Advanced settings palette

Tool(s): Render
Tool(s): Record Movie -> From camera path
Tool(s): Set Camera Path

Image quality

Anti-aliasing

You can define the degree of anti-aliasing using five levels.

Small values produce jagged edges, rough color transitions and noise in textures. These settings are useful for quick test renderings.

A large value results in smooth edges, smooth color transitions and detailed textures, but it also leads to longer computing times. So you should use this setting when you render the final image.

Examples of rendered images with different settings for anti-aliasing:

		Without anti-aliasing: jagged edges are clearly visible. With anti-aliasing: the jagged edges are smoothed.

From left to right: no anti-aliasing; low level of anti-aliasing; high level of anti-aliasing.

Irradiance cache

The following parameters control how the program calculates the light intensity and color intensity of shading points in accordance with the irradiance cache method. In this context, shading points are prominent areas of the scene which are particularly important for the rendered image. The program will calculate these areas in several test runs.

The program will determine the light intensity and color intensity in the shading points. It will then interpolate between the shading points and save all the values to the irradiance cache table. When rendering the final image, the program will superimpose the results of the other calculations. The irradiance cache method produces homogeneous and diffused light with indirect lighting.

The following applies to all parameters: the higher the level, the better the quality, the longer the calculation.

Record density

You can define the density of light in the scene using four levels.

The resolution and the number of shading points define the sum of the rays of light the program has to enter into and calculate for the irradiance cache table.

When doing the test runs, the program increases the resolution in incremental steps up to the final IR resolution selected. Consequently, you can use this setting to control the quality and time it takes to calculate the result.

Examples of rendered images with different settings for record density:

From left to right: increase in record density; look at the shadows cast by the shelves.

Samples accuracy

You can define how many tests the program calculates to determine the light intensity and color intensity in the shading points. You can choose between four levels, defining the quality of the entire test run.

Note: Setting the Optimize for option to Inside (Render palette) further optimizes transitions between different colors and brightness levels.

Examples of rendered images with different settings for Samples accuracy:

From left to right: increase in quality; look at the corners of the room.

Smoothing

You can define the degree of smoothness using four levels.

The higher the value, the smoother the transitions between different colors and brightness levels in the rendered image. If the value is too high, some details may be lost.

Examples of rendered images with different settings for smoothing:

Image before (left) and after (right) smoothing: this parameter smoothes sharp transitions in brightness, such as the shadows cast by the railings.

GI parameters

Diffuse depth

You can define how rays of light are reflected using eight levels.

Enter a value > 1 to produce realistic shadows and to obtain the effect of indirect lighting.

Note: The diffuse depth is equivalent to the gamma value you set for the entire scene (see Global illumination parameter in the Render palette).

Examples of rendered images with different settings for diffuse depth:

		Diffuse depth = 1
		Diffuse depth = 2
		Diffuse depth = 3

Reflection depth

You can define the maximum number of reflections using twelve levels.

Under certain circumstances, a ray of light is reflected without end (for example, two mirrors facing each other). Consequently, the program would never finish calculating the image. Therefore, rays of light can only reflect up to twelve times in Allplan.

As a rule, you can achieve realistic images with one to two reflections. Three or more reflections are necessary only in exceptional cases.

Tip: By setting the reflection depth to 1, you can speed up calculations considerably.

Examples of rendered images with different settings for reflection depth:

Two mirrors facing each other clearly show the effect of reflection depth: the result on the left was produced with a reflection depth of 2; the one in the middle with a setting of 4 and the right one with a setting of 8.

Quality of glossy reflection

You can define the degree of gloss of reflective surfaces using four levels.

This setting only has an effect on materials of which the surface has a Roughness value that is greater than 0% in the Surface properties palette (see Assign Custom Surfaces to 3D, Archit. Elements). Surfaces with a roughness setting of 0% reflect by 100%. Consequently, glossy reflection is infinite.

Here, too, the same applies: the higher the level, the better the quality, the longer the calculation.

AO parameters

Only if the Ambient Occlusion option is active in the Render palette or in the Rendering options palette.

Max. ray length

Maximum ray length lets you control how neighboring objects interact.

If the distance between the objects is smaller than the ray length set, rendering takes into account the shadows cast by one object on the other one. If the distance is greater than the ray length set, rendering ignores this influence. The greater the value for the ray length, the longer the calculation will take.

You can enter a value between 0.1 and 4.0 m.

Examples of rendered images with different values for ray length:

From left to right: The higher the precision, the finer and more homogeneous the resulting image

Precision

Precision for defining critical and noncritical areas of the scene, thus defining how the test runs are distributed.

The number of test runs for areas classified as being noncritical is internally limited to a maximum of 10. For critical areas, on the other hand, Allplan does as many test runs as specified in Max. samples.

A smaller value reduces the computation time required while producing coarser results (which may even be required in certain cases). The higher the precision, the finer and more homogeneous the resulting image, but the longer the calculation will take.

Together with the setting for Max. samples, the setting for precision controls not only the quality of the rendered image but also the time it takes to calculate this image.

Max. samples

Maximum number of test runs for areas of the scene classified as being critical (see Precision).

The higher the number of test runs, the more exact the result in the critical areas. (The number of test runs for areas classified as being noncritical is internally limited to a maximum of 10.)

Together with the setting for Precision, the setting for maximum samples controls the quality of the rendered image in the critical areas of the scene.