Rendering images

In Vivien you can render your drawings to produce high quality images of your events.

In this section

Creating realistic renderings

Rendering uses a full range of effects including radiosity, time of day lighting, soft shadows, and antialiasing settings to produce a realistic image. An easy-to-use Render Wizard provides interactive editing and advanced visual effects.

When you are creating a rendering, you have two choices:

Render Wizard: You can use the interactive editing and advanced visual effects of the Render Wizard to set up the scene that you want to render, and then create the rendering. In this case, you must leave Vivien running while the Render Wizard finishes the image. You have the choice of saving the image to an external folder that you specify or within the Vivien file, on the Images tab.
Background Rendering Manager: You can use the Render Wizard to set up the scene that you want to render, and then send the render job to the Background Rendering Manager to create the rendering.

The Background Rendering Manager allows you to queue render jobs that will execute in the background without requiring Vivien to run, allowing you to perform other tasks while the Render Engine works independently. You can also pause and resume renderings, and shut down/restart your computer without losing your rendering progress. For details on this feature, see “Background Rendering Manager”.

To render the event

Note: For even more help on the Render Wizard options, see the 5-minute tutorial Using the Render Wizard.

Go to http://cast-soft.com/vivien-event-designer/vivien-tutorial-videos/and click the tutorial name to download the Flash file. You will need to install the free Flash Viewer to see this file.

In the work area, display the event that you want to render. You must be in the Lighting Wireframe tab, the Lighting Quad tab or the Virtual View tab.
From the Tools menu, choose Render Wizard.

Click the Render Wizard tool in the Lights toolbar.

Result: The Render Wizard opens and guides you through a series of options. Click Next and Back to navigate through the Render Wizard.

Note:

Each of the steps outlined on the pages that follow asks you to set a number of related options and from there you can go to the next page or click Finish to complete the rendering. If you click Back to change an option in a previous step, you can click Finish without having to go through each of the steps again.

During any step (up to Step 6), you can click on the image and change the perspective (using the arrow, CTRL and PAGE UP/PAGE DOWN keys or the mouse). The Render Wizard calculates the rendering based on the state of the image composition and light settings at the moment when you click Finish.

If this is the first time you are using the Background Rendering Manager, you must configure it before the rendering process will begin. Upon clicking Finish in the Render Wizard, the Configuration Wizard appears, enabling you to configure settings such as the Network Port, the default folder for storing rendering files, and other Manager settings. For details, see “Configuring the Background Rendering Manager”.

Step 1 - Set Output Destination and Image Size

Click in the right pane to arrange the image that you want to render. You can click and drag the image around, zoom in and out with the mouse wheel (or PAGE UP / PAGE DOWN keys), or set up your shot accurately using a camera.

Note: Make sure you use the appropriate aspect ratio (height vs. width) for the output device that you will be using to present the pictures. For example, TV is 4x3 (normally 640x480), HDTV is 16x9.

Dimensions: Type a value in pixels for the width and height of the final image.
Job Name: Type a name for the rendering job.
Connect to Local Host: Select this checkbox to use the default values and have the Render Wizard send all jobs to the Background Rendering Manager that is running on your computer. To send render jobs to another computer in your network that is running the Background Rendering Manager, clear this checkbox and then type the server name and port number in the boxes provided. Note that when you send render jobs to a network computer, the Background Rendering Manager must be open and running on this destination computer; in this case, the act of sending a job from the Render Wizard does not launch the Background Rendering Manager.
Server Name: Type the name of the server in your network that is running the Background Rendering Manager where you want the Render Wizard to send all render jobs. The server must have a dongle attached.
Server Port: Type the port number that the Render Wizard will use to send render jobs to the Background Rendering Manager, or accept the default port number shown. It must be a value between 1025 and 65,535. For proper communication, this number must match the port number that is configured in the Background Rendering Manager on the destination computer; therefore, if you change this value, you must also change it in the Background Rendering Manager on the destination computer. For details, see “Configuring the Background Rendering Manager”.

Step 2 - Set Camera and Simulation Type

Scene: Select a scene for the rendering. Scenes are groupings of layers used to organize a plot. For more information on scenes, “Scenes”.
Follow Current Scene: Select this checkbox to use the scene that is displayed in the Scene drop-down box. Clear the checkbox, and then select the desired scene from the Scene drop-down.
Camera: Select the camera for the rendering. Cameras are set up in the Drawing Wireframe tab. For more information on cameras, refer to “Drawing cameras” or “Using the Camera toolbar”.

Tip: By default, the red lines the Camera Target are visible. This is to aid in the composition of the image. It will not, however, be visible in your final rendering. To turn the target off (that is, set to not visible), right-click in the preview pane, and then choose View Options.

Ambient Light: Use the slider to set the ambient light level. This adjusts the overall light level, where 0% is complete black and 100% is a bright room. This does not affect the intensity of the fixtures in your lighting look.

Step 3 - Add Atmospheric Effects to Your Rendering

Options in Step 3 affect the atmospheric conditions in your rendering.

Atmospheric Options: The options set here affect the atmospheric conditions that are visible in your final rendering. To simulate atmospheric dust or fog, select Haze. For additional opacity, select Smoke.
Density: Use the slider to set the visibility of the haze particles. A setting of 0% indicates that the particles cannot be seen.
Granularity: Use the slider to set the granularity of the smoke. This affects the fineness of the smoke particles.

Step 4 - Select How Shadows Will Be Simulated

Options in Step 4 affect the projection of shadows in your rendering.

Shadows: Select how you want shadows to be projected in the final rendering.
None: Objects in the path of the light beam do not create shadows but they are illuminated.
Objects: All objects cast shadows.
Atmospheric: Shadows are cast on objects and through smoke for a true representation of how light behaves.
Beam Saturation: Use this slider to adjust the realism of shadow intensity and color. Realistic gives a more realistic look. Standard is less realistic but renders more quickly.

Step 5 - Select How Light Reflection Will Be Simulated

Options in Step 5 affect the radiosity level. Radiosity is defined as the combined processes of emission, transmission, and absorption of rays or reflecting beams of light. When using Radiosity, it is not necessary to use ambient lighting.

Radiosity Options: If you would like to generate a rendering that uses radiosity, select the Radiosity checkbox. Fast radiosity results in a rendering with constant, flat lighting. Each subsequent option shows more calculated lighting. The number of bounces determines how many levels of reflection are permitted.
Disable Ambient Light: Select the Disable Ambient Light checkbox to ignore the ambient light settings from Step 1.
Render as Screen: Select the Render as Screen checkbox to display the LED wall as a screen with a projected image instead of a detailed grid of LED pixels forming the image. Render as Screen is only available if the source of your LED wall is color, image or video. Render as Screen does not work if the source of the LED wall is Dynamic DMX patch.

Note: Render as Screen applies to LED walls that were drawn in WYSIWYG and opened in Vivien.

Step 6 - Add Environmental or Outdoor Lighting to Your Rendering

Options in Step 6 affect the presence and quality of environmental or outdoor lighting. Note that for environmental lighting to have an effect, your event must not be contained within a venue.

Enable Environmental Lighting: To generate a rendering that considers outdoor lighting conditions, select this checkbox.
Date and Time: The date and time of the rendering determines the position of the sun and/or moon, and the resulting amount of light available. The position of the sun is also determined by the geographic settings that are configured in Document Options and the north direction that is set in Drawing Wireframe view. For more information on setting the direction that is north, refer to “Drawing a compass”.
Sky Conditions: The sky conditions determine the brightness of the resulting rendering. Use the slider to adjust the quality of light.
Enable soft shadow: Select this checkbox to set the softness of shadows created by sunlight, and then use the slider to adjust the levels. The softer the shadow, the less sharp the resulting shadow.

Step 7 - Adjust Antialiasing to Smooth or Sharpen Rough Edges

Options in Step 7 affect the antialiasing settings. Antialiasing is a method of smoothing and sharpening rough or jagged edges of images to produce a more polished result. This method subsamples the pixel area and averages the results of neighboring samples to reduce the areas of high contrast (edges).

Antialiasing Options: Select how you want edges to appear in your final rendering. The Fast method samples the pixels quickly but does not produce the highest quality.

When you click Finish, the real rendering takes place. The total rendering time depends on the options that you selected and the complexity of the scenery and lighting. Based on the location where you chose to save the completed rendering in Step 1, your options vary upon clicking Finish:

Internal and External Images: If you chose to save the rendering internally or externally, then you can minimize the Render Wizard window and continue working on other parts of your document as it renders. You can use the arrow keys, PAGE UP/PAGE DOWN, mouse or scroll bars to explore the picture as it is being produced. The final image is saved to the destination you specified in Step 1.
Background Rendering Manager Image: If you sent the render job to the Background Rendering Manager, then a status window appears, showing the progress as the render job is sent to the Background Rendering Manager on the destination computer (either your own or another computer in the network).

When the job has been sent successfully, you can open the Background Rendering Manager to check its progress. At this point, you may close the Render Wizard and continue to work on your file, perhaps creating another lighting Look to be rendered, creating print layouts, or simply setting up another rendering and sending it to the Background Rendering Manager. You may even close Vivien completely (save your file first)—the rendering is now safely in the hands of the Background Rendering Manager.

Note: If this is the first time you are using the Background Rendering Manager, you must first configure it before the rendering process will begin. Upon clicking Finish in the Render Wizard, the Background Rendering Manager’s Configuration Wizard appears, enabling you to configure settings such as the Network Port, the default folder for storing rendering files, and other Manager settings. For details, see “Configuring the Background Rendering Manager”.

A sample of a final rendered image is shown below:

Saving render settings

You can save options that you set in the Render Wizard as a shortcut for quick access to the settings at a future time. There are two ways of saving a Render shortcut:

from the Render Wizard
from the Render shortcut bar, in a similar manner as other shortcuts

The Render shortcut bar is pre-populated with two shortcuts: Quick Render and Good Render. Quick Render shortcut provides settings for a small lower-quality render, while the Good Render shortcut provides settings for a larger high-quality rendering.

To create a shortcut from the Render Wizard

From the Tools menu, choose Render.
While working through the steps in the Render Wizard you can, at any time, click Add Shortcut to save the current settings as a shortcut.
Type a name for the shortcut, and then click OK.

Result: The shortcut is added to the Render shortcut bar.

To create a shortcut from the Render shortcut bar

Right-click in open space on the Render shortcut bar and choose New Render.
Type a name for the new render, and then click OK.

Result: The Render shortcut is saved on the Render shortcut bar. The shortcut is pre-configured with the default values for each of the eight steps. These defaults are the same values that are used when you choose Render from the Lights menu or the toolbar.

To modify a Render shortcut

Double-click the Render shortcut that you want to modify.

Result: The Render Wizard opens, with the values that are saved in the shortcut.

Modify the options as required.

Result: The settings are recorded in the shortcut and are available the next time the shortcut is selected.