Creating Renderworks backgrounds
You can add backgrounds to your drawing to make it more realistic. Backgrounds, such as clouds, a color or color gradient, or an imported image or panorama, are applied to all design layers. A physical sky background can be combined with a heliodon (Vectorworks Design Suite required) to create a realistic sky, correct in appearance for the time of day. In addition, a special lit fog effect can add the illusion of shafts of light in fog (point or spot light required).
Renderworks backgrounds are resources that are created and displayed in the Resource Manager and Resource Selector and are saved with the file. Several Renderworks backgrounds are provided in the Vectorworks Libraries. Several Renderworks styles make use of backgrounds.
To create a background:
From the Resource Manager, click New Resource, select Renderworks Background, and then click Create. Alternatively, from the Resource Manager, select Renderworks Backgrounds from the list of resource types on the tool bar, and click New Renderworks Background.
The Edit Renderworks Background dialog box opens.
Enter the name of the new background and select the type of background to create. Click Options to set specific background parameters.
Click to show/hide the parameters.Click to show/hide the parameters.
|
Parameter |
Description |
|
None |
Select this option when creating a lit fog effect without an additional background |
|
Clouds |
Specifies a sky background with a background color and clouds |
|
Scale |
Specifies the cloud scale (1–10); enter a larger value for larger cloud sizes |
|
Background Color |
Select a background color for the sky |
|
Cloud Color |
Select a cloud color |
|
Detail |
Specifies the level of cloud resolution; drag the slider to the right to specify a greater level of detail (requires longer rendering times) |
|
One Color |
Specifies a background with one color; click Options to select the color |
|
Two Color |
Specifies a background with two colors which blend to form a gradient; click Options to select the colors |
|
Top Color |
Select the color for the start of the color gradient at the top of the background |
|
Bottom Color |
Select the color for the end of the color gradient at the bottom of the background |
|
Image |
Uses a specified image for the background (see Creating image backgrounds) |
|
Panoramic Image |
Uses a panoramic image file for the background (see Creating panoramic image backgrounds) |
|
Physical Sky |
Uses environment lighting to realistically simulate various sky conditions (see Creating physical sky backgrounds) |
|
Lit Fog |
Creates volumetric lighting effects, such as a shaft or cone of scattered light in fog, haze, or smoke. A point or spot light object must be inserted in the drawing, and Lit Fog must be selected in the Object Info palette for the light source object. Lit fog cannot be applied to directional, area, or line lights. |
|
Fog Density (%) |
Specifies the fog density; enter a larger value to increase the density of the effect |
|
Fog Consistency |
Creates either a smooth or uneven fog effect |
|
Receive Shadows |
Allows the effect to be blocked by solid objects, creating shadows; for example, when blocking a shaft of light by a table, so that light does not display under the table. Use Shadows must also be selected in the rendering options. |
Shaded render mode only displays One Color, Two Color, and Image backgrounds.
The new background resource is listed in the Resource Manager. It is available in the Edit Design Layers dialog box (see Applying Renderworks backgrounds for information).
To quickly edit a Renderworks background, press Ctrl (Windows) or Option (Mac) and double-click on the resource in the Resource Manager.
Backgrounds and lit fog effects can be used together.
Purge textures and backgrounds that are not used in the drawing file to reduce file size. See Purging items from a file.
