Applying Appearances
Appearances add visual characteristics to models without adding the
physical
properties
of materials.
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Light cards scene applied - Default scene |
Warm Kitchen scene applied |
Hierarchy of Appearances
When you apply appearances to models, the following hierarchy prevails:
Component appearance
(assemblies only) overrides face appearance.
Face appearance overrides
feature appearance.
Feature appearance
overrides body appearance.
Body appearance overrides
part appearance.
You can determine the hierarchy of appearance
from the callout. For example, an appearance specified for the face takes
precedence over the appearance for the feature, body, or part. If no appearance
is specified for the face, the feature appearance is used. If no appearance
is specified for the feature, the body appearance is used.
Default plastic is used as the default appearance.
Appearance Properties
Colors
Appearances can include up to three
layers, depending on the type of the 3D appearance. For example,
a brick appearance has two colors, one for the brick and one for the mortar.
Only Procedural appearances have color
properties that you can edit. The color of a 2D texture mapped appearance
is determined by its associated image file.
Metallic
Include a metal layer and a bump mapping layer for the metallic structure.
Only appearances with an
appearance Type of Multi-layer
Paint or Car Paint on the
Illumination
tab provide the metallic appearance properties. These
appearances are in the \miscellaneous
folder by default.
Satin Finish
Satin finishes blur reflections
of the surrounding reflective spherical environment and inter-reflections
of objects in the scene.
Anisotropic
Include properties that provide a type
of shading that behaves differently when the appearance is rotated around
the normal vector. For example, brushed aluminum looks different when
seen in the brushing direction than when seen perpendicular to the brushing
direction.
This tab is available only
if the selected Procedural
Appearance has anisotropic properties, for example Circular
Burnished Aluminum.
To apply appearances:
Click the Appearances/PhotoWorks
tab in the Task Pane.
From the Appearances
tab , browse through the appearance folders on the top
pane.
Select a preview from the bottom panel and:
Display the Appearances
PropertyManager later by clicking Appearances
in the Heads-up View toolbar.
On the pop-up toolbar, indicate where to apply
the appearance, for example, the face, feature, body, or model. As you
hover over the toolbar, you see a preview of the change.
In the Appearances
PropertyManager, select the Color/Image
tab and apply the properties.
Select any of the other tabs to apply the appropriate
properties.
Click .
Alternatively, select one
or more items in the graphics area, display the Appearances
tab in the Task Pane, and double-click an appearance
preview.
Custom Appearances
You can modify predefined appearances and save them in the custom
folder of the appearance Library.
You can use Pack
and Go when you send models with appearances, decals, scenes,
or lighting, or you can select Save appearance
in the Color/Image tab of the Appearances
PropertyManager.
To save modified appearances:
In the Appearances
PropertyManager, select the Color/Image
tab and apply the properties.
Select any of the other tabs to apply the appropriate
properties.
From the Color/Image
tab, click Save Appearance.
In the
Save As dialog box:
For
Save in, accept the last folder
visited or browse to an existing folder. Typical location is: <install_dir>\data\PhotoWorks\custom.
Type
a name for File name. Options
for File
Locations allow use of different appearances with the same name.
Select
Appearance Files (*.p2m) or All Files (*.*) for Save
as type.
-
Click Save.
The file is saved and a new appearance
is added to the Task Pane. Custom appearances display a
blue folder.
Additional Custom Appearance Tasks
Delete a custom
appearances folder. Right-click a custom folder in the Task Pane
and select Delete to delete from
the Task Pane and disk.
Delete an appearance.
Right-click an appearance in a custom folder and select Delete
to delete. This deletes the appearance from disk.