Viewport Brightness

 Viewport Settings

This helps you customize the visual information in your Scene.

Go to Viewport Settings (in the top-right corner of your screen).

shaderlog

Enable / disable shaderlog.

This replicates Luminance as perceived by the human eye. It gives more detail in lower intensity, and less detail in higher intensity

Show Object Edges

Tick the box to enable / disable it.

Show Projector Infos

Tick the box to enable / disable it.

Show All Projector Beams

Tick the box to enable / disable it.

Tip

You can also turn On / Off the Power an individual Beam through its Projector’s Shortcuts. Or in its Properties.

Viewport Background

You can change the Viewport Background for both ergonomic or aesthetic purposes.

Gradiant adds a soft esthetic glow to your Background.

Global Material Override

Some Objects may have a Material Override option enabled. This means you can “see through” them in the Viewport.

Learn about the Side Tool for Material Override here.

This is a global effect. When enabled (with Double Side box ticked), all Material Overrides are suspended.

Show Grid

Qte = Quantity of Squares both Horizontal and Vertical.

Size = Unit Size of 1 Square.

Sub = Subdivisions of each Square.

Projection Distance Helper

This tool helps you visualizing the distance variations between a Projector’s Lens and the surfaces hit by its Beam. It will give you a better understanding of potential focus issues.

This is a global effect. When enabled, all Projectors apply it.

Go to Viewport Settings (in the top-right corner of your screen).

To disable it, go to the Display dropdown menu, and select None.

The two Thresholds parameters represent a fixed % value of the distance between any Projector and its Target Point.

Example

We have a Beam with a 10m projection distance.

Both thresholds are set to 0.1 and 0.3.

Consequently, the areas between 1m and 3m away from the Target Point will be hatched in Yellow. And when 3m away or more, it will be all Green.

WARNING

This tool does not represent the real projection depth of field, or the minimum and maximum projection focus plane. But it’s a simple and great way to flag potential focus issues.

Photometric Analysis

This tool allows you to evaluate both the Illuminance and Luminance on given surfaces in your Scene.

You can use this information to have an estimate of the Contrast Ratio on any surface. This will help you evaluate your needs in terms of Projection Light output.

Contrast Ratio = Projection Light / Ambient Light.

Tip

A 5 to 1 ratio is an indicative minimum for decent projection results. A 10 to 1 ratio is often pretty good.

In reality, this will variate in function of numerous factors such as the surfaces’ characteristics. Therefore, conducting on-site tests will be essential.

Warning

Photometric Analysis will exclude Ambient & Directional Light from its computation. You’ll have to take that into account when estimating your Projection Light Output needs.

Start the Photometric Analysis mode either from the Viewport menu, or through the Viewport Settings panel.

Evaluate Illuminance and Luminance

Illuminance = the amount of Light falling on a surface, per unit area.

The Object’s Material and surface angle have no incidence on it.

Luminance = the amount of Light reflected from a surface, per unit area. Aka the Light Falloff.

The Object’s Material (Gain / Color / Base Map) does have an incidence on it. The darker the surface, the lower the brightness.

The angle in which the Light Ray hits the surface also has an incidence. The wider the angle, the lower the brightness.

Scale Max is simply a reference value for all superior values in your Scene to show in a white-dotted Red.

You can also tick the Scale Log box to change the color distribution, as perceived by a human eye. It will give more details in the lower values, and less details in the higher ones.

Tip

Set Scale Max slightly above the Illuminance / Luminance value calculated at the Target Point. This info appears when Show Projector Infos (in Viewport Settings) is enabled.

Warning

Changing the Color distribution with Scale Max / Scale Log does not affect the Brightness in your Scene. It simply presents you the same information on a different scale, allowing you to visualize variations as you please.

Brightness Settings

To adjust global Brightness parameters in your Scene:

Go to Brightness Settings (in the top-right corner of your screen).

Auto Viewport Range

This will define a value range for both Projection Texture and Ambient / Directional Light.

When enabled, the range is set automatically. The max brightness (100% white) will be adjusted in function of the selected Projector’s Illuminance value on its Target Point.

When disabled, the range has to be set manually.

Example

If we manually set 250 Lux, it will take 250 Lux to make any Object (which has a 1.0 Gain) 100% white. If it has a 0.5 Gain, 250 Lux will make it 50% white, etc. Same logic for Colors / Maps, the brighter the whiter.

Projection Texture

The Projection Texture tool is global effect. It allows you to simultaneously reveal all projected Textures from the Scene. No need for any Projector Beam.

The projected Textures may be applied as a Material Projection Map, or emitted from a Camera Projector.

Adjust the value in lux.

Ambient / Directional Light

Ambient & Directional Light are global effects. applying on all Objects of the Scene.

Ambient Light = the Light is equally emitted from all directions.

Directional Light = the Light is emitted from 1 source only.

Set a value (type-in or drag to adjust).

Yaw = the direction angle of the Light source, orbitting around the Blue Z axis. 180° shifts it to the opposite direction.

Pitch = the direction angle of the Light source, orbitting around the Red X (or Green Y) axis.