visualizing with microstationhturner/ce420/vis.pdfthis course, presented by the microstation...

Visualizing with MicroStationCourse Guide

TRN001370-1/0001

Trademarks

AccuDraw, the “B” Bentley logo, MDL, MicroStation, MicroStationCSP, MicroStation Modeler, MicroStation PowerDraft, MicroStation Review, MicroStation Vault, QuickVision, SmartLine and TeamMate are registered trademarks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated. Bentley, MicroStation MasterPiece and PowerScope are trademarks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated.

Bentley SELECT is a service mark of Bentley Systems, Incorporated.

HMR and Image Manager are trademarks of HMR Inc.

Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, the Acrobat logo, Distiller, Exchange, and PostScript are trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Windows is a registered trademark and Win32s is a trademark of Microsoft

Corporation.

Other brands and product names are the trademarks of their respective owners.

Copyrights

1997 Bentley Systems, Incorporated.

MicroStation® 95 1995 Bentley Systems, Incorporated.

©1997 HMR Inc. All rights reserved.

MicroStation Image Manager ©1997 HMR Inc.

©1996 LCS/Telegraphics.

Portions of QuickVision are ©1993-1995 Criterion Software Ltd. and its licensors.

Portions of QuickVision were developed by the CAD Perfect Development Laboratory.

Portions 1992-1997 Spotlight Graphics, Inc.

Portions 1993-1995 Spyglass, Inc.

IGDS file formats 1987-1994 Intergraph Corporation.

Intergraph Raster File Formats 1994 Intergraph Corporation Used with permission.

Portions 1992-1994 Summit Software Company.

Unpublished – rights reserved under the copyright laws of the United States.

Visualizing with MicroStation Copyright © 1997 Bentley Systems, Incorporated Do Not Duplicate

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ii

Table of Contents

Overview of Visualization with MicroStation ____________ 1-1In this Course _______________________________________ 1-1

Tools _________________________________________________ 2-3Applying materials ___________________________________ 2-3Using the Apply Material tool__________________________ 2-4Adjusting the size of a material ________________________ 2-6Adjusting the color of a material _______________________ 2-7Adding reflection to a material_________________________ 2-7Ray tracing _________________________________________ 2-10Completing the image ________________________________ 2-11Creating a light bulb _________________________________ 2-14Using photographs to add realism______________________ 2-16Using pattern maps __________________________________ 2-18Assigning materials manually __________________________ 2-20Comparing phong rendering with ray tracing ____________ 2-21Lighting revisited ____________________________________ 2-22Using quick display when ray tracing ___________________ 2-24Simulating light from a desk lamp______________________ 2-25

Procedural Textures ___________________________________ 3-29Using procedural textures _____________________________ 3-29Applying a procedural texture _________________________ 3-30Adjusting a procedural texture _________________________ 3-31Additional parameters controlled by procedural textures___ 3-322D procedural textures _______________________________ 3-35Applying a 2D procedural texture ______________________ 3-37

Defining Camera Views ________________________________ 4-41The view cone ______________________________________ 4-41Manipulating the View Cone graphically ________________ 4-42Camera Action options _______________________________ 4-45Panning the camera __________________________________ 4-45Controlled manipulation of the View Cone ______________ 4-47Dolly the camera ____________________________________ 4-49Camera projections __________________________________ 4-50One point projection _________________________________ 4-53


iii

Table of Contents

Important Rendering Settings __________________________ 5-57Stroke Tolerance ____________________________________ 5-57Save Shadowmaps (Phong rendering)___________________ 5-57Keep Database in Memory ____________________________ 5-60Reflections (ray tracing)_______________________________ 5-62Transparency (ray tracing) ____________________________ 5-64Render All Objects ___________________________________ 5-64Environment Mapping ________________________________ 5-65Add Sky Light to all Solar and Distant Lights _____________ 5-67

Approximate Ground Reflection for Sky Light_________ 5-67Area lights __________________________________________ 5-68

Introduction to Radiosity ______________________________ 6-69Lighting and radiosity ________________________________ 6-69Materials and radiosity________________________________ 6-69Patches and elements ________________________________ 6-70Using the radiosity solver _____________________________ 6-70Adjusting settings when using the Radiosity Solver________ 6-72

Photomatching _______________________________________ 7-75Matching design geometry to a raster reference file _______ 7-75Setting up the camera view ___________________________ 7-76Making adjustments with the Photomatch tool ___________ 7-77Additional photomatching exercises ____________________ 7-80

Actors ________________________________________________ 8-81Animation Actors ____________________________________ 8-81Creating Actors ______________________________________ 8-82Recovering from mistakes_____________________________ 8-83Continuing the exercise…_____________________________ 8-84Creating the keyframes _______________________________ 8-85Opening the pliers ___________________________________ 8-86Creating precise movements of actors___________________ 8-87Returning geometry to their “home” positions____________ 8-88Creating an exploded keyframe ________________________ 8-90Scripting the keyframes _______________________________ 8-90Previewing the animation _____________________________ 8-91Saving the script and recording an animation sequence____ 8-92Editing the script ____________________________________ 8-94Scaling an actor during an animation sequence___________ 8-96


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Table of Contents

Hierarchical Actors ___________________________________ 9-99Creating actors ______________________________________ 9-99Checking the motion of actors _________________________ 9-101Connecting actors____________________________________ 9-104Creating a home keyframe ____________________________ 9-105Manipulating hierarchical actors________________________ 9-106Scripting keyframes and hierarchical actors ______________ 9-108Saving the script _____________________________________ 9-109Reviewing the hierarchy of a model ____________________ 9-110

Parametric Motion ____________________________________ 10-113Variables associated with parametric motion _____________ 10-113Scripting an actor with a parametric equation ____________ 10-115Creating a custom parameter to describe a revolution _____ 10-116Efficiency in scripting ________________________________ 10-119Advanced Parametric Motion Control ___________________ 10-121Defining paths ______________________________________ 10-122Key views __________________________________________ 10-125

Advanced Animation __________________________________ 11-127Viewing the movie___________________________________ 11-127Animating lighting parameters _________________________ 11-129Scripting lights at specific frames_______________________ 11-131Adjusting beam width of a spotlight ____________________ 11-132Scripting lights to fade out ____________________________ 11-134Animated pattern maps _______________________________ 11-137

Virtual movie screen ______________________________ 11-138Creating an animated pattern map______________________ 11-138

Camera Animation ____________________________________ 12-141Scripting a camera ___________________________________ 12-141Creating an animation camera _________________________ 12-142Creating a target _____________________________________ 12-144Scaling scripts _______________________________________ 12-146

Walk Throughs _______________________________________ 13-149Comparing walk through techniques ___________________ 13-149Scripting a walk through______________________________ 13-150Create an animation camera ___________________________ 13-151Scripting the animation camera ________________________ 13-152Defining an animation camera’s path ___________________ 13-152Creating targets to focus the animation camera on ________ 13-153Scripting targets _____________________________________ 13-154Defining a targets path _______________________________ 13-155Recording the movie _________________________________ 13-158


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Table of Contents

Animating Material Characteristics _____________________ 14-161Making materials transparent during a movie sequence____ 14-161Transforming material characteristics____________________ 14-163Scripting bump map settings __________________________ 14-164Using a radiosity database for speedy rendering__________ 14-166Blue screen (transparent backgrounds)__________________ 14-166

Animating the Design Environment ____________________ 15-167Solar study animations________________________________ 15-167Animating distance Cueing to create a background _______ 15-169

Setting fog values and color________________________ 15-169Scripting background colors ___________________________ 15-171Scripting Solar times _________________________________ 15-172Animated camera parameters __________________________ 15-173Background image___________________________________ 15-176Animated backgrounds _______________________________ 15-177

Including Scripts ______________________________________ 16-179Including a script ____________________________________ 16-179Using an included script on a different actor _____________ 16-181

The Animation Producer Tree View and Timeline _______ 17-183The Animator Tree View dialog box ____________________ 17-183

Editing Tree View entries __________________________ 17-184The Timeline dialog box______________________________ 17-185

Editing Timeline entries ___________________________ 17-185Using the Animation Producer Tree View and Timeline ___ 17-186Adding script entries using the Animator Tree View_______ 17-187Modifying script entries using the Animator Tree View ____ 17-188Record Selected Frames_______________________________ 17-190Using the Animator Timeline __________________________ 17-192Record Selected Frames_______________________________ 17-194

Rendering Setups _____________________________________ 18-199Rendering > Setup________________________________ 18-200General _________________________________________ 18-200View Attributes___________________________________ 18-201Render Attributes _________________________________ 18-201View Levels _____________________________________ 18-201View Size _______________________________________ 18-202Global Lighting __________________________________ 18-202Solar Lighting ____________________________________ 18-202Ray Tracing______________________________________ 18-203More Ray Tracing_________________________________ 18-203Radiosity ________________________________________ 18-203


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Table of Contents

Materials and Lighting_____________________________ 18-204Display _________________________________________ 18-204Loading and saving rendering setups ________________ 18-204File menu _______________________________________ 18-205Ray Tracing/Radiosity menu _______________________ 18-205Creating a rendering settings setup: _________________ 18-205

Using Rendering Setups ______________________________ 18-206

Common Rendering Problems and Technical Considerations _______________________________________ 19-211

Common Rendering Problems _________________________ 19-211Screen remains blank _____________________________ 19-211Changes to light source cells do not take effect _______ 19-211No shadows _____________________________________ 19-212No transparency__________________________________ 19-212Shadows not cast correctly when Phong rendering ____ 19-212

Technical Considerations _____________________________ 19-212Rendering images in bands____________________________ 19-212

Settings for banded rendering ______________________ 19-213Files created by banded rendering __________________ 19-213Error recovery ___________________________________ 19-214

Network processing: Using multiple systems _____________ 19-214Field rendering ______________________________________ 19-214


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1 Overview of Visualization with MicroStation

This course, presented by the MicroStation Institute, covers the advanced visualization and animation features in MicroStation. Prior to taking this course you should have experience with MicroStation 3D and the fundamentals of Rending with MicroStation including:

• Construction of 3D models

• Using the 3D view navigation tools

• Creating rendered images using constant, smooth and phong rendering methods

• Using ambient, flashbulb and solar lighting

• Creating and applying materials to your models

• Placing and modifying point, distant and spot lights and their effects on shadows

• Setting up camera views

• Applying basic animation to your models using keyframes, scripts and the fly-through producer

In this Course

In this course we will cover the following advanced visualization and animation techniques in MicroStation including:

• Ray tracing

• Procedural textures

• Advanced camera placement and manipulation

• Radiosity

• Photomatching

• Creating and animating animation actors, lights, cameras and targets


1-1

In this Course

• Creating hierarchical actors and parametric motion

• Animating material characteristics and the design environment

• Technical considerations to improve your visualization techniques

We have a lot of material to cover so let’s get started.


1-2

2 Tools

In this lesson we will use the following methods and tools to enhance your renderings including:

• The Apply Material tool

• Adjusting the size and color of materials

• Ray tracing

• Adding special lighting effects such as a light bulb

• Using photographs and patterns maps to add realism to your designs

• Assigning materials

Applying materials

Let’s review some of the fundamental concepts related to assigning materials to elements.

➤ Prepare for the exercise

1 Open the design file desk1.dgn.

2 From the Tools menu choose Visualization Tools.

The Visualization Tools tool box opens.

3 From the Utilities menu, choose Saved Views.

The Saved Views settings box opens.

4 From the list of Saved views, choose CLOSE1.

5 From the Dest(ination) View option menu, choose 2.

6 Click Attach.

The saved view displays in View 2.



2-3

Using the Apply Material tool

8 Click Attach.

The saved view displays in View 4.

9 Close the Saved Views settings box.

With the saved view displayed in views 2 and 4, you will be able to compare results by rendering them alternately.

➤ Render view 2

1 In the Visualization tool box, select the Render tool.

2 Check that the rendering settings are:

3 Enter a data point in View 2.

The view is rendered.

Currently, no materials have been defined or assigned to elements in this design file, nor have any source lighting cells been placed. Let’s see how we do this with MicroStation’s tools. During the course of the following exercises you will convert the current image, shown below left, to that shown below right.

To begin, we will create materials for the desk and the objects sitting on it.


From the tool settings of the Apply Material tool, we can assign materials from existing palette files. Also, we can open the Define Materials settings box to create new palettes or materials. To start, we will create a new palette file and a “starting point” material.

Target: View

Render Mode: Phong

Shading Type: Normal


2-4


➤ Create a new palette file

1 In the Visualization tool box, select the Apply Material tool.

In the tool settings are all the required settings for applying materials.

You can still use the Assign Materials settings box, but the Apply Material tool provides a more convenient method.

2 Double-click the material preview box on the right hand side of the tool settings window.

The Define Materials settings box opens.

3 Turn on Base Color and Specular Color.

4 If necessary, set Pattern Map units to Master Units.

5 In the Material Name field, key in Starting point and press the Enter (or Tab) key.

6 Click Add to add the material to the palette file.

This material will not be used in the design, but will provide a quick starting point for building additional materials.

➤ Begin to create the desk wood material

1 Click Select in the Define Materials settings box.

The Select Pattern Map dialog box opens.

2 From the list of files, select wood08s.jpg.

3 Click Preview to look at the material.

The material appears in the Preview Image box.

4 Click OK.

The Select Pattern Map dialog box closes and focus returns to the Define Materials settings box.

5 In the Ambient field, key in 0.8 (alternatively, you can use the slider to adjust this setting).

This reduces the “glow” of the material when rendered.

6 Click Preview in the lower left portion of the Define Materials settings box.

7 In View 2, identify the top of the desk.

8 Accept with a data point.


2-5

Adjusting the size of a material

9 The top of the desk is rendered and becomes the preview object in the Define Materials settings box.

Adjusting the size of a material

Currently the pattern of the wood grain looks too small. We need to modify this.

➤ Modify the size of the material

1 In the Define Materials settings box, from the units option menu, choose Master Units.

2 In the Size X field, key in 3.0.

3 In the Size Y field, key in 1.5.

4 Again click the Preview button.

5 Again, identify the desk top, and accept with a data point.

The desk top is rendered with the new version of the material.

6 In the Material Name field, change the material to Desk wood, pressing the Enter key when you have finished.

The Add button highlights.

7 Click Add to add the material to the list.

Identify the top of the desk.

The desk top is rendered with the material.


2-6

Adjusting the color of a material

Adjusting the color of a material

Although a pattern map has color, we can tint the color to suit our application. For example, we can make our current desk wood material (which is maple) to cherry wood. We do this simply by tweaking the Base Color, and maybe the Weight setting for the pattern map.

➤ Change the desk material to cherry wood

1 With the material Desk wood still selected, click the Base Color button.

The Modify Material Color settings box opens.

2 Change the color settings to:

3 Click OK.

4 Again, preview the material applied to the desk top.

The material has a slight red tint to it.

5 In the Weight field, key in 0.8.

This setting determines how much of the raster image appears, compared to the base color, thus allowing you to create various depths of color in the pattern map.

6 Again, preview the material applied to the desk top.

Now the material has a deeper red color.

7 Click Replace to update the Desk wood material to the new settings.

Adding reflection to a material

As this desk is made from polished wood, we will add one more setting, that for reflection. This causes reflections to be seen in the wood material when Ray Tracing is selected as the rendering mode. For the other MicroStation rendering modes, this setting does not apply.

Red: 255

Green: 20

Blue: 120


2-7


➤ Adding polish (reflections) to the wood

1 Click the More Settings button.

The More Material Settings box opens.

2 In the Reflect field, key in 0.3.

3 Close the More Material Settings box.

4 Click Replace to update the desk wood material.

Now that we have the desk wood material, we will save the palette. This allows us to use the material and assign it to the design file elements. By default, MicroStation stores palette files in the \ustation\material directory. It is recommended that you store custom palettes outside the MicroStation directory tree to safeguard your work from accidental deletion during a software upgrade.

➤ Save the palette file

1 From the Define Materials settings box’s File menu, choose Save Palette As.

The Save Palette As dialog box opens.

2 Use the controls to set the saving location to \workshop\material.

3 In the Files field, key in desk1.

✍ No need to add the .pal extension. MicroStation automatically adds the extension.

4 Click OK.

The Save Palette As dialog closes. Focus returns to the Define Materials settings box.

5 Close the Define Materials settings box.

➤ Apply the wood material to the desk

1 In the Visualization tool box select the Apply Material tool.

2 In the tool settings window’s Palette field, click Open.

The Open Palette File dialog box opens.

3 Use the controls to select the palette file that you just created, desk1.pal.

4 Click OK.


2-8


The Open Palette File dialog box closes. Focus returns to the Apply Material settings window, where the selected palette file name now appears in the Palette field, and the first available material appears in the Material field.

5 Click the Material button.

The button expands to display the two available materials (Desk wood and Starting point).

6 From the material list, choose Desk wood.

7 Check that the following settings are current:

8 Identify any part of the desk, in any view.

The desk highlights.


The material is assigned (applied). All elements of the desk’s color and level now have the material Desk wood assigned to them. At the same time, an asterisk appears next to the material in the tool settings. This shows that the selected material has been used (at least once) in the active design.

✍ Notice that with the Apply Material tool, the default mode is to assign the material by selecting the element in the design. Remember when we used the Assign Materials settings box, we had to first select Assign By Selection from the Tools menu.

Before we continue defining and assigning materials, let’s check the view by rendering it.

➤ Phong render the view


2 Check that the rendering settings are:


The view is Phong rendered.

Method: Assign Color/Level

Mode: Apply Material

Target: View

Render Mode: Phong



2-9

Ray tracing

Ray tracing

Notice that there are no reflections in the desk material, even though we have set the desk’s material to reflect (0.3). The reason is that Phong rendering does not support reflections. This is where MicroStation’s Ray Tracing rendering mode comes in.

Ray tracing is a photo-realistic rendering method in which an image is generated by simulating the reflections of light rays in a 3D scene.

In the real world, light rays are emitted by one or many light sources and reflect off objects until they finally reach the eye. On a computer, it is often more efficient to trace rays from the eye rather than from the light sources. This can save a significant amount of time by not following rays from lights to surfaces that are never seen.

Once it is determined what is visible, the illumination and shading of the visible objects is computed. The shading of the visible surface is computed for each pixel. The color of the surface is composed of three components—ambient, local, and global illumination—which are added together.

• Ambient illumination is surface lighting not directly attributed to any particular light source. Ambient light brightens a scene in areas where there is little or no lighting.

• Local illumination is surface shading directly attributed to light sources. Local illumination is made up of diffuse and specular components.

• Global illumination is shading on a surface due to secondary (global) effects such as reflections and transparency.

Ray traced images can have reflections, refraction and transparency. Let’s continue and try out ray tracing. First, though, we should check the ray tracing settings.

➤ Check ray tracing settings

1 From the Settings menu’s Rendering sub-menu, choose Ray Tracing.

The Ray Tracing settings box opens.

2 If necessary, turn on Shadows, Reflections and Transparency.

Leave the Max settings for Reflections and Transparency at their default values of 2 and 8 respectively.

3 Close the Ray Tracing settings box.


2-10

Completing the image

➤ Ray trace the view

1 With the Render tool still active, change Render Mode to Ray Trace.


The view is ray traced. Notice the reflections in the desk top of the items sitting on the desk.


Now that you have had a taste of ray tracing’s capabilities, we will complete the material definitions and assignments.

➤ Create a brass base for the lamp

1 From the Settings menu’s Rendering sub-menu, choose Define Materials.

The Define Materials settings box opens.

2 From the settings box’s File menu, choose Open Palette.


3 From the \ustation\material directory, select the file metal.pal.

The Open Palette File dialog box closes. Focus returns to the Define Materials settings box, where the available materials are listed.

4 From the materials list, select Brass - polished.

The material loads into memory. Settings in the Define Materials settings box update to display the selected material’s values.



6 From the \workshop\material directory, select the file desk1.pal.

The Open Palette File dialog box closes. Your palette loads into memory, while retaining the settings for the material selected from the previous palette. You can now add the material to your palette.

7 In the Material Name field, highlight Brass - polished and key in Brass shiny.

Ray tracing is capable of displaying reflections in reflective materials.


2-11


Don’t forget to press the Enter key after keying in the material name. When you do, the Add button becomes active.

8 Click Add.

The new material adds to the list.

Remember, we discussed the reasons for putting your custom palettes outside the MicroStation directory structure. Using the foregoing method, you can borrow the settings from existing materials, fine-tune them if necessary, and then add them to your custom palette. Saving the palette in a separate directory from MicroStation ensures that a software upgrade won’t result in you losing your custom definitions.

Until you save your palette, any changes made are in the computer memory only. To safeguard against losing new information when changing between palettes, MicroStation alerts you to the fact and gives you the chance to save the changes. As you continue, you will see how this works.

➤ Retrieve a glass material for the green lamp shade

1 From the Define Materials settings box’s File menu, choose Open Palette.

An alert box opens, asking if you want to save the changes to the current palette file desk1.pal.

2 Click Yes in the Alert box.

The Alert box closes, and the Open Palette File dialog box opens.

3 From the \ustation\material directory, select the palette file raytrace.pal.

The Open Palette File dialog box closes and focus returns to the Define Materials settings box.

4 From the list of materials, select Glass-blue-tint.


6 From the \workshop\material directory, select your palette file desk1.pal.

You now have your palette file open and you have a starting point for the glass material. Currently, the glass has a blue tint. You need to change that to green.

➤ Change the color of the glass

1 Click the Base Color button.

The Modify Material Color dialog box opens.


2-12


2 Change the Material Base Color to:

3 Click OK.

The Modify Material Color settings box closes and focus returns to the Define Materials settings box.

4 Click the Specular Color button.

The Modify Material Color dialog box opens. With transparent materials, the Specular Color determines the color of any shadows cast by the material when ray traced. Phong rendering does not produce “colored” shadows.

5 Change the Material Specular Color to:

6 Click OK.

The Modify Material Color settings box closes and focus returns to the Define Materials settings box.

7 Click the More Settings button.

Red: 70

Green: 250

Blue: 20

Red: 90

Green: 220

Blue: 50

Click the Base Color button to open the Modify Material Color dialog box.

Modify the color settings for the Base Color and then click OK to return to the Define Materials settings box.


2-13

Creating a light bulb

The More Material Settings box opens.

8 Change the Refract value to 1.1.

9 Close the More Material Settings box.

10 In the Material Name field, highlight Glass-blue-tint and key in Green glass (remembering to press <Enter> to complete).

11 Click Add.

The new material is added to the list.

Before we continue: Which Render Mode should be used to display reflections?

Name two reasons why custom palettes should be stored outside of the MicroStation directory structure.


By now, you should be getting the hang of creating materials, either from scratch or from an existing material. We still have a few more steps to go before we are ready to render the image, so let’s continue.

First, the light bulb in the desk lamp will be created. This involves a “trick” where the Ambient setting for the material is given a value greater than 1.0. While the slide control allows a maximum setting of 1.0, you can key in a value greater than this. When rendered, materials such as this will “glow,” provided that there is ambient lighting and it is turned on in the Global Lighting settings.

➤ Create the light bulb

1 With the Green glass material that you just created as a starting point, highlight the Ambient field and key in 8.0.

2 Click the Specular Color button.


3 Change Color settings to:

Red: 255

Green: 252

Blue: 178


2-14


4 Click OK.

The Modify Material Color dialog box closes.



6 Change Color settings to:

7 Click OK.

The Modify Material Color dialog box closes.

8 In the other material settings, set:

9 In the Material Name field, highlight Green glass and key in Light bulb (remembering to press <Enter> to complete).

10 Click Add.

The material is added to the list of available materials.

➤ Next, create the wood for the picture frame

1 In the Define Materials settings box’s list of materials, select Desk wood.

2 Click the Select button.


Red: 255

Green: 252

Blue: 178

Diffuse: 0.5

Transmit: 0.75

The Define Materials settings box after adding “Light bulb”

to the list of materials.


2-15

Using photographs to add realism

3 From the list of pattern maps, choose wood03.jpg and click Preview.

4 Click OK.



6 Change the Base Color to:

7 Click OK.

8 In the Size field, set:

9 In the Material Name field, highlight Desk wood and key in Picture frame, finishing by pressing Enter.

10 Click Add.

The material is added to the list.


Next, create a picture for the frame. Any image, including scanned photographs, can be used as a pattern map. The pattern map that we will use for this material is a scanned photograph and we want it to cover the entire element when we apply it. To ensure this we will change the units to Surface, leaving the Size X and Y values at 1.0.

Red: 255

Green: 252

Blue: 178

Size X: 8.0

Size Y: 3.0

Selecting the pattern map “wood03.jpg” for the picture

frame material.


2-16


When units are set to surface, the pattern map is sized relative to the surface to which the material is assigned. The pattern map is multiplied by the Size X and Y values and applied to the element during the rendering process. Therefore, if Size X and Y were set to 0.5, the image would be a quarter of the size of the element and would display four copies of the pattern map on elements assigned the material. If set to 2 it would be twice the size of the element and display only half of the pattern map on the same elements. In setting the Size X and Y values to 1.0, the image will be sized to fit any element assigned the material.

➤ Create the picture for the frame

1 In the Define Materials settings box’s list of materials, select Starting point.

This is the “blank” starting material.

2 Set Pattern Map units to Surface.

3 Click the Select button.


4 From the list of pattern maps, choose oldpict.jpg.

5 From the Display option menu (just above the rendered sphere of the material preview), choose Rectangle.

The material preview display changes to a rectangular shape.

6 Change other settings as follows (observe the changes in the material preview as you change the settings):

7 In the Material Name field, highlight Starting point and key in Granny, finishing by pressing Enter.

8 Click Add.

The material is added to the list.

Next, we need to create glass for the picture frame. Here we will use a material from an existing MicroStation palette file.

Ambient: 8.0 (must key in the value)

Diffuse: 1.0

Specular: 0.3

Finish: 0.15

With units set to Surface, and Size X and Y set to 1.0, the pattern map will be fitted exactly to any element to which the material is assigned.

As the settings are adjusted, the preview

window displays the material.


2-17

Using pattern maps

➤ Create picture frame glass

1 From the Define Materials settings box’s File menu, choose Open Palette.

Because changes have been made to the current palette file without saving, the Alert box appears.

2 Click Yes in the Alert box.

The Alert box closes and the Open Palette File dialog box opens.

3 From the \ustation\material directory, choose raytrace.pal.

4 From the list of materials, choose Glass-Clear.


No alert box opens this time because no changes were made to any material in the palette file.

6 From the \workshop\material directory, choose desk1.pal.

7 In the Material Name field, highlight Glass-Clear and key in Picture frame glass, finish by pressing the <Enter> key.


Using pattern maps

Now, we will add a pattern map for the piece of paper on the desk. As with the picture material “Granny,” we will set units to Surface because we want the image to be applied across the entire “paper” element when we assign it to an element in the design file.

Define Materials settings box after opening raytrace.pal and selecting

the material Glass-Clear.


2-18

Using pattern maps

➤ Create the paper material

1 In the Define Materials settings box’s list of materials, select Starting point.

2 Set Pattern Map units to Surface and check that Size X and Y are set to 1.

3 With Map set to Pattern, click the Select button.


4 From the \workshop\material directory, choose paper.jpg.

5 Click OK.

The Select Pattern Map dialog box closes.

6 In the Material Name field, highlight Starting point and key in Paper.


➤ Save the palette file

1 From the settings box’s File menu, choose Save Palette.

The palette file is saved.


Now we can assign the materials to the elements in the design.

➤ Assign materials by selecting elements


2 From the Materials list, select Brass shiny.

The Define Material settings box after adding the final

material definition. The list of Materials displays all the materials in the palette.


2-19

Assigning materials manually

3 In any view, identify the base of the desk lamp.


The material is applied to the color and level of the selected element. An asterisk appears next to the material in the tool settings.

5 From the Materials list, select Green glass.

6 In any view, identify the green shade of the desk lamp.


8 From the Materials list, select Paper.

9 Identify the paper on the desk.


Assigning materials manually

As well as assigning materials by identifying elements in the design, we can assign materials manually.

➤ Assign materials manually

1 From the Materials list, select Light bulb.

2 In the Apply Material tool settings box, click Assign.

The Assign Materials dialog box opens.

Identify the lamp base.

After assigning the material, an asterisk appears next to the material in the Material menu.

Green glass

Paper


2-20

Comparing phong rendering with ray tracing

3 To assign the material:

Click on 3 in the Levels pick box.

Click on the 1st yellow color, in the top row of the Colors pick box (color 4, the 5th from left on top row).

4 Click OK.

5 Repeat the above steps to assign the following:

Comparing phong rendering with ray tracing

Now, let’s render our view to see how we are progressing. We will compare Phong rendering with the Ray Tracing option.

➤ Comparing Phong rendering with Ray Tracing


2 Check that the tool settings are:


View 2 is phong rendered.

4 In the tool settings set Render Mode to Ray Trace.

Picture frame: Level 4, Color 1 (blue)

Granny: Level 4, Color 2 (green)

Picture frame glass: Level 4, Color 7 (cyan)

Target: View

Render Mode: Phong


1. Click on the required level and color.

2. Click OK to accept.


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Lighting revisited


View 4 is ray traced.

Comparing the results, it is obvious that ray tracing produces a far better image. Apart from reflections, simulation of transparent surfaces is handled better with ray tracing. In the Phong image, the light bulb is invisible. This could be fixed by setting its Transmit value to zero when Phong rendering. In other words, materials may need adjustments to their settings, depending on whether Phong rendering or Ray Tracing is to be used for the final image. In the ray traced image, notice how the light bulb seems to glow as though it is on. This is due to the high ambient setting of 8.0.

Lighting revisited

Lighting for our image, thus far, has been from Global Lighting. Both Flashbulb and Solar Lighting settings were saved with the design file in the previous exercises. As it is an interior scene, we will add source lighting. First, we’ll add the overhead lights. Here, we will use the Source lighting tool and a new light source, the Area Light.

Area light sources are useful for simulating lighting such as that from fluorescent lighting. You can create an Area light source from any existing polygon. Direction of the light from an Area light source is defined by its surface normal. You can reverse this direction while creating the light source.

Area light sources have an additional setting, Samples, that is applicable to ray tracing only. The Samples setting affects how the area light source is treated during ray tracing processing. The effects of the settings are most noticeable in the appearance of shadows cast by the Area light source. Higher Samples values produce smoother shadows but take longer to process.

Phong rendered image does not display reflections. Here, the light bulb material needs adjustment, also, if Phong rendering is to be

used for the final image.

Ray traced image is far more natural, with reflections, and realistic display of

transparent surfaces.


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Lighting revisited

➤ Create overhead lighting

1 In the Visualization tool box, select the Define Light tool.

By default, the tool’s Mode is set to Modify.

2 From the Mode option menu, choose Create.

3 Check other settings are as follows:

Leave other settings at their defaults.

4 In the Top view (View 1), identify the red rectangle to the left.

The element highlights. An arrow, easily seen in the Front and Right views, indicates the direction of the light source. Here the arrow points down into the room as we want it.

5 Enter a data point to accept the light source.

6 Identify the red rectangle to the right.

The element highlights. This time the arrow is pointing up and away from the room, which is the wrong direction. No matter, we can reverse the direction that the light shines.

7 In the Define Light tool settings box, click the Reverse box to turn it on.

Type: Area Light

On: on

Shadow: on

Identify the red rectangle on the left side.

On accepting the shape, an arrow appears toindicate the direction of the proposed area light. The

arrow is displayed clearly in the Front view.


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Using quick display when ray tracing

The arrow remains pointing the wrong direction, but the Reverse switch being on indicates that the light will shine in the opposite direction.

Before rendering the view, modify the settings for Global Lighting. We can open the Global Lighting settings box directly from the Define Light tool settings box.

➤ Change Global Lighting settings

1 In the Define Light tool settings box, click Global.

The Global Lighting settings box opens. With standard MicroStation, this settings box opens by selecting Settings >Rendering >Global Lighting.

2 Turn off Solar.

3 In the remaining global lighting options, set:

4 Close the Global Lighting settings box.

Using quick display when ray tracing

Before we render the views, let’s turn on one more setting for Ray Tracing.

➤ Turn on Quick Display and render the view



2 In the Ray Tracing settings box, turn on Quick Display.

3 Close the Ray Tracing settings box.


5 With Render Mode set to Ray Trace, enter a data point in View 2.

Ambient: 0.1

Flashbulb: 0.1

If the Area Light direction arrowpoints in the wrong direction, youreverse the direction by turning on

Reverse in the tool settings.


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Simulating light from a desk lamp

Notice how the image is ray traced in four passes, each pass further refining the image. This feature is a great time-saver when tweaking materials and checking lighting. Often you can identify a problem in the first rendering pass without having to wait for the entire image to process. Notice also, the soft shadows from the coffee mug and picture in particular. These are cast by the Area Lights and provide a natural look as if they are from fluorescent lights.


To complete this section of the exercises, we will add a spotlight to simulate the light from the desk lamp. Currently, we have set the Ambient value of the light bulb material to a high value so that it appears to be “on.” This does not provide any lighting so we need to place a spotlight.

➤ Prepare to add a spotlight

1 Make level 3 the Active Level and turn off all other levels in the Top and Front views.

2 In both the Top and Front views, use the Window Area tool to zoom in to the lamp.

3 In the Visualization tool box, select the Define Light tool.

4 In the tool settings, set:

5 Check that On, Shadow, and Attenuate are turned on.

6 In the Distance field, key in 2.0.

✍ This sets the distance (2.0) at which the light source will be attenuated to half its intensity.

7 In the Cone Angle field, key in 60 and in the Delta Angle field, key in 10.

Mode: Create

Type: Spot Light

Shadows from area lights are not sharply defined as they would be from a point light or spot light.


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✍ These set the total spread of the beam (Cone Angle) and the angle through which the intensity falls to zero (Delta Angle).

8 Click the Color button.

The Modify Color dialog box opens.

9 In the Modify Color dialog box, set the color values to:

This will give the light a yellowish incandescent glow.

10 Click OK.

The Modify Color dialog box closes.

➤ Place the spotlight

1 If necessary, start AccuDraw.

2 In the Front view, enter a tentative point just below the bottom center of the yellow light bulb. That is, clear of the lamp, in blank space.

The light source will be located just below the “light bulb.”

3 Press <O> to set the drawing plane origin at the tentative point location.

This sets the vertical position of the light source

4 Move the pointer into the Top view and enter a data point at the center of the yellow light bulb.

The Spot Light is placed outside and below the center of the light bulb, and becomes dynamic with the target point now attached to the screen pointer.

5 Move the pointer back into the Front view.

6 With the pointer indexed to the vertical (Y) axis of the AccuDraw compass, move it down from the light source and enter a data point.

The Spot Light source is placed.

Red: 255

Green: 255

Blue: 200


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➤ Ray trace View 2



With the addition of the spotlight, the image has added depth. Soft shadows from the overhead lighting (area lights) and sharper shadows from the spotlight are apparent.

Before we continue: What X and Y values should be used on an image so that is fits any element that its material is assigned to?

Name at least two reasons why ray tracing produces better images than phong rendering.

Which setting can be turned on when ray tracing to save time when adjusting materials and lighting?

Soft shadows from area lights.Sharp shadow from spot light.


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3 Procedural Textures

Many of the materials that we have used are made from a raster image that has been applied to elements in the design in much the way that wallpaper is applied to a wall. Where a surface’s area is larger than that of the image, the image is repeated, or tiled, to fill the surface. Procedural textures produce patterns that are realistic and random in their display. Each procedural texture is an MDL application that applies a pattern to solids or surfaces when a view is rendered. With that said, let’s continue by:

• Using existing procedural textures

• Applying and adjusting procedural textures

• Using 2D procedural textures

• Applying and adjusting 2D procedural textures

There is a selection of 2D and 3D procedural textures delivered with MicroStation. They are .pma files delivered in the \ustation\material\procedur directory. Additionally, a palette file, proctext.pal, containing materials with all the procedural textures is delivered in the \ustation\material directory.

Using procedural textures

2D procedural textures are applied in a similar manner to standard pattern maps, except that you can control their appearance with user defined settings. 3D procedural textures, when applied to solids or cells, give the object the appearance of having been carved out of a single block of the material. In the following exercises, you will get an idea how these procedural textures work.

To save time, the sample palette file proctext.pal, which is delivered with MicroStation, has been copied to the file ptexture.pal, and placed in the \workshop\material directory. As mentioned, this palette file contains samples of all the procedural textures delivered. We will experiment with this palette file.


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Applying a procedural texture


1 Open the design file, ptexture.dgn.

This file has been saved with three views open, ready for use. Views 1 and 2 show two versions of a gate post. View 3 shows a rectangular floor with walls on two sides.


3 In the Tool Settings window, click Palette Open.


4 Using controls in this dialog box, select the palette file ptexture.pal, which is located in the \workshop\material directory.

5 Click OK.

The Open Palette File dialog box closes and focus returns to the Apply Material settings box.

Applying a procedural texture

We will now apply a marble material to the gate post. The red gate post in View 1 is constructed from several separate elements. The green gate post in View 2, while constructed in the same manner, has been grouped as a cell.

➤ Apply a marble procedural texture

1 From the Material option menu, choose marble.

The material preview updates to show the selected material. This takes longer than for normal materials, because the procedural texture has to be calculated.

2 Identify any element in View 1 and accept with a data point.

3 Identify any element in View 2 and accept with a data point.


Render Mode still should be set to Ray Trace from the previous exercises.

5 Enter a data point first in View 1, and then in View 2.

Both views are ray traced.

Looking at View 1, you can see that the veins of the marble don’t meet exactly where the separate parts of the model meet. In View 2, however, the veins all continue smoothly from one element to the next. Why? Because the elements forming the green gate post in View 2 have been grouped together as a single cell.


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Adjusting a procedural texture

The procedural texture “sees” this as a single element. Being a 3D texture, it correctly displays the model as though it was carved from a single block of marble.

Adjusting a procedural texture

Currently, the marble material needs a few adjustments. The veins, for example, are too close together. We will increase the Size X, Y, and Z values to make the vein pattern bigger. Apart from these standard scaling parameters, we can control the appearance of the material with additional settings that vary for each procedural texture.

➤ Create a new marble material

1 In the Apply Material settings box, double-click the material preview display.

The Define Materials settings box opens, with the palette file loaded and the material “marble” selected. Notice that the Map section of the settings box has an additional button, Edit, as well as additional Size and Offset fields (for Z). Because some procedural textures are 3D, the extra fields are required.

2 In each of the Size X, Y, and Z fields, key in 0.3.

The material preview updates as each change is made.

3 In the Material Name field, highlight the name “marble” and key in My marble, completing the key-in by hitting the <Enter> key.

The Add button becomes active.

4 Click Add.

The new material adds to the Materials list.

5 From the Define Materials settings box’s File menu, choose Save Palette.


7 From the Apply Material tool settings’ Material option menu, choose My marble.

The image in View 1 displays discontinuity in the marble vein at the intersections of the individual elements forming the design.

The image in View 2 displays continuous marble vein running across the intersections of the individual elements forming the original

design. These elements first were grouped into a cell prior to rendering.


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Additional parameters controlled by procedural textures

8 Identify any of the green elements in View 2, accepting with a data point.

This changes the material assignment from the original marble to My marble.


Render Mode still should be set to Ray Trace from the previous exercises.


Veins in the marble now appear more natural.


As mentioned earlier, procedural textures provide far more control over their appearance. We will now look at other parameters that are available with this marble material.

➤ Modify the marble material

1 In the Apply Material settings window, double-click the material preview display.

The Define Materials settings box opens with the palette file loaded, and the current material selected.

2 In the lower right of the Define Materials settings box, click Edit.

Increasing the Size X, Y, and Z values for the material (from 0.2 to 0.3) has

improved the appearance of the marble.


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The Procedural Texture Values settings box opens for marble.

3 From the Procedural Texture Values settings box’s Help menu, choose About.

The About Procedural Texture: Marble help window opens. This window contains information on the procedural texture and its user definable parameters. You can look through the information in the help window to determine just which parameter will effect the change that you require.

4 Click OK to close the help window.

For our exercise, we will first change the vein_tightness, and then the color of the marble.

➤ Change the vein_tightness value

1 In the Procedural Texture Values settings box, choose vein_tightness.

The input field updates with the title and the value from the selected parameter.

2 In the input field, change the value from 0.7071 to 0.2.

In the Define Materials settings box, the material preview updates and the Replace button becomes active.

3 In the Define Materials settings box, click Replace.

Clicking the Edit button opens the Procedural Texture Values settings box.


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➤ Change the color of the marble, and veins

1 In the Procedural Texture Values window, click the Base Color button.


2 Set the Color Components values to:

3 Click OK.

4 Now, in the Procedural Texture Values window, click the Vein Color button.

Again, the Modify Material Color dialog box opens.

5 Set the Color Components values to:

6 Click OK.

7 Close the Procedural Texture Values window.

8 In the Define Materials settings box, click the Replace button.



Red: 80

Green: 80

Blue: 110

Red: 200

Green: 200

Blue: 210

With the vein_tightness value reduced, the veins are less distinct, or sharp, than before.


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2D procedural textures

The view is rendered with the marble now appearing with the newly defined colors applied.

As you can see, procedural textures give you much greater control over their appearance than the traditional pattern maps.


While the preceding example is a 3D procedural texture, you have similar controls over the 2D procedural textures. You can change their scale, as with normal pattern maps, as well as other parameters specific for each procedural texture. The following exercise illustrates this concept.

➤ First, apply materials to the floor and walls


2 From the Material option menu, choose boards.

3 In View 3, identify the red floor element and accept with a data point.

4 From the Material option menu, choose brick.

5 In View 3, identify either of the blue wall elements and accept with a data point.



Procedural textures allow you to define various parameters of the material. In the case of

marble, this includes the colors of the material and the appearance of the veins.


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First, working with the brick material, we will reduce the size of the bricks, using the Size X, and Y settings. Then we will change the color of the bricks and the mortar. We will create a new material, so that we are not altering the original.

➤ First, create a new material with the size of the bricks defined

1 In the Apply Material settings window, double-click the material preview display.

The Define Materials settings box opens, with the palette file loaded and the material “brick” selected.

2 If necessary, from the Display option menu, choose Rectangle.

The material preview display changes to a rectangle.

3 From the units option menu (lower right, above the Select button), choose Master Units.

4 In the Size X, and Y fields, key in 1.5.

As this is a 2D procedural texture, the Z field does not apply.

5 In the Material Name field, highlight the existing name “brick” and key in My brick.

On pressing <Enter>, the Add button becomes active.

6 Click Add.

The new material adds to the list.


✍ If you are unsure as to whether a procedural texture is 2D or 3D, open the help window for the texture in question. This information is included in the help window text.


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Applying a 2D procedural texture

➤ Now, change the color of the bricks and mortar

1 In the Define Materials settings box, click Edit.

The Procedural Texture Values window opens for the selected material.

2 In the Procedural Texture Values window, click the Brick Color button.


3 From the list of Named Colors, choose Beige.

Color settings are changed to match the selected color.

4 Click OK.

The dialog box closes and the Replace button becomes active.

5 Now, in the Procedural Texture Values window, click the Mortar Color button.

Again, the Modify Material Color dialog box opens.

6 Change the settings for the mortar color to:

7 Click OK.

8 In the Define Materials settings box, click Preview.

9 In View 3, identify either of the wall elements and accept with a data point.

The wall element is rendered with the new brick definition.

10 Click Replace.


Let’s continue by using the material that we just modified.

➤ Apply the new material and test render the image


2 From the Material option menu, choose My brick.

3 In View 3, identify either of the blue wall elements and accept with a data point.



Red: 100

Green: 70

Blue: 10


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Notice that the bricks and mortar now have the new scale and colors that we defined. Let’s make just one more alteration to the material. Currently, there is a degree of variation in the colors of the bricks. We can control this with yet another setting available with the Procedural Texture.

➤ Reduce the color variation in the brick material

1 In the Procedural Texture Values window, select the variable brightness_variation.

The variable highlights and its current value appears in the input field.

2 Highlight the value in the input field and key in 0.1.

The material preview in the Define Materials settings box updates to show the new material definition.

3 Close the Procedural Texture Values settings box.

4 In the Define Materials settings box, click Replace.





Notice this time that the bricks are much more uniform in their color. Thus, you can see that working with procedural textures allows you much more freedom than is available with the standard pattern maps. For example, to change the variation in the color of the bricks in a standard pattern map would require you to modify a raster image with some kind of paint program.

Key in the new value for brightness_variation.

With brightness_variation set at 0.4, there is a noticeable variation in the colors of the bricks.

With brightness_variation set at 0.1, variation in the colors of the bricks is

reduced significantly.


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Before we continue: Procedural textures are what type of application?

What is the primary advantage for using 3D procedural textures?


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3-40

4 Defining Camera Views

Time now to have a look at MicroStation’s Define Camera tool. As you will see, this tool gives you complete control over positioning the camera for an image. Options available with this single tool allow you to position the camera and its target point interactively, or with precision inputs including:

• Manipulating the view cone graphically

• Camera action options including panning, dolly and camera projections

The view cone

Let’s begin by reviewing camera settings in an existing file.


1 Open the design, camera1.dgn.

2 In the Visualization tool box, select the Define Camera tool.

The tool’s settings box appears, and you are prompted to “Select active view.” This is the view that you will be using as the camera view. Here, we will use View 2.

3 If necessary, turn on Continuous View Updates and Display View Cone.

4 Enter a data point in View 2 to select it as the active (camera) view.

View Cones appear in the other views, showing the viewing parameters of the selected view. Currently, the view projection is set to Parallel, the default option.

5 From the Projection option menu, choose Three Point.


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Manipulating the View Cone graphically

View 2 updates with the view now shown with Three Point perspective projection. In the other views, the view cones now show the view cone as a pyramid shape, with the eyepoint at the apex.


Top and Front views show clearly the view cone with its center point, target, and eyepoints. These points can be used to manipulate the view camera interactively. You can:

• Move the eyepoint, with the target point anchored.

• Move the target point with the eyepoint anchored.

• Move the center point, which moves the entire view cone.

View cones show viewing parameters of the selected view.

Handles at the center, target, and eyepoints provide a means for

graphically manipulating the

view camera.

Target handle

Used to position the camera target point.

Eyepoint handle

Used to position the camera location (eyepoint) position.

Center handle

Used to position the entire view cone, without changing the relative positions

of the target and eyepoint handles.


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➤ Manipulate the view camera eyepoint

1 In the Top view, click the eyepoint handle of the view cone (that is, the apex of the view cone).

This attaches the eyepoint to the screen pointer.

2 Remaining in the Top view, move the screen pointer to relocate the eyepoint in the XY plane of the view. (In a Top view, this also is the XY plane of the design). Notice as you do this, the selected view updates dynamically.

3 Enter a data point to set the eyepoint at its new location (or Reset to cancel).

4 In the Front view, again click the eyepoint handle of the view cone.

5 Remaining in the Front view, move the screen pointer to relocate the eyepoint, again in the XY plane of the view. In this case the XY plane of the Front view relates to the XZ plane of the design.

Moving the eyepoint in the Top view,

relocates it in the XY plane. It remains at the same height (Z

value) as seen in the Front view.


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6 Enter a data point to set the eyepoint at its new location (or Reset to cancel).

7 Similarly, you can move the camera’s target handle to change the center of attention of the camera view. Try this yourself by repeating the above steps, this time selecting the Target handle.

8 Next, click the center handle and move the whole setup together.

As you can see, manipulating the camera graphically is very simple. You can use any view that displays the View Cone to select and manipulate any of its handles. You can move the selected handle in the XY plane of the view. Unlike the standard MicroStation tool, the View Cone remains visible and allows you to continue making adjustments until you are satisfied with the view.

With larger models, or slower processors/graphics cards, Continuous View Updates can be very slow. In these instances, you can turn them off.

✍ Alternatively, you can turn off several levels, leaving only those displayed that will help you locate the camera.

➤ Turn off Continuous View Updates

1 In the Tool Settings, turn off Continuous View Updates.

2 Repeat the first part of the previous exercise. Notice that the view updates only when you enter a data point to locate the eyepoint.

Moving the eyepoint in the Front view,

relocates it in the XZ plane. It remains at the same Y value as seen in the Top view.


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Camera Action options

Camera Action options

Using the Camera Action options, you can adjust the camera directly in the active view. In these cases, movement of the camera eyepoint or target point is controlled by the position of the screen pointer and is restricted to those directions allowed by the selected Action. First, let’s return to our starting position in View 2.



2 From the list of Saved Views, select CAM1.


4 Click Attach.

5 Close the Saved Views Settings box.


7 Turn on Continuous View Updates.

Panning the camera

To start with, we will try the Pan Horizontal control. This allows us to move the camera or the target radially about each other, in a horizontal plane.

➤ Pan the camera horizontally about the target

1 In the Define Camera settings window’s icon bar, click the Pan Horizontal icon or from the Camera Action option menu, choose Pan Horizontal.

2 If necessary, from the Reference Point option menu, choose Target.

3 Enter a data point at about the center of the camera view (View 2).

4 Move the pointer left to revolve the camera about the target point. Moving the pointer left, has the effect of rotating the model to the right (counter-clockwise) on screen. As you do this notice that the view cones update.


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Panning the camera

5 Enter a second data point to accept the current position, or reset to cancel.

This action is similar to moving around the object to be photographed. Alternatively, we can “look around” the scene by setting the Reference Point to Eye.

➤ Pan the camera horizontally about the eye point

1 From the Reference Point option menu, choose Eye.

2 With the pointer in the camera view (View 2), enter a data point.

3 Move the pointer left or right, to rotate the camera.

Notice, this time, that the eyepoint remains stationary while the target revolves radially.

4 Enter a second data point to accept the current position, or reset to cancel.

By monitoring the display of the view cones in the other views, you can keep track of just where the camera’s eye and target points are located. Camera Action options, and their respective icons, are as follows:

Camera Option Effect

Pan Move the camera or the target radially (horizontally or vertically) relative to each other.

Pan Horizontal Move the camera or the target radially (horizontally) relative to each other.

Pan Vertical Move the camera or the target radially (vertically) relative to each other.

Roll Roll or tilt the camera.

Dolly/Elevate Move the camera horizontally or vertically.

Dolly Move the camera in, out, or sideways.

Lens Focal Length Change the Lens Focal Length or View Point.

As the pointer is moved left, the view cone revolves to the left (clockwise). This has the effect of revolving the model to the right (counter-clockwise) in the camera view. Entering a data point to accept, resets the

view to the new camera position.


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Controlled manipulation of the View Cone

To get a feel for each option, let’s give them a try. Use the other views, with the view cones, to help you understand just what is happening as you move the screen pointer. In general, moving the pointer left/right or up/down moves the camera/target in the same direction.

This method for setting up views for rendering is quick and easy. There will be times, though, that more precision is required. For example, you may have a view set up, but want to shift the eyepoint 5° about the target.

Before we continue: Briefly describe what functions are associated with the eyepoint, center and target handles on the view cone.

What effect does the dolly camera option have when viewing your model?


For precise manipulation of the view camera, you can define the amount that the camera will move, or rotate. Let’s start with our saved view again.





4 Click Attach.


Now we can set the default values for the camera/target movement.

➤ Set the default increments


2 Turn off Continuous View Updates.

Lens View Angle Change the Lens Viewing Angle.

Pan/Dolly Walk through the view by moving the camera forward/backward, and the camera or target radially relative to each other.


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3 In the Define Camera settings window, click the More button.

The window expands to reveal further settings.

4 Turn on Controlled Movement.

The Controlled Movement settings appear, with fields for Increments in Distance and Angle.

5 In the Distance field, key in 2.

6 In the Angle field, key in 5.

7 Click the Hide button.

The window shrinks to its original size.

With the defaults set, any rotations of camera or target, such as panning, will be in 5° increments. Any movements, such as dollying in or out, will be in increments of 2 (meters) for each data point.

➤ Pan the camera 5°

1 In the Define Camera settings window’s icon bar, click the Pan icon or from the Camera Action option menu, choose Pan.

2 Check other settings are as follows:

3 In the camera view (View 2) enter a data point at the center of the left edge of the view. Notice that the view rotates a small amount to the right. It has rotated 5°, as set in the Increment Angle field.

4 Enter further data points at the same location, noting how the view cones rotate in the other views, horizontally.

5 Move the pointer to the center of the top edge of the view and enter a data point. Notice that the view rotates a small amount downward.

Active View: 2

Projection: Three Point

Reference Point: Target

Continuous View Updates: Off


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Dolly the camera

6 Again, enter further data points at the same location, noting how the view cones rotate in the other views, in this instance, vertical rotation only.

7 Now, move the pointer down to the lower right corner of the view and enter a data point. Notice that the view rotates a small amount upward and to the left.

8 Verify this by entering further data points at the same location, noting how the view cones rotate in the other view.

You can see that the direction of rotation is determined by the location of the screen pointer in the active view. The amount of any rotation is determined by the Angle Increment setting. For the Pan option, which allows rotation both vertically and horizontally, the active view is partitioned like a tic-tac-toe board for the purpose of controlled movement. Clicking in the various partitions produces the rotations as shown below. As you can see, clicking in any of the corners of the view produces a combination of vertical and horizontal rotation.

Where rotation is restricted to up or down (Pan Vertical), clicking anywhere in the top or bottom of the view produces the required rotation. Similarly, where rotation is restricted to left or right (Pan Horizontal), then clicking anywhere in the left or right sections of the view produces the required rotation.

Dolly the camera

Similarly, movements of the camera can be controlled, as the Dolly option shows.

➤ Dolly the camera

1 In the Define Camera settings window’s icon bar, click the Dolly icon or from the Camera Action option menu, choose Dolly.

2 In View 2, enter a data point at top, center of the view. Notice that the model “jumps” closer.


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Camera projections

3 Enter further data points at the same location. Notice, in the other views, that the view cones move forward along the direction of view.

4 To move the camera back from the model, enter data points at the center bottom edge of View 2.

5 Similarly, you can move the camera sideways, left or right, by entering data points anywhere along the left or right edges of View 2.

In each case the camera moved a distance of 2 meters. Why? Because previously we had set the Increment Distance value to 2.

Camera projections

Before moving on to a more realistic model, let’s just check out the various Projection settings that we have with the Define Camera tool.

Entering a data point at the top of the camera view (left) moves the camera toward

the model (right).

Other views show the view cone

moving toward the model.


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Camera projections





4 Click Attach.



7 Check that the settings are as follows:

8 Turn on Continuous View Updates.

As you may remember, with Continuous View Updates on, you can rotate the view in real time. This works effectively for this model, which is small.

➤ Pan the view interactively

1 In the Define Camera settings window’s icon bar, click the Pan icon or from the Camera Action option menu, choose Pan.

2 Place the pointer in the center of View 2, the camera view, and enter a data point.

3 Move the pointer around in the view, noting that as the model rotates on screen it still appears with perspective.

Active View: 2

Projection: Three Point



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Camera projections

Notice that when the eyepoint is above or below the target point (can be seen in the front and right views) the vertical edges converge or diverge.

4 Enter a second data point to accept the current view, or Reset to return the view to its initial position.

✍ Convergence/divergence of the vertical edges of the model looks natural and is due to the Three Point projection setting. We can force all vertical edges to appear vertical in the camera view by changing the Projection setting to Two Point.

➤ Change to Two Point projection

1 From the Projection option menu, choose Two Point.

View 2 updates to show all vertical lines as vertical.

2 Again, place the pointer in the center of View 2 and enter a data point.

As the pointer is moved in the camera view, view cones visible in other views indicate where the eyepoint currently is located. The camera view displays the model with perspective.


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One point projection

3 Move the pointer around in the view, noting that as the model rotates this time, the vertical edges remain vertical, irrespective of the rotation.

This Projection setting is useful for providing architectural perspectives in which the vertical edges are typically shown vertical.


We have one more Projection setting to look at—One Point. This works in a similar manner to a bellows camera. With one point projection you can control the orientation of the image plane, independently to the viewing direction. For this control, a fourth handle, normal to the image plane, adds to the view cone.

By orientating the image plane parallel to a plane of the model, you can produce an image in which the dimensions in that plane are to scale. At the same time, you have a perspective view to give depth. Let’s try it out by setting the image plane parallel to one side of the green object in our design.

➤ Align the image plane to a plane in the design

1 First, attach the saved view, CAM2, to View 2.


If you have exited the file in between exercises, you have to reselect View 2 as the camera view. Otherwise, View 2 is “remembered” as camera view.

3 From the Projection option menu, choose One Point.

View 2 updates.

Currently, View 2 looks no different to how it would appear with Three Point projection. However, looking at the view cones in other views, you see an extra

Three Point projection.

Vertical edges converge.

Two Point projection.

Vertical edges display as vertical.


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handle attached by a line to the center of the image plane of the view cone. You can manipulate this handle just like any other handle of the view cone.

For our exercise, we will use precision inputs to set the image plane parallel to the front face of the green object. To do this we will set two values for the Plane—Orient and Elevate. Orient sets the horizontal angle, and Elevate sets the vertical angle for the image plane. In the Horizontal plane, positive X direction is 0° and positive Y direction is 90°. In the Vertical plane, 0° is vertical.

➤ Orientate the image plane

1 In the Define Camera settings window, click the More button.

The window expands to reveal further settings.

2 Turn off Controlled Movement. We don’t need to view its values for this exercise.

3 Turn on Camera Orientation.

4 In the Plane Orient field, key in 90.

5 In the Plane Elevate field, key in 0.

The image plane now is parallel to the front face of the model.

One Point projection provides an extra handle with which to manipulate the image plane orientation.


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With the image plane orientation set, you can manipulate the view cone as before, but the image plane remains at the same orientation (that is, unless you adjust the image planes handle, or change its values in the camera orientation tool settings).

You should be familiar with the “feel” of the new camera tools by now. When in doubt, use a simple file such as this to work out your difficulties.

Before we continue: Which increment values can be set in the Define Camera tool box?

Name the projection settings available with the Define Camera tool.

View cones in the orthogonal views

show that the image plane is orientated parallel to the front face of the model.


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5 Important Rendering Settings

Because rendering can be time consuming, it is important that settings are optimized for efficient processing, while still producing the quality of image required. Here we will look at several settings that affect rendering times and quality including:

• Stroke tolerance

• Shadowmaps

• Keeping the database in memory

• Reflections and transparency

• Environment mapping

• Adding sky lighting

• Area lights

Stroke Tolerance

Stroke tolerance affects the way that curved surfaces display. Smaller values increase the accuracy of the representation, and can significantly increase processing time. You should keep this value to the largest figure that still produces an acceptable image. The default setting of 0.5 should be adequate for most purposes. If you find that you are getting slight gaps where adjoining curved surfaces meet, reducing this value may help. Similarly, if some curved surfaces have a facetted look, reducing this value should make them smoother.

✍ Stroke Tolerance can be set from 0.001 to 1000.00, with smaller settings providing a more accurate representation of curved surfaces, at the cost of longer rendering time.

Save Shadowmaps (Phong rendering)

When Shadows are turned on in a view that is being Phong rendered, the process calculates shadowmaps from each light source (that is capable of casting shadows). If Save Shadowmaps are turned on, they are saved to disk. The next time that the


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view is Phong rendered, the saved shadowmaps are used rather than recalculating them.

This can be a time-saver, particularly when creating fly-throughs. However, when you are working on a file, be aware of one possible problem: if any changes are made to the lighting or to the model, then the current shadowmaps should be cleared prior to rendering a view. The following exercise illustrates why this should be done.


1 Open the design, rendset1.dgn.

2 From the Settings menu’s Rendering sub-menu, choose View Attributes.

The Rendering View Attributes settings box opens.

3 Set the View Number to 2.

4 Turn on Shadows.

5 Click Apply.

6 Close the Rendering View Attributes settings box.

7 From the Settings menu’s Rendering sub-menu, choose General.

The Rendering Settings box opens.

8 Turn on Save Shadowmaps.

Close the Rendering Settings box.


10 Set the Render Mode to Phong.


As the view is rendered, notice that first the shadowmaps are calculated. A message in the status bar states first “Rendering shadowmap for light: 2,” followed by “Rendering shadowmap for light: 3.” Following this, the view is rendered. This design is illuminated by 2 spotlights, for which the shadowmaps were calculated. If you were wondering about a shadowmap for “light 1,” this is reserved for Solar Lighting shadows. As these were not turned on in this file, light 1 calculations were ignored.

➤ Phong render the view a second time

1 Use the Update View control to update view 2 (to clear the rendering).



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Notice this time that the view is rendered immediately, without first calculating the shadowmaps.

➤ Turn off level 11 and render again

1 In View 2, turn off level 11.

The geometric solids disappear, leaving only the floor and walls.



Well, the shadows from the “invisible” elements still display in the rendered view. Why? Because we turned on Save Shadowmaps at the outset. These are used until we clear them or turn off Save Shadowmaps.

➤ Clear the shadowmaps

1 From the Settings menu’s Rendering sub-menu, choose Source Lighting.

The Source Lighting settings box opens.

2 From the Source Lighting settings box’s Tools menu, choose Clear Shadowmap(s).



View 2 is rendered, this time with no shadows appearing from the “invisible” objects.

✍ When Render Mode is set to Ray Trace shadowmaps are not used. However, another setting “Keep Database in Memory,” has a somewhat similar effect.

Phong rendered image of View 2, with shadows being cast from two spotlights.

Even when the level containing the floating objects is turned off, their shadows still appear because the saved shadowmaps are present.


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Keep Database in Memory


When a view is ray traced, the renderer first pre-processes the view. With larger models this can take some time. The Keep Database in Memory setting retains pre-processing information in memory. Any further ray tracing uses the saved database. In other words, you can manipulate the view camera to get a different perspective and render the view without having to wait for the pre-processing. But, if you make any changes to the model, or the lighting, you must clear the database prior to ray tracing. The following exercise shows why. We will use the same design as in the previous exercise.


1 If necessary, open the design rendset1.dgn.

2 Verify that levels 10, and 11 are turned on in View 2.



4 Check that Shadows is on. This setting controls whether or not shadows are calculated in a ray traced image (independently of the Rendering View Attributes setting).

5 In the Ray Tracing settings box’s File menu, turn on Keep Database in Memory.


7 Set the Render Mode to Ray Trace.


Notice that, prior to the view being rendered, the message “Preprocessing for Ray Tracing” appears in the status bar. After this, the view is ray traced.


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➤ Turn off level 11 and Ray Trace again

1 In View 2, turn off level 11.

1 Use the Update View control to update view 2.

Only the walls and floor remain displayed.


3 Set the Render Mode to Ray Trace.


The view is rendered. Even though only the floor and walls currently display in the view, the rendered image displays all the geometric solids as well.

✍ Because the database from the previous rendering was retained in memory, it was used by the process to render the view. If changes are made, such as turning off levels, then the database should be cleared before rendering the view again.

➤ Clear the database

1 From the Ray Tracing settings box’s File menu, choose Clear Rendering Database.

An alert box opens, allowing you a second chance to change your mind and not clear the rendering database from memory.

2 Click OK.

This clears the current rendering database from memory.



Notice that this time pre-processing again occurs before the view is rendered. The rendered view no longer contains the element from the levels that were turned off.

While we have the Ray Tracing settings box open, we will check out other settings that affect processing times.


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Reflections (ray tracing)

This setting, in the Ray Tracing settings box, determines whether or not reflections are calculated. Additionally, its Max setting allows you to control the number of times a ray is reflected. A simple experiment illustrates how this setting works. We will be working with a simple model, similar to a kaleidoscope. The model is located on level 20 of the same design file with which we are currently working.


1 Make level 20 the Active Level.

2 Turn off all other levels in all views.

3 Use the Fit View control to Fit each view.

4 Attach the saved view RSET2 to View 2.

This is a camera view looking down the kaleidoscope from the top. The triangular shape at its base, plus its side walls, are a mirror material. A single spot light, placed near the top of the triangular “tube,” shines down on the spheres.

5 In the Ray Tracing settings box File menu, turn off Keep Database in Memory.

You are prompted: “Do you wish to delete the current rendering database from memory, including any radiosity solution”.

6 Click OK.

Top and Isometric views of the kaleidoscope model.

Saved view RSET2, looking down thetriangular tube at the spheres resting

on the bottom.


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➤ Ray trace the saved view

1 In the Ray Tracing settings box, turn off Reflections.



The rendered view displays only the spheres and the bottom of the tube.

4 In the Ray Tracing settings box, turn on Reflections and, in its Max field, key in 1.


As you can see, with Max(imum) number of Reflections set to 1, you see the spheres reflected once in each mirrored side wall. In reality, we would see further reflections in the side walls of these initial reflections.

6 In the Reflections Max field, key in 2.

7 Enter a data point in View 2 (the Render tool still should be active).

This time, you can see secondary reflections in the walls (that is, reflections of reflections).

8 In the Reflections Max field, key in 8.

9 Again, enter a data point in View 2.

You can see that the image is getting quite complex now, with the iterations of reflections upon reflections. You may have noticed also that the rendering times increased as you increase the value of maximum reflections. In this model, reflections are an important ingredient. For normal models, the default setting of 2 usually is sufficient.

Maximum Reflectionsset to 1.

Spheres are reflectedonce in each wall.

MaximumReflections set to 2.

Inter reflections beginto appear in

the walls.

Maximum Reflectionsset to 8.

Inter reflections nowfill the side walls of

the tube.


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Transparency (ray tracing)

Transparency (ray tracing)

For transparent objects to correctly display in a rendered image, you must have Transparency on in BOTH the following:

• Rendering View Attributes settings box (select Settings >Rendering >View Attributes)

• Ray Tracing settings box

Additionally, in the Ray Tracing settings box, Transparency has a Max setting that determines the maximum number of transparent surfaces through which a ray can pass. For most cases, the default setting of 8 is adequate.

Render All Objects

This setting allows you to control the amount of information that is processed during ray tracing. When Render All Objects is turned off, only those elements contained in the viewing volume are considered during rendering. This can save time when working on large models, where only a part of the model is being rendered.

On the other hand, When Render All Objects is turned on, all objects on the displayed levels are considered, whether they are in the current viewing volume or not. This can be important when objects outside the view parameters may still have an effect on the image. For example, shadows cast by elements outside the view, or their reflections. A simple exercise will show this.


1 Open the design file rendset2.dgn.

Looking at the four open views, you should see a model of a room with a table and a lamp at one end. At the other end is a shelf and mirror with wall lamps either side of the mirror. Lighting is provided by three Point Light sources, one in each of the lamps in the model.

2 In the Ray Tracing settings box, check that Shadows, Reflections and Transparency are turned on.

3 Turn off Render All Objects.

4 Turn on View 5, which has a saved view, CAM1, attached to it. It is also smaller to reduce the rendering time for the exercise.


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Environment Mapping

➤ Render View 5



View 5 is ray traced. Notice that the mirror does not display a reflection of the table, lamp, or rear wall of the room.

As expected, with Render All Objects turned off, only those elements that are contained within the view (or fence, if rendering fence contents) are processed by the rendering process. In this instance the missing objects are not contained within the view’s limits.

➤ Turn on Render All Objects and render view 5 again

1 In the Ray Tracing settings box, turn on Render All Objects.

2 Enter a data point in View 5 (the Render tool still should be active).

This time, notice that the lamp, desk, and back wall are visible in the mirror. As well the lighting from the rear lamp has been subdued by the reflector, which was not rendered previously.

Environment Mapping

In the Ray Tracing settings, you may have noticed a grayed-out setting, Environment Mapping. This is a feature of ray tracing that allows you to define images to be reflected, or seen, in place of the background color of the design.

Take, for example, an interior view that looks through a window, or shiny reflective objects. Normally, where there are no elements in the line of view, you would see the background color of the design (normally black). You could use a background image, but these are not reflected in shiny materials. This is where environment maps come in. They are “seen” only through transparent objects or as reflections where the background color would normally be present.

In the previous exercise, the window is reflected in the mirror. Through the window we see the background color of the design. To add realism to the image,


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Environment Mapping

we can add an environment map. Remember, a background image would not work in this case, because background images are not reflected.

➤ Add an environment map

1 From the Settings menu’s Rendering sub-menu, choose Assign Materials.

The Assign Materials settings box opens.

2 In the settings box, from the Tools menu’s Set Environment Maps sub-menu, choose All.

The Select Environment Map (All) settings box opens. By default it displays image files from the \ustation\material\pattern directory.

3 From the list of image files, choose sky01.jpg.

4 Click OK.

5 Close the Assign Materials settings box.

An alert box appears.

6 Click Yes to the changes.

7 In the Ray Tracing settings box, verify that Environment Mapping is turned on.

We have assigned the image file sky01.jpg to all faces of the environment cube. If the angle of view through the window (in our image) was wider, we may have had to assign another image for the bottom face (grass for example).

➤ Ray trace the view



Notice that the view through the window, in the reflection, shows an image of a sunset over water. This is the image file sky01.jpg.

Environment maps are useful for adding realism to images with reflective surfaces. In particular, they are very effective with exterior views of buildings where the environment maps can be seen reflected in the glass.


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Add Sky Light to all Solar and Distant Lights

Add Sky Light to all Solar and Distant Lights

With this setting turned on, you can add atmospheric lighting from the sky. A color button lets you define the color of the sky light.

When this setting is turned on with Solar lighting, the intensity of the light is modified by the angle of the Sun (providing a more realistic solar study). As cloudiness increases, the direct sunlight decreases but the amount of light from the sky increases. Similarly, the light from any Distant light sources is modified.

You can set the amount of Cloudiness and the Air Quality (Turbidity) to create the desired conditions. On a clear day, for example, the sky is not uniformly lit. More sky light comes from the direction of the Sun, thus producing darker, sharper shadows. Alternatively, on a cloudy day, the sky is uniformly lit with softer, less pronounced shadows.

With Air Quality (Turbidity) set to Perfectly Clean, there is a small amount of coloring from the sky lighting. When Air Quality (Turbidity) is set to Industrial, the coloring effect of the sky lighting is more pronounced.

Sky light is a directional light coming from each direction of an imaginary sky hemisphere. The precision of the hemisphere is determined by the sky samples setting.

Approximate Ground Reflection for Sky Light

This setting is used to create an approximation of all Sun and sky light reflected by the ground. A color button lets you define the color for the ground reflection. Typically, this setting would be used where a model has been created without any ground geometry. If you have ground geometry in the design, it would be between

Add Sky Light to all Solar and Distant Lights selected from the

Global Lighting dialog box.

Ray traced image without added Sky Light (left) and with added

Sky Light (right).

With added Sky Light, shadows are less stark and objects that were hidden in the shadows of the larger object now become

slightly visible.


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Area lights

any ground approximation and the model. It would cast shadows and/or reflect its own light.

Area lights

In an earlier exercise, we created an Area Light source from a rectangular shape. As well as the typical lighting settings for Intensity and Brightness, Area Lights have a field named Samples. By default, this is set to 4. This setting affects how the light source is treated during ray tracing processing (only), most noticeably in any shadows cast by the light source. Higher Samples values produce smoother shadows at the expense of longer processing time. Typically, this setting is left at the default until final renderings are being produced.

Before we continue: To eliminate gaps or facets in a rendering which setting do you adjust?

Name two places where you can see environment maps.


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6 Introduction to Radiosity

Radiosity solving is a feature that is best suited to architectural or product design applications, where diffuse reflections from walls and other objects add to the overall lighting of the scene. With ray tracing alone, this reflected light is not considered. Only light energy from the standard light sources, such as Solar and any light source cells, is considered. Here, we will provide an introduction to the process, showing you some of the commonly used radiosity settings including:

• Lighting and materials

• Patches and elements

• Using the Radiosity Solver

Lighting and radiosity

Radiosity works with the same light sources used with normal rendering. When light source cells are present in the file, traditional rendering uses the Intensity setting to determine the strength of the light source. Radiosity uses the Intensity setting, along with the Brightness setting to determine the strength of the lighting.

Ambient and Flashbulb lighting in the Global Lighting settings box should be turned off when using Radiosity to calculate lighting conditions. In effect, radiosity solving calculates the ambient lighting from the lighting in the design, such as light source cells and Solar lighting.

Materials and radiosity

Some modifications may be needed to your material definitions when using radiosity. In determining the amount of light that is received (absorbed), or reflected, the Diffuse, Specular, and Transmit values of the material definitions are considered.

✍ To avoid errors in the radiosity calculations, the total of these three material settings should never exceed 1.0.


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Patches and elements

Patches and elements

When calculating the radiosity solution, the process first reduces each surface to a polygon mesh of elements, which receive light, and patches (groups of these same elements) that can “shoot” the light that is to be reflected. In simple terms, the brightest source of light shoots light to all the elements. Normally, the light sources are brightest and therefore processed first. The amount of light energy to be reflected then is calculated for each element. Next, these are totalled for each patch and the next “shot” of light energy is taken from the next brightest patch.

Using the radiosity solver

Radiosity calculations are controlled by the Radiosity settings box. Radiosity solving can be stopped at any point in the process, either with a reset or by setting the stopping conditions. This feature will be used in the following example.


1 Open the design file exrad.dgn.

2 Use the Render tool to Ray Trace view 1.

As the rendered view shows, this model is a corner of a “room.” Views 3 and 4 are Isometric and Front views of the model, while Views 1 and 2 are ready for rendering. Illumination is provided by a Point light source in the center of the ceiling, and two spotlights from the lamp near the table.

Ray traced image, without radiosity. Shadows are sharply defined, with no softening from the reflection of light off the

walls and other furnishings.

Ray traced image with radiosity solution. Here the shadows have been softened by the reflected light. The result is a

much more natural looking image.


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Using the radiosity solver

➤ Set up for radiosity solving

1 From the Settings menu’s Rendering sub-menu, choose Radiosity.

The Radiosity settings box opens. This design has been saved with the radiosity settings, as shown below, ready for the first part of the exercise. Note that the setting Limit Number of Shots is on and set to 1. In other words, only one shot of the radiosity solution will be performed.

2 In the Radiosity settings box’s File menu, check that Keep Database in Memory is turned off.

3 Click the Solve Radiosity button.


An alert box appears recommending that both Ambient and Flashbulb should be turned off.

5 Click OK.

Only shot 1 of the radiosity solution is performed, then ray tracing of the view commences.

6 Enter a Reset to abort the ray tracing.

7 From the Settings menu’s Rendering sub-menu, choose Global Lighting.

8 Turn off Ambient, and Flashbulb.

9 Close the Global Lighting settings box.

10 Click the Solve Radiosity button and place a data point in View 2.

One shot of the radiosity solution is performed, followed by ray tracing of the view.


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Adjusting settings when using the Radiosity Solver


Well, the image at this stage doesn’t look very good. You can see that the light from the top spotlight in the lamp has been processed. Also, the image looks very washed out because we have Display with Ambient turned on in the Radiosity settings. This causes the remaining “unshot” light energy to be applied evenly to the entire view. As the number of shots increases, the amount of unshot light energy decreases.

Note that the shadow boundary of the spotlight beam on the wall is very jagged. Remember, the model first is decomposed into a polygon mesh. Color values are applied to the element mesh to display the image. In this case the polygon mesh needs to be smaller to improve the accuracy/appearance of the shadow boundary. Rather than reduce the size of the entire polygon mesh and make processing times increase drastically, we can instruct the processor to reduce the size of the mesh only at the shadow boundaries. This is controlled by the Maximum Element Subdivisions setting.

1 In the Maximum Element Subdivisions field, key in 3.

2 Enter a data point in View 2 (Solve Radiosity still should be active).

You should see that the shadow boundary now is correct. With that little problem fixed, we can allow the process to continue. Shots 2 and 3 are from the remaining two light sources. Following these, reflected light will begin to affect the image. We will set the limit to 10 shots and have another look. First, we will ensure that, in the future, we keep the previously processed information.

With Maximum Element Subdivisions set to 1, the shadow boundary of the light beam on the wall is not

accurate enough.

Changing the Maximum Element Subdivisions setting to 3, allows the process to further subdivide elements at the

shadow boundary. This provides a much more accurate image at the boundary.


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➤ Increase the number of shots to 10

1 In the Radiosity settings box’s File menu, turn on Keep Database in Memory.

2 In the Limit Number of Shots field, key in 10.


Already, we can see a difference between this image and that of the straight ray traced image. For example, the shadows from the lamps on the wall are not as dark and sharp. Here, the reflection of the light from the wall has softened the shadows.

Because the database has been stored in memory, we can continue the process simply by increasing the number of shots. At the same time, we can instruct the system to show us interim results as a Smooth shaded view.

➤ Continue the processing

1 In the Limit Number of Shots field, key in 30.

2 In the Display Frequency field, key in 20.


Processing continues from shot 11. After shot 20, a Smooth rendering of the view displays. Notice that although it is a Smooth rendering, the shadows still display. After shot 30, notice that a hint of a shadow from the bowl is appearing in the corner. This shadow is cast by the reflected light from the table. You may


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also notice a slight glow on the wall from this same reflected light from the table.

If Limit Number of Shots was turned off, then processing would continue until the Min(imum) Illumination Threshold value is reached. That is, processing would stop when the available light energy, divided by the initial light energy, is less than or equal to the specified Min(imum) Illumination Threshold value.

As processing continues, more and more of the available light energy is absorbed. At any time during processing, you can enter a Reset to stop after the current shot. If you are happy with the image at that stage (and Keep Database in Memory was turned on) you can change the Limit Number of Shots back to 1 so that processing of further shots stops. You then can create a saved image of the view (without radiosity processing continuing). You can render other views, because radiosity solutions are not view dependent. That is, the radiosity solution only has to be calculated once, and is correct for any viewing position. You can save the current database to disk for future use (in the Radiosity settings box, select File >Save Rendering Database).

As discussed, radiosity solving is applicable to interior views in particular, where diffuse reflections are required. There is no advantage in using radiosity solving where the model has only highly polished surfaces.

Before we continue: Which setting does radiosity use in addition to the intensity setting to determine the strength of the lighting?

To avoid errors in radiosity calculations which three settings, when added together, should never exceed 1.0?

What effect does turning off the Limit Number of Shots setting have when using the radiosity solver?


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7 Photomatching

Using MicroStation’s Photomatch tool, you can match geometry in a design file to an existing photograph. In this lesson you will:

• Attach a scanned photograph to a model

• Match the design geometry to a raster image (scanned photograph) using the Photomatch tool

Matching design geometry to a raster reference file

To do this, a raster image of the photograph first displays as a raster reference file in a view. The view camera is then used to approximately match the design geometry to the image. Finally, by matching known points in the design to equivalent points in the photograph, the system redefines the camera view to more exactly match the perspective of the photograph. From here, the view can be rendered to display the design geometry merged with the existing conditions. In the following exercise you will match new geometry to a photograph, shown below left and create the image shown below right.

Scanned photograph of existing conditions.

After photomatching the design geometry to the photograph, the view is ray traced to

produce the finished image at right.


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Setting up the camera view


1 Open the design file phmatch.dgn.

The design file has been saved with Top and Front views (left of screen) displaying several elements representing the existing buildings. These elements, on level 2, will be used to align a camera view to a photograph. Once matched, level 2 will turn off, and the proposed development geometry will display.

A third view, also a Front view, displays a raster reference file (of the scanned photograph).

Setting up the camera view

You can see that the design’s geometry for the existing buildings in this view does not align with the photograph. First, we will use the Define Camera tool to try and match the geometry more closely to that of the photograph.

➤ Set up the camera view


2 In the Tool Settings window verify the following:

3 If necessary, turn off Continuous View Updates and turn on Display View Cone.

4 Click More to open the additional settings window.

Camera Action: Pan Horizontal

Active View: 3

Projection: 3 Point


Design geometry of existing buildings currently does not

match the photograph.


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Making adjustments with the Photomatch tool

5 Turn on Controlled Movement, and in the Angle field, key in 10.

6 Click Hide.

7 In the camera view (View 3, with the photograph), enter a data point near the left edge of the view.

The view updates with the existing geometry rotated slightly (10°).

8 Continue entering data points until the geometry is close to that of the buildings in the photograph. Remember, it doesn’t have to be exact since the final adjustments will be made shortly.

9 If necessary, use the Window Area tool to come in a little closer if the rotation has reduced the size of the image in View 3.

✍ At times, during these manipulations, you may find that the raster image and the geometry move apart. When this happens, you can use the raster reference file move tool to move the raster image closer to the design file geometry. Select Files >Reference to open the Reference Files settings box. Make sure that Display is set to Raster and then select Tools >Move to move the raster reference file. Two data points are required, the first is the point to move from and the second the point to move to. In this example, you could enter a data point on the roof apex of the left building and move it to the apex in the design geometry.


Now we can use the Photomatch tool to make fine adjustments to the camera view so that the design file geometry matches the photograph.

After rotating the view, using the Define Camera tool, the geometry

displays closer to the existing buildings in the photograph.


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➤ Begin to adjust the camera view with the Photomatch tool

1 In the Visualization tool box, select the Photomatch tool.

The Photomatch settings box opens and you are prompted to “Select View For Photomatch.”

2 Enter a data point in View 3 (containing the raster reference file).

You are prompted to “Enter design file point.”

3 In View 3, snap to the apex of the left building’s roof line, and accept with a data point.

You are prompted to “Enter image point.” There may be a slight hesitation as the magnifier loads and displays a magnified portion of View 3 with cursor lines showing the pointer location. As you move the pointer, the image in the magnifier updates to keep the cursor lines at the pointer location. By default the magnification is set at 2.0. If required, you can change this value.

4 Using the magnifier, locate the pointer at the apex of the left building’s roof line (in the photograph), and enter a data point.

When you have entered the second point, you will notice small squares at the respective points (raster image and design geometry) joined by a line. These may be hard to see, depending on the colors in the raster image. They provide a visual indication of the points that you have defined previously.

Snap to the design geometry at the apex of the roof line.

Use the Magnifier to locate the equivalent point on the

photograph background.


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➤ Continue adding points

1 In turn snap to points 2 through 5 (see below), and match them to the equivalent points on the raster image.

During placement of the points, if you make a mistake, click Adjust, identify the point and relocate it. When you finish adjusting the point, click Add to continue adding points.

After placing the fifth point, notice that the Match button becomes active. This indicates that you have placed enough points for the system to attempt to match the geometry to the photograph.

2 Click Match.

View 3 updates with the view camera adjusted to show the points as defined.

3 Most likely, the geometry still does not match exactly. No problem, you can add extra points to further refine the match. As you do this you can try matching any point in the image. When you are happy with the result, continue with the next procedure.

✍ If your camera view is too far removed from the original camera view, you get an error message to that effect. When this happens, go back to the Define Camera tool and try to get the geometry to match the image more closely before employing the Photomatch tool.

Now that we have the geometry of the existing buildings matching the background photograph, we can turn on the proposed design geometry (and turn off the existing). The design has been saved with the Solar Lighting values set to match the time that the original photograph was taken. This ensures that shadows cast by the design elements will look natural.

➤ Display the proposed geometry and render the view

1 In View 3, turn off level 2, and turn on levels 6-41.



2

3

4

52

3

4

5


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Additional photomatching exercises

View 3 updates with the proposed geometry being ray traced over the existing photograph.

Before we continue: Which tool is used to move a raster reference file?

When using the Photomatch tool, when does the Match button become active?

Additional photomatching exercises

In the following exercises you will use the view manipulation tools to position your model approximately based on the raster image file, then use photomatch to refine your view.

➤ Exercise 1

1 Open the design file phmatch1.dgn.

2 Attach the raster file c:\workshop\img0018.jpg using the Photomatch tool.

3 Use the view manipulation tools to position the design file graphics approximately in line with the raster image.

4 Using the Photomatch tool select a minimum of 5 design file and image points to align the design file with the raster image file.

✍ Remember that if you are not satisfied with your results it may be best to detach the raster reference file and undo your view manipulations. Then reattach the raster reference file and adjust your view and photomatch settings appropriately.

➤ Exercise 2

1 Open the design file phmatch2.dgn.

2 Attach the raster file c:\workshop\img0019.jpg using the Photomatch tool.

3 Repeat steps 3 and 4 from the previous exercise to position the design file graphics in alignment with the raster image file.


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8 Actors

When animating designs with MicroStation we have many tools at our disposal including tools for creating and manipulating actors including:

• Creating actors

• Creating keyframes for moving and rotating actors

• Scripting the keyframes, recording and viewing an animation sequence

• Editing a script

• Creating keyframes that scale actors

Animation Actors

Let’s begin by looking at the Animation Actors tool box.


1 Open the design pliers2.dgn.

The file has been saved with the views ready for the start of the exercise. View 1 is a Top view showing only the red lever of the pliers. View 2 is a close up isometric view of the pivot pin, about which the levers move.

2 From the Tools menu’s Visualization sub-menu, choose Animation Actors.

The Animation Actors tool box opens.

This tool box contains the necessary tools for creating, modifying, manipulating, and scripting actors. Our first task is to create actors of the two levers making up the pair of pliers.

The Animation Actors tool box.


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Creating Actors

Creating Actors

It is not necessary to create actors for keyframe animation. However, actors can greatly simplify the process. To illustrate this, we will start with a simple model which consists of the parts of a pair of pliers and see how actors are created and manipulated.

During this exercise, you will create actor cells of the parts. The advantage of using actor cells over normal cells will then be demonstrated when creating an animation sequence.

✍ In a design file, an actor is one or more elements, grouped together as a special cell.

Where an actor consists of a number of elements, they must be selected prior to selecting the Create Actor tool. In this design, each part of the model consists of a number of elements. During the creation of an actor, we specify exactly how the actor may be manipulated. Actors may be defined to:

• Move Along the X, Y, and/or Z axes.

• Rotate About the X, Y and/or Z axes.

• Scale Along the X, Y, and/or Z axes.

These manipulations may be defined to be relative to the Design, View, or an Auxiliary Coordinate Systems. Later, when we use the Manipulate Actor tool you will see how these settings help us position the actors for keyframes.

➤ Create an actor of the first lever

1 In View 1 (the Top view), use the Element Selection tool to select all elements forming the red lever.

2 In the Animation Actors tool box, select the Create Actor tool.

3 In the tool settings Name field, key in lever1.

Turn on Move Along Z and Rotate About Z.

Leave the other settings off.

A triad, attached to the pointer, indicates the allowed movements of the actor, as defined in the Create Actor settings.

4 Set snap mode to Keypoint.

5 In View 2, snap to the top center of the pin shaft.


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Recovering from mistakes

The cylindrical shaft section of the pin highlights.

6 Accept with a data point to define the origin of the actor. This is the point about which all motion will be calculated.

The actor is created and the message Actor “LEVER1” created appears in the status bar.

Recovering from mistakes

Before continuing, we should look at two tools that are useful for correcting mistakes that may be made when creating actors. If you are satisfied that you have created the actor correctly, then you are ready to create the next actor. If you aren’t happy with it, you have two options.

If the mistake is that you haven’t selected the correct elements, or the origin is in the wrong place, you can drop the actor and start again. To drop an actor, you can use the Drop Actor tool, as shown below.

➤ To drop an actor (if required)

1 In the Animation Actors tool box, select the Drop Actor tool (the red icon, second from the right).

The Tool Settings displays a list of current actors.

2 In the Tool Settings list, single click the actor to check that you have the correct one.

The actor highlights in each view.

3 If required, double-click the actor in the list, to drop it.

Once dropped, you can go back and re-create the actor from scratch. If, however, the only mistake was misspelling the name or incorrectly specifying the movement options, you can use the Modify Actor tool.

➤ To modify an actor’s settings

1 In the Animation Actors tool box, select the Modify Actor tool.

The Tool Settings displays a list of current actors.

2 In the Tool Settings list, single click the actor to check that it is the correct one.

The actor highlights in each view.


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Continuing the exercise…

3 Double-click the actor in the list, to select it for modification.

The Modify Actor settings box opens, with the same movement settings and name field as during creation of the actor.

4 Make any changes required.

5 Click OK.

✍ Actors also can be identified directly, by entering a data point on any part of them in any view.

Continuing the exercise…

Next, we will create an actor of the remaining lever. Again, we will specify that it can rotate about and move along the z-axis.

➤ Create an actor of the remaining lever

1 In View 1, the Top view, turn off level 10 and turn on level 11.

View 1 now displays the yellow lever of the pliers.

2 In View 1 (the Top view), use the Element Selection tool to select all elements forming the yellow lever.


4 In the Name field, key in lever2.

5 Keep the other settings as for the actor LEVER1.



Only the pin and locknut remain to be converted into actors.

➤ Create the Pin actor

1 In View 2 use the Element Selection tool to select all elements forming the blue pin.


3 In the Name field, key in pin.

4 Turn off Rotate About Z.


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Creating the keyframes

Leave Move Along Z on.



The actor is created.

➤ Create the nut actor

1 Make the Active Level 13, and turn off level 12 in View 2.

2 In View 2, use the Element Selection tool to select all elements forming the nut.


4 In the Name field, key in nut.

5 Leave other settings as for PIN.

6 In View 2, snap to the top center of the hole in the nut.

The circle at the top of the hole highlights.

7 Accept with a data point to create the actor.

Creating the keyframes

Having created the actors, we now create the keyframes for the animation. As before, we will first create a keyframe of the model in its unaltered state.

➤ Create the “home” keyframe

1 Turn on levels 10 through 13 in views 1 and 2.

2 Use the Fit View control to fit Views 1 and 2.

3 From the Animation Producer settings box’s Settings menu, choose KeyFrames.

The Animation KeyFrames settings box opens.

4 In View 2, use the Element Selection tool to select all the parts of the pliers.

5 Click Create in the Animation KeyFrames settings box.

The Create KeyFrame dialog box opens.

6 In the Name field, key in closed.


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Opening the pliers

7 In the Description field, key in Pliers in closed position.

8 Click OK.

The dialog box closes and the keyframe is inserted into the Animation KeyFrames list.

9 To deselect the elements, enter a data point in a blank area of any view.

This keyframe allows us to return to the “home” position of the geometry at any time. Now, we will use another tool to move the geometry for other keyframes.

Opening the pliers

We can use the Manipulate Actor tool to move actors to a new position. The same tool allows us to check the movement of actors. We can check to see that we have defined the correct origin point.

➤ Open the pliers

1 In the Animation Actors tool box, select the Manipulate Actor tool.

In the tool settings, a list of available actors appears (if not, turn on Display Actor List).

2 Open the Method option menu and notice that the motion options are active (not dimmed).

3 In the Actor List, click Lever1.

The actor Lever1 highlights in each view, showing us which elements form this actor.

4 Now, double-click Lever1 to accept this as the actor to manipulate.

The actor remains highlighted and a triad appears at the origin of the actor (in all views). This shows the current available movement option for the actor.

5 Open the Method option menu again. From the Method option menu, choose Rotate About Z.

As you do this, notice that all but the Rotate About Z and Move Along Z methods are dimmed. These two were the movements specified during creation of the actor.

6 As you move the pointer (in any view), notice that the red lever rotates about its origin point.


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Creating precise movements of actors

7 Enter a Reset.

The lever returns to its current location.

8 Now, in any view, identify the yellow lever.

The actor highlights and a triad appears at its origin. When you know the elements forming the actor, you can identify it directly with a data point.

9 As you move the pointer, in any view, the yellow lever rotates.

10 Enter a data point to set the lever at a new location.

Creating precise movements of actors

Well, we have repositioned the lever, albeit by eye. For a design such as this, we would normally define an angle for the pliers to open. This way, we could ensure that both levers open the same amount. Let’s go back and do it again. This is where we can use our “home” keyframe.

➤ Reposition the model back to the starting position

1 In the Animation KeyFrames settings box, select CLOSED.

2 Click Freeze.

The geometry returns to its starting position.

This time we will set the angle of opening exactly.

➤ Open both sides of the pliers 30°


2 In the list of Actors, double-click Lever1.

3 If necessary, from the Method option menu, choose Rotate About Z.

4 Turn on Angle and, in its field, key in 30.

5 In any view, enter a data point.

The red lever rotates 30°.

We now repeat this process for the other side of the pliers. We must remember to specify an angle value of -30°, to rotate the part in the opposite direction.


7 In the Angle field, add a minus to make the value -30.



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Returning geometry to their “home” positions

9 Use the Fit View control to fit views 1 and 2.

At this point we will create another keyframe.

➤ Create a keyframe of the open pliers

1 In View 2, use the Element Selection tool to select all the parts of the pliers.

2 Click Create in the Animation KeyFrames settings box.


3 In the Name field, key in open.

4 In the Description field, key in Pliers in open position.

5 Click OK.

The dialog box closes and the new keyframe adds to the list.

6 To deselect the elements, enter a data point in a blank area of any view.


To complete the keyframes, we will create an exploded view like we did in the earlier exercise. Rather than using the standard MicroStation tools, again we will use the Manipulate Actor tool. First, though, we will return the geometry to their home positions.

The pliers after opening them with the Manipulate Actor tool.


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➤ Return geometry to “home” positions


2 Click Freeze.

The geometry returns to their starting positions.

Now, “explode” the model.

➤ Move the Pin and Nut


2 In the list of Actors, double-click Pin.

Method changes to Move Along Z (this is the only movement specified for the actor).

3 In the Distance field, key in -3.

We want to move the pin 3 units downward, hence the minus sign.


The pin moves down 3 units.

5 In the list of Actors, double-click Nut.

6 In the Distance field, key in 3.

Plus 3 units this time. We want the nut to move upward.


The nut moves up 3 units.

Now we will move the levers apart, and then we can create the keyframe for the exploded view.

➤ Move the levers apart


2 Change the Distance value to 1.

3 In any view, enter a data point to complete the move.

4 Now, change the Distance value to -1.

This value can be changed before or after selecting the actor.


6 In any view, enter a data point to complete the move.

7 Use the Fit View control to fit each view.

After moving the Pin and Nut actors.


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Creating an exploded keyframe

Creating an exploded keyframe

With the geometry now in position, create the third keyframe for the exploded view.

➤ Create the exploded keyframe

1 In View 2, use the Element Selection tool to select all parts of the model.

2 In the Animation KeyFrames settings box, click Create.


3 In the Name field, key in exploded.

4 In the Description field, key in Pliers exploded view.

5 Click OK.


6 To deselect the elements, enter a data point in a blank part of any view.

With our keyframes defined, we will now script them before recording the animation sequence. For this sequence, we will:

• start with the exploded view

• assemble the model

• open the pliers

• close the pliers

• finish with the exploded view

Scripting the keyframes

Finishing with the same keyframe as that we started with will allow a smooth flow for continuous playing of the movie.

The “exploded” pliers.


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Previewing the animation

➤ Script the keyframes

1 In the Animation KeyFrames settings box, select the keyframe EXPLODED.

2 Click the Script button or double-click the keyframe EXPLODED.

The Script KeyFrame dialog box opens.

3 Enter 0 (the default) for the Frame Number.

4 Click OK.

5 Repeat the above steps for the following keyframes:

CLOSED—accept default frame number 10

OPEN—frame number 20

CLOSED—frame number 30

EXPLODED—frame number 40

6 From the Animation Producer settings box’s View option menu, choose 2.

This sets View 2 as the view from which the animation will be produced.

Previewing the animation

Now that the sequence has been scripted, we are ready to preview and record the movie. First, we will look at some of the preview functions. You have seen previously that we can preview the action in wireframe by clicking the Play button. Other options allow us to look at the geometry at any frame in the sequence, and to move the geometry to its location for any frame.

➤ Preview frame 17

1 In the Preview frame field, key in 17.

The geometry in View 2 updates to display frame 17. Notice that the geometry remains as is in the other views.

2 Use the Update View control to update View 2.

The Animation Producer settings boxafter scripting the keyframes.


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Saving the script and recording an animation sequence

The geometry is back at its original positions. Frame 17 still appears in the Preview field. During preview, the display of the geometry is in memory only. When a view update is performed, the geometry displays in its present location.

3 Now, with the frame number still set at 17, click Freeze.

All views update, showing the geometry in its location for frame 17.

4 Try updating the views now, and you will find that the geometry remains as it was for frame 17.

Using the preview and freeze functions allows you to check for conflicts. For example, you may notice a possible conflict during the preview or animation. You can then zero in on the frame number and freeze the geometry at that location. Though it is not mandatory, before recording the sequence we will return the geometry to its home positions.

➤ Return the geometry to their home positions


2 In the Animation KeyFrames settings box, click Freeze.

3 Close the Animation KeyFrames settings box.


Before we proceed to record the sequence, we should save our script to disk.

➤ Save the script to disk

1 From the Animation Producer settings box’s File menu, choose Save Script.

The Save Script As dialog box opens. By default, the script is given the same name as the design file, but with .msa as the extension.

2 Click OK.

The script saves to disk and the dialog box closes.


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➤ Now, record the sequence

1 From the Animation Producer settings box’s File menu, choose Record Script.

The Record Script dialog box opens. We will accept the default settings, which we used for the previous movie.

2 If necessary, from the List Files of Type option menu, choose TIFF (Compressed).

By default the name in the File field (for the first frame in the sequence) appears as plier000.tif.

3 Check the following settings:

Shading: Phong

Color Mode: 24 Bit Color

4 Click OK.

It is not mandatory to have three digits in the numbering system for movies. If you are sure that you will not need more than 99 frames, you can reduce this value to two digits.

When recording completes, then it’s time to view the results.

➤ View the movie

1 From the Utilities menu’s Image sub-menu, choose Movies.

The Movies settings box opens.

2 From the Movies settings box’s File menu, choose Load.

The Load Movie dialog box opens.

3 If necessary, from the List Files of Type option menu, choose TIFF Files (*.tif).

The Files list updates to show all the .tif files in the directory.

4 From the list of Files, select plier001.tif.

5 Click OK.

The movie sequence loads.

6 Click the Play button to view the movie.


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Editing the script

7 Click the Stop button and close the Movies settings box.

Editing the script

There are advantages to creating movies as separate image files (such as .tif), rather than as a single file (such as .fli). Reasons for doing this include the fact that not as much memory is required, and that the process can be interrupted without losing the frames already recorded.

We will now see yet another advantage to creating separate image files. We are going to edit the script for part of the movie. The section we will edit is where the pliers are opening and closing. You will see that we only have to re-record the frames that are affected, not the entire movie.

➤ Edit the script

1 In the Animation Producer settings box, double-click the entry “KeyFrame OPEN.”

The Edit KeyFrame dialog box opens.

Double-click on the script entry to open the Edit KeyFrame dialog box.


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Editing the script

2 From the Velocity option menu, choose Accelerate.

3 Click OK.

The Edit KeyFrame dialog box closes and focus returns to the Animation Producer settings box.

4 Double-click the second occurrence of the entry “KeyFrame CLOSED” (that for frame 30).

The Edit KeyFrame dialog box opens.

5 From the Velocity option menu, choose Decelerate.

6 Click OK.

So, what have we done. We have scripted the opening of the pliers to accelerate to the open position, and then to decelerate back to the closed position. Now, we will record the section of the animation from frame 11 through to frame 29. The other frames in the sequence have not been affected by our script editing.

➤ Record the new sequence

1 From the Animation Producer settings box’s File menu, choose Record Script.

The Record Script dialog box opens. Settings should be as for the previous recording.

2 In the Begin Frame field, key in 11.

3 In the End Frame field, key in 29.

4 In the File name field, key in plier011.

5 Click OK.

An alert box appears, warning us that the file already exists. In this case, we want to replace the existing movie’s frame files.

6 Click OK.

The animation sequence begins recording.

When processing completes, reload the movie and play it. As you view the movie this time, notice that the motion as the pliers open and close varies (accelerates and decelerates) as scripted. This looks more natural than the first version in which all motion was constant.

Changing the Velocity setting to Accelerate.


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Scaling an actor during an animation sequence


We have used both Movement and Rotation settings for manipulating actors. A third setting, Scale Along allows us to “deform” the model by scaling along the X, Y, or Z axes. To illustrate this feature, we will create a movie of a bouncing ball.


1 Open the design file bball.dgn.


Two keyframes, UP and DOWN, have been pre-defined for this design file. Currently, the ball is in the position for the UP keyframe.

3 In the Animation KeyFrames settings box, select DOWN.

4 Click Freeze.

The ball moves down to just touch the surface. This is seen clearly in View 3, the Front view.

5 In the Top and Front views, use the Window Area view control to zoom in on the ball.

This file has been prepared with an actor “Ball” that we will animate to bounce on the yellow surface. Actor Ball has been defined to be able to Move Along the Z axis, and to Scale Along any of the three axes. We will use this fact to add realism by making the ball compress on impact with the surface.

➤ Manipulate the actor Ball to its shape for the new keyframe


2 In Tool Settings double-click on the actor Ball.

3 If necessary, from the Tool Settings Method option menu, choose Scale About Z.

4 In the Front View, move the pointer and notice that the ball stretches/contracts along its height (the z-axis) as you do so.

The origin of this actor is the bottom center of the sphere. This simplifies the scaling in the Z direction (keeping the bottom of the ball touching the surface).

5 Move the pointer to reduce the height of the ball by about 25% and enter a data point.

6 From the Method option menu, choose Scale About X.

7 In the Top view, move the pointer to increase the “diameter” of the ball in the X direction by a small amount (about 10%).

As the pointer is moved down, the actor is scaled along the z-axis.


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8 Place a data point on the circle in the top view.

9 From the Method option menu, choose Scale About Y.

10 Place a data point on the circle in the top view.

11 In the Top view, move the pointer to increase the “diameter” of the ball in the Y direction, such that the ball looks approximately circular again in the Top view.

With the actor in the shape that we want, we can create the third keyframe.

➤ Create the keyframe

1 In the Animation KeyFrames settings box, click Create.

2 In any view, identify the actor Ball.



4 In the Name field, key in compressed.

5 In the Description field, key in ball compressed.

6 Click OK.


With the new keyframe created, we can now script all three keyframes to produced the animation sequence. To simulate the acceleration due to gravity, we will use the Velocity setting of the Script KeyFrame dialog box.


1 In the Animation KeyFrames settings box, select the keyframe UP.

2 Click the Script button.


3 Check that the Frame Number is set to 0, then click OK.

4 Select the keyframe DOWN, and click the Script button.

5 Check that the Frame Number is set to 10.

6 From the Velocity option menu, choose Accelerate.

7 Click OK.

8 In turn repeat this procedure to script the keyframes as follows:

KeyFrame Frame Number Velocity

COMPRESSED 14 Decelerate

DOWN 18 Accelerate

UP 28 Decelerate


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Once you have completed the scripting, you can preview the motion prior to recording the sequenced.

➤ Preview the animation

1 From the Animation Producer settings box’s Settings menu, choose Preview.

The Preview Settings settings box opens.

2 If necessary, turn on:

3 Close the Preview Settings settings box.


5 Click the Forward button to preview the animation.

With Loop turned on in the Preview Settings, the preview runs continuously. Notice that the acceleration and deceleration settings have given the ball a natural look as it bounces. To see this even better, you can record the movie and play it back.

Before we continue: What three ways can actors be manipulated?

Name an advantage to creating a movie made up of individual image files (such as .tif) instead of a single file (.fli).

Name the five velocity settings used when keyframing.

Clear View Between Frames

Loop

Animated Elements

Static Elements


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9 Hierarchical Actors

Until now we have been working with separate actors, having no connection with each other. In this section, we will look at a method of joining actors in a hierarchical “tree.” This is a powerful tool to use with models that consist of several connected moving parts. You create actors of each moving part and then connect them to each other at their pivot points. The order in which the connections are made determines the hierarchy of the actors.

In this lesson you will:

• Create actors and script their movement

• Connect the actors, creating a hierarchy of movement

• Create a home keyframe as a starting point for your animation sequence

• Create a movie using hierarchical actors

Creating actors

When an actor (in a hierarchy) is manipulated, any actors that are lower in the hierarchy move with it. Actors connected in this way are very simple to position for keyframes for animation. Additionally, you could use this method to position a model for a still image.

First, the actors need to be created. Here, the origin of the actors is important because this is the point about which any rotations of connected actors will be calculated. All this will become clear to you as you complete the following exercises.

➤ Prepare for the exercises

1 Open the design file dlamp.dgn.

2 If necessary, open the Animation Producer settings box (select Utilities >Render >Animation).

3 If necessary, open the Animation Actors tool box.

4 Use the Render tool to Phong render View 2 (the Isometric View).


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Creating actors

As the rendered view shows, this model is of a desk lamp. A spotlight simulates light from the lamp (the effect of its beam can be seen on the base of the lamp and the surface on which it is sitting). We will make actors of the various parts and then attach them to each other such that we can manipulate the lamp with ease.

For the lamp, the parts are the shade, the upper and lower arms and the base. To simplify the creation of actors, each part has been placed on separate levels. The pivot points in each case will be the cylinders at the joints. Views 3 and 4, both Right views, will be used to create the actors since we can snap to the center of the cylinders easily.

Three of the actors, those for the shade, upper arm and lower arm will be defined to rotate about the design x-axis. In the Top view, we can see that their joints (the cylinders) are aligned with the x-axis. For the base, we will allow it to move in any direction, and to rotate about the z-axis.

➤ Create the actor shade

1 Make level 10 the Active Level, and turn off levels 11-13 in Views 3 and 4.

The light source is on level 1, and the elements for the shade are on level 10.

2 In View 3, use the Window Area view control to zoom in on the circle (cylinder) at the top of the shade.

Shade

Upper arm

Lower arm

Base

Isometric view of the desk lamp used in the exercise.

Views 3 and 4, ready to create the first actor.


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Checking the motion of actors

3 Use the Element Selection tool to select all elements of the shade in View 4.


The Create Actor dialog box opens.

5 In the Name field, key in shade.

6 Check that Orientation is set to Design.

7 Turn on Rotate About X, leaving all other settings off.


8 Set Snap Mode to Center.

9 In View 3, snap to the center of the cylinder (appearing as a circle in the right view).




To check whether you have correctly defined the actor’s origin, and movement parameters, you can use the Manipulate Actor tool.

➤ Check the movement of the actor


The Tool Settings include a list showing the current actors—here, only the single actor, Shade.

2 Double-click on the actor’s name in the tool settings or in View 4, enter a data point on any part of the lamp shade.

The actor, Shade, highlights and a triad appears at the origin of the actor.

3 Move the pointer, without entering a data point, to view the movement of the actor.

4 Enter a Reset to exit from manipulating the actor.

If you have made a mistake when creating this actor, you can use the Drop Actor tool and start again on the particular actor, or use the Modify Actor tool to correct any incorrect settings.


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Next we will create actors from the upper and lower arms of the lamp. These will have the same settings, apart from the name, as the first actor. Creating the actors in this order reduces the risk of making mistakes when setting the movement options.

➤ Create the upper arm actor

1 Make level 11 the Active Level, and turn off levels 1 and 10 in Views 3 and 4.

2 Use the Fit View view control to fit View 3.

3 In View 3, use the Window Area view control to zoom in on the circle (cylinder) at the right end of the arm.

4 Use the Element Selection tool to select all elements of the arm in View 4.



6 In the Name field, key in armup.

7 Other settings should be as for the previous actor (SHADE).



9 In View 3, snap to the center of the cylinder (appearing as a circle).


The actor is created for the upper arm.

➤ Now, create the lower arm actor

1 Make level 12 the Active Level, and turn off level 11 in Views 3 and 4.


Views 3 and 4, ready to create the actor for the upper arm.


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3 In View 3, use the Window Area view control to zoom in on the circle (cylinder) at the lower end of the arm.

4 Use the Element Selection tool to select all elements of the arm in View 4.



6 In the Name field, key in armlow.

The other settings should be the same as for the previous actors.



8 In View 3, snap to the center of the cylinder (appearing as a circle).


The actor is created for the lower arm.

Finally, we will create the actor for the base of the lamp. This will be given freedom to move in any direction, and to rotate about the z-axis.

➤ Create the actor for the base

1 Make level 13 the Active Level, and turn off level 12 in View 4.

2 Use the Element Selection tool to select all elements of the base in View 4.


Views 3 and 4, ready to create the actor for the lower arm.

View 4, ready to create the actor for the base of the lamp.


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Connecting actors


4 In the Name field, key in base.

5 Turn off Rotate About X

6 Turn on:

Rotate About Z

Move Along X, Y, and Z.



8 In View 4, snap to the any part of the larger cylinder (it looks like a rectangle in this view).

The Center snap mode forces the snap to the center of the cylinder.


The actor is created for the base.

10 Turn on levels 10 through 13 in each view.

11 Use the Fit View view control to fit each view.

Connecting actors

With the actors created, we can now look at the next step—attaching them to one another. The order you choose will enable you to simulate the movements of an actual desk lamp.

Connection of the actors can be accomplished in one of two ways. You can start from the actor lowest in the hierarchy and move upward, or you can start at the top and move down.

We will connect them in the order moving upward, where we connect in the order: SHADE > ARMUP > ARMLOW > BASE.

➤ Connect the actors

1 In the Animation Actors tool box, select the Attach Actor tool.

You are prompted to “Identify the Actor to Attach.” The Tool Settings displays a list (in black) of the actors available for attachment (if


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Creating a home keyframe

no list appears, turn on Display Actor List).

2 In the list, double-click on Shade.

Actor Shade highlights in each view. At the same time, you are prompted to “Identify Actor to Attach To.”

3 Double-click on Armup.

The list in the Tool Settings updates to show Armup in red, with Shade indented (in blue) below it.

You are prompted again to “Identify the Actor to Attach.”

This process is continued, connecting the remaining actors.

4 In the list, double-click on Armup.

Actor Armup, plus its attached actor Shade highlight in each view. You are prompted again to “Identify Actor to Attach To.”

5 In the list double-click on Armlow.

The Tool Settings list again updates to show Armlow in red with the attached actors (blue) indented in turn below it. The prompt again is “Identify Actor to Attach.”

6 Double-click on Armlow in the list.

The actor, along with its attached actors, highlights in each view.

7 Now, double-click on Base.

The Tool Settings list updates to show Base now in red with the remaining actors (blue) indented, in turn, below it.

✍ If you prefer, you can identify actors directly with data points (instead of selecting them from the list).

Creating a home keyframe

In the displayed list of actors, each level of the hierarchy is signified by an indentation. The actors nearer the left side are higher in the hierarchy. With our model, each actor is on a level in the hierarchy by itself. If we had attached all the actors (individually) to the base, for example, they still would have been listed below the actor Base, but all indented the same amount. We will look at such an example later. For now, we will see how we can manipulate the actors in this model.


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Manipulating hierarchical actors

Before we start, remember our safeguard, create a keyframe of the geometry in its home or unaltered state. This is a good habit to get into.

➤ Create a “home” keyframe


The Animation KeyFrames settings box opens.

2 Click Create.

You are prompted to Identify element.

3 In any view, identify any part of the lamp.

The entire lamp should highlight as each part now is attached to the others.



5 In the Name field, key in lamp0.

6 In the Description field, key in lamp at start.

7 Click OK.

The dialog box closes and the keyframe appears in the Animation KeyFrames settings box’s list.


Now that we have a fall-back position, it doesn’t matter how we manipulate the lamp.

➤ Manipulate the actors in the model

1 Use the Zoom Out view control to zoom out once in the center of each view (to allow us room to see the model as it is manipulated).


3 In View 3, identify the upper arm (the horizontal arm).

The arm and the shade should highlight.

4 Move the pointer and notice how the arm rotates, with the shade remaining attached to it.

The shade actor is lower in the hierarchy than the arm. Therefore, the arm controls the position of the shade.

5 Move the arm until it is sloping down to the left at about 45° and enter a data point.


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The arm and shade remain in their new orientation.

6 Now, identify the lower arm (the vertical arm).

7 Again move the pointer and notice how the arm rotates, with the upper arm and shade remaining attached to it.

8 Move the arm until it is sloping up to the right at about 45° and enter a data point.

9 Finally, identify the shade.

Only the shade actor highlights because it is lowest in the hierarchy.

10 Move the pointer until the shade is angled at about 45° to vertical and enter a data point.

With the lamp in its current position, we will create a keyframe.

➤ Create a keyframe


2 Click Create.

3 In any view, identify any part of the lamp.

The entire lamp should highlight.

Manipulating the upper arm takes the lampshade actor with it because it is lower

in the hierarchy list.

The lamp after manipulating the upper arm and shade.


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Scripting keyframes and hierarchical actors



5 In the Name field, key in lamp1.

No need for a description, because the number will tell us the order in which the keyframes are to be used for the animation sequence.

6 Click OK or press <Enter>.

The dialog box closes and the keyframe appears in the Animation KeyFrames settings box’s list.

➤ Create a third keyframe

1 Using the same method as for the manipulation and keyframe just completed, create another keyframe (lamp2), similar to that shown below.

2 Finally, in the Animation KeyFrames settings box, select the keyframe LAMP0.

3 Click Freeze to return the model to its home position.

Scripting keyframes and hierarchical actors

As you can see, working with connected actors in this fashion makes manipulation of the model very simple. Equally, the creation of keyframes is simplified because you only need to identify any part of the overall model. With the keyframes already defined, we are now ready to script them and record the movie.


1 In the Animation KeyFrames settings box, select the keyframe LAMP0.

2 Click the Script button.


3 Set the Frame Number to 0.

4 Click OK.

Position of lamp for keyframe “lamp2.”


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Saving the script

5 Repeat the above steps for the following:

LAMP1—Frame Number 10



Saving the script

Before going on, we will save the script as it will be used in another exercise.

➤ Save the script

1 From the Animation Producer settings box’s File menu, choose Save Script.

If you haven’t saved the script previously, the Save Script As dialog box opens with the default file name of dlamp.msa in the File name field. That is, the name of the design file, with a .msa suffix.

2 Click OK.

All that remains is to record the movie. Try that for yourself. If you can’t remember how, refer back to the section on recording animations.

Before we continue: In the displayed list of actors, which actors are higher in the hierarchy?

Why should you create a “home” keyframe?


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Reviewing the hierarchy of a model


To complete the exercise on hierarchical motion, we will look at ergoman3.dgn. This design file contains a simple human model. It has been set up ready to use, with all actors and hierarchical attachments completed.

➤ Open the design

1 Open the design file ergoman3.dgn.

2 If necessary, open the Animation Producer settings box and the Animation Actors tool box.

Look at the four views that appear. You should see Left and Isometric views of the figure in Views 1 and 2. Views 3 and 4, respectively, display the underlying skeleton and the Bounding Boxes (we will discuss these shortly).

The underlying skeleton is the framework upon which the model is based. The skeleton simplified the task when the actors for the arms and legs were created. Their origins were set at the intersection points of the skeleton.

Underlying skeleton

Bounding boxes

The four open views of the design file “ergoman3.dgn.”


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➤ Check the hierarchy of the model


The Manipulate Actor settings box displays a list of all the actors in a hierarchy.

Looking at the list, notice that all parts are attached to the main actor Ergomn (shown in red). However, the hierarchy looks different from the style we used in the previous exercise. In this example, there are several hierarchical groups all attached to the one base. That is, the left and right upper arms (Luarm, Ruarm) are attached to the torso (Ergomn). Similarly, the left and right upper legs (Luleg, Ruleg) and head (Head) are attached to the torso (Ergomn).

Each of these can be moved individually (of one another) just as we can move our left and right limbs and head individually. Similarly, when we manipulate the upper limbs of the model, the lower limbs also move.

To animate ergoman, you simply:

• Use the Manipulate Actor tool to create keyframes of the figure in various positions. (manipulating the limbs is similar to manipulating the desk lamp in the previous exercise).

• Script the keyframes.

• Preview/Record the animation.

You may notice that the model is slow to update when you manipulate any of the limbs (actors). This is due to the fact that the figure was constructed from complex elements (B-spline surfaces). In this case, you can use Bounding Boxes. Bounding Boxes are defined at the time that the actors are created. You may have noticed, when creating actors, a section titled Bounding Box in the lower left of the Create Actor settings box.

When Create Bounding Box is enabled, simple boxes are created at the outer boundaries of the elements forming the actor. These bounding boxes are created on the level specified and can be Construction or Primary Class elements.

Bounding boxes are useful when working with complex elements that are slow to update. By turning the bounding boxes on, and the actual elements of the model off, the preview action is much smoother and faster. You can also work with the bounding boxes when manipulating the actors. They are part of the model, so that


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manipulating a bounding box, is the same as manipulating the elements in the bounding box.

When Create Bounding Box is enabled, simple boxes at the outer boundaries of each element are

created on the specified level. These can be used to speed up screen

updates, particularly when running preliminary previews of motion.


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10 Parametric Motion

In our animations to date we have used keyframes to define where the geometry is to be located at critical points in the sequence. This is appropriate for the type of model that we have worked with so far. Animation of complex assemblies would be difficult, however, if we had only keyframe techniques at our disposal. In these cases, MicroStation provides other tools for defining motion. We can apply an equation, for example, that specifies the position of the geometry relative to time or frame number.

This lesson focuses on the concepts behind creating and producing parametric motion including:

• Variables and functions to define motion equations

• Scripting actors with a parametric equation

• Creating a custom parameter to describe a revolution

Variables associated with parametric motion

MicroStation comes with a number of built-in variables and functions that are available for defining actor motion equations or custom parameters. When defining an equation, you can include custom parameters that you have defined previously, or you can key in the entire equation. These variables are case sensitive and have to be keyed in exactly as shown.

Often the same parametric motion equations are needed in a number of designs. Time can be saved by creating custom parameters that define these equations of motion. These then can be used when scripting the actors.

Where parameters are used often, they should be saved in a separate script file, for example, that contains only the required custom parameters. In the future, this script file can be included in the current script, thus making the custom parameters available for any design (we will look at including script files later).


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Variables associated with parametric motion

The following is a list of built-in variables available for developing actor motion equations or custom parameters with the Script Actor tool.

As well as the above variables, the following built-in functions are available for developing actor motion equations or custom parameters with the Script Actor tool. These functions are identical to those in the standard C math library, except that all angular values are expected and returned in degrees rather than radians.

For our exercise, we will use two of the built-in variables, maxFrame and frame, which define the maximum frame number and the current frame number

Variable Description

frame frame number.

pi the mathematical value, Pi, which is equal to the angle covered by one-half of a circle

tSeconds elapsed time from beginning of sequence in seconds

beginFrame beginning frame of current sequence

endFrame end frame of current sequence

maxFrame maximum frame number

Function Description

radiansFromDegrees(d) radians from degrees

degreesFromRadians(r) degrees from radians

secondsFromFrame(f) seconds from frame number

cos(angle) trigonometric cosine of angle

acos(value) arc cosine of value

sin(angle) sine of angle

asin(value) arc sine of value

atan(value) arc tangent of value

atan2(valueY, valueX) arc tangent of valueY/valueX

tan(angle) tangent of angle

cosh(value) hyperbolic cosine of value

sinh(value) hyperbolic sine of value

tanh(value) hyperbolic tangent of value

exp(value) exponential of x

log(value) natural logarithm of value

log10(value) base 10 logarithm of value

pow(x,y) x to y power

sqrt (value) square root of value

fabs (value) absolute value of

ceil(value) smallest integer not less than value

floor(value) largest integer not greater than value

fmod (value) modulus of value

rand () pseudo random number

srand(x) set random seed


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Scripting an actor with a parametric equation

respectively. We will write an equation that instructs the actor to rotate one revolution during the course of the animation sequence.

Knowing that our animation is 31 frames in total, we could calculate how many degrees the actor needs to rotate for each frame. Or, we could write the equation in the form (360/31)*frame. This would cause the actor to rotate 1/31 of a revolution each frame.

Both methods would produce the required result and are fine for a 31 frame sequence. If we changed the number of frames in the animation, however, we would have to go back and change our equation. A much better method is to write a “generic” equation—in this instance (360/maxFrame)*frame. With this equation, it does not matter how many frames are involved, only one revolution will occur.

Scripting an actor with a parametric equation

Let’s work with an example to see how this works.

We will start with our model of the desk lamp, which should have keyframes already defined and scripted. We will add parametric motion to the model. This will show another feature of the animation process. That is, the fact that the axis system of an actor moves with it. More on that later.

➤ Script actor “Base” with a parametric equation to rotate it

1 Re-open the design dlamp.dgn.

2 If necessary:

Open the Animation Producer settings box (select Utilities >Render >Animation).

Open the Animation Actors tool box.

3 In the Animation Actors tool box, select the Script Actor tool.

The Tool Settings displays a list of the available actors.

4 In the list of actors, double-click on Base.

The Script Actor dialog box opens.

Notice also that the only scripting equations allowed are those for Position X, Y, and Z and for Z Rotation. All others are disabled (dimmed). The allowable settings match those that we defined when we created the actor.


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Creating a custom parameter to describe a revolution

5 In the Z Rotation field, key in (360/maxFrame)*frame.

While the parentheses are not needed here, they make the equation easier to read.

6 Click OK.

The script entry adds to the list in the Animation Producer settings box.

Having added the new entry to the script, let’s see what effect it has on our animation sequence.




3 In the Animation Producer settings box, click the Forward button.

You should see the lamp rotate through 360°, while at the same time moving as it did before the rotation was applied. That is, the lamp retains its original animation motion, while rotating through 360° (its axes rotate with it).

We defined the actor in its original orientation aligned with the design axes of the file. We then defined keyframes relative to this axis system. You can now see how easy it is to create a fairly complex animation by breaking it down into its separate components (the keyframe motion and the parametric rotation). If we wanted to make the lamp rotate twice, we could add a “*2” to the rotation equation.


Where we have a model with other components that also rotate, we should create a custom parameter that describes a revolution. The following example will show exactly that. We will work with a design that consists of the basic elements of a simple winch, two gear wheels, one with a crank handle.

Rendered view of basic winch model.


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1 Open the design file winch.dgn.

2 If necessary, open the Animation Producer settings box, and the Animation Actors tool box.

In this design, two actors have been created for us to work with. The two actors, Crank (the smaller gear with the handle) and Gear (the larger spoked gear), have been defined to allow rotation about their centers. We will animate the two gear wheels by rotating them in opposite directions at the correct relative speeds. Looking in View 3, the Left view, you can count the teeth in the two gears and find that the larger gear has 24 teeth, compared to the smaller gears 12. Therefore, the larger gear rotates half a revolution for each revolution of the crank gear.

First, let’s create a base parameter defining a single revolution.

➤ Create a custom parameter for a single revolution

1 From the Animation Producer settings box’s Settings menu, choose Parameters.

The Animation Parameters settings box opens.

2 Click Create.

The Create Parameter dialog box opens.

3 In the Name field, key in revolution.

4 In the Value field, key in (360/maxFrame)*frame.

5 In the Description field, key inSingle revolution.

6 Click OK.

We will now apply our custom parameter and see how it works.

➤ Script the actor “Crank”


The Tool Settings displays a list of available actors.

2 In the Tool Settings list, double-click on Crank.

The Script Actor dialog box opens.


4 In the X Rotation field, key in revolution.

5 Click OK.


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The dialog box closes and the script entry is inserted in the Animation Producer settings box list.

Before previewing the action, we will turn off Static Elements in the Preview settings. This will turn off display of the other gear during the preview. That is, all elements that are not animated will not display. This speeds up display of the preview.


1 In the Animation Producer settings box’s Settings menu, choose Preview.

The Preview Settings settings box opens.

2 If necessary, turn on:

Clear View Between Frames

Animated Elements

3 Turn off all other settings.

4 Close the Preview Settings settings box.

5 In the Animation Producer settings box, set View to 2.

6 Click the Play button.

The preview should show the crank gear rotating through 360°.

To further illustrate the ease of use with custom parameters, we will now make the crank rotate through 2 revolutions.

Double-click on the actor to be scripted, to open the Script

Actor dialog box.

Enter the scripting details for the actor, then click the OK button to close the dialog

box and enter the script entry in the Animation Producer settings box.


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Efficiency in scripting

➤ Edit the script for “Crank”

1 In the Animation Producer settings box, double-click on the script entry for CRANK.

The Edit Actor Script dialog box opens.

2 In the X Rotation field, change the entry to 2*revolution.

3 Click OK.

4 Again preview the animation.

The crank now rotates twice in 20 frames.

✍ If it seems that the gear rotates at a slower rate, this is just an illusion caused by a “strobing” effect. This can cause some strange effects. For example, if you edit the script and change the frames to 30, the gear appears to rotate in the reverse direction. The same effect is sometimes seen in movies where a car’s wheels appear to by moving more slowly than they should, or even in reverse. We can “fix” this by changing the number of frames in the sequence.


Before scripting the second gear, let’s think the process through. In reality, the number of times that the larger gear rotates is controlled by the number of times the smaller gear is cranked.

Currently, we have a parameter defining a single revolution. We have used this in scripting the actor Crank to rotate twice—script entry “2*revolution.” We know that the gear rotates at half the rate of the crank, so we could simply script the gear to rotate with the entry “revolution,” or “1*revolution.”

A problem arises when we change the number of times that the crank rotates. We have to remember to change scripts for both actors. In this model it is simple enough, but with more complex models it may prove to be a nightmare. It would be much better if we scripted the gear such that it was always in step with the crank.

To do this, we will create the parameters for scripting so that we need to adjust only the rotation of the crank and the gear will follow suit. For example, if we create a parameter “crank” that defines the crank rotation, we can simply script the gear to rotate “crank/2.” Better still, we can create a parameter “gear” whose value is “crank/2.” That’s right, you can use a previously defined parameter in defining a new one.

With parameters set up in this manner, we need only to adjust the crank parameter to alter the number of rotations for both the crank and the gear. No matter how many times the crank rotates, the gear rotates in synchronization.


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➤ Create a parameter for crank rotation

1 In the Animation Parameters settings box, click Create.

The Create Parameter dialog box opens.

2 In the Name field, key in crank.

3 In the Value field, key in revolution.

Remember, you can use a previously defined parameter when creating a new one. Here, we are defining “crank” to rotate once.

4 In the Description field, key in Rotation of crank.

5 Click OK.

The dialog box closes and the new parameter adds to the list.

6 Again click Create.

7 In the Name field, key in drivengear.

8 In the Value field, key in -crank/2.

This sets the rotation of the “drivengear” to be 1/2 of that of “crank,” in the opposite direction (defined by the minus sign).

9 In the Description field, key in Rotation of the driven gear.

10 Click OK.

With the parameters set, we now can script the actors. At the same time, we will change the number of frames to try and eliminate the problem of the gear appearing to rotate at an incorrect speed.

➤ Modify the script for actor CRANK

1 In the Animation Producer settings box, double-click the script entry for CRANK (the only entry at the moment).



3 In the X Rotation field, change the current value (2*revolution) to crank.

4 Click OK.

Animation Parameters settings box after creating the three parameters

for the exercise.


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Advanced Parametric Motion Control

➤ Now, we script the driven gear


The Tool Settings displays a list of available actors.

2 In the Tool Settings list, double-click on Gear.

The Script Actor dialog box opens. By default, the End Frame value is set to the highest frame number of the previously scripted actors.

3 In the X Rotation field, key in the name of our parameter, drivengear.

4 Click OK.


When you have completed the scripting, record the movie and then view it.

With the parameters set up in this way, to change the number of rotations, we need only change the value of crank. For example, to make crank rotate twice, simply change the parameter “crank” to be “2*revolution.” Still the driven gear will be in step because its rotation is linked directly to the parameter “crank.”

Advanced Parametric Motion Control

As a final example of what we can achieve using parametric motion control, we will look at a design that incorporates the laws of motion to simulate the flight of a ball. Like an earlier example, this animation includes both keyframe and parametric motion. A figure, “ergoman,” kicks a ball.

Ergoman is controlled by three keyframes—Ready, Kicking, and Followthru.

Ball movements are described by the laws of motion (neglecting air friction), with the X velocity constant, and the Z velocity changing due to the force of gravity.

➤ Open the design and view the parameters

1 Open the design file soccer.dgn.

2 If necessary, open the Animation Producer settings box.

3 From the settings box’s Settings menu, choose Parameters.

Looking at the list of parameters, you should see the following:

Name Value Description

tImpact secondsFromFrame(5) Time that foot impacts ball

v0 45 Initial velocity (MU/Second)

tFlight tSeconds - tImpact Time in flight

angle 45 Initial trajectory angle


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Defining paths

These parameters are used in scripting the motion of the ball when it is kicked.

➤ Check the script for the ball

1 In the Animation Producer settings box, double-click on the script entry for Actor BALL.


Looking at the entries for this actor, you see formulas for:

• X Position—Vx * tFlight.

• Z Position—Vz * tFlight - g * tFlight * tFlight/2

• Y Rotation—45 * Frame.

During the animation, calculations are made to determine how far the ball has moved (X Position), how high it is (Z Position), and how much it has spun (Y Rotation). These calculations start from frame number 5, which is the point at which the ball is actually kicked.

To see how it all works together, preview or record the animation.

This is just a simple example, but the possibilities for parametric motion control are endless. If the rotation and position of the actors can be described parametrically as a function of time, then they can be animated.

Defining paths

Another of MicroStation’s animation options allows us to define a path along which an actor can be scripted to move. This option allows us to define complex movement of actors that would be very difficult, if not impossible, with keyframes. To show this technique we will use a simple model in which a car will be scripted to move along a track.


1 Open the design file carpath.dgn.

2 If necessary, open the Animation Producer settings box, and the Animation Tools tool box.

In this file are two cars (already defined as actors “Car1” and “Car2”), a rectangular surface on which the cars will move, and a B-spline curve that will be used as the path for the cars. The process of assigning an actor to a path is simple.

Vx v0 * cos (angle) Velocity in X direction

Vz v0 * sin (angle) Velocity in Z direction

g 32 Acceleration due to gravity


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Defining paths

➤ Define path for car to move

1 In the Animation Actors tool box, select the Define Actor Path tool.

2 In the list of actors double-click on Car1.

Actor Car1 highlights (the lower car in the close up in View 1). You are prompted to “Identify Path - Define Path End.”

3 Snap to the end of the path that is just to the right of the cars in View 1.


The Define Actor Path dialog box opens.


6 Click OK.

The dialog box closes and the script entry is inserted in the Animation Producer settings box.

With the path defined, we can preview the motion to see how the car moves around the track.


1 In the Animation Producer settings box, check that View is set to 2.


In View 2, you should see the car move around the track.

Once a path is defined, you do not need it displayed in the view, so you can turn it off. In this design, the path element is on level 63.

For this example, we used a path that was aligned with the actor. That is, the beginning of the path was directly below the actor. This is not mandatory, as you will now see. We will use the same path element to define the path of the second car.

Snap to the end of the path element.


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Defining paths


2 In the list of actors double-click on Car2, or identify the actor directly by clicking on the top car in View 1.

Actor Car2 highlights. You are prompted to “Identify Path - Define Path End.”

3 As before, snap to the end of the path that is just to the right of the cars, in View 1.




6 Click OK.

The dialog box closes and the new script entry is inserted in the Animation Producer settings box.

Now, when you preview the animation, you will see that both cars travel around the path next to each other. In other words, the second car is travelling on a path that is offset from the path element.


1 In the Animation Producer settings box, check that View is set to 2.


In View 2, you should see both cars moving around the track side by side.

Once the path has been defined, you can change the number of frames to make the car go faster or slower. For example, if you change the End Frame value of Car1 to 44, it finishes the circuit of the track 5 frames earlier than Car2.

In this exercise we have defined paths for actors. Later, we will look at moving cameras and their targets along paths.

Animation Producer settings box with both Path script entries.


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Key views

Before we continue: Which variable designates the total number of frames in an animation sequence?

To compensate for a “strobing” effect, what must you do to the animation sequence?

Paths can be used instead of keyframes for what reason?

Key views

To this point we have discussed motion control for design geometry only. By scripting saved views, we can move from one view to another during the animation. This is a very basic method of creating camera movement and/or zoom lens effect. Later in this course we will discuss more advanced animation techniques for controlling camera movement. For now, we will create a zoom lens effect in one of our animation sequences. For the exercise, a second design file has been prepared using the model from winch.dgn (used in a previous exercise).


1 Open the design file keyviews.dgn.

2 If necessary, open the Animation Producer settings box.

The current script entries display.

In this design file, Views 1 and 3 display the saved views, Start (in View 1) and Zoom (in View 3). We will add script entries for these two saved views. During the animation, the “camera” will shift smoothly from one to the other.

➤ Script the first saved views

1 From the Animation Producer settings box’s Settings menu, choose Saved Views.

The Script Saved View dialog box opens.

2 If necessary, select saved view Start.

3 Check that Frame Number is set to 0.

4 Click OK.

The dialog box closes and the script entry adds to the list in the Animation Producer settings box.


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Key views

This procedure repeats to determine how long to stay with one saved view, before moving to another, and so on.

➤ Script the remaining saved views preview the animation

1 Repeat the previous steps, selecting the Saved Views and setting the Frame Number for them as follows:

2 With the View option menu set to 2 in the Animation Producer settings box, click the Forward button.

As the preview runs, notice that the view changes from one saved view to the other and back again, as scripted.

Start—9

Zoom—19

Zoom—24

Start—29


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11 Advanced Animation

We will now begin to look at the advanced animation techniques available with MicroStation. The first two subjects; lighting parameters and pattern maps have been discussed previously in this course. You will now see how MicroStation provides the tools to bring your designs alive by:

• Animating lighting parameters

• Animating pattern maps

Because this all takes time to record, we will use a different approach in this and the following lessons. First, you will view a previously recorded movie. Then we will discuss the various features of the movie. Finally, we will look at the processes for setting up the design file to produce the same result.

Viewing the movie

As stated before we will first take a look at a completed movie which we will base our exercises upon.


1 Open the design file advanim1.dgn.

2 Use the Render tool to ray trace view 2.


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Viewing the movie

Before continuing, let’s look at the make up of this image. Notice that there is a fire in the heater. This is an image file of a fire that has been applied to a rectangular shape inside the heater. The pattern map (of the fire) was made slightly transparent so that a spotlight, placed behind the shape, shines through the fire image to make it “glow.”

Views 1 and 3 (Top and Front views respectively) display the three light source cells that provide the lighting for the image. In the top view, the spotlight inside the heater is plainly seen. A second spotlight, above and to the right, in front of the heater is used to highlight the heater in the image. A point light source to the left front of the heater provides fill lighting to soften the shadows from the (second) spotlight.

Next, let’s view a movie produced from this design file.

➤ View the movie




3 If necessary, from the List Files of Type option menu, choose FLI Files (*.fli).

4 Select the movie advan1.fli, in the \workshop directory.

As you view the movie, notice it commences with only the flames visible (due to the spotlight shining through the fire material). Next, the spotlight (and fill light) are turned on, with the beam of the spotlight broadening to display the entire heater. As this occurs, the camera moves to the front of the heater, keeping focused on the flames. Notice also that the fire looks realistic, with the flames moving. The

Spotlight inside heater, to illuminate the fire material.

Second spotlight to highlight the heater.

Point light source fill light to soften shadows.


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Animating lighting parameters

sequence finishes with the camera moving back to its original position while the lights fade out until only the flames are visible.

5 Click the Play button.

6 Click the Stop button when you have seen enough.

Let’s now look at how this movie was produced. First, the lighting.


Animating lighting parameters consists of scripting the frame numbers at which a particular value is applied. The system then calculates the values for the intervening frames during recording.

In the movie you have just played, the sequence commences with only the fire glowing. The other lighting, the point light source and the spot light source, is then turned on. The spotlight’s beam starts with a narrow cone then widens, completely displaying the heater. Finally, the lights are turned off.

✍ Each lighting parameter must be animated separately. For example, in this movie, the external spotlight’s cone angle is scripted separately from the intensity values. For the exercise, we will animate the two external lights making the sequence 20 frames long.


1 Close the Movies settings box.

2 From the Utilities menu’s Render sub-menu, choose Animation.

3 The Animation Producer settings box opens.

First, we will turn off the lights for the beginning of the sequence. We do this by setting their Intensity value to zero.


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➤ Turn off the point and spot lights

1 From the Animation Producer’s Settings menu’s Animate sub-menu, choose Source Lighting.

You are prompted to “Identify Light Source.”

2 In the Top or Front view, enter a data point on the Point light source (the white object at the left in both views).

The light source highlights and you are prompted to “Accept Light Source.”

3 Accept with a second data point.

The Animate Light Setting dialog box opens. By default, the Frame Number is set at 0.00 and the light’s Intensity setting displays (0.5 for this light source).

4 In the Intensity field, change the value from 0.5 to 0.

If you press Enter after changing the value, the entry is accepted and the dialog box closes as if you had clicked OK. In this case it makes no difference because it is the only change that is being made.

5 Click OK (if you did not press Enter after changing the value).

The dialog box closes and the script entry for Intensity displays in the Animation Producer settings box.

6 In the Top or Front view, enter a data point on the Spot light (the white object at the right in both views).


The Animate Light Setting dialog box opens. As before, the Frame Number is set at the default 0.00 and the light’s Intensity setting displays (1.0 for this light source).

To turn the light off, we change the light’s Intensity value to zero.


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Scripting lights at specific frames

8 In the Intensity field, change the value from 1 to 0.

9 Click OK.

The dialog box closes and the script entry adds to the Animation Producer settings box.

Scripting lights at specific frames

Next we will script the lights to be on at frame 5. To do this, we set them to be at their maximum intensity at frame 5. For this exercise, the maximum intensity wanted for each light source is its current setting. As you will see, the current settings for light sources display as the defaults during the process of animating light settings.

➤ Turn on the lights

1 In the Top or Front view, enter a data point on the Point light source (the white object at the left in both views).

The light source highlights and you are prompted to “Accept Light Source.”


The Animate Light Setting dialog box opens. By default, the Frame Number is set at 0.00, and the light’s Intensity setting displays (0.5 for this light source).

3 Check that Velocity is set to Constant.

This will create a smooth transition from off to on over the five frames.

4 In the Frame Number field, change the value from 0 to 4.

5 Click OK.

Animation Producer settings box with script entries defining Intensity for both

light sources at frame 1.

Change the Frame Number value to 4.


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Adjusting beam width of a spotlight


6 In the Top or Front view, enter a data point on the Spot light (the white object at the right in both views).


The Animate Light Setting dialog box opens. Now, the Frame Number is set at a new default, 4.00, which was the value we input last. The light’s Intensity setting (1.0) displays.

8 Click OK.



Both light sources have been scripted to illuminate over the first five frames. Next, we will script the spotlight’s beam to broaden from a narrow beam at the beginning of the sequence, to its full width at frame 7. It does not matter in which order you script the settings as the script entries are input in order from the lowest frame number to the highest. To illustrate this point, we will script frame 7 first.

➤ Set the spotlight’s Cone Angle for frame 7

1 Again identify the spotlight (at the right in the Top or Front view) and accept with a data point.

The Animate Light Setting dialog box opens.

2 From the Setting option menu, choose Cone Angle.

The default Frame Number now is 4.

Animation Producer settings box with script entries for both light sources at

frames 0 and 4.

Choose Cone Angle from the Setting option menu.


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3 In the Cone Angle filed enter 30.0.

4 In the Frame Number field, change the value to 7.00.

5 Click OK.

The dialog box closes and the script entry for Cone Angle adds to the Animation Producer settings box.

Now, we will script the Cone Angle for the beginning of the sequence.

➤ Set the spotlight’s Cone Angle for the beginning of the sequence

1 Identify the spotlight and accept with a data point.

The Animate Light Setting dialog box opens. By default, the value for the Frame Number is shown as 7, the previous frame value that we set.

2 From the Settings option menu, choose Cone Angle.

3 In the Cone Angle field, change the value to 10.0, and press <Enter>.

An Alert box opens, warning us that an entry already exists for frame 7. That’s right, we forgot to change the Frame Number. When we pressed <Enter>, the current values were accepted, but a conflict was detected.

Luckily, the Alert box gives us a second chance. If we press Yes it overwrites our existing (correct) entry. If we press No, it disables the new entry, leaving the existing entry intact.

4 Click No.

The Alert box closes. A second script entry for frame 7, in red, adds to the Animation Producer settings box. The fact that it is colored red indicates that it is disabled.

5 In the Animation Producer settings box, double-click the red script entry.

The Edit Setting dialog box opens. Notice that the frame number is set incorrectly to 7 and that the Disabled box is checked.

6 Turn off Disabled.

Edit Setting dialog box after correcting the settings.


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Scripting lights to fade out

7 In the Frame Number field, change the value to 0.00.

8 Click OK.

The dialog box closes and the new entry for Cone Angle is inserted in the Animation Producer settings box.


Finally, we need to make the lights fade to off at the end of the sequence. First, we must specify the last frame at which they are still at full strength. This will be the first frame of the (lighting) fade out portion of the movie.

➤ Script the first frame of the lighting fade out

1 Identify the point light source (at the left of either the Top or Front view).


The Animate Light Setting dialog box opens. By default, the Frame Number is set at 7. The Intensity value is that read from the light source in the design.

3 Change the Frame Number value to 14.

4 Click OK.

The dialog box closes and the new script entry for Intensity adds to the list in the Animation Producer settings box.

5 Identify the spotlight source (at the right of either the Top or Front view).


The Animate Light Setting dialog box opens. By default the settings are as we want them. The Frame number is “remembered” from when we changed the point light source, and the Intensity value is read from the light source in the design.

7 Click OK.

The dialog box closes and the script entry adds to the Animation Producer settings box list.

Next, we will turn the light sources off at the final frame (frame 19).

➤ Turn off the lights

1 Identify the point light source (at the left of either the Top or Front view) and accept with a data point.

The Animate Light Setting dialog box opens.


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2 Change the Frame Number value to 19 (remember, do not press <Enter>).

3 Change the Intensity value to 0.

4 Click OK.

5 Identify the spotlight source (at the right of either the Top or Front view) and accept with a data point.

The Animate Light settings dialog box opens. Only the Intensity value needs to be altered as the frame number remains from the previous script entry.

6 Change the Intensity value to 0.

7 Click OK.

The dialog box closes and the script entry adds to the Animation Producer settings box list.

Having completed this part of the scripting, we will save it to disk before continuing.

➤ Save the script

1 From the Animation Producer’s File menu, choose Save Script.

The Save Script As dialog box opens, since we have not saved the script file before. By default, the script file is given the name of the design file, with a .msa suffix.

2 Click OK.

The file is saved and the dialog box closes.

To check that we have scripted the lighting correctly, let’s record the sequence. To save time, we will record it at a low resolution.

The Animation Producer settings box, displaying the script entries.


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➤ Record the sequence

1 From the Animation Producer’s File menu, choose Record Script.

The Record Script dialog box opens.

2 Make the following settings as shown below:


4 If necessary, in the File name field, key in advan000.tif.

5 Click OK.

Recording of the script commences. As each frame completes, it displays in a preview window.

When recording is completed, load and view the movie. You should see just the fire in the opening frame, then the light sources fade in, with the spotlight’s beam broadening through frame 7. The lighting then remains as is until frame 15, where it

View: 2

Resolution X: 150 (low to save time)

Shading: Ray Trace

Begin Frame: 0

End Frame: 19

The Record Script dialog box, ready to commence recording of the script.


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Animated pattern maps

fades out to frame 20. You can advance the frames individually by stopping the movie and clicking the forward arrow at the right of the settings box.

That completes the lighting setup for our movie. Other settings associated with lighting can be animated in the same manner as those that we have just dealt with.

Before we continue: What options are available from the Setting option menu from the Animate Light Setting dialog box?

What value should you key in to the intensity setting of the Animate Light Setting dialog box to turn off a light?

Next, let’s look at the fire and learn how to add realism to our movies with animated pattern maps.

Animated pattern maps

You already know how to apply pattern maps to elements in a design file. With MicroStation you can extend this feature to include a sequence of pattern maps from a previously recorded animation, or a sequence of video frames that have been saved to disk.

With the movie stopped, you can click the forward arrow to advance the movie one frame at a time.

Frame 1, only the fire is clearly visible.

Frame 8, the spotlight beam is at its maximum spread.

Frame 17, the lighting has started to fade.

Frame 5, the lighting is fully on, and the spotlight

beam is widening.


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Creating an animated pattern map

Virtual movie screen

Animated pattern maps give you the ability to create a virtual movie screen within the design geometry. Animated pattern maps are simply a sequence of frames, numbered consecutively, just like the movie that we created. In our example we will use a sequence of video frames of a fire to bring the flames in the heater to life.


To create the “movie within the movie,” you first create a material definition that has a frame from the animated pattern map assigned to it. You then script an Increment value. As each frame of the movie is created, the system uses the next frame, in the sequence of pattern maps, for the material. If there is no higher numbered frame available, it loops back to the lowest number and starts again. This will become clear as we work through the example.

➤ First, check the sequence of frames for the fire





3 From the List Files of Type option menu, choose JPEG (JFIF) Files (*.jpg).

4 Select the file fire0063.jpg, in the c:\workshop\material directory.

5 Click OK.

6 The dialog box closes and the sequence of frames load into memory.

7 Click the Play button to view the movie of the flames.

You should see a movie of flames.

8 Click the Stop button, and close the Movies settings box.

We will now use the frames from that movie to animate the flames in our heater model.


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➤ Animate the material pattern map for fire

1 From the Animation Producer’s Settings menu’s Animate sub-menu, choose Material.

The Animate Material Characteristic dialog box opens, displaying a list of materials used in the design.

By default, the Frame Number value is 19.00 (from our previous scripting operation on the spotlight source).

2 From the list of materials, select Fire.

3 Change the Frame Number value to 1.0, without pressing <Enter>.

We want the flames to be animated from frame 1.

4 From the Setting option menu, choose Pattern Map Increment.

By default, the Pattern Map Increment value is set at 1.0, which is the value that we want.

5 Click OK.


At this point, we will again record the script and view the movie to see if we have correctly scripted the flames sequence. Before continuing, let’s save the script to disk.

➤ Save the script


The file is saved. Because it had been saved previously, the old version is overwritten by the current version.

Frame Number default is 19 from the previous scripting operation.

Select the material Fire from the list of Materials.


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➤ Record the sequence

1 From the Animation Producer’s File menu, choose Record Script.

The Record Script dialog box opens. Settings should not have been changed from the previous recording.

2 Check the following settings are as shown:


4 If necessary, in the File name field, key in advan000.tif.

5 Click OK.

An alert box warns us that a file of that name exists (our previous recording). We will overwrite the old version.

6 Click OK.

Recording of the script commences. As each frame completes it displays in a preview window. When recording completes, load and view the movie. You should see the flames “burning,” while the lighting changes as before.

So far, we have animated the lighting and the flames. In the next lesson we will add camera movement to our movie.

View: 2

Resolution X: 150 (small to save time)

Shading: Ray Trace

Begin Frame: 0

End Frame: 19


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12 Camera Animation

To complete the animation of this model, we will script a camera to move along a path while remaining focused on the heater. This same camera motion could be created with MicroStation’s FlyThrough Producer, but without the lighting and material animation. Continuing with the exercise from the previous lesson, we will look at more complex camera/target animation.

In these exercises you will learn that two steps are required to use an animated camera:

• Create the animated camera

• Script the animated camera

As well as:

• Creating targets

• Scaling scripts

Scripting a camera

When we script a camera we merely define the frame number at which the selected camera becomes active.


1 Continue in the design file advanim1.dgn.

2 In view 1, the Top view:

Turn off levels 15 and 16 (floor and wall).

Turn on level 63 (camera path element and location markers).


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Creating an animation camera

3 Use the Fit View view control to fit view 1.

4 Open the Animation Cameras tool box.


The tools in the Animation Cameras tool box enable us to create, modify and script cameras, and to create and script targets for the cameras. Paths can be defined for both cameras and targets, just as we can do with actors.

➤ Create an animation camera

1 If necessary, make level 2 the active level.

2 In the Animation Cameras tool box, select the Create Animation Camera tool.

3 In the Tool Settings, check that Standard Lens is Normal.

In the Cell Scale field, key in 2000.

The Cell Scale determines the size of the animation camera cell. Like light source cells, these cells are composed of construction class elements.

Unlike light source cells, however, they are placed on the active level.

4 In the Top view snap to the center of the circle at location 1 and accept with a data point.

The animation camera is placed at the location of the data point. The pointer now controls the camera target point. Graphics display the view cone of the camera.

Camera path element.


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5 Snap to the center of the circle at location 2 and accept with a data point.

The Create Camera dialog box opens.

6 In the Name field, key in cam1.

7 In the Description field, key in Camera 1.

8 Click OK.

The animation camera is created.

Next, we will script the camera. This tells the system when the camera becomes active in the animation.

➤ Script the animation camera

1 In the Animation Cameras tool box, select the Script Camera tool.

A list of available cameras appears in the tool settings.

2 In the Camera List, double-click on Cam1.

The Script Camera dialog box opens. By default, the Begin Frame is set to 0 (which is the frame that we want).

3 Click OK.

The dialog box closes, and the script entry adds to the list in the Animation Producer settings box.

All that remains now is to define the path for the camera. This procedure is the same as that for defining a path for an actor.

Snap to the circle at location 1 to position the camera.

Snap to the center of the circle at location 2 to define the

target of the camera.


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Creating a target

➤ Define a path for the camera

1 Open the Animation Actors tool box.


A list of available actors appears in the tool settings.

3 In the Actor List, double-click on Cam1.

The camera highlights and you are prompted to “Identify Path - Define Path End.”

4 Snap to the path at the opposite end from where the camera is located, location 3.


The Define Actor Path dialog box opens. By default, the Begin Frame and End Frame values are set at 0 and 19 respectively (the first and last frames of our animation).


7 Click OK.


Creating a target

With the camera scripted, we now have to define the point on which the camera will focus as it moves along its path. We do this by placing and scripting a target.

➤ Create a target

1 In the Animation Cameras tool box, select the Create Target tool.

2 In the Top view, snap to the center of the circle at location 2 and accept with a data point.

The Create Target dialog box opens.

3 In the Name field, key in targ1.

4 Click OK or press <Enter>.

The target cell is placed in the design file.


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Creating a target

➤ Script the target

1 In the Animation Cameras tool box, select the Script Target tool.

The tool settings displays a list of available actors to script as a target.

2 In the list of actors, double-click on Targ1.

The Script Target dialog box opens. By default, the Begin Frame and End Frame values are set at 0 and 19 respectively.

3 Click OK.


To complete this exercise, record the sequence and then view the resulting movie. All settings should be as for the previous exercise. If you are unsure how to record the movie, refer to the previous exercise.

Your movie should be similar to the example that you viewed prior to beginning the exercise, except that only 20 frames were scripted in the exercise, while the example is 60 frames long. As a result, your movie will not be as smooth as the pre-recorded example. You can correct this by changing each of the script entries to increase the length of your movie. To do this we can use the Scale Script option.

Animation Producer settings box showing the completed list of script entries, including those for

the camera, camera path and target.


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Scaling scripts

Scaling scripts

When a sequence needs to be lengthened, either to smooth the motion or to size the animation to run for a predetermined time, you can define a multiplier value to be applied to the open script.

In the current example, to match the example movie, we need to increase the number of frames from 20 to 60. Let’s try scaling the script by a factor of 3.

➤ Scale the script

1 From the Animation Producer’s File menu, choose Scale Script.

The Scale Script dialog box opens.

2 In the Scale field, key in 3.

3 Click OK.

The dialog box closes and the Frame values for the script entries are amended.

Notice that the figures aren’t exactly 3 times the original values. For example, the final frame number, which was 19, is now 57.

The reason for this is that the count is computed by multiplying the scale factor by the difference between the starting and ending frame numbers, and then adding 1.

In our example, the calculation for the final frame is [(19 x 3) + 1], where 19 is the difference between the starting and ending frames.

✍ If you make a mistake when scaling a script, you can correct it quite simply. The scale factor is not cumulative, it is always related to the original frame count. To get back to the original figures, for example, you simply apply a scale factor of 1.

➤ Set the frame numbers back to their original values

1 From the Animation Producer’s File menu, choose Scale Script.

The Scale Script dialog box opens.

2 In the Scale field, key in 1.

3 Click OK.

The dialog box closes and the Frame values for the script entries change back to their original values.


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Scaling scripts

✍ Care should be taken when scaling a script that contains parametric motion control referencing specific frame numbers. Frame number values contained in custom parameters are not scaled.

In this example, we have used a camera moving along a path while focused on a target. These same techniques can be used when creating walk throughs of your models.

Before we continue: What determines the value of the cell scale in the Create Animation Camera tool?

What does a camera focus on as it moves along a path?

What can be done to modify an existing script to lengthen or smooth it’s motion?


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13 Walk Throughs

Creating walk throughs with animated cameras provides many more options than the FlyThrough Producer. When the FlyThrough Producer is used, we can only specify that the camera target is Fixed or Floating. That is, fixed on a specific point in the design file or looking in a direction tangential to the path of the camera. Using animated cameras allows us to define cameras and target points, both of which can be scripted to move along a path.

In this lesson you will:

• Compare walk throughs created using the FlyThrough Producer and animated cameras

• Script a walk through sequence

Comparing walk through techniques

Even a simple walk through of an office can be made much more interesting using the camera tools. To illustrate this point, two movies have been recorded for you to compare.

In the first, the FlyThrough Producer was used, with the camera moving along a path focused on a fixed target. The second was produced using a camera moving along the same path, but incorporating several targets on which the camera focuses during the walk through.

➤ View the first walk through

1 If necessary re-open the design file advanim1.dgn.





4 From the List Files of Type option menu, choose FLI Files (*.fli).

5 Select the movie wthru1.fli, which is located in the \workshop directory.

6 Click the OK button.


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Scripting a walk through

The dialog box closes and the movie loads.


This movie was produced with the standard FlyThrough Producer. The camera moves along a path, focused on a fixed point.

8 Click the Stop button to stop the movie display.

In the next movie, a single camera was scripted to move along the same path as that used for the previous movie. However, four targets were used to focus the camera on various areas during the walk through.

➤ View the second walk through


2 Select the movie wthru2.fli, which is located in the \workshop directory.



Notice that the camera first moves forward through the entrance. Then, as the camera moves further forward into the reception area it pans to the right to look into the first office, then swings back to the left as it passes through the next doorway. It then moves sideways (to the right) while panning first to the right and then to the left.

5 When you have taken in the various movements, click the Stop button.

Let’s look at how this second movie was created and go through the steps in scripting the walk through.

Scripting a walk through

MicroStation allows you a great deal of freedom and flexibility when creating walk throughs of your designs. In the following exercises you will script an animation camera, use actors to control its motion and use multiple targets to simulate the camera panning around your design.


1 Open the design file walkthru.dgn.

This design file has been saved with views 1, 2 and 3 open, displaying Top views of the office layout with the camera/target paths in view 1, the camera


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Create an animation camera

path in view 2, and the target paths in view 3. Also displayed are the location markers for the exercise.

Create an animation camera

First, let’s create the animation camera.

➤ Create the camera

1 Make level 62 the active level.

2 In the Animation Cameras tool box, select the Create Animation Camera tool.

3 In the Tool Settings:

Standard Lens: Normal

Cell Scale: 20

In this design file, the working units are different from those in the design file used for the previous exercise. A scale factor of 20 is sufficient for this design file.

4 In View 2, snap to the red element at location 1 and accept with a data point.

Camera path

Target paths Design file “walkthru.dgn” with views ready for scripting the walk through.


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Scripting the animation camera

The animation camera is placed at the location of the data point. The pointer now controls the camera target point, with graphics displaying the camera’s view cone.

5 Snap to the center of the circle at location 2 and accept with a data point.

The Create Camera dialog box opens.

6 In the Name field, key in cam1.

You may add a description, if you like.


The animation camera is created.

Scripting the animation camera

Next, we will script the camera to define when it becomes active.

➤ Script the animation camera


The tool settings displays a list of available cameras.

2 In the Camera List, double-click on Cam1.

The Script Camera dialog box opens.

3 Check that Begin Frame is set to 0.



Defining an animation camera’s path

With the camera set to become active at frame 0, we will now define the path along which it will move during the walk through.

➤ Define the camera’s path

1 From the Animation Actors tool box, select the Define Actor Path tool.

A list of available actors appears in the tool settings.


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Creating targets to focus the animation camera on

2 In the Actor List, double-click on Cam1.

The camera highlights and you are prompted to “Identify Path - Define Path End.”

3 In view 2, snap to the path at the opposite end from where the camera is located (location 3) and accept with a data point.

The Define Actor Path dialog box opens. By default, the Begin Frame is set to 0 and the End Frame is set to 1.

4 Change the End Frame value to 149.



The dialog box closes and the script entry is added to the list in the Animation Producer settings box.

Creating targets to focus the animation camera on

With the camera scripted, we will now create each of the targets on which it will focus during the walk through.

➤ Create the first target

1 From the Animation Cameras tool box, select the Create Target tool.

2 In the tool settings, set the Cell Scale value to 20.

3 In view 3, snap to the green dashed line at location 4.




6 Click the OK button or hit Enter.

The target cell is placed at the location of the data point.

This same procedure is used to place the remaining targets.

Snap to the opposite end of the camera path, at

location 3.

Snap to the lower end of the green dashed line, at location 4.


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Scripting targets

➤ Create the remaining three targets

1 In the Animation Cameras tool box, select the Create Target tool.

2 In view 3, snap to the yellow dashed arc at location 5.





The target cell is placed at the location of the data point.

6 In view 3, repeat steps 1 through 5 as follows:

To make the targets active, we will now script them.

Scripting targets

Looking at the camera’s path element, the camera should be focused on location 5 at about 1/3 of the way along its path. We can do this by scripting target 1 to move

For target Snap to at location In Name field, key in

3 Yellow dashed arc 6 targ3

4 Cyan arc 7 targ4

Snap to the right end of the yellow dashed arc, at location 5

Target 1 at location 4



Target 3 atlocation 6

View 3, showing the targets and their locations.


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Defining a targets path

from location 4 to location 5, as the camera moves through reception. Then, as the camera moves forward, it will follow the target, panning to the right.

➤ Script target 1


In the tool settings, a list of the available actors appears displaying the camera and target actors that were just created.

Both camera and target cells are “special” actors. Only camera cells can be used as cameras. However, you can use any actor as a target for a camera.

2 Double-click on Targ1.

The Script Target dialog box opens. By default, the Begin Frame and End Frame settings are 0 and 149, respectively (the current limits of the existing script entry for the camera).

3 Change the End Frame field to 47.


The dialog box closes, and the entry is added to the Animation Producer list.


Next, we will define the path that the target is to move along. For the first few frames, we want the camera to be looking straight ahead as it moves through the doorway. Therefore, we will script the target to commence moving at frame 7. In other words, the camera will focus on the stationary target for the first 8 frames and

By scripting target 1 to move from location 4 to 5, we will make the camera pan to the right as it moves forward.


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then follow it as it moves from frame 8 to 47 (in effect, making the camera pan right).

➤ Define the target’s path


The tool settings displays a list of available actors.


You are prompted to “Identify Path - Define Path End.”

3 In view 3, snap to the green dashed line at location 5 and accept with a data point.

You are prompted to accept the path.


The Define Actor Path dialog box opens. By default, the Begin Frame and End Frame values again are 0 and 149, respectively.

5 Change the Begin Frame value to 7.




The dialog box closes and the script entry is added to the Animation Producer list.

As the camera continues to move along its path, we want the focus to move along the yellow arc. This will make the camera pan back to the left so that it is looking into the main office as it passes through the second doorway. At this point, the camera will be about 2/3 of the way along its path (frame 99).

As the camera continues to move forward, target 2 will be scripted to move along its path, making the camera pan back to

the left.


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➤ Script target 2


In the tool settings, a list of the available actors appears.


The Script Target dialog box opens.




The dialog box closes and the entry is added to the Animation Producer list.

➤ Define the target’s path


The tool settings displays a list of available actors.


You are prompted to “Identify Path - Define Path End.”

3 In view 3, snap to the yellow dashed arc at location 6 and accept with a data point.

You are prompted to accept the path.







The dialog box closes and the script entry is added to the Animation Producer list.

9 Repeat the above procedures to script the remaining targets, as follows:

Target Begin Frame End FrameEnd of path at location

Targ3 100 124 7Targ4 125 149 8


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Recording the movie

When you have completed the scripting of the targets, your Animation Producer settings box should contain the entries as shown below.

Before we continue: What do you move to cause a camera to pan as it moves forward?

Recording the movie

You are now ready to record the script. Before doing so, in the view being used for the recording, you should check that:

• The level(s) containing the camera and target paths are turned off.

• Display of construction elements is turned off to ensure that the camera, target, and any source lighting cells are not displayed.

• The camera is turned on in the view being used to record the movie.

➤ Prepare the view for recording the movie

1 Make level 2 the active level.

2 In view 2, turn off levels 60 and 62.

3 From the Settings menu’s, Camera sub-menu, choose On.

4 Enter a data point in view 2.

The view camera is turned on. The model displays with perspective.

5 In view 2, turn on levels 12-56.

Animation Producer settings box, displaying script entries for the walk through.


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Recording the movie

In this animation sequence, we have used a single camera focusing on different targets at different times during the movie. Using several targets gave us a simple method to control where the camera would be focused at any time (frame number).

We could have used a single target moving along a path consisting of the separate paths joined together. However, this would typically require trial and error to synchronize the camera and the target.

As well as manipulating cameras and targets MicroStation provides you other animation tools to add realism to your designs. You can incorporate the animation of pattern maps, lighting and materials to further enhance the walk through. For example, you could make doors open and close and animate on the PC screens.


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14 Animating Material Characteristics

We have already seen how a sequence of image files can be used to produce animated pattern maps (the fire in the heater). Any of the other settings associated with material definitions may be animated also. For example, a surface can be transformed from one material to another. Similarly, a simple fly around of a building can be enhanced by scripting the outer walls to become translucent to reveal its contents.

To understand these concepts you will:

• Make materials transition from opaque to translucent

• Transform material characteristics of an element from one material to another

Making materials transparent during a movie sequence

Let’s begin by taking a look at the movie.

➤ Open flyarnd.dgn and view the associated movie

1 Open the design file flyarnd.dgn.




5 Select the movie flyarnd.fli, which is located in the \workshop directory.



This movie shows a fly around of the office model that we used in the walk through exercise. Notice that the outer walls become transparent as the camera


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Making materials transparent during a movie sequence

starts to move around the office. This effect is achieved by animating the material settings for the outer walls.

In the Animation Producer settings box, inspect the script entries for this design file.

You will see first that there are script entries for a camera (CAM1) and its path. These determine where the camera moves during the movie. Following these are a series of entries for the Transmit and Diffuse settings for materials ceiling and walls-outer. These control the appearance of the outer walls and ceiling.

At frame 1, both the outer walls and the ceiling are opaque. At frame 15, they become transparent. They remain transparent through frame 50. Between frame 50 and frame 60, the outer walls and ceiling again become opaque.

For this example, the perimeter walls (walls-outer material) were made transparent by animating the Transmit and Diffuse settings of the material. Transmit changed from 0 at frame 1 to 0.98 at frame 15 to allow more light to pass through the walls.

Frame 1, outer walls are opaque. Frame 15, outer walls are transparent as the camera moves around the office.

Frame 30, camera continues to move around the office.

First two script entries for CAM1 control the movement of the camera.

Remaining entries control the appearance of the outer walls

and the ceiling.


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Transforming material characteristics

At the same time, the Diffuse setting changed from 0.8 to 0.02 to reduce the visibility of the walls. Similar settings were used for the ceiling material.

Transforming material characteristics

Using the same method, an object can be transformed from one material to another during an animation sequence. This can involve animating several of the material’s settings. Let’s look at our second example which illustrates this technique.


1 Open the design file animmat.dgn.

This design file has been saved with only view 5 open, displaying the model. First, we will view the movie and then we will look at the scripting techniques.

➤ View the movie animmat.fli




4 Select the movie animmat.fli, which is located in the \workshop directory.



You will see that this movie shows a hexagonal solid spinning. As it spins, it is transformed from a cast brass material (frame 1), to smooth (frame 24), and then to a ruby glass (frame 48). This metamorphosis is then reversed with the material returning to smooth brass (frame 72) and then to cast brass (frame 96).

Let’s now look at the scripting details. To save time, the actor HEXSOL already has been created from the solid and scripted to spin through one revolution in 96 frames.

At frame 1, the solid is a cast brass material.

At frame 24, the solid is now

smooth brass.

At frame 48, the solid is now a ruby

glass material.


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Scripting bump map settings


First, we will script the cast brass material to change from rough to smooth during frames 1-24. To do this, we script the bump map height setting to change from 1 at frame 1, to 0 at frame 24.

➤ Script the bump map setting for frames 1 and 24

1 From the Animation Producer’s Settings menu’s Animate sub-menu, choose Material.

The Animate Material Characteristic dialog box opens.

2 If necessary, from the dialog box’s Settings option menu, choose Bump Height.

By default, the Bump Height (of the material) is displayed in the field.

3 Check that Frame Number is set to 0 and other settings are as shown (left).


The dialog box closes and the script entry is added to the Animation Producer settings box.

5 From the Animation Producer’s Settings menu’s Animate sub-menu, again choose Material.

The Animate Material Characteristic dialog box again opens. Bump Height is still the selected Setting option.

6 In the Frame Number field, key in 23.

7 In the Bump Height field, key in 0.


The dialog box closes and the script entry is added to the Animation Producer settings box.

This same procedure is repeated for all material settings that are required to change during the animation sequence. That is, each setting must be scripted separately. Generally, you need to script the setting at both the beginning and at the end of the


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sequence during which the change occurs. To duplicate the settings used in the movie, refer to the following table. All entries refer to the material Cast brass. In the table, the Material setting is selected from the Settings option menu.

At the completion of the scripting, your Animation Producer settings box should contain the entries as shown below. The order in which you script the entries does not matter, they are sorted into the order of their frame numbers.

Material Setting Frame 0 Frame 23 Frame 47 Frame 71 Frame 95

Ambient 1.0 0.3 1.0

Diffuse 0.28 0.8 0.28

Finish 0.52 0.8 0.52

Transmit 0 0.9 0

Color R: 247, G: 139, B: 13 R: 196, G: 22, B: 65 R: 247, G: 139, B: 13

Specular Color R: 255, G: 255, B: 255 R: 255, G: 124, B: 94 R: 255, G: 255, B: 255

Bump Height 1 0 0 1

Reflect 0.4 0.8 0.4

Refract 1.0 1.2 1.0

No matter which order the script entries are entered, they are sorted into the

order by their frame numbers.

This makes the script easier to read and to check for omissions.


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Using a radiosity database for speedy rendering

Using a radiosity database for speedy rendering

As mentioned earlier in this course, radiosity solving is best suited to architectural or product design applications. Where radiosity solving is suitable, however, much rendering time can be saved by first creating a radiosity database for the design. This then replaces the preprocessing that is required for each rendered image (frame) of a movie.

Once the radiosity solution has been calculated, rendering times are reduced significantly. While some time is required for calculating the radiosity solution, the advantage is that it need only be calculated once. That is, you can use the same radiosity database for any walk throughs that you want to create. These will be rendered much quicker than with rendering alone (that is, without the radiosity solution).

✍ This method is suitable only for models in which the lighting parameters do not change, thus the same radiosity solution is accurate for the entire design and sequence.

Blue screen (transparent backgrounds)

This technique is most commonly used to include video frames in an animation such as those of a person moving or talking. To do this, a background of a consistent color (usually blue) is required. Typically, the person would be recorded in front of the blue screen and the resulting video frames would be captured and saved to disk.

To use the video footage, a material is created using the first of the video frames. This is applied to a surface as a pattern map with Transparent Background turned on.

✍ This is the same method that we used on day 1 when we created a tree material. Remember that when the view was rendered, the tree appeared in the image but not its background.

Finally, the material is scripted by an entry in the Pattern Map Increment. During recording of the animation, the person will appear in place of the surface in the design file. The blue background in the original video becomes transparent. To work correctly, the blue background must have no variations in color.


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15 Animating the Design Environment

We have seen how materials and source lighting can be animated. Similarly, other settings for the design environment can be animated. These include the Global Lighting settings and the background image. In this lesson you will:

• Review and create a solar study animation

• Animate distance cueing to create a background

• Animate a camera to zoom in on a target

Solar study animations

Using MicroStation, you can create solar studies of your designs by animating the Solar Lighting settings. You have the ability to use any of the animation tools when performing solar studies. For example, animation of the Solar Lighting can include the color and intensity of the solar lighting, as well as the time of day. At the same time, you can animate other objects in the model, as well as move the camera during the solar study.

We will first look at an example and then discuss the techniques used to produce a movie.

➤ Open solar.dgn and view the associated movie

1 Open the design file solar.dgn.

2 From Utilities >Image, choose Movies.




4 If necessary, from the List Files of Type option menu, choose FLI Files (*.fli).

5 Select the movie solar.fli, which is located in the \workshop directory.





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Solar study animations

There are several points to look for in this movie.

• At the beginning, the street lighting is on. As the sun rises, the street lights slowly turn off.

• As the sun rises (right of screen) the sky changes color from black to orange to blue. As the sun sets, the sky changes from blue to orange to black.

• The camera position moves during the first half of the movie and remains stationary during the second half of the movie.

With this animation, script entries in the Animation Producer settings box can be divided into four groups — Camera, Source Lighting (street lights), Solar Lighting (the Sun), and Fog settings (background sky color). From previous exercises you should be familiar with animating source lighting settings, as well as creating a camera and attaching it to a path.

For this exercise we will look at the Solar Lighting and Fog settings only. We will use the design file solar2.dgn, which has the original file (solar.dgn) referenced to it.


1 If you haven’t done so already, click the Stop button to stop the movie.

2 Close the Movies settings box.

3 Open the design file solar2.dgn.

This design file has been saved with only view 4 open.

Frame 1, before daybreak. Street lighting is on.

Frame 50, as the Sun rises, the camera moves closer to the bridge.

Frame 100, the camera is now stationary (from frame 70). The

Sun continues on its path.


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Animating distance Cueing to create a background

4 Use the Render tool to Ray Trace view 4.


Lighting for the rendered view is provided by Flashbulb and Solar Lighting. We can also see, by the shadow from the bridge, that Solar Shadows are turned on. The default black background, however, makes the scene look unreal. We could add a background image, or change the background color of our design file via the color table. A third option, which we will use here, is to use the Distance Cueing Fog option. We will then use the Fog settings to change the color of the background during the movie.

➤ Turn on Fog distance cueing

1 From Settings >Rendering, choose View Attributes.

The View Attributes settings box opens. Because view 4 is the only open view, it is the default View Number.

2 From the Distance Cueing option menu, select Fog.

3 Click the Apply button.

4 Close the Rendering View Attributes settings box.

Setting fog values and color

Now, we will define when the fog will appear in the view and its color. Because we want to use the Fog color as a background color, we will set the Near Distance value for the fog as far back in the view as possible.


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➤ Set the Fog values and color

1 From Settings >Rendering, choose General.

The Rendering Settings box opens.

2 Set the Near Distance value to its maximum, 0.99, by moving its slide control to the right.

3 Set the Far Density value to its maximum, 1.00, by moving its slide control to the right.

Leave the Near Density value at 0.

4 Click the Fog Color button.

The Modify Fog Color dialog box opens.

5 From the list of Named Colors, select deep sky blue.

The color settings change to those for the selected color.


The Modify Fog Color dialog box closes.

7 Close the Rendering Settings box.

8 From the File menu, choose Save Settings.

The Distance Cueing settings are saved with the design file.

9 Use the Render tool to again Ray Trace view 4.

After setting the Distance Cueing (Fog)values, the background color now is

controlled by the Fog color.


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Scripting background colors

Scripting background colors

We can now control the color of the “sky” background by changing the Fog color. For this exercise, we will script two colors, one for early morning/evening and one for daylight.

➤ Script the early morning color of the sky

1 From Animation Producer’s Settings >Animate, choose General Settings and Global Lighting.

The Animate Render Setting dialog box opens.


3 From the Setting option menu, choose Fog Color.


The Modify Color dialog box opens.

5 From the list of Named Colors, choose dark slate blue.


7 The dialog box closes and the Fog Color button displays the new color.

8 In the Animate Render Setting dialog box, click the OK button.

The Animate Render Setting dialog box closes and the script entry appears in the Animation Producer setting box list.

9 Repeat the above steps, but change the Frame Number value to 19.

We have scripted the sky color at dawn and dusk. Now we will script its color for the rest of the day.

➤ Script the daylight color for the sky

1 From Animation Producer’s Settings >Animate, choose General Settings and Global Lighting.


2 Change the Frame Number value to 4.

3 From the Setting option menu, select Fog Color.


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Scripting Solar times


The Modify Color dialog box opens. By default the current Fog Color for the design file is displayed.


The Animate Render Setting dialog box closes and the script entry appears in the Animation Producer setting box list.

6 Repeat the above steps but Change the Frame Number value to 14.

Scripting Solar times

With the sky color scripted, we will now script the Solar Lighting times. These will determine the Sun’s position during the movie.

➤ Script the Solar times

1 From the Animation Producer’s Settings menu’s Animate sub-menu, choose General Settings and Global Lighting.

The Animate Render Setting dialog box opens. Frame Number is set at 14, the value used last.

2 Change the value of Frame Number to 0.

3 From the Setting option menu, choose Solar Time.

4 In the Solar Time fields set the time value to 7:30 AM.


The dialog box closes, and the script entry is added to the list.

6 Repeat the above steps but with the following values:

Frame Number: 19

Solar Time: 7:30 PM


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Animated camera parameters

Record the script and view the movie. Notice that the sky changes color as the Sun rises and sets. To further enhance this sequence, you could make the movie longer and add another variation to the color of the sky during sunrise and sunset. Other options include changing the intensity and color of the Solar lighting during the course of the movie.

As you have seen, scripting, whether it be for materials or for other settings, is a very simple process. You script the value of the setting, and the frame number at which you want the setting to be the nominated value.


In real life, cameras can zoom in on subjects. Similarly, our computer camera can duplicate this feature. We do this by animating the camera angle. An example of this feature is contained in the movie camera2.fli. Let’s have a look at the movie and then discuss how it was produced.

➤ View the movie

1 From Utilities >Image, choose Movies.




3 Select the movie camera2.fli, which is located in the \workshop directory.




In this movie, a stationary camera follows a car as it travels along the road and over the bridge. As the car moves away into the distance, the camera zooms in on it. This is done by scripting the Camera Angle to decrease.

6 Click the Stop button when you have finished viewing the movie.

Stationary camera follows the car as it travels from the road (left) and across the bridge (center). The camera zooms in on the car as it heads away into the distance (right).


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7 Close the Movie settings box.

As mentioned above, to create the Zoom lens effect, we script the Camera Angle setting to decrease, so that it focuses on a smaller part of the scene.


1 Open the design file camera2.dgn.

2 If necessary, open the Animation Cameras tool box (select Tools >Camera in the Animation Producer settings box).

This design file contains the model of the car. The remainder of the scene, is in the reference file solar.dgn. The car has been scripted to move along the road (over 60 frames). A camera has also been placed in the design file. All that remains is for us to script the camera to follow the car and zoom in on it.

➤ Script the camera to be activated from frame 1


2 In the Tool Settings, double-click the entry Cam1.

The Script Camera dialog box opens.

3 Check that Begin Frame is set to 0.


The dialog box closes and the script entry appears in the Animation Producer settings box list.

Next, we will define a target for the camera to follow. In this case the target will be the car, which is an actor.

➤ Script the camera’s target


2 In the tool settings list of available targets, double-click on Car1.

The Script Target dialog box opens.

3 By default, the Begin Frame and End Frame fields are set at 0 and 59 respectively (the minimum and maximum frame numbers from the car’s path script entry).


The dialog box closes and the script entry is added to the Animation Producer settings box list.


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Next, we will script the Camera Angle for our camera. We will script it to remain constant from frames 0 through 19, and then to zoom in from frames 20 through 59.

➤ Script the Camera Angle for frames 0and 19




3 From the Animate Render Setting menu, choose Camera Angle.

4 In the Camera Angle field, key in 50.


The dialog box closes and the script entry is added to the list.







Finally, we will script the lens to zoom in on the car. We will script the zoom with Velocity set to Decelerate. This makes the camera zoom in quickly at first and slow down as it focuses on the car.

➤ Script the camera to zoom in





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Background image

3 From the Velocity option menu, choose Decelerate.


5 Check that Setting is still set to Camera Angle.




The Save Script As dialog box opens. By default the name of the script is the same of the design file, with a “msa” extension.

With the scripting completed, you can preview the movie to check that you have completed the scripting correctly.

Background image

Often a background image can be used to enhance a rendered view. For example, a photograph of the sky can add realism to an outdoor scene. These are okay for static views, but are not realistic where the camera moves around.

A background image is an image file that is substituted for the background color of the view being rendered. When a background image is used for an animated sequence where the camera moves around the model, the resulting movie will look unreal. This is due to the background always appearing the same, no matter where the camera looks or moves in the animation.

One way to overcome this problem is to place a surface, such as a cone, around the model. An image can then be applied to this cone. In this way, as the camera moves, the background changes with it. However, unless the image shows a full 360° image of a background scene, there will be a point where the left and right edges of the background image meet. This can cause a problem if the camera “looks” in that direction.

Animation Producer settings box aftercompleting scripting of the camera.


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Animated backgrounds

Animated backgrounds

Just as you can animate a material’s pattern map (using a sequence of images), you can animate a view’s background. The scripting technique is like that for animated pattern maps. You first select a Background Name that is one of a series of consecutively numbered image files. Next, you script a Background Increment value. As the movie is recorded, each frame will then have the next file in the series for a background image.


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16 Including Scripts

Earlier, we saw how we can scale a script to make the motion appear smoother or to make the movie run for a certain time. Another option that we have is that of including scripts. By including scripts you can:

• Share scripting for a model element between different design files

• Create a script, which describes a specific motion, that can be applied to different model elements

Including a script

With the Include Script option we can include a previously scripted animation into the current script. You may have certain machinery, for example, that is used in a number of design files. Rather than scripting the motion separately for each design file, you can script it once and then include it in other design files. A simple example will show how this technique can be used.

We will use an existing model of a ceiling fan. Similarly, we will use the existing animation script by including it in another design file’s script.

➤ Inspect the fan model

1 Open the design file fan.dgn.

This design file contains a model of a ceiling fan.

2 If necessary, open the Animation Producer settings box (Utilities >Render >Animation).

In the Animation Producer settings box, you will see just one script entry for the actor BLADES (the fan blades).


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Including a script

3 With View set to 2, click the Forward button to preview the animation.

The fan blades rotate.

4 Close the Animation Producer settings box.

We will now open a second design file that contains a copy of the ceiling fan. To animate the fan, we will include its script from the design file fan.dgn.


1 Open the design file include1.dgn.

This design file has been saved with only view 4 open.

2 Use the Render tool to ray trace view 4.

In this design file is a model of an interior scene of a sitting room. A copy of the ceiling fan is positioned above the chairs. Notice that there are no script entries in the Animation Producer settings box.

➤ Include the fan’s script

1 Open the Animation Producer settings box.

2 From the Animation Producer’s File menu, choose Include Script.

The Include Script dialog box opens.

3 Select the script file fan.msa, which is located in the \workshop directory.


Ray traced image of view 4.


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Using an included script on a different actor

The first dialog box closes and a second Include Script dialog box opens. By default, each of the fields is set to 0.


The dialog box closes and an Include entry is entered in the Animation Producer settings box list.


The fan blades rotate.

Using included scripts in this way allows you to design animated models in separate files. They can then be copied or referenced into the overall model file. To animate these copied/referenced models, you simply include their scripts into that of the active file.

Included scripts work in a similar fashion to reference files. If you make any changes to the original script, then these changes are reflected in the included script. This allows you to modify the scripting for individual models in their separate design files.


Included scripts can be applied to models other than the original or copies of it. For example, in the fan model, the actor that rotates is BLADES. If we create an actor with the name BLADES, we can use the same included script to make it rotate like the fan. Let’s look at a simple example to see how this works.


1 Open the design file fan2.dgn.

2 If necessary, from the Animation Producer’s Tools menu, choose Actors.

The Animation Actors tool box opens.

This design file contains a pyramid from which we will create the actor.

➤ Create the actor

1 In any view, use the Element Selection tool to select all the elements comprising the pyramid.

2 From the Animation Actors tool box, select the Create Actor tool.


3 In the Name field, key in blades.


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4 Turn on Rotate About Z, leaving all others turned off.

A triad, attached to the pointer, shows the movement options. You are prompted to “Accept, Define Actor Origin.”

5 In View 1, the Top view, snap to the center of the pyramid and accept with a data point.


We can now include the script just as we did earlier.

➤ Include the fan’s script

1 From the Animation Producer’s File menu, choose Include Script.

The Include Script dialog box opens.

2 Select the script file fan.msa, which is located in the \workshop directory.


The first dialog box closes and a second Include Script dialog box opens. By default, each of the fields is set to 0.


The dialog box closes and an Include entry is entered in the Animation Producer settings box list.

5 With View set to 2, in the Animation Producer settings box, click the Forward button to preview the animation.

The pyramid rotates.

As you can see, the included script controls the motion of any actor named BLADES, the name of the actor used in the original script.

Before we continue: Name two advantages to using included scripts.

Snap to the center of the pyramid.


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17 The Animation Producer Tree View and Timeline

Using Tree View and Timeline, you can quickly access the settings and script entries of your animation via a graphical interface.

Using Tree View, you can view the various items of your animation sequence presented in a tree like structure. You can expand the tree to view all its branches. Other options allow you to select the type of entry that displays on the expanded tree. Similarly, you can turn on a filter so that only those branches containing scripted items are expanded.

With the Animator timeline, script entries are displayed graphically. You can edit the graphs directly, by clicking and dragging the entries along the time line.

With both Tree View and the Timeline, any alterations are reflected in the Animation Producer dialog box. Similarly, any changes made, using the Animation Producer dialog box are reflected in the Tree View and Timeline dialog boxes.

The Animator Tree View dialog box

An icon bar at the top of this dialog box provides the necessary tools for controlling the display of animation items in the list box below. Initially, only one item, “World,” appears in the list box next to the Bentley logo. Where an animation script is present for the design file, the design file’s name replaces “World.” Clicking on the logo, or double-clicking on the name (World or the design file name) expands the tree to the next level, displaying the animation groups:

• World Properties

• Materials

• Lights

• Cameras

• KeyFrames

• Included Scripts

• Actors


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The Animator Tree View dialog box

Of these groups, any item that has a “+” indicates that it can be expanded. As you script items for the animation sequence, “+” signs will appear next to their branches.

Tree Refresh

Refreshes the display of the tree. You should select Tree Refresh after applying a material to an element in the design or adding a light source.

Tree Filter

Toggles the filter on and off. When on, the tree displays only those items that are animated. Turning the filter off displays all items that can be animated.

Tree Expand Options

Opens the Tree Expand Options dialog box. Settings in this dialog box let you select which items are displayed in the tree view.

Compress Tree

Compresses (closes) all open branches of the tree.

Add Actor/Light to Selection set

Selects the highlighted light(s) or actor(s) in the design.

Send to Timeline

Sends all selected items that can be sent to the Animator Timeline dialog box. If necessary, the Timeline dialog box is opened prior to sending the items.

In the Tree View list box, all green icons can be sent to the Timeline dialog box.

Editing Tree View entries

Right clicking on an entry in the Tree View list displays a menu at the pointer, letting you Add, Delete, Edit, Disable, Enable, Toggle Enable/Disable, or Send to Timeline. Any menu functions that are not appropriate for the highlighted entry are dimmed in the menu.


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The Timeline dialog box

The Timeline dialog box

Using the Timeline dialog box you can view the animated items in a graphical format. You can graphically make adjustments to the critical points such as keyframe frame numbers by dragging the point to the new frame. An icon bar at the top of the dialog box provides the necessary tools.

Keyframe Element Select

Lets you to select elements from the design to display in the Timeline dialog box. Each keyframe that the selected element occurs in will be displayed.

Time Scale

Lets you view the time display in either SMPTE (Society for Motion Picture and Television Engineers) time format (Minutes:Seconds:Frames), or frame numbers.

Show Velocity Key

Pressing this button displays a key for the color codings of the lines that appear in the timeline graphs.

Set Text Column Width

Used to set the number of characters in the text field at the left. The maximum is 75% of the width of the dialog box.

Remove All Entries

Used to remove all entries from the Timeline dialog box.

Sort Mode

Used to sort the list of items in the Timeline dialog box, based on the Sort Mode option:

• Category (Actor, Light) — cyan icons in the tree.

• Action Item (Actor Path, Light Color) — green icons in the tree.

• Frame Number — all items in the tree.

Editing Timeline entries

You can edit the entries in the Timeline dialog box. Frame markers in the graphs are depicted by small black squares. You can click and drag these to change their position in the time line. The precision with which these moves are made is governed by the setting in the Drag Precision field.


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Using the Animation Producer Tree View and Timeline

For items that have ranges, such as parametric scripts or path motion, you can move the entire range by clicking on the line between the two markers and dragging. Clicking on the start or end marker only extends the line.

Keyframes

When a keyframe is moved, whether it be an actor keyframe or a scripted keyframe, all entities within the keyframe move also. For example, if a keyframe contains two actors, dragging either one of them causes the other to update accordingly.

Targets, paths and scripts

Clicking on the line in between the markers causes the whole script to move up or down the time line.

Copying entries

Holding <Shift> down while clicking on a frame marker lets you copy that script entry and place it elsewhere in the list.

Editing entries

Holding <Ctrl> down while clicking on a frame marker lets you edit the script entry.

✍ You can move items in the tree by selecting the text and dragging the item. You can select multiple items by using <Shift-Ctrl> and can remove them with a right mouse click.

Using the Animation Producer Tree View and Timeline

The following exercises illustrate how easy it is to modify an animation script using the Animation Producer’s Tree View and Timeline. In the exercise you will:

• Work with an existing movie which is composed of a series of JPEG (*.jpg) files.

• Modify the script using both the Animator Tree View and Animator Timeline.

• Record selected frames from the animation sequence and view the results of the modifications to the animation script.


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Adding script entries using the Animator Tree View


1 Open the design file dlamp2.dgn.

2 Open the Animation Producer and review the existing script entries.

3 Review the movie dlamp000.jpg.

The movie is found in the \workshop\timeline directory and consists of a series of JPEG (.jpg) images starting with image file dlamp000.jpg.

Adding script entries using the Animator Tree View

Now that you have reviewed the movie, let’s modify the script using the Animator Tree View and Animator Timeline.

➤ Modify the intensity of a spot light using the Animator Tree View

1 From the Animation Producer settings box’s Settings menu, choose Tree View.

The Animator Tree View settings box opens. In the list box, the file name appears next to the Bentley logo.

2 In the list box, click the Bentley logo (or double-click the file name).

Target

Actors

Camera & camera pathTarget

Keyframes

Change spotlight color

Rotate the baseKeyframes

KeyframesChange spotlight color

The AnimatorProducer

settings box


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Modifying script entries using the Animator Tree View

The tree expands to display the available categories.

3 Click the Lights icon.

The tree expands to display items for each of the lights.

4 Click the Spot Light - 177 icon.

The tree expands to display items for the spot light.

5 Select the Intensity entry for Spot Light -177, using the right mouse button.

A pop-up menu appears at the pointer location.

6 From the menu, choose Add.

The Animate Settings dialog box opens.

7 In the Intensity field enter 0.5.

8 In the Frame Number field enter 20.


The entry in the Animator Tree View settings box updates, as does the corresponding entry in the Animation Producer settings box.

Now that we have lowered the spot lights intensity, we need to bring the light back to full intensity so that the revised animation frames can be integrated into the animation sequence.

10 Select the Intensity entry for Spot Light -177, using the right mouse button.

11 From the menu, choose Add.

12 In the Intensity field enter 1.0.

13 In the Frame Number field enter 39.


The entry in the Animator Tree View settings box updates, as does the corresponding entry in the Animation Producer settings box.


Let’s continue by modifying existing script entries using the Animator Tree View.


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➤ Modifying the color of a spot light using the Animator Tree View

1 Click the Color icon.

The tree expands to display frames associated with the color of the spot light.

The script already includes 5 entries for the color of the spot light. We will continue by modifying an existing entry.

2 Select Frame 20 using the right mouse button.

3 From the menu, choose Edit.

4 From the Edit Setting dialog box, select Color.

5 Modify the Color Components using the following settings:

Red: 0

Green: 0

Blue: 180

6 Click OK to close the Modify Color dialog box.

7 Click the OK to close the Edit Setting dialog box.

8 Review the script entries listed in the Animation Producer settings box.

Note the 2 new entries listed for the intensity of Light #177.

Intensity settings added to the script


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Record Selected Frames


Now that we have modified the animation script let’s record a segment of the animation sequence to compare with the original movie.

➤ Record and review the results

1 From the Animation Producer settings box’s File menu, choose Record Selected Frames.

The Record Selected Frames dialog box opens.

2 Adjust the settings in the Record Selected Frames dialog box as follows:

View: 2

Resolution X: 320

Resolution Y: 240

Gamma: 1.00

Frames: 10-39

Shading: Ray Tracing

Antialias: Off

Compression: Minimum Loss


File: dlamp10.jpg

Directory: \workshop\timeline\revised1

List Files of Type: JPEG (JFIF)

3 Click OK.

The frames 10 through 39 are processed and saved in the revised1 directory.

Once the processing has completed it is time to review the results.


The movie is found in the \workshop\timeline\revised1 directory and is a series of JPEG (.jpg) images starting with image file dlamp010.jpg.


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Compare the animation sequences.

On the Left:

Frame 10 from theoriginal animation

sequence.

On the Right:

Frame 1 (matches theold frame 10) from the

revised1 animationsequence.

Note the difference inthe spot lights intensity.

On the Left:


sequence.

On the Right:

Frame 6 (matches theold frame 16) from

the revised1animation sequence.

On the Left:


sequence.

On the Right:

Frame 11 (matchesthe old frame 21)from the revised1

animation sequence.


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Using the Animator Timeline


Let’s continue by changing the time it takes between keyframes during the animation sequence.

➤ Adding and modifying script entries using the Animator Timeline

1 Click the Keyframe icon from the Animator Tree View.

The keyframes scripted in the animation sequence are displayed in the list box.

2 Click the 2 icon.

3 Click the Elements and Key Times icons for keyframe 2.

On the Left:


sequence.

On the Right:


animation sequence.

On the Left:


sequence.

On the Right:


animation sequence.

The lighting intensityis now synchronized

between the twoanimation sequences.


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4 Click the 3 icon.

5 Click the Elements and Key Times icons for keyframe 3.

6 Select Key Times from keyframe 2, using the right mouse button.


7 Select Send to Timeline from the pop-up menu.

The Key Time selected is sent to the Animator Timeline settings box and the Animator Timeline settings box opens.



9 Select Send to Timeline from the pop-up menu.

The Key Time selected is sent to the Animator Timeline settings box.

The timeline settings for keyframes 2 and 3 now appear in the Animator Timeline.

Now let’s continue by associating an existing keyframe to another frame in the animation script.


The AnimatorTimeline settings box


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11 Select Add from the pop-up menu.

The Script Keyframe dialog box appears.

12 In the Script Keyframe dialog box, make the following settings:

Frame Number: 20

Interpolation: Linear

Velocity: Constant

Disabled: Not selected

13 Click OK

Frame 20 is added to the Key Times for keyframe 2 and the Animator Timeline is updated.

Using the Animator Timeline you can graphically modify script entries in the animation sequence. Let’s continue by adjusting keyframe 3, so that its motion is sandwiched between the occurrences of keyframe 2.

14 In the Animator Timeline, click on and hold down the data button on the handle for keyframe 3.

15 While holding down the data button, drag the handle for keyframe number 3 towards the left.

The current frame number is displayed in the lower left corner of the settings box.

16 Once the handle is positioned over frame 15, release the data button to complete the change.


Now that we have added an instance of keyframe 2 and modified the script for the occurrence of keyframe 3 it is time to record the animation sequence.


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➤ Record and review the results

1 From the Animation Producer settings box’s File menu, choose Record Selected Frames.

2 Adjust the settings in the Record Selected Frames dialog box as follows:

View: 2

Resolution X: 320

Resolution Y: 240

Gamma: 1.00

Frames: 10-39

Shading: Ray Tracing

Antialias: Off

Compression: Minimum Loss


File: dlamp10.jpg

Directory: \workshop\timeline\revised2

List Files of Type: JPEG (JFIF)

3 Click OK.

The frames 10 through 39 are processed and saved in the revised2 directory.


The movie is found in the \workshop\timeline\revised2 directory and is a series of JPEG (.jpg) images starting with image file dlamp010.jpg.

On the Left:

Frame 1 from therevised1 animation

sequence.

On the Right:


sequence.

The animation actorsstart in the same

position.


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On the Left:


sequence.

On the Right:


sequence.

Note the differencesin the positions of the

animation actors.

On the Left:


sequence.

On the Right:


sequence.


animation actors.

On the Left:


sequence.

On the Right:


sequence.


animation actors.


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As you can see, the Animator Tree View and Animator Timeline are powerful script editing tools. As you gain experience producing animations with MicroStation you will be able to quickly fine tune your animations using these tools.

On the Left:


sequence.

On the Right:


sequence.

The animation actorsposition has now

synchronized.


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18 Rendering Setups

Rendering, particularly of complex models, can be time consuming. Various rendering settings can have a major impact on rendering times. For initial working images, coarse settings can be used, to produce images quickly. For final images, however, you must remember to adjust the settings to improve the quality. The Rendering Setups dialog box streamlines these procedures.

MicroStation’s Rendering Setups dialog box lets you create rendering setups and save them with the design file. You can create multiple setups that cover different rendering scenarios, such as:

• Working setup — with coarse settings, useful for initial rendering to check the placement of lights and materials.

• Check setup — with finer settings to give a near final quality image for last minute checking.

• Final setup — with all settings chosen to produce the final high quality, photo-realistic rendered image.

To load the settings relative to the current requirements, you select the appropriate Setup Name, from an option menu. Setup files also can be exported to an external file. This same setup file then can be imported into a new design file and saved with it.


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Rendering Setups

Rendering > Setup

Choosing Setup from the Settings menu’s Rendering sub-menu opens the Rendering Setup dialog box, which is used to define preferred settings for rendering. The tabbed dialog box lets you choose the required settings group.

In the lower region of the Rendering Setups dialog box are tabbed groups of settings. To display and access the various rendering settings, you click on the tab. The settings are grouped as follows:

General

Contains settings that control the display of curved surfaces and pattern maps, shadows (Phong rendering only) and Distance Cueing.

The Rendering Setups dialog box with the General

tab selected.

The General tab selected from the Rendering Setups

dialog box.


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Rendering Setups

View Attributes

Contains settings that are found in the View Attributes dialog box.

Render Attributes

Contains settings that control the display mode of the view, and Distance Cueing.

View Levels

Contains settings to control the levels that are displayed in the views.

The View Attributes tab selected from the Rendering

Setups dialog box.

The Render Attributes tab selected from the Rendering

Setups dialog box.

The View Levels tab selected from the Rendering Setups

dialog box.

These correspond to controls in the View Levels

dialog box.


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Rendering Setups

View Size

Contains settings to control the size of the view and allow you to turn on the background image. If necessary, a new background image also can be selected.

Global Lighting

Contains controls for Ambient and Flashbulb lighting, as well as the option to Add Sky Light to all Solar and Distant Lights.

Solar Lighting

Contains controls for Solar Lighting.

The View Size tab selected from the Rendering Setups

dialog box.

Settings controlling the size of the view correspond to those found in the View

Size dialog box, as well as the View Size tool. Setting

the background image may also be done from the View

option of the Design File Settings box.

The Global Lighting tab selected from the Rendering

Setups dialog box.

These same settings are found in the Global Lighting dialog box.

The Solar Lighting tab selected from the Rendering

Setups dialog box.

The Global Lighting dialog box also contains these

settings.


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Rendering Setups

Ray Tracing

Contains settings for Ray Tracing.

More Ray Tracing

Correspond to settings found in the More Ray Tracer Settings box.

Radiosity

Correspond to settings found in the Settings tab of the Radiosity dialog box.

The Ray Tracing tab selected from the Rendering

Setups dialog box.

The same settings are found in the Ray Tracing

dialog box.

The More Ray Tracing tab selected from the Rendering

Setups dialog box.

The Radiosity tab selected from the Rendering Setups

dialog box.


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Rendering Setups

Materials and Lighting

Correspond to settings found in the Materials and Lighting tab of the Radiosity dialog box.

Display

Contains settings that control the display of the Radiosity solution.

Loading and saving rendering setups

Options for loading and saving settings files, loading settings from a view and applying the settings to a view, are located in the upper region of the Rendering Setups dialog box.

Setup Name

This option menu displays the name of the rendering setup file currently loaded. Where no file has been saved or loaded, the default name <Initial Setup> appears.

Auto Apply To View

When on, the settings of a selected setup file automatically are applied to the current view (as displayed in the View option menu).

The Materials and Lighting tab selected from the

Rendering Setups dialog box.

The Display tab selected from the Rendering Setups

dialog box.

These settings correspond to those found in the Display tab of the Radiosity dialog

box.


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Rendering Setups

View

Displays the currently selected view.

Save As…

Opens the Save Setup As dialog box, which is used to save a setup file (with the active design file).

Delete

Deletes the current setup file. Not available (dimmed) if no setup file has been saved or loaded. That is, <Initial Setup> is the current file.

Auto Load From View

Loads the settings from the currently selected view.

Apply

Applies the current settings to the selected view.

File menu

Items in this menu allow you to Import a previously saved setup file, or Export the currently loaded settings to an external file. These files have the extension “.rsf” (Rendering Setup File).

Ray Tracing/Radiosity menu

Options in this menu incorporate options in the File menu of the Ray Tracing dialog box, and that of the Radiosity dialog box.

Creating a rendering settings setup:

1 From the Settings menu’s Rendering sub-menu, choose Setup.

The Rendering Setups dialog box opens.

2 Using controls in the dialog box, define settings as required.

3 Click the Save As… button.


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Using Rendering Setups

The Save Setup As dialog box opens.

4 In the Name field, key in a file name.


The dialog box closes and the new settings file name appears in the Setup Name option menu.

Using the above method, you can create several rendering setups. To change from one setup to the other you choose the required setup from the Setup Name option menu.

Where a setup file is required for other design files, you must first export it to an external file.


In the following exercises you will use rendering setups that have been saved with a design file. As you work through the exercise, five different rendering setups will be used in conjunction with phong and ray tracing render modes. Each of the rendering setups (in order from 1 to 5) progress from coarse to detailed and illustrate how you can use MicroStation’s rendering setups to improve your workflow.

With the coarse settings in renset-1 you can quickly generate renderings that allow you to check the position of objects and/or the camera. Spending a little more time processing, the rendering settings in renset-3 enable you to review materials and shadows. Finally, using ray tracing and the settings in renset-5 you can visualize the full effects of materials including the base of the model which turns out to be a mirror.

➤ Using a predefined rendering setup

1 Open the design file rendset3.dgn.

The design file opens with window 2 open. Two spot light sources are already placed in the design file for use in the exercise.

2 From the Settings menu’s Rendering sub-menu, choose Setup.

The Rendering Setups dialog box opens.

3 From the Setup Name option menu, select renset-1.



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5 Render window 2 using the Phong rendering mode.

The view is rendered, not that there are no shadows or materials visible.

➤ Add shadows to the rendering

1 From the Setup Name option menu select renset-2.



The view is rendered with shadows cast by the solar light and two spot lights.

➤ Add materials to the rendering



Rendering SettingsRender Attributes: Shadows - OffGlobal Lighting: Ambient - On and set to 0.40Solar Lighting: Solar - On and set to 0.80

View rendered using the Phong rendering mode.

Changes to Rendering SettingsRender Attributes: Shadows - OnSolar Lighting: Solar - On


Shadows added to the rendering


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The view is now rendered with materials and shadows.

➤ Change to ray tracing and add transparency to the rendering



3 Render window 2 using the Ray Tracing rendering mode.

The view is now rendered with transparency.

➤ Add reflections to the rendering



Changes to Rendering SettingsRender Attributes: Patterns/Bump Maps - On


Materials added to the rendering

Changes to Rendering SettingsRay Tracing: Shadows - OnRay Tracing: Transparency - On

View rendered using the Ray Tracing rendering mode.

Transparency added to the rendering


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The base of the model now renders as a mirrored surface.

Changes to Rendering SettingsRay Tracing: Reflections - On

View rendered using the Ray Tracing rendering mode.

Reflection added to the rendering


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19 Common Rendering Problems and Technical Considerations

As you have seen in this course visualizing can create a significant burden on your computer’s resources. Several problem solving techniques are discussed in this chapter including:

• Common rendering problems

• Technical considerations: Rendering images in bands and network processing

Common Rendering Problems

This section covers how to solve some common rendering problems.

Screen remains blank

Lighting illuminates the image. If no light shines on visible surfaces, the image stays “dark.” Turn on Flashbulb to remedy this.

➤ To turn on Flashbulb

1 From the Settings menu’s Rendering sub-menu, choose Global Lighting.

The Global Lighting dialog box opens.

2 Turn Flashbulb on.

3 (Optional) Adjust the flashbulb Intensity. The maximum Intensity value is 1.0.

4 (Optional) Adjust the flashbulb Color. The brightest available Color is the default, White.

Changes to light source cells do not take effect

Information about light sources is read the first time the design is rendered in the current session. If manual changes are then made to light sources, you must key in DEFINE LIGHTS to make the changes take effect.

✍ If you use the Define Light tool or the Source Lighting dialog box to modify light sources, this key-in is not necessary.


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Technical Considerations

No shadows

Shadows are cast only if shadows are on for the view, light source, material and:

• For ray traced images, Shadows also must be turned on in the Ray Tracing dialog box.

• For Phong shading, Shadows also must be turned on in the Rendering View Attributes dialog box.

No transparency

Objects are rendered transparent only if the material and the view have transparency enabled.

Shadows not cast correctly when Phong rendering

During a design session, shadow maps for a light source are calculated when you first render a view. To save time, shadow maps are saved instead of being re-calculated each time a view is rendered.

You must clear the shadow maps if you do either of the following:

• Change the design — add, delete, modify, or move elements.

Make any changes to a light source in any way except by using the controls in the Source Lighting dialog box.

Technical Considerations

These methods can make the task of creating visualization sequences more efficient and less time-consuming. These topics are covered only in an overview fashion and you should contact your System Administrator or CAD Manager prior to implementing any of these solutions in your workplace.

In a similar fashion, an overview of Field rendering is provided, with a caution that using this method requires specialized equipment and images created with this method do not display properly using the MicroStation Movies utility.

Rendering images in bands

As we discussed earlier in this course, because of memory limitations, it can be difficult to render high resolution images in order to save them to disk. Consider that during the rendering process, an extremely large image with anti-aliasing can


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Rendering images in bands

exceed tens of megabytes in working size prior to its completion. For example, a 2000×2000-pixel anti-aliased image requires 48 MB of RAM to process.

You can overcome such memory limitations by using the Render Image in Bands option in the Save Image dialog box. The banded rendering process breaks up the image into a series of bands. Each band is then processed as an individual image within RAM and written to disk as a rendered band file. Upon completion of the last band, all of the rendered band files are combined into a single, finished image file and the rendered band files are then deleted.

Banded rendering only works with true color (24-bit) rendering and cannot be used to save an image in JPEG format.

Settings for banded rendering

The following settings in the Save Image dialog box affect banded rendering:

• Memory — the amount of RAM, in KB, allocated to the rendering process. The more RAM allocated the fewer bands required to process a given image at the current resolution and the faster the processing.

• Number of Bands — the complement to the Memory setting, this setting is automatically calculated based on the rendering parameters and the amount of memory made available. You can directly enter the number of bands which results in a recalculation of the amount of memory required for the rendering of each band.

Files created by banded rendering

During a banded rendering process, the file extension is used to identify individual rendered band files during the rendering process. The file naming syntax is “<image_file_name>.b##,” where ## is a sequential hexadecimal number (0-F) starting with .b00 and running through .bff (a maximum of 256 possible bands per rendering). Because of the potential of overwriting existing files with similar extensions, it is recommended that these band files be stored in a separate directory. This directory defaults to the directory specified by the configuration variable MS_IMAGEOUT (Image Output in the Rendering/Images category of the Configuration dialog box).

For example, when banded rendering is being used to render and save a 2000×2000-pixel image with the banded memory set to 8 MB, 22 band files are created.

In addition to the rendered band files, the banded rendering process creates a temporary control file named “<image_file_name>.bnd.” This file contains the rendering settings, the total number of bands to render and the number of bands thus far rendered.


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Network processing: Using multiple systems

Error recovery

Rendering an image in bands and writing each band to disk makes it possible to recover from an interruption in the process.

➤ To restart a banded rendering after an interruption

1 From the Utilities menu’s Image sub menu, choose Save.

The Save Image dialog box opens.

2 In the Banded Rendering section, click the Continue button.

The Continue Banded Rendering dialog box opens.

3 In the Files list box, select the control (“.bnd”) file.


The rendering process resumes starting with the next unfinished band.

Network processing: Using multiple systems

The Render Image in Bands option enables you to use multiple systems to render and save a single image. All of the systems must be connected to a common networked file system.

The system on which the banded rendering process is initiated creates the control file on the shared network drive. The Continue button in the Save Image dialog box is used on subsequent systems to continue the processing with the first unrendered band. After the last rendered band file in the series is created, the system by which this file was generated combines all of the previous bands together and creates the final image file. This system also deletes the individual rendered band files.

Field rendering

Both NTSC and PAL television systems use interlaced video. This means that each frame actually consists of two fields. Each field contains half of the frame scan lines, and only a single field is refreshed in each scan. The NTSC screen that displays 30 fields per second will therefore display 60 frames per second.

Typically, computer systems used non-interlaced displays. That is, each time the screen is refreshed, all the scan lines are updated.

When recording a script that is to be played back on video equipment you can use the Field Rendering option. With this option each frame renders in two passes, with the second pass half a frame ahead of the first one. The two passes are then interlaced (combined into one frame). The resulting frame will then match the field


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Field rendering

refresh rate of the video display system. This technique is known as field rendering and effectively doubles the apparent refresh rate of the recorded sequence from 30 to 60 fields for NTSC and from 25 to 50 fields for PAL.

✍ Movies recorded with the Field Rendering option active will not display correctly when played back with the MicroStation Movies utility.


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