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BOM Fraction Measurements

The Bill of Material Create BOM feature has a new option to support fraction measurements. To use this feature, select the Attributes and BOM dialog box from the Tools menu. Select your objects and associated a data set such as CutList properties. Apply to selected. Now select the Create BOM option to create a table. In the BOM Settings dialog box, select the Decimals pull down option. And then Select Fractions to display measurements as factions of feet and inches.

PBR Photo Rendering

PBR, or physically based rendering, is a method of rendering computer graphics that aims to accurately represent the way that light interacts with different materials in the real world. In PBR rendering, the appearance of a material is defined by a set of parameters that describe its physical properties, such as its roughness, reflectivity, and transparency. These parameters are used to calculate the way that light reflects off the surface of the material, taking into account the angle of the light source and the surface normal, as well as the surface's roughness and other properties.

One of the key benefits of PBR rendering is that it allows for more realistic and consistent results, as it is based on the physical properties of real-world materials rather than arbitrary artistic choices. This makes it particularly well-suited for applications where photorealism is important, such as architectural visualization, product design, and film and game development.

Key user interface components to PBR rendering include:  

• Photo Render Tool Palette

• Rendering Cameras

• Render To File

• Render Window

• Render Settings

 For a quick introduction to Photo Rendering with V14 see the video below:

Photo Render Tool Palette 

The Photo Render tool palette provides access to many of the tools used to create photo rendered images. The tool palette is access from the Tools menu bar “Photo Render” option.    

General Settings 

The General Settings tab provides access to the following photo render settings and parameters:

HDRI

The High-Definition Range Image (HDRI) tab provides access to the following settings and parameters:

Backgrounds 

The Backgrounds tab provides access to the following settings and parameters:

Sun & Sky

The Sun & Sky tab provides access to the following settings and parameters:

Use Skylight - Enables SkyLight environment lighting

Skylight Gain - Increase or decrease overall brightness

Skylight Turbidity- Increase or decrease atmosphere turbulence

Skylight Exposure- Increase or decrease overall intensity

Skylight Tint- Controls the color of the light

Use Sunlight- Enables Sunlight environment lighting

Sunlight Gain- Increase or decrease overall brightness

Sunlight Turbidity- Increase or decrease atmosphere turbulence

Sunlight Exposure- Increase or decrease overall intensity

Sunlight Tint- Controls the color of the light

Materials

The Materials tab provides access to the following material settings and parameters:

Materials- List of material shader types

Each material can have a set of unique parameters.  For example, glossy has:

Diffuse- Base color of object

Specular- Highlight color when light is perpendicular to surface normal

Roughness- How smooth or rough the material surface

Transparency- Material value for transparency or opacity

Materials: Metal Library

The Materials Metal shader provides access to a collection of preset metals that include silver, gold, chrome, copper, steel, nickel, and brass as examples.  

Materials: Glass Library

The Materials Glass shader provides access to a collection of preset glass and gemstones that include diamond, ruby, clear glass, and emerald.  

Textures

The Textures Tab provides access to a collection of preset textures that can be added to the material shader type on an object.  Texture settings and parameters include:

Texture Type - List of existing textures

Folders - Textures organized by categories

From File - Select a texture from your file system

Gain - Increase or decrease the brightness of the texture

U-Scale - Scale the texture coordinates along u axis

V-Scale - Scale the texture coordinates along v axis

Post Effects

A post processor is a tool that allows you to apply various image-based effects to a rendered image after it has been completed. These effects can include things like tone mapping, denoising, color aberration, vignette, and gamma correction.  Post processors can be very useful for improving the final appearance of a rendered image and can help to add a more polished and professional look to your work.

Post processors are accessed under the Post Effects tab in the render settings dialog box.   The Post Effects tab is only available in SharkCAD, SharkCAD Pro, ViaCAD Pro, and TurboCAD Mac Pro.

Denoiser

The denoiser used to reduce noise in images.  The denoiser used is the Intel Open Image Denoiser (OIDN) which is based on a machine learning algorithm that has been trained on a large dataset of noisy and denoised images. This allows the denoiser to learn the patterns of noise present in different types of images, and to remove the noise while preserving the underlying detail and structure of the image.

To use OIDN, select the Post Effects tab and enable the “Use Denoiser” check box.  The denoiser has one setting called Sharpness.  By default, the Sharpness value for denoiser is set to zero which is “full” filtering.  The value of 1 represents little to no denoising.

Note: The denoiser only works in CPU and will add a slight pause to each sample rendered.

Gamma Correction

Gamma Correction is a method used to adjust the brightness and contrast of an image by applying a nonlinear transformation to the pixel values. This transformation is typically used to correct for the nonlinear behavior of some displays, which can cause the displayed image to appear too dark or too bright.

Gamma correction is applied in the post-processing stage of the rendering process accessed by enabling the “Gamma Correction” check box.  The “Amount” value specifies the exponent used in the nonlinear transformation, with a value of 2.2 being commonly used for sRGB displays.

By adjusting the "Gamma" value, you can adjust the overall brightness and contrast of the rendered image, as well as correct for any color shifts that may occur due to the nonlinear behavior of the display.

Tone Mapping

Tone mapping is the process of converting the high dynamic range (HDR) pixel values of a rendered image into low dynamic range (LDR) pixel values that can be displayed on a standard monitor. This is necessary because the dynamic range of an image, which is the range of luminance values from the darkest to the lightest parts of the image, is often much larger than the range of values that can be displayed on a standard monitor.

By adjusting the tone mapping parameters, you can control the overall appearance of the rendered image and make it more visually appealing. 

To perform tone mapping, select the Post Effects tab and pick the “Tone Mapper” check box. 

Vignette

Vignette is a post-processing effect that darkens the edges of an image, creating a concentric gradient from the center of the image to the edges. Vignette is often used to draw the viewer's attention towards the center of the image and create a sense of depth and focus.

To enable vignette, you can select the "Vignette" setting in the "Post Effects" tab of the render settings. When the "Vignette" setting is enabled, you can adjust the "Scale" parameter to control the strength and size of the vignette effect. The "Scale" parameter controls the size of the area affected by the vignette effect.

Color Aberration

Color aberration is a post-processing effect that simulates the chromatic aberration that can occur in real-world lenses. Chromatic aberration is an optical phenomenon that occurs when the different wavelengths of light are not focused on the same plane, causing different colors to appear slightly offset from one another. This can cause the edges of objects in an image to appear distorted or fringed with color.

To enable color aberration, pick the Post Effects tab and select the "Color Aberration" check box. When the "Color Aberration" setting is enabled, you can adjust the “Scale" parameter to control the size of the area affected by the color aberration effect. The "Scale" parameter specifies the size of the color fringes, with higher values resulting in larger fringes.

Photo Render Library

The Photo Render Library provides a collection of materials, HDRI, and backgrounds via a drag and drop user interface.  To access the Library, select the Render Library from the Tools menu bar. 

Materials/HDR/Backgrounds

The library category type provides access drag and drop materials, HDRI, backgrounds, and textures.  Select a category such as materials to show various options for fabric, marble, glass, and metals.  Position your cursor over the desired material and press and move to the object.

Laser Light

The laser light adds a direct light source that emits a focused beam of light. Laser Lights are defined by a start point, end point, radius, and gain. The start point defined the laser start while the end point defines the direction of the light. The radius value defines the cylinder region of light. The gain defines the strength of the light.

Paraboloid Primitive

The paraboloid primitive provides a means to create a quadric surface from one-, two-, or three-point definitions. Use a paraboloid to create a reflectors/radars, automobile headlights, solar furnaces, antennas, and aerodynamic tips. The Paraboloid primitive is located in the solid primitives tool palette, last tool item. The one-point paraboloid has a base center, and three radius values. The two-point paraboloid has a base center, end. The three point has two points defining the base diagonal, and one point defining the height. Each method provides a data entry window interface to change the associated radius values.

Gripper Non-Uniform Scaling

The Gripper has a new graphic widget to perform non uniform scaling via a handle. To use this feature, display the inspector and select the gripper properties tab. Then select “Enable Gripper”. The non-uniform scale graphic is the red, blue, or green box display along the associated axis. Select, hold and drag over the box to scale along that particular axis.

Red scales along x
Blue along y
And Green scales along z

You can scale curves, surfaces, or solids. Use the data entry window to scale a precise amount.

Area Dimension

A new dimension tool was introduced to support area-based measurements. To access the Area Dimension tool tear out the dimension tool palette and select the area dimension tool icon. The area dimension works with collections of closed curves or polygons. There are two options accessed through the data entry window.

1. Leader Line Dimension
2. Text at Centroid

Select Pick Leader Line Dimension. And now select the collection of curves or polygon. Then select the arrow location and text location. Now change the area method to text at centroid. And select the polygon. The area dimension is associative to the curves originally selected. Modifying a curve will update the area dimension. The Area dimension also work with a collection of curves used in a constrained system. In this case, updating any dimension value, will update the area dimension.

Spatial 2022 Update

Core technology components for the modeling and interoperability tools are provided by Dassault Systems Spatial Technology.  V14 includes a major integration update for all products.

ACIS Modeling Kernel Update

The core modeling kernel was updated to support a newer version from Spatial.  The new update provides greater increases in quality and robustness and improvements in modeling tasks such as booleans, blending, chamfering, sweeps, skinning, healing, and faceting functionality.

Interop Update

The SAT and SAB data translators provide a neutral file format for precisely sharing curve, surface, and solid modeling data.  Third party app supporting SAT/SAB file formats include AutoCAD, Inventor, Fusion 360, SolidWorks, and SolidEdge.

The STEP and IGES translators for importing and exporting of precision curves, surfaces, and solids was updated via the Spatial Interop.  STEP and IGES support sharing of precise NURB and analytic surfaces between applications.

Native format translators were updated to support newer versions from SolidWorks, SolidEdge, PRO E, CATIA, and NX.

The 2D PDF export is a new method of sharing vector and font-based data with other applications. Vector data such as Lines, arc, circles, and splines are supported. Additionally, text and dimensions annotations are supported. Line styles and pen weights are also supported. Surfaces and Solids are exported as wireframes.

The DWG, DXF, PDF, and DAE translators provided through the Open Design Alliance (ODA) were updated to support the latest enhancements and performance boasts.  Additionally, minor enhancements were made supporting sharing of text and dimension data.

The SketchUp import/export technology was updated to support the lasted SDK.   This includes support for newer versions as well as maintenance updates for sharing data between the applications.

The Batch tool supports the option to render multiple images from a collection of files.

The tool will support rendering all cameras in visible layers of the files as well as use saved render settings. If no camera or saved render settings are present, it will use defaults at the time the batch tool was executed.

The STEP export file was updated to support specifying a unit setting upon export.  Applications reading the STEP file must support reading the file unit setting.