shortcut bar. The shortcut is preconfigured with the default values for each of the eight steps. These defaults are the same values that are used when you choose Render from the Menu bar or the toolbar.

To modify a Render shortcut

1. Double-click on the Render shortcut that you want to modify.

Result: The Render Wizard appears, with the values that are saved in the shortcut.

2. Modify the options as required.

Result: The settings are recorded in the shortcut and are available the next time that you select the shortcut.