Render > Render to QuickTimeVR

Renders a QuickTime VR window to move around a model or explore an interior scene in either a web browser or in QuickTime Player.

Note

QuickTime must be installed on your computer to use this feature.

Note

QuickTimeVR does not run on Windows 64-bit operating system.

Note

A limitation exists with QuickTime 7.1; large QTVR scenes may not navigate directly in QuickTime 7.1, but can be navigated if you load the QTVR file into a web browser that has the appropriate QuickTime plug-in.

You can now easily produce a QuickTime VR of your scene in Alias.

Create a QuickTime VR movie

Click the menu bar of the window you want to use.
Choose Render > Render to QuickTimeVR and set options to create the type of QTVR you want.
Click Go. If you are creating a QTVR file using screen grabs, do not overlap any windows onto the Alias window while the scene is being recorded.
After the frames are recorded, they are assembled into a QTVR .mov file that is stored in your project’s pix directory.
Double-click the .mov file to open the QTVR file in QuickTime, or drag and drop the output .mov file into a QuickTime-enabled web browser.

QuickTimeVR Options

Choose Render > Render to QuickTimeVR to open the options window. The options in Render > Render to QuickTimeVR are as follows:

Image Source: Screen Grab – Uses the Perspective window as the source for the QTVR. If a Perspective window is not current, QTVR will set it to the first available Perspective window.

Note
This mode supports different window display styles; for example, wireframe and Hardware Shade.

Tip
To modify the output size while preserving the aspect ratio of the window, set the Perspective window to Fixed aspect ratio first, and drag-resize your Perspective window to the desired output size.

Render – Uses the Alias software renderers (Render, PowerRender, Hidden-line, and so on) as the source for the QTVR. Choose from one of the available renderers, as applicable.

Note
When using the Software Render option with Save Frames set OFF, because of the subsequent removal of the rendered files, the Show and Logfile buttons in the Render Monitor window are disabled when the software rendering finishes.

Saved Frames – Uses frames that have previously been rendered and saved. You can control the ability to wrap around and the number of frames, so you can generate a partial QTVR.

Coverage — how the scene is represented: Complete – A complete 360 degree camera navigation around all view axes.

Rotisserie – Rotates about an axis perpendicular to the camera. Choose this option if the top, bottom, and sides of an object are of interest, and the front and back are not important.

Turntable – Rotates about the up axis (usually the Z axis). Choose this option if the front, back and sides of the object are of interest, and the top and the bottom are not important.
Frames per revolution: Controls the number of snapshots taken for the QTVR render. If the Coverage is set to Complete, multiple axes of revolution are used. Rotisserie and Turntable use a single revolution.

The higher the number of frames per revolution, the smoother the QTVR navigation will be. However, the file size, and time to render and create the QTVR, increase proportionately.
Total Frames: The total number of image frames to be rendered to create the QTVR environment. These values are driven by the Coverage type and Frames per revolution setting. This value is not directly editable.

View Type: Object – Produces an Object-style QuickTime VR file, in which the camera orbits around the outside of the objects in the scene. The camera rotates about its view pivot.

Panorama – Produces a Panorama-style QuickTime VR file, in which the camera pans from a fixed location. The camera rotates about its eye pivot.

Center of Interest: (available only if View Type is set to Object)

Origin – Sets the Center of Interest at the world origin (0, 0, 0).

Picked Objects – Sets the Center of Interest at the bounding box center of all picked objects in the scene.

Note
If no objects are picked, QTVR sets the Center of Interest at the bounding box center of all visible objects in the scene.

Note
If only one object is picked, QTVR sets the Center of Interest at that object's rotate/scale pivot location. To make a single surface or object use its Bounding Box center instead, use Transform > Local > Center Pivot first.
Constrain lights to camera: Keeps the lighting in a constant position relative to the camera when it moves. When unchecked, lights are in a constant position relative to the scene (and therefore, don’t move).

Viewing Angle: (available only if View Type is set to Panorama)

180 – Limits the output Panorama QTVR to a 180 degree camera tilt.

360 – Produces a Panorama QTVR with an unlimited camera tilt.
Codec: Codec is short for compressor/decompressor. It determines how the QTVR is compressed and optimized. The codec is used to control the output QTVR image quality and file size. The higher the Quality setting, the larger the output QTVR file size. In general, the current codecs available for QTVR are older codecs, in contrast to regular (that is, non VR) QuickTime movies that use the latest and most efficient codecs.

None – No compression is used.

Graphics – The Apple Graphics codec (also known as SMC). It has two Quality settings: Low and High.

Video – The Apple Video codec. Its Quality settings are from 0 percent to 100 percent, where 100 percent is highest quality.

Photo - JPEG – Implements the Joint Photographic Experts Group (also known as JPEG) compression. Its Quality settings are from 0 percent to 100 percent, where 100 percent is highest quality.

Cinepak – Produced by Compression Technologies Inc. Its Quality settings are from 0 percent to 100 percent, where 100 percent is highest quality.

Resolution: Current Window – Sets the output resolution for the QTVR (screen grab or software render) to the xy dimensions of the current modeling window.

Render Globals – Sets the output resolution for the QTVR to the current Render Globals Image File Output resolution.

Note
This choice is not exclusive to Software Render QTVR output; it is just another means of controlling the output QTVR resolution. It can be used, even if Screen Grab is the chosen Image Source.

Custom – Sets resolution from the custom xy sliders. The minimum allowable QTVR resolution is 8 by 8.
Image XY Ratio Lock: Maintains the ratio between the X Resolution and Y Resolution values (that is, if you double one value, the other value doubles automatically). If Image XY Ratio Lock is OFF, you can set the X Resolution and Y Resolution values independently. The default setting is OFF.
X Resolution, Y Resolution: The X and Y resolution of the rendered image. The slider range is 0 to 2048. The default setting is 645 for X Resolution and 486 for Y Resolution.

If Image XY Ratio Lock is ON, you cannot set the X Resolution and Y Resolution values independently.
Save Frames: Choose this check box to save the temporary rendered files used to produce the QTVR. They are written to a subfolder in your current project’s /pix directory.

Note
There is no feedback that QuickTime is building the qtvr file after the .tifs have been written to disk. This can take some time. After the frames have been created and while the QuickTime file is being generated, the filename of the movie file is filename (Generating).mov. When the file is ready, it is named filename.mov.