Visibility Property Editor

The Visibility property controls:

Whether an object is selectable in 3D views.
Whether an object is visible in 3D views or during playback.
Whether an object is visible when rendering, and in particular whether it is visible to various types of ray (primary, secondary, and so on).

This property exists locally on every 3D object in Softimage and cannot be applied or deleted.

To display: Click an object's Visibility node in an explorer.

Setting Visibility on Model Instances

By default, model instances inherit their visibility attributes from the instance master. However, to give you proper control over model-instance visibility attributes, extra check boxes appear (unlabeled) next to most parameters in the visibility property editor. Checking these boxes causes the instance to stop inheriting the master hierarchy's visibility attributes, and allows you to set the chosen parameter for the instance itself. For more information about visibility options and model instances, see Visibility Options and Model Instances.

Display

General

If one or other of View Visibility and Render Visibility is off, then a light gray H (for "hidden") appears on the object's icon in the explorer. If both are off, a yellow H appears.


Both View Visibility and Render Visibility off.	View Visibility on and Render Visibility off — or vice versa.

View Visibility	Determines whether objects are visible in the 3D views. Invisible objects can still be rendered according to their Render Visibility settings.
Render Visibility	Determines whether objects are visible during rendering. Non-renderable objects can still be seen in 3D views according to their View Visibility settings. This option is also available on the Rendering tab.
Selectability	Determines whether objects are selectable in the 3D views. Objects are always selectable in explorer and schematic views.
View Playback Visibility	Determines whether objects are visible in the 3D views during playback. For example, you may want to hide bones and controllers to show only geometry on a character. Hiding objects can also increase playback speed. Hidden: Objects are always hidden during playback. Visible: Objects are always visible during playback. Same as View Visibility: Objects are hidden or visible during playback depending on the View Visibility setting.

Animation

For more information about ghosting, see Ghosting Animated Objects [Animation].

Ghosting

Determines whether the animation of objects is ghosted in the 3D views. Animation ghosting is sometimes called onion-skinning.

If this option has a check mark but is unavailable (grayed out), it means that this object belongs to a layer or group whose ghosting setting is active and overrides this value.

If you want to have ghosting for only one object in the layer or group, first deactivate the ghosting for the layer or group, then activate Ghosting here for just that object.

Ghost Types

Determines the appearance of the ghosted shapes for the animated object — see the images below for a description of each display option.

The display uses the current settings as defined in the Camera Display Property Editor.


Object draws the object's geometry for each ghost.	Point draws a point (small cross) for each ghost based on the center of the object's bounding box.

Pose draws a transformation (scale, rotation, translation) axis for each ghost based on the center of the object's bounding box.	Trail draws a smooth curve connecting points created for each ghost. This displays the trajectory of the object. You can set the smoothness of the curve using the Trail Subdivisions option in the Camera Display Property Editor.

Velocity draws a velocity vector (direction arrow) for each ghost. You can set the length of the vector drawn with the Velocity Scale Factor parameter in the Camera Display Property Editor.

Rendering

Render Visibility

Defines whether the object will be visible during rendering. Also available on the General tab.

Instance Master Hidden

If the selected object is part of a model instance master, it is hidden for rendering. This also affects display in the viewports.

This is useful for particle and hair instancing, where you're not likely to want to render the master object/hierarchy.

Ray Visibility

Primary	Activates or deactivates primary rays. Primary rays are all rays emitted from the camera, including transparency rays. They determine the visibility of an object in the scene. When on, the object is visible.
Secondary	Activates or deactivates secondary rays. Secondary rays are rays cast once a primary ray hits an object. These include, but are not limited to reflection rays, refraction rays, final gathering sample rays, and so on.

Shadow

Shadow options control the visibility of shadows on scene objects. For shadows to be visible, you must also activate shadows in the property editors of the appropriate scene lights (those that are responsible for creating shadows.

Caster	When on, the object casts a shadow on surrounding shadow-receiving objects.
Receiver	When on, surrounding shadow-casting objects cast their shadows onto the object.

Transparency

Transparency options give you fine control over how an object reacts to transparency rays. For these options to have any visible effect, the object and/or surrounding objects must have some sort of transparency defined in their materials.

Caster	When on, the object can cast transparency rays. This means that other scene objects are visible through the object.
Visible	When on, the object is visible to transparency rays. This means that the object is visible when looked at through the surfaces of scene objects that are themselves transparency casters.

Reflection

Reflection options give you fine control over how an object reacts to reflection rays. For these options to have any visible effect, the object and/or surrounding objects must have some sort of reflectivity defined in their materials.

Caster	When on, the object can cast reflection rays, meaning that it will reflect surrounding objects in its surface, provided that they are visible to reflection rays.
Visible	When on, the object is visible to reflection rays, making it visible in the surfaces of surrounding objects that are themselves reflection casters.

Refraction

Refraction options give you fine control over how an object reacts to refraction rays. For these options to have any visible effect, the object and/or surrounding objects must have some sort of transparency defined in their materials, and their Index Of Refraction (IOR) values must be greater or less than 1 (an IOR value of 1 means that no refraction occurs).

It's easiest to think of the refraction visibility attributes as being identical to the transparency visibility attributes, but only used when the IOR is set to something other than 1.

Caster	When on, the object can cast refraction rays. This means that other scene objects properly refracted when seen through the object, provided that those objects are themselves visible to refraction rays.
Visible	When on, the object is visible to refraction rays. This means that the object is appears properly refracted when looked at through the surfaces of transparent scene objects that are refraction casters.

Final Gathering

Caster	When on, the object can cast final gathering sample rays in order to sample surrounding objects.
Visible to Sampling	When on, the object is visible to final gathering sample rays cast by other scene objects. When off, final gathering rays pass through the object and are able to sample the next object that they hit.
Sampled	When on, the object is sampled by final gathering sample rays cast by other scene objects. When off, the object absorbs the final gathering rays, but does not contribute to the final gathering result.
Local FG Map	Specifies the path to a final gathering map that is generated for the object only. If an object has its own final gathering map, it is ignored when the scene-wide final gathering map (as defined in the Render Options property editor) is generated. However, it will use the same Map File Usage setting as the scene-wide map. If Usr is on, the path is displayed as you entered it. If Res is on, the resolved path is displayed. You can type a different path or use the Browse (...) button to change locations. Valid names are displayed in white, invalid names are red, and read-only files are gray.

Global Illumination

Caster

When on, the object can cast photons for global illumination. Photons, emitted from a photon-emitting light, that strike the object will bounce and can continue to affect other struck objects.

When off, the object will simply absorb photons that strike it.

Visible

When on, the object is visible to photons cast for global illumination. When off, photons will simply pass through the object.

Receiver

When on, the object can receive global illumination photons, meaning that the global illumination effect is visible on the object's surface.

Caustic

Caster

When on, the object can cast photons for caustics. Photons, emitted from a photon-emitting light, that strike the object will bounce and can continue to affect other struck objects.

When off, the object will simply absorb photons that strike it.

Visible

When on, the object is visible to photons cast for caustics. When off, photons will simply pass through the object.

Receiver

When on, the object can receive caustics, meaning that the caustic lighting effect is visible on the object's surface.

Geometry

Visible Face

These options allow for face culling on the selected object during rendering. Four Options are available:

Inherited: if the object is a model instance, inherits its face-culling from the instance master.

Back Face Only: only the back-facing portions of the object's surface are rendered.

Front Face Only: only the front-facing portions of the object's surface are rendered.

Both Faces Visible: no face-culling occurs.

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