formZ | Render Options | Image

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ben (Unlicensed)
Last updated: 09 Jul, 2016
3 min read

 

Image Tab

The options in this tab control the output image format, image tone mapping, and the creation of optional render channels.

 

General
  • Scale: Scales pixel dimensions of output image by the factor shown here. Useful for creating quick draft renderings at lower resolutions.
  • Render Area Rect: When formZ's Render Area Rectangle is enabled, controls whether the image subregion is rendered at true size (Actual Size) or is blown up to fill the full image frame (Enlarge).
  • Image Format: The image file format that the Maxwell render will be saved in. The image file format and bits-per-channel (BPC) are selected from the pull-down menus to the right. Not all BPC options are available to all image formats.
Tonemapping

All tonemapping parameters are non-destructive, and can be interactively adjusted during or after rendering in Maxwell.

  • Color Space: Specifies the color space for the rendered image. Available color spaces include sRGB, Adobe RGB 1998, Apple RGB, NTSC, and many others.
  • Temperature: The image White Point (lower K values yield a "cooler" image; higher values "warmer"). See Camera white balance.
  • Burn: Parameter to control the highlights in a render. Lower burn values will decrease the intensity of the highlights to avoid “burned out” areas in the image. In most cases this parameter should be left at default. Lowering it too much may produce unnatural looking images.
  • Monitor Gamma: Maxwell Render internally uses a gamma of 2.2 to convert from spectral space to the RGB color space. This parameter is used to control the gamma conversion. Lower gamma values darken the image, while higher values lighten the image. Note that you can control this parameter interactively while rendering in Maxwell.
  • Sharpness: Enables antialiasing. If an image exhibits moire effects around fine repetitive lines, try enabling with a low the sharpness value.
Channels

These options are used for advanced image compositing. See Channels.

Disabling all options except for ‘Render’ will result in faster renderings.

 

  • Custom Alphas: Enable all Custom Alpha Channels that have been defined. Click on Edit... to define.

Custom Alpha Channels

Custom Alpha Channels allows for creating an unlimited number of mask channels for each rendering. Each channel can include a combination of layers, individual objects, and/or materials. Channels defined here may also be used to define regions for Extra Sampling. See Render Options.

Example: In the screen capture above, three additional channels will be created for each rendering. "Custom A" will include all objects on layers Window Frames, Railing, and Concrete, as well as the independent objects Exterior Light 1 and Exterior Light 2, and any objects that have been assigned the material Water.

Illumination and Caustics
  • These options are used to accelerate renderings when specific optical phenomena are not required for your image. These controls allow you to deactivate certain aspects of the rendering calculations. These options are also useful in cases where you want to see the isolated effect of only the indirect light in the scene, for compositing purposes.

Render Optimization

If speed is more important than absolute realism, disabling Reflected Caustics–Indirect, Refracted Caustics–Direct and Refracted Caustics–Indirect will improve rendering times with an often acceptable loss of realism for architectural visualization work. Disabling Reflected Caustics–Direct will further improve rendering times, but at a sometimes significant loss of realism. Carefully compare the reflections of glass and metals onto other materials, as well as the refraction of real (but not AGS) glass, when deciding if these optimizations are acceptable for your project.