DriveWorks Pro 21

Appearances

Appearances

The Appearances folder contains all of your DriveWorks 3D Documents Appearances.

Model appearances can be added, edited, deleted and merged. Initially these appearances will be taken from imported Drive3D files.

Additional Appearances can be added at any point in the DriveWorks 3D Document.

The following guides detail how to work with Appearances:

• Adding an Appearance
• Apply an Appearance
• Rename an Appearance
• Merge Appearances
• Delete an Appearance
• Importing a resource

Information Panel

With an Appearance selected in the Feature Panel the following will be displayed in the Information Panel:

Appearance Properties

The Appearance name will appear at the top of the Appearance user interface along with Render Properties.

• Render Properties

  Controls the render property of the Appearance. Different render properties render in different ways.

  You can select the following Render Properties:

  • Default
  • Specular
  • Bump
  • Emissive Bump
  • Reflective
  • Glass
  • PBR

Depending on the Render Property applied, the following settings can be applied:

• Alpha Mode
• Diffuse Color
• Albedo
• Specular Color
• Texture Transforms
• Texture Offset
• Diffuse Texture
• Specular Texture
• Normal Texture
• Emissive Texture

Alpha Mode

Allows images with transparency to display any objects or scenes behind them.

For Render Properties, other than Glass, the Alpha Mode can be set to:

• Default

  Will display any alpha in the image as fully visible.

• Cutout

  Will display any alpha in the image as fully visible or fully transparent, depending on the Cutout Threshold.

  • Cutout Threshold

    Set a value between 0 and 255 for the threshold to use to determine the pixels that will be displayed.

Using images with transparency, with the Cutout Alpha Mode, can enhance the DriveWorks 3D model by reducing the need for complex geometry.

For example, the image below:

Can be applied, as an appearance, to a Model.

The gray and white chequered background represents the alpha channel used in the image.

The Alpha Mode settings applied are shown in the table below:

Default	Cutout

Diffuse Color

Sets the color to use for the diffuse color of the Appearance.

Will apply a hexadecimal value to the Diffuse Color in the Parameter Panel.

• Red

  Modifies the amount of red in the Diffuse Color. Enter a number from 0 to 255.

• Blue

  Modifies the amount of blue in the Diffuse Color. Enter a number from 0 to 255.

• Green

  Modifies the amount of green in the Diffuse Color. Enter a number from 0 to 255.

• Alpha

  Controls the alpha channel or transparency of the Diffuse Color. Enter a number from 0 to 255.

• Ambient Intensity

  Controls the ambient intensity of the Appearance as a whole. Enter a number.

• Diffuse Intensity

  Controls the intensity of the Diffuse Color/Texture. Enter a number.

Albedo

Sets the color to use for the diffuse color of the Appearance.

Will apply a hexadecimal value to the Diffuse Color in the Parameter Panel.

• Red

  Modifies the amount of red in the Diffuse Color. Enter a number from 0 to 255.

• Blue

  Modifies the amount of blue in the Diffuse Color. Enter a number from 0 to 255.

• Green

  Modifies the amount of green in the Diffuse Color. Enter a number from 0 to 255.

• Alpha

  Controls the alpha channel or transparency of the Diffuse Color. Enter a number from 0 to 255.

PBR Surface Properties

The PBR render property also includes properties that describe the surface of the material:

• Roughness

  Low values appear shiny or glossy, high values appear rough or matte.

  When a Roughness Texture is applied this value will multiply the roughness in the texture image (0.5 will decrease the roughness by 50%).

• Metallic

  Metallic makes the albedo factor in the reflection color.

  As metals reflect a lot more light rather than absorb or scatter it this setting also reduces the brightness of the diffuse lighting component and increases the specular.

  When a Metallic Texture is applied this value will multiply the metallicness in the texture image (0.5 will decrease the metallicness by 50%).

• Ambient Occlusion

  Ambient Occlusion is the brightness of the lighting from the environment map, both the image-based ambient and the reflection.

  When a Ambient Occlusion Texture is applied this value will multiply the ambient occlusion in the texture image (0.5 will decrease the ambient by 50%).

Specular Color

Sets the color to use for the specular.

Will apply a hexadecimal value to the Specular Color in the Parameter Panel.

• Red

  Modifies the amount of red in the Specular Color. Enter a number from 0 to 255.

• Blue

  Modifies the amount of blue in the Specular Color. Enter a number from 0 to 255.

• Green

  Modifies the amount of green in the Specular Color. Enter a number from 0 to 255.

• Intensity

  Controls the intensity of the specular highlight on an Appearance. Enter a number.

• Reflectivity

  Controls the amount of reflectivity of an Appearance. Enter a number from 0 and above.

• Reflective Scatter (Reflective Render Property only)

  Controls how reflected light is scattered off the Appearance. Enter a number from 0 and above.

• Index Of Refraction (Glass render Property Only)

  Controls how much the path of light through the glass is refracted (bent). Enter a number from 0 and above.

• Chromatic Aberration (Glass render Property Only)

  Controls the color distortion of the refracted light. Enter a number from 0 and above.

Texture Transforms

• Scale X

  Modifies the scale of a texture to suit the size of the model. Enter a number from 0 and above.

• Scale Y

  Modifies the scale of a texture to suit the size of the model. Enter a number from 0 and above.

• Angle

  Change the rotation of a texture on a model. Enter a number from 0 to 360.

Texture Offset

• Offset X

  Offset an applied texture in the X Axis. Allows you to position textures accurately on surfaces. Enter a number.

• Offset Y

  Offset an applied texture in the Y Axis. Allows you to position textures accurately on surfaces. Enter a number.

Diffuse Texture

• Texture

  Select a diffuse texture from the list of available textures in the Document. Alternatively you can browse for a texture or build a rule to the path of a new texture.

Specular Texture (Optional)

• Texture

  Select a specular texture from the list of available textures in the Document. Alternatively you can browse for a texture or build a rule to the path of a new texture.

Normal Texture (Optional)

• Texture

  Select a normal texture from the list of available textures in the Document. Alternatively you can browse for a texture or build a rule to the path of a new texture.

Emissive Texture (Optional)

• Texture

  Select an emissive texture from the list of available textures in the Document. Alternatively you can browse for a texture or build a rule to the path of a new texture.

Roughness Texture (Optional)

• Texture

  Select a roughness texture from the list of available textures in the Document. Alternatively you can browse for a texture or build a rule to the path of a new texture.

Metallic Texture (Optional)

• Texture

  Select a metallic texture from the list of available textures in the Document. Alternatively you can browse for a texture or build a rule to the path of a new texture.

Ambient Occlusion Texture (Optional)

• Texture

  Select an ambient occlusion texture from the list of available textures in the Document. Alternatively you can browse for a texture or build a rule to the path of a new texture.

To Add an Appearance

1. Right click on the Appearance folder.
2. Select Add Appearance.
3. Enter a name for the appearance.
4. Click OK.

Once a new appearance has been added values for the parameters above can be applied.

To Apply an Appearance

Appearances can be applied by dragging (left mouse click and hold) from the Feature Panel onto the target model in the 3D View or the Node tree (in the Feature Panel).

The effect is previewed in the 3D view and only applied once the mouse button is released.

Appearances cannot be applied to a target model that has an override appearance rule set.

This is highlighted in the 3D View.

To Rename an Appearance

1. Right click on the Appearance.
2. Select Rename Appearance.
3. Enter the new Appearance name.
4. Click off the Appearance to apply.

To Merge Appearances

1. Select multiple Appearances.
2. Right click on one of the selected Appearances.
3. Select Merge Appearances.
4. Select the Appearance To Merge Into from the drop down.

All selected Appearances merge into one.

To Delete an Appearance

1. Right click on the Appearance.
2. Select Delete Appearance.

Import Resource

Import Resource allows you to import Geometry and Appearances without adding the files Node structure to your DriveWorks 3D Document. This gives you the ability to build your own Node structure and lets you place models where you need them.

1. Right click the Appearances folder.
2. Select Import Resource.
3. Choose a DriveWorks 3D File to import data from.
4. Select Open.

The DriveWorks 3D File will be added as a source file and the Geometries and Appearances will be added to the DriveWorks 3D Document.