Autodesk WikiHelp Product help with community knowledge

Product
Language
Release

Community Scoring

Was this page helpful?

Tag Tags0

This page has no tags

Page statistics

1275 views, 1 edit(s), 19989 characters(s) Page last modified 02:01, 10 Feb 2012 by adsk_arutherford

How to add your knowledge

Create new page
Edit page
Upload video
- Upload video
- Video overview

Showcase Workflows

1. To run a workflow
2. To create and share a user workflow

The settings described here are available for all workflows that send documents to Showcase for rendering. Understanding these settings and how to modify them helps you get the best results for your project.

Procedures

Use Showcase Workflows

Run a workflow

Use this procedure to send your design to 3ds Max Design or Showcase. Before running a workflow, ensure that the design contains only the required objects, and any layers not required are turned off or frozen.

To run a workflow

Open the design document in the source application: AutoCAD, Inventor, or Revit.
Click Application menu Suite Workflows.
Click the workflow you want to run.
In the workflow dialog, click Run.
If it is not already open, the target application opens.
Respond to any prompts that appear.
After some processing, your design appears in the target application.

Create a workflow

You can create a workflow based on one of the standard workflows supplied by Autodesk, or based on another user workflow. After you identify workflows that demonstrate best practices, share them with other team members to support consistent processes.

To create and share a user workflow

Open Workflow Manager using one of these methods:
1. Click Workflow menuShow Workflow Browser
2. Click Application menuSuite WorkflowsWorkflow Manager
In Workflow Manager, right-click the workflow to use as a template for your custom workflow Duplicate. The new workflow is added to the list, with a digit appended to the name, such as (1).
Select the new workflow and then click Settings.
In the Workflow Settings Editor, modify any workflow settings as required.
At the bottom of the Workflow Settings Editor, click Save As.
In the Save Workflow Settings dialog, enter a unique name and description for the new workflow. Click Save.
If you want to share the new workflow with your team, follow the next steps.
At the top of the Workflow Settings Editor, click Information. In the About section, the Source entry shows the path to the new workflow and other user workflows.
The default location is C:/Users/<username>/AppData/Roaming/Autodesk/Workflows.
Right-click the Source entry Select All.
Right-click the highlighted Source entry Copy.
Paste the Source path in a convenient location for adding to an email, or otherwise communicating to your team members. They will need to place the workflow in the comparable locations on their computers.
Navigate to the Source directory and copy the new workflow for distribution to your team.

References

Showcase Settings

Geometry

This setting controls the conversion of the input model to meshes in Showcase. The results can display one level of detail (1LOD) with one mesh per object, or multiple levels of detail. Using a 1LOD setting provides improved rendering performance, and is suitable for multi-part models.

Options

001 - All Purpose. The default setting, and a good general choice. It creates three different LODs in a wide range. Most objects look good with this setting, though you may find it is best suited to exterior scenes with large objects, potentially with ground planes, where you might use moderate close-ups from time to time.
002 - Large Parts. Recommended for large-scale designs such as bridges and city views. This script creates three LODs, optimized for larger parts. Small details do not render as well, but this script produces fewer polygons than the All-Purpose script, and therefore can result in better performance for medium and large objects.
003 - Small Details. Recommended for small-scale designs such as hand-held consumer products. This script creates three LODs, optimized for smaller parts. More polygons are created, but this results in good quality for smaller scenes. It can also produce good results on moderate sized scenes that have many small details that are important to the user. Use this setting for small- to medium-sized models, like an ice skate or a dashboard; not recommended for large curved surfaces or shapes.
004 - 1LOD Low. One LOD with a smaller number of polygons. This option provides good performance for large models, with reduced quality in close-ups.
005 - 1LOD Medium. One LOD with a moderate number of polygons. This option is good for medium-sized models.
006 - 1LOD High. One LOD with a large number of polygons. This option is good for small models, but has a bigger impact on performance.

Visual Style

These options are of two general types: abstract and realistic. Abstract styles are recommended for conceptual designs or work in progress, as they clearly show the relative sizes and proportions of objects. Realistic styles are recommended for more advanced designs, as these styles show details more clearly.

Options

Realistic - No Shadows. Provides faster performance.
Realistic - Ambient Shadows. Screen space ambient occlusion (SSAO) is active, providing soft shadows. Directional environment shadows are disabled.
Realistic - Shadows. Directional environment shadows are active and ambient shadows are disabled.
Realistic - Both Shadows and Ambient Shadows.This is the default visual style. It enables both ambient and environment shadows for a more realistic hardware rendering of the scene.
Realistic - Ray Tracing.This option produces the most realistic visual style. With ray tracing, objects can reflect each other. Other benefits of ray tracing are more accurate rendering of transparency and scene illumination.
Abstract - Flat Color. This option displays the model without shading. It turns on geometry edges and renders the materials as the average color of their textures. Ambient shadows, reflections, and the environment light are not displayed.
Abstract - Toon Color. This option renders the scene as a cartoon illustration, using geometry edges and the average colors of the materials. Ambient shadows and reflections are not displayed.
Abstract - Shaded Textures. This option generates a shaded look for the model. It displays the geometry edges and renders the materials with textures, but without reflections or bump. Ambient shadows and reflections are not displayed.
Abstract - Tech. This is an ideal choice for illustrations of models with reflective materials. The textures and environment reflections are enabled. Ambient shadows are not displayed. Both the geometry and the environment are rendered as an illustration.
Abstract - Realistic with Edges. This option renders the model realistically, and enhances the look by adding geometry edges. Ambient shadows and environment reflections are enabled.

Light Style

These settings provide the visual context for your design. The environments are not simple background images. They cast light, so the surroundings can be reflected in the surfaces of your design. Choices are largely subjective, but some guidelines are provided. On the Showcase Environment menu, set the environment to use for smaller designs. In the next setting, If Model Is Larger Than, specify the maximum linear dimension in meters for a smaller design. On the Large-Scale Environment menu, set the environment to use for designs with a linear dimension that exceeds the specified value. Both the Showcase Environment and the Large-Scale Environment menus have the same options.

Showcase Environment and Large-Scale Environment Options

The following scale-independent environments use a back plate (BP), do not scale when you zoom out, and can be used with very large models.

BP Black-White (Scale Independent - Abstract)
BP Generic (Scale Independent - Abstract). Gray background.
BP Gradient (Scale Independent - Abstract)
Empty (Scale Independent - Abstract). No image, which is good for controlling color display.

The following environments are recommended for large designs, up to 70 m in size.

Grass Field (Building Size - Realistic)
White Room (Building Size - Abstract)
Black Room (Building Size - Abstract)

The following environments are recommended for designs up to 7 m in size.

Country Road (Car Size - Realistic)
Daylight Gypsum Crater (Car Size - Realistic)
Desert Dawn Road (Car Size - Realistic)
Docks (Car Size - Realistic)
Dry Lake Bed (Car Size - Realistic)
Exhibit Hall (Car Size - Realistic)
Night Plaza (Car Size - Realistic)
NIght Street (Car Size - Realistic)
Old Warehouse (Car Size - Realistic)
Sepulveda (Car Size - Realistic)
Stuttgart (Car Size - Realistic)
Generic (Car Size - Abstract)
Photo Studio (Car Size - Realistic)

The following environments are recommended for small designs, up to 1 m in size.

Empty Lab (Chair Size - Realistic)
ID Hardwood (Chair Size - Realistic)
ID Bloom (Chair Size - Abstract)
ID Box Sweep (Chair Size - Abstract)
ID Simple Skylight (Chair Size - Abstract)
ID Speed (Chair Size - Abstract)
ID Tech (Chair Size - Abstract)

Ground Plane Level specifies the ground level in relation to the model. The ground plane receives shadows from the model. It can be placed at the bottom of the model, or match the Inventor Ground Plane. For buildings, which can have underground details, the user can specify an elevation for the ground level.

Center Environment on Model is a recommended setting, as it centers the environment without moving the model. Moving the model is not recommended when you import Inventor constraints or when you assemble the scene out of multiple files.

Object Animation

Create Animated Behavior from Constraints is available only for Inventor. This setting allows you to choose the constraints to be converted into animated behaviors. It works well with machinery models, as it enables you to show different constraints in action, and to add triggers and behaviors to slides.

Inventor