Previewing Ultimapper Results

 
 
 

Once you've generated your maps, you can preview the results on the low-resolution destination object using the Preview options in the Ultimapper property editor. Softimage creates a preview by creating a render tree for the low-resolution object and displaying the results in a viewport. The preview render tree uses only the maps that are activated on the General tab of the Ultimapper property editor.

To preview Ultimapper results

  1. Open the Ultimapper property editor and go to the Preview Shader Tree tab.

  2. You may want to start by clicking the High res source button in the Hide/Unhide options to hide the high-resolution source object.

    This is especially useful when the low-resolution target object does not completely encompass the source.

  3. From the Preview options, set the Display setting to the type of preview you wish to generate.

    You can choose DirectX realtime shading, OpenGL realtime shading, or mental ray shading.

  4. Click the Create Preview button. Two things happen:

    • The maps are applied to the low-resolution object via an automatically generated render tree. The shaders used are determined by the Display setting (OpenGL, DirectX or mental ray).

      Note that although the low-resolution object's original material (if any) is replaced by this preview render tree, it is not deleted and can be found in (and reassigned from) the material library.

    • The results of the render tree described above are displayed in any and all viewports set to the scene camera view.

      If the Display type is set to OpenGL or DirectX, the viewport's display mode is set accordingly. If it is set to mental ray, you can preview the object by drawing a render region around it.

  5. You can generate as many previews as necessary. Each time you generate a preview, it uses only maps that are activated on the General tab of the Ultimapper property editor. This allows you to preview the low-resolution object using various combinations of maps.