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High Resolution Image Workshop

The High Resolution Image workshop lets you generate high resolution raster images (BMP, JPEG, TIFF, PNG) of your scene.

To display this workshop, click Workshops > Publishing > High Resolution Image .

Raster images are made up of pixels, with each pixel assigned a color, position, and opacity (when using alpha channels). Raster images have the following advantages over vector images:

  • They accurately show subtle changes in lighting, shading, and coloring.
  • You can control the dpi (dots per inch).

However, unlike vector graphics images, raster images lose quality when scaled, and you cannot edit the objects that make up the image. This workshop generates high resolution raster images up to 8000x8000 pixels. Image resolution describes the amount of image detail. Higher resolution has more detail but produces larger files.

Note: The High Resolution Image workshop applies on-demand rendering effects, such as depth of field and shadows, when generating image files and detail views. If you do not want these effects, turn them off before generating workshop output.

The following topics are discussed:

Main Area

The main area of the High Resolution workshop lets you store settings using profiles and manage high resolution.

Profile

Profiles store your settings for future use. For details, see About Profiles for Workshop Settings.

High resolution

Command Name Description
Detail view (Available when High resolution is selected.) Defines a portion of your scene to save as an image file or to capture as an Image 2D panel.
  1. Select Detail view.

    The Image area crop box appears in the viewport.

  2. Move or resize the image area as needed.

    Tip: To change the image shape, modify Shape (Properties pane).

  3. To limit the image to specific actors, select one or more actors.

    When no actors are selected, the image will contain everything within the image area.

    Tip: To resize the image area to fit selected actors, click (upper-right corner of the image area). You can also select actors before clicking Detail view to fit the image area to the selection.

  4. To change the image resolution, specify Pixels or Dpi on the High Resolution tab.
  5. Do one of the following:
    • To save the image area to a file, click Save As .
    • To create an Image 2D panel, click Create .

      Note: You cannot control the zoom of the detail view. You can resize the panel after it is created, but scaling a raster image affects image quality. To create a detail view Image 2D panel with zoom, use Digger. See Digger Commands

  6. To dismiss the image area, click (upper-right corner of the image area) or clear Detail view.
Create (Available when Detail view is selected.) Creates the detail view and adds it to the 3D scene as an Image 2D panel.
Update (Available when Detail view is cleared and an Image 2D detail view is selected in the viewport.) Updates one or more detail views with changes in your 3D scene or different detail view options.
Preview (Available when Detail view is cleared and no Image 2D panel is selected.) Generates a JPEG preview image using your current workshop settings and displays it in your computer's JPEG-viewer application.
Save As Saves the active viewport pane (or a portion of it when Detail view is selected) as a raster image using the current workshop settings. In the Save As dialog box, choose from the following formats:
  • Bitmap (.bmp)
  • Jpeg (.jpg, .jpeg, .jpe)
  • Tiff (.tif, .tiff)
  • Png (.png)
When generating BMP, TIFF, or PNG images with Alpha channel selected, images are 32 bits (24-bit true color + 8-bit alpha). Otherwise, images are 24 bits (true color).
Important: When creating one image file, File name in the Save As dialog box specifies the file name. When creating multiple images (animations or views), see Multiple Tab for naming convention details. The Save As dialog box does not consider multiple-image file naming when checking for existing files. Use caution to avoid overwriting files unintentionally.
Tip: Before saving your image, you can click Preview to validate your workshop settings.
High resolution Enables high resolution image generation. Set options from the High Resolution Tab tab. When cleared, generates a standard image. Standard images use the viewport resolution, like a copy/paste of the image to the clipboard.
Anti-aliasing Enables anti-aliasing. Set options from the Anti-Aliasing Tab.
Alpha channel

Generates images with transparent backgrounds by including an alpha channel. Alpha channels simplify image compositing but increases file size. When selected, saved images are 32 bits (24-bit true color + 8-bit alpha). When cleared, images are 24 bits. In this example, images are inserted into a PowerPoint slide:





Alpha channel disabled Alpha channel enabled

Notes:

  • This option applies to PNG, TIFF, and BMP images. JPEG does not support alpha channels.
  • When generating images with Alpha channel and Anti-aliasing selected but without Hardware anti-aliasing, text 2D panels are not anti-aliased. See High quality rendering / On demand.

High Resolution Tab

The High Resolution tab lets you set high-resolution image options such as size and quality.

Notes:

  • The High resolution option must be enabled.
  • Higher resolution images produce larger files.

Command Name Description
Pixels Specifies width and height in pixels of the output image (or the detail-view image when Detail view is selected). To specify image size, specify values for two of the following: Pixels, Dpi, and Size (mm). Composer computes the third set of values. Under Auto, select the computed property. When Use document's paper is selected, Size (mm) is always Auto and set to the paper size (or the detail-view size when Detail view is selected). To maintain the document's paper-space ratio, which ensures proper scaling of your scene, you can specify only Width or Height (not both) depending on Aspect ratio.
Dpi Specifies width and height in dots per inch (dpi) of the output image (or the detail-view image when Detail view is selected). The dpi is the number of dots of ink on a printed page or pixels on a computer screen in a linear one-inch space.
Size (mm) (Available when Use document's paper is cleared.) Specifies width and height in millimeters of the output image (or the detail-view image when Detail view is selected). When Use document's paper is selected, Size (mm) is the paper-space size (or the image-area size when Detail view is selected).
Aspect ratio Specifies whether Width or Height is editable. The other value is calculated based on the paper-space height-to-width ratio (or the image-area height-to-width ratio when Detail view is selected).
Use document's paper Defines Size (mm) as the document paper-space size (or the image-area size when Detail view is selected). To specify a different size while maintaining the paper-space aspect ratio, clear this option.
Remove ground Removes the ground (if displayed) from the output image.
White background Sets the background to white in the output image.

JPEG settings

When generating JPEG images, you can control image quality and file size. Higher quality images produce larger files.

Command Name Description
Quality Specifies the output image quality. Move the slider to select from low to high quality.
Desired file size (KB) Specifies the desired image file size in kilobytes (KB). Composer adjusts the quality as needed. To see the actual file size, click Compute.
Compute Calculates the output file size in KB.

Anti-Aliasing Tab

Anti-aliasing smooths rough edges (jaggies) to give the appearance of higher resolution by taking into account how much an ideal edge overlaps adjacent pixels.

Command Name Description
Anti-Aliasing

Specifies the anti-aliasing technique:

  • Jittering - The jittering method is higher quality but takes too long for real-time rendering. Use jittering for single image generation when high quality is required.
  • Multisample - Multisample anti-aliasing (MSAA) is a technique used in computer graphics to improve image quality.
Number of passes

(Available when Jittering is selected.) Specifies the number of internal renderings made to create the effect. More passes take longer to perform but produce better results.
Radius

(Available when Jittering is selected.) Specifies the portion of a scene that appears sharp. The image becomes blurred as you move away from the focal point. The higher the value, the larger the depth of field (less blur).

Multiple Tab

The Multiple tab lets you generate multiple high resolution raster images from your animation, views, or both.

Note: The High resolution option must be enabled.

Command Name Description
Animation Creates multiple images from an animation. Specify the image frequency as one of the following:
  • Frames between two images
  • Images per second
Image files are named <filename>_anim <n><type>< , where:
  • <filename> is the file name you specify in the Save As dialog box (when you click Save As).
  • <n> is the image index based on the frequency and range you specify. For example, when you specify 30 images per second starting at 5 seconds, the image indexes are 150, 151, and so on.
  • <type> is the format extension, as determined by Save as type in the Save As dialog box.
Range (Available when Animation is selected.) Specifies the animation segment to capture:
  • All - The entire animation
  • Selection - The selected timeline segment



  • Seconds - The specified range in seconds
Markers Creates one image per marker in the timeline.
Milestones Creates one image per milestone in the timeline.
Views Creates images for all views (see Views pane). To create images for the current view only, clear this option.
360° Capture Captures a defined number of images of the model along a vertical axis performing a 360° clockwise rotation. The vertical axis determines the orientation of the camera.

The vertical axis used in the one defined in the viewport properties (see Viewport Properties).

  • If Z is defined as the vertical axis, then the rotation plane will be XY.
  • If Y is defined as the vertical axis, then the rotation plane will be XZ.
  • If X is defined as the vertical axis, then the rotation plane will be YZ.

Enter the number of images you want to capture along the 360° path in the Number of Images box.

File-name template

(Available when Markers, Milestones, Views, or 360° Capture is selected.) Specifies the naming convention for image files. You can specify valid file-name characters and the following case-sensitive keywords:

%filename% The file name specified by File name in the Save As dialog box.
%viewname% The view name, as listed in the Views pane.

Note: Not applicable to 360° Capture.

%markername% The marker name, as listed in the timeline and in the Markers pane.

Note: Not applicable to 360° Capture.

%index% A counter from 1 to the number of views. Index values have the same number of characters (1-9, 01-99, 001-999) for all files created.
For example, when File-name template is %filename%_%index% and you specify Gearbox in the Save As dialog box, the resulting file names for a document with three views are: Gearbox_1.*, Gearbox_2.*, Gearbox_3.* (where .* is the format extension).

Notes:

  • The Save As dialog box does not consider File-name template when checking for existing files. Use caution to avoid overwriting files unintentionally.
  • Do not specify file-name extensions in File-name template. Extensions are determined by Save as type in the Save As dialog box.
  • When File-name template does not contain %filename%, File name in the Save As dialog box is still required but is not used in the file names.
  • When File-name template is blank:

    - files generated from markers are named %filename%_%markername%.

    - files generated from milestones are named %filename%_view.

    - files generated from views are named %filename%_%viewname%.

Tip: Click ? at the right of the File-name template box to display a tooltip listing available keywords.



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