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Using the environments interface
 
 
 

What are environments?

Environments let you view models in various contexts, such as white rooms, photo studios, or photographic scenes. Each environment includes a visible background, image-based lighting, and optional directional lighting and shadows. Custom environments can be created and stored in user libraries. Environments can be referenced in a scene and quickly changed within Storyboards.

Press the E key to see the environment interface. Environments currently available in the scene are shown in the top list, while all available environments are shown in the bottom list. User defined libraries are shown beneath the standard included environments.

NoteSome of the included Showcase environments have the prefix “ID-” in their name. These environments are smaller than most and are best suited for smaller objects. However, the scale of any environment can be adjusted.

When you are authoring a scene, you should provide several relevant environments in the scene for those viewing the scene. During a presentation or storyboarding, others can only choose from environments you add to the list of Environments in this scene.

NoteIf you add environments to your scene that are from a user defined library, be sure that all users of the scene file have access to that file location, or that you include the environment files with your scene files.

Switch between environments

  1. Press the E key (or select Scene > Environments).

    Choose an environment from the Environments in this scene list to use as a background for your scene.

    NoteIf there are multiple rows of environments, you can click on the up and down arrow buttons to scroll through them:

  2. Press the E key again to remove the environments interface.

Include an environment

To make an environment available for the scene:

  1. Press the E key.

    The Environment Settings interface appears, with two lists of environments. Environments currently available in the scene are shown in the top list, Environments in this scene. All available environments are shown in the bottom list, Environment Libraries.

    NoteIf you don’t see the Environment Libraries list, press the Tab key to go into edit mode.
  2. To include an environment in the scene that is listed in the Environment Libraries list, click on it.

    The environment appears in the Environments in this scene list, and its icon in the Environment Libraries list says, “Referenced”.

Exclude an environment

To exclude an environment from selection when people are viewing the scene:

  1. Press the E key.
    NoteIf you see only one list, press the Tab key to go into edit mode.
  2. To remove an environment from the Environments in this scene list, right-click it and select Remove from Scene from the menu that appears.

Set the initial environment

To set the environment that will be shown when the scene is first opened:

  1. Press the E key.
    NoteIf you see only one list, press the Tab key to go into Authoring mode.
  2. In the Environments in this scene list, right-click over the environment you want to specify as the initial environment and select Make Initial Environment from the menu that appears.

    See Also

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