Display/Rendering/Animation Enhancements

Rhino 4.0

 

 


In 4.0, there are more than 60 new features and enhancements for display, rendering, and animation:

Display ( new, enhanced)

  • Display Pipeline - The display pipeline handles all the drawing of viewports - wireframe, shaded, ghosted, etc. The new display pipeline is faster and supports user-configured schemes.
  • BackgroundBitmap - New options:
    • Extract - Saves the bitmap to an external file.
    • Refresh -  Rereads the bitmap from the original bitmap file. Also, automatically reads the original bitmap file each time a 3DM file is opened.
    • Replace -  When placing a bitmap there is an option to replace an existing background bitmap.
  • ClippingPlanes - A modeling aid to remove clutter. Video...
  • CullControlPolygon - Hides control points and control polygons when they are behind objects.
  • DigCamera - Sets the current viewport camera location and direction based on the 3-D digitizer probe position and the direction.
  • DollyZoom - A new Vertigo-style combined dolly and zoom command. Video...
  • Dual monitors - More than one monitor is now supported with floating viewports.
  • FlatShade - All shaded modes now display a flat-shade version.
  • Floating Viewports - Allows viewports to float outside the Rhino main window. Floating viewports are most helpful on a multi-monitor system.
    • NewFloatingViewport - Creates a new floating viewport.
    • ToggleFloatingViewport - Toggles a Rhino viewport between a docked and floating.
  • FullScreen - Switches Rhino to full screen mode for presentations. Esc to exit.
  • GradientView - Creates a color gradient viewport background.
  • Lighting - The default lighting used for Shaded, Ghosted, and XRay display now uses three lights to better define the shapes of objects. The lighting used for Shaded, Ghosted, and XRay display can be customized.
  • Locked object - Advanced display options control how locked objects are displayed.
  • LimitReferenceModel: - Limit the amount of reference geometry that is viable and available for editing to improve performance or clear visual clutter.
  • LinetypeDisplay - Toggles display of linetypes. 
  • Mesh properties - Meshing is faster and provides a smoother mesh with fewer facets.
  • Mesh setting per object - Objects can now have unique mesh settings for display and rendering.
  • MoveTargetToObjects - Moves a viewport's target position to the center of the bounding box of selected objects.
  • OrientCameraToSrf - Moves a viewport's camera direction and target locations to match a selected surface normal. Video...
  • PrintDisplay - Displays objects using their "print" attributes.
  • SetDisplayMode - Sets viewport's mode from the list of existing built-in and customized display modes.
  • SetObjectDisplayMode - Assigns separate display attributes to individual objects, regardless of mode the viewport is in.
  • Scale view - Scales the view differently horizontally or vertically to make it easier to make subtle changes to curves.
  • Shade: New Selected option in the -Shade scripted command.
  • ShowZBuffer - Toggles a viewport display mode that shows the distance from the camera in greyscale. The closest pixel becomes white and the furthest pixel becomes black.
  • Stereo viewing - Supported.
  • Turntable - Continuously rotates a view around the viewport target point with enhanced controls.
  • UndoView - Now support 256 undos instead of 64.
  • ViewCaptureToClipboard - Captures an image of the current view to the clipboard. Scriptable options include resolution and grid and axis visibility.
  • ViewCaptureToFile - Captures an image of the current view to a file. Scriptable options include resolution and grid and axis visibility.
  • ViewportTabs - Controls toggle and set the positioning and the style of the viewport tabs.
  • WalkAbout - Navigation tool to "walk" through a model.
  • Zoom with mouse wheel - Mouse wheel pan in/out (= camera and target both move) activator changed from SHIFT to ALT to match Alt+RMB pan in/out.
  • Zoom - 1to1 option displays objects in a parallel view at actual size on the screen.
  • Zoom1To1Calibrate - Informs Rhino of physical size of your monitor or projection screen.
  • Zoom Extents - In RenderedDisplay mode, lights are excluded from the extents.
  • ZoomNaked - Marks naked edges and cycles through them, zooming the next naked edge to the screen extents.

Rendering ( new, enhanced)

  • BounceLight - Adds lights or helper lines to the scene based on user-defined highlight locations. Create spotlights, directional and point lights, and helper lines, and adjust the light color. The helper lines are useful for placing objects that show in reflections when the scene is raytraced.
  • Curves and Isocurve display are now two separate settings.
  • EditLightByLooking - Sets the direction of a new or existing spotlight based on your view. Use RenderedViewport mode to see the effect of the light on the object.
  • RhinoRender - The default renderer in Rhino has changed to a new faster rendering engine and new options for:
    • Process thread count and process priority.
    • Rendering a selected area first.
  • Print Render Window - 1:1 or Fit to Page.
  • SetSpotlightToView - Sets a spotlight to match the viewport camera direction.
  • SetViewToSpotlight - Sets the view to match a spotlight direction.
  • TextureMapping: Apply a texture mapping channel to an object. Sets the mapping type and allows the user to adjust the mapping primitive and other options. New commands:
    • ApplyBoxMapping
    • ApplyCylindricalMapping
    • ApplyPlanarMapping
    • ApplySphericalMapping
    • ApplySurfaceMapping
    • MappingOff
    • MappingOn
    • RefreshAllTextures
    • RemoveMappingChannel

Animation ( new, enhanced)

  • Simple animation - The commands are:
    • SetFlyThroughAnimation - Sets up an animation where the camera and target follow the same path.
    • SetPathAnimation - Sets up an animation where the camera and target each follow their own path.
    • SetTurntableAnimation - Sets up an animation where the camera circles a target point.
    • SetOneDaySunAnimation - Sets up an animation where a light follows the path of the sun for a single day.
    • SetSeasonalSunAnimation - Sets up an animation where a light follows the path of the sun over a period of days.
    • PlayAnimation - Plays an animation in a viewport.
    • RecordAnimation - Saves the frame images and makes an html page to play the animation.
    • ViewFirstFrame - Displays the first frame.
    • ViewFrameNumber - Displays a specified frame number.
    • ViewLastFrame - Displays the last frame.
    • ViewNextFrame - Displays the next frame.
    • ViewPreviousFrame - Displays the previous frame.
    

 © 2007 McNeel • North America • Europe • Latin America • Asia