TECHNICAL WHITEPAPER

In This Issue

With Inventor Studio we can

Using Props

Surface Styles

Lighting Styles

Scene Styles

Cameras

Rendering and Animation

Animation Options

About the Author: Jason Lane

The Autodesk Design Suites now offer several worthy options for creating Photo-Realistic renderings of your Autodesk Inventor designs. With Showcase as part of the Product Design Suite Standard and 3Ds Max Design included in the Premium and Ultimate Suites, the Inventor Studio functionality included with Inventor often gets overlooked when determining which tool is used to create Photo-Realistic Renderings. Inventor Studio is still a good option for creating high quality renderings and animation of your products.

In this article we’ll discuss the various tools and capabilities of Inventor Studio and Scene creation. Composing a Scene for rendering can be as easy as just rendering the Inventor model. Or, you can use the various Inventor Studio features to give your components a more realistic appearance, add props, lighting and camera positions that highlight the beneficial aspects of your designs. It’s up to you to determine the content and complexity of your Scene.

Autodesk Inventor Studio – Still a good Option for Rendering

With Inventor Studio we can:

Create still and animated renderings of parts and assemblies

Compose a video using one or more cameras

Create scenes with background geometry, lights and camera

Reuse constraints or parameters between animations

Using PropsThe use of props can add visual stimulus to your renderings to tell a brief story about your design. Props can also aid those viewing the renderings to better understand the scale of your design. They also help give the viewer a better perspective of your product.

May 2013

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Surface StylesComponents and props are enhanced by the use of Surface Styles. For each Surface Style, you control the color, reflectance, opacity and textured appearance of the Style and where it’s used in the model.

Lighting StylesScenes are illuminated through the use of Lighting Styles. A Lighting Style is a collection of one of more lights with parameters defined for brightness, color, position and so on, set in such a way as to illuminate the Scene with the desired results in mind.

Scene StylesA Scene Style provides the background for your image or animation. Inventor Studio provides commands for positioning a ground plane and parameters for shadows and reflections. Additionally, Scene Styles can use a single color, gradient or an image for enhancing the rendered image or animation.

May 2013

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CamerasCameras are used to establish the viewing angle for any given scene. You can create and maintain as many cameras as you want in the Scene.

Rendering and AnimationCreate still and animated renderings of parts and assemblies to visualize the appearance and motion of a design before it’s built. Videos can be composed using one or more cameras from one or more animations of the same part or assembly.

Animation Options

Animation Timeline • Specifies the timing of all the actions in an animation

Animate Components • For the components transformation and rotation

Animation Fade • Controls the opacity of a component during a given timeframe

Animate Constraints • Specifies the value for modifying a constraint

Animate Parameters • Modifies the values of one or more parameter of the model

Animation Camera • Specifies the camera animation parameters. Turntable or Path

options to create fly-by visual effects

Animate Lights • Creates specialized lighting conditions and animates them at specific times

Animate Positional Reps • Animates Positional Representations from the Assembly Model

Video Producer • Integrated multiple camera shots, stills and transition into one animation for the current document.

May 2013

About the Author: Jason Lane Manufacturing Solutions Team Manager, IMAGINiT Technologies

Jason is part of our team of mechanical engineers and consultants that provide “first-in-class” engineering solutions to manufacturing companies by delivering “best practices” implementation solutions tailored to each company’s needs. Specializing in the manufacturing 3D design process and data management, Jason works with many clients to maximize their software investment by optimizing CAD applications to work in the most efficient manner.

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IMAGINiT Technologies, a RAND Worldwide Company, is the world’s largest provider of enterprise solutions to the engineering community, including the building, manufacturing,civil and mapping industries. With 20+ years’ experience, and more than 45 offices throughout North America and Asia Pacific, we provide the expertise, training and support to help companies realize the full power of design technology, maximize ROI and gain competitive advantage.

IMAGINiT is a leading provider of Autodesk software solutions and the largest North American Autodesk Authorized Training Center (ATC) partner. All of our locations are supported by a vast pool of engineering resources focused on developing real-life business solutions for their local clients.

About IMAGINiT Technologies

May 2013