Engine

Demonstrates:

• Transparency

• Contour rendering

• Shadows

Create a model in SolidWorks.

In PhotoWorks Scene Editor, select the plain background on the Manager tab.

• Use a standard color, or create a custom color for the plain background on the Back/Foreground tab.

Select a lighting scheme on the Lighting tab, or insert individual lights in the SolidWorks FeatureManager design tree.

In PhotoWorks Options, on the Advanced tab, select Render model and contours.

• Rendering the contours displays edges around geometric entities that are intersected by primary rays.

• Contour lines are not always the same edges as displayed in SolidWorks Hidden Lines Removed mode.

To create this cut-away view, select components to be designated as transparent.

Open PhotoWorks Items in the Task Pane, select the appearances folder, and drag a plastic appearance into the graphics area to apply to the components.

In the appearances PropertyManager, on the Illumination tab, set Transparency to 1 (Transparent).

• Transparent entities intersected by primary rays display contours. Only hidden or suppressed parts do not display contours.

• Contour lines appear on the exposed portions of the model, but not on the inner components such as the gears and cylinders.

To eliminate the black regions in the transparent appearance, in the PhotoWorks Options, on the Document Properties tab, select Custom setting under Ray tracing and set the value for Number of Refractions to 4.  

• Number of Refractions restricts the number of secondary rays cast into a appearance at an angle determined by the index of refraction. The number of refractions is high for  transparent appearances.

In the PhotoWorks Scene Editor, on the Lighting tab, select Transparent under Global shadow control and set Edges somewhere between Hard and Soft.

Close the appearances PropertyManager to select the Scene Editor.

• Transparent shadows take into account transparent appearances.

• Hard shadow edges are sharp, and soft edges are blurred. Determine the most realistic setting by experimentation.

• You can also specify edge quality, which applies anti-aliasing to the shadow edges.

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