Lighting of Models (3-D)

HiCAD provides the following options for illuminating the drawing:

• Use the Graphics window function to set adjustable light sources, specifying the ambient, diffuse and mirroring light portion. This lighting is based on OpenGL functions. To access the function, click the icon and select Colour settings.
• the functions of the Lighting toolbar with which lamps and spotlights can be set via point specifications and saved together with the drawing. These lighting functions are effective when the 3-D model is exported as TGF file (Gamma Ray) or as a VRML file.

You use the functions of the Lighting (3-D) toolbar to set light sources that are taken into account by the HiCAD Reality Studio and during VRML export The quality of the image that is created crucially depends on the lighting conditions set in the drawing. The rules of photography apply to setting the light sources.

Basic rule: Too little light does not illuminate the objects enough, too much takes away their plasticity.

HiCAD recognizes the following light sources:

• Lamps which emit their light evenly on all sides (sun, light bulbs) and
• Spotlights which radiate in a certain direction with a defined aperture angle (floodlights).

Self-illuminating light sources can be varied in respect of light intensity, range and colour. Specifying a range takes into account the effect whereby, in nature, the brightness of a body decreases by the square of the distance between observer and body. At range distance from the observer, the lamp has intensity 1, changing reciprocally quadratically.

Please bear the following notes in mind before executing the function:

• All lamps/spotlights set with the lighting functions have an internal consecutive numbering. Lamp 1 is automatically set with intensity 1 in point (200,400,600).
• Existing lamps and spotlights are marked in the drawing and can be selected directly with the cursor. Alternatively, selection can also be made by pressing the right mouse button and entering the point number.
• Lamps are automatically assigned light colour "white" during definition.
• Lamps and spotlights apply to all views of the drawing and are saved with the drawing. The default setting is a light source with parallel light beams from the front.
• With standard HiCAD shading, up to 20 point light sources with and without limited reach can be used as isotropic (radiating in all directions) sources or spotlights (floodlights with direction and aperture angle). With the raytracing method (Gamma Ray rendering program), up to as many as 100 light sources can be used.

Lighting Functions (3-D) • Graphic Window