Use Visual Styles to change the appearance of your scene using a set of ready made styles. These take the form of swatches in the Visual Styles menu. When you click one of the swatches, a set of properties is applied to the display -- for example, shadows, ray tracing, non-photorealistic effects such as flat or toon color, or diagnostic styles such as normals display.
The styles help you get closer to the desired visual look without changing material properties. The style icons indicate the keyboard shortcuts for the most used visual styles. The icon of the active visual style is highlighted.
To open the Visual Styles menu:
Click a swatch to apply its display properties.
Realistic styles enable you to quickly adjust the realistic display that Showcase uses by default. Use these styles to turn shadows on or off, and to enable hardware rendering or ray tracing.
Realistic styles range from a basic realistic style with high frame rate to a more realistic look that is achieved at the cost of a lower frame rate. Turn shadows on and off using realistic styles; their state is saved even if you apply abstract styles.
No Shadows:  |
Enables hardware rendering and displays materials realistically. Turns off shadows and ambient shadows and achieves a higher frame rate. See Optimize hardware rendering for quality. |
Ambient Shadows:  |
Disables environment shadows and enables ambient shadows. The properties most recently set in the Ambient Shadows window are respected. See Add ambient shadows to surfaces. |
Shadows:  |
Disables ambient shadows and enables environment shadows. The properties most recently set in the Directional Light and Shadows window are respected. See Adjust environment light and shadows. |
Both Shadows and Ambient Shadows:  |
This is the default visual style. It enables both ambient and environment shadows for a more realistic hardware rendering
of the scene. The properties most recently set in their respective windows are respected. This style can be enabled at any time (even outside of the Visual Styles menu) using the Shortcut key D, which is displayed in the upper right corner of the swatch. |
Ray Tracing:  |
Turns on ray tracing, resulting in the most realistic visual style. In ray tracing, objects can reflect each other. Other benefits of ray tracing are more accurate rendering of transparency and scene illumination. The properties most recently set in the ray tracing settings are respected. See Optimize Ray Tracing for frame rate or quality. Ray tracing can also be enabled at any time (even outside of the Visual Styles menu) using the Shortcut key R, which is displayed in the upper right corner of the swatch. |
Abstract styles give you access to non-photorealistic rendering (NPR) looks for your scene. NPR draws the focus to high-level design ideas and helps clarify that the design is still at the concept phase. This can be preferable at times to photorealism, which tends to draw attention to details and suggest that the design is complete.
Abstract styles display materials in a simplified way without changing the way they are rendered in realistic styles. Abstract styles maintain the visibility state of the environment shadows set by the realistic styles.
All abstract styles display geometry edges. For better display of the geometry edges, enable anti-aliasing. See Optimize hardware rendering for quality.
Flat Color:  |
Displays the model without shading. Turns on geometry edges and renders the materials as the average color of their textures. Ambient shadows, reflections, and the environment light are disabled. If environment shadows are on, they are displayed only on the ground of the environment. The environment is displayed as such. For a flat color background, switch to the Empty environment and choose a background color. See Set preferences. |
Toon Color:  |
Renders the scene as a cartoon illustration using geometry edges and the average colors of the materials. Reflections and ambient shadows are not displayed. The directional light and shadows are visible if they are active. To make the shadows sharper or change their direction and color, Adjust environment light and shadows. The environment is posterized. Choose an environment like Empty or White Room for a more abstract look. |
Shaded Textures:  |
Generates a shaded look for the model. It displays the geometry edges and renders the materials with textures but without reflections or bump. Reflections and ambient shadows are not displayed. Choose an environment with gradients, like ID Box Sweep, BP Gradient, or Photo Studio. |
Tech:  |
Built for illustrations of models with reflective materials. The textures and environment reflections are enabled. Ambient shadows are not displayed. Both the geometry and the environment are rendered as an illustration. Use the White Room environment or switch to Empty and choose a background color. |
Realistic with Edges:  |
Renders the model realistically and enhances the look by adding geometry edges. Ambient shadows and environment reflections are enabled. The environment shadows are available if turned on by realistic styles. Use any realistic environment and set the floor position accordingly. See Position objects relative to the floor. |
Ambient Shadows with Edges:  |
Displays the model with ambient shadows, edges, and ground shadows. If the Ambient Shadows type is set to Preview (instant-on), no materials are displayed. If the type is set to Baked, the objects that are baked are displayed with ambient shadows and edges. The objects that are not baked are displayed with realistic materials and edges. See Apply ambient shadows. |
Use Diagnostic styles to troubleshoot your scene by viewing tessellation information, normals, or isolated ambient shadows.
Tessellation:  |
Enables hardware rendering and displays polygon edges, similar to a wireframe display. (This is not the same thing as Autodesk Inventor wireframe, which displays geometric edges.) Use this to display tessellation details and see objects embedded within other objects. |
Normals:  |
Before you start applying materials it is a good idea to display normals to check that all the surface normals face outward
and to correct any that need correcting. See Check surface normals. Normals can also be shown at any time (even outside of the Visual Styles menu) using the Shortcut key F7, which is displayed in the upper right corner of the swatch. |
Ambient Shadows Only:  |
Removes everything from the display except ambient shadows. See Apply ambient shadows. |
