To open the tutorial file

1. Open the file called pda_rendering.wire, located in the wire sub-directory of the CourseWare directory.
   NoteFor information on how to open a file, see Opening the tutorial file.
2. A dialog box appears, asking if you want to delete all objects, shaders, views, and actions. Click Yes.

   

3. If your construction tolerance values differ from those in the pda_rendering.wire file, you will be prompted by a Construction Options dialog box. Click Accept New Settings to use the construction tolerances in the pda_rendering.wire file.

   

   The file is displayed.

   

4. Next, choose Preferences > Workflows > Visualize . This will hide all tools not needed for visualization or rendering work.
5. Close the tool palette. To pick objects or components, you can use the marking menus.
6. Choose Windows > Control Panel . This opens up a frame in the window containing frequently used tools for the visualization process. Between the menus, marking menus, and control panel, you have all the tools you need to work on an image at your fingertips.
7. Click the Maximize icon on the Perspective view to expand it.

   Your Alias window should look like the following illustration.

   

Shaded mode

As a first step in the journey to understanding rendering, you will use shaded mode. This tool provides a fast colored and shaded reference of a model in a modeling window. You can also enable textures, shadows, reflections, and more. For more information about all the functionality of this mode, see WindowDisplay > Hardware Shade .

Shaders and textures

After you have created wire frames, such as those supplied in the PDA model, you will want to see them wrapped in surfaces that can then be transformed into rendered images. To make the rendered images as striking and realistic as possible, you need to apply shaders and textures to your objects.

Alias uses shaders to define the appearance of your objects, so they look as if they were created with real materials. Textures can also be applied to the shaders to create more sophisticated visual effects. As you will discover in later tutorials, you can even add special effects to shaders to make them appear semi-transparent or to give them a sense of 3D relief.

The Visualization panel

The visualization panel provides you with fast access to libraries of shaders and to the most-used capabilities of the multi-lister.

In the previous section of this tutorial, when you switched to shaded mode via WindowDisplay > Hardware Shade , you were viewing a shader we already applied to the model. Let’s now look at the shaders in the Visualization panel.

1. Drag the bar down until you see all the shaders in this wire file. The resident shaders section should now look similar to the following image.

   

   All of these spheres are shaders that are assigned to different parts of the PDA. To see which sphere is assigned to which part of the PDA, click a sphere.

2. Choose the second icon from the left in this section of the panel:

   

   This tool picks objects by the current shader. You can choose each shader and click this tool to see which shaders are assigned to what parts of the model by looking in the Perspective view after you have clicked this tool.

3. Click each shader, and then click the Pick Objects by Current Shader tool to see the assignments.

   You can also modify some attributes of shaders in the visualization panel.

4. Click the green shader, and then Pick Object by Current Shader.

   You will see that the button at the top of the PDA is highlighted.

   

5. Push the bar under the Resident Shaders section up to reveal the Shader Parameters for this shader. The most commonly used shader parameters are shown in this section of the panel.

   

6. Click the green rectangle under RGB Color. This opens the color palette, so you can choose a different color for the shader.

   

7. Change the color to orange by clicking the color wheel. You can modify the color’s intensity in the HSV triangle. Close the window when you have got a bright orange selected.
8. Notice that the color rectangle in the Visualization panel has changed to orange.
9. Use the marking menu to pick nothing, then choose WindowDisplay > Hardware Shade to see the model with an orange button.
10. For a better view without the wireframe, choose Model (unchecking it) from the Show menu on the window bar to hide the wireframe.

    

    

In addition to editing shaders, you can also create new shaders by copying and modifying existing shaders, or import new shaders to your model from a library by double-clicking a shader in the library.

The Multi-lister

The Multi-lister is the full interface you use to create, edit, manage, and display shaders, textures, lights, and the environment. You also use the Multi-lister to access the Control Window and the Color Editor.

To open shaders in the Multi-lister

1. Choose Render > Multi-lister > Shaders. A number of shaders have been supplied for this tutorial. You can adjust the size of the icons by clicking the over the background of the multi-lister, and choosing either Large Icons or Small Icons. The images in this tutorial show small icons.

   The Chrome shader was applied to the PDA case. Next, you will edit it to make it reflect an environment.

2. In the Shaders window, double-click the Chrome icon.

   

   The Chrome editor is opened. Notice there are two tabs: Software and Hardware. You can use either tab for this exercise. The Hardware tab shows a subset of the fields available on the Software tab: these fields are used in WindowDisplay > Hardware Shade.

   NoteIf you use the Hardware tab, you must first set the Shading method to Per pixel or Per vertex in the Hardware Shade option window.

   

3. In the Shader Name field, rename the shader to Case.
4. Click the Map... button associated with the Reflection parameter found in the Phong Shader Parameters section.

   This opens the texture editor for the Chrome reflection.

   

5. Scroll down and click the Sky button located in the Environments section.

   This opens the SkyTexture editor.

   

   The Shaders window is updated to reflect the changes. Note how the Chrome shader wears the Sky texture.

   

6. To see the effect of your changes, look at the shaded model in the perspective window.

   

   Now it is reflecting the sky.