Render Panel

The Render panel controls settings for render previews and final views. Since these settings significantly affect rendering speed, it is a good idea to optimize them for your system.

Note: If you have used previous versions of Chief Architect and find that render performance in Version X1 is slower than in earlier versions, compare the setting in the Render panel with those in the older version and make sure they are equivalent.

Select the options to use when Render Previews and Final Views are created. These options are available for both views and can be selected independently.

Use Textures controls whether or not surfaces are rendered with textures. This only affects surfaces with materials that have assigned textures. When textures are turned off, surfaces are rendered using the color assigned to the material, but not the texture. Pattern lines seen in other 3D views are not drawn in render views. See "Mapping Patterns and Textures".

Smooth Edges removes the jagged edges that sometimes result where two surfaces meet, producing cleaner lines. This feature slows rendering considerably and is typically used only for final render views. This option can also be accessed from the contextual menu in a render view.

Smooth Faces generates smooth curved surfaces in render views. It uses new surface normals to alter the lighting effects on surfaces, making them appear curved, even though it does not alter the shape of the surfaces. This option should only have a minimal impact on rendering speed. It can also be accessed from the contextual menu.

Use Transparency allows transparency effects. For some video cards, rendering may be slowed when this feature is selected.

Show Images controls the display of Chief Architect images, such as plants, cars and people, in render views.

Show Shadows controls whether or not shadows display. Shadows are extremely complex to calculate and slow down rendering speed significantly. They are typically used only for Final Views.

Multiple lights can cast shadows at the same time, and rendering time increases. Experiment with this feature before using it as a default.

Show Shadows can also be accessed from the contextual menu in render view. You should only set this from the contextual menu rather than as a preference.

Use Triangles divides large surfaces, such as walls, floors, and ceilings, into small triangles. This feature enhances lighting effects when point or spot light sources are used.

Max Triangle Size controls the size of the triangles modeled by the program. The smaller the maximum triangle size, the more triangles used. Lighting looks better with smaller triangles, but rendering takes longer. The minimum value is 6".

Other Render Settings

These following settings affect both the Preview and Final View functions.

The Soft Shadows option displays shadows with soft edges instead of hard edges. This feature is only used when Show Shadows and Smooth Edges are also used.

Always Rebuild recalculates the 3D model and render data every time the view is redrawn. If this is not checked, the program redraws the screen without recalculating the model.

When Always Rebuild is turned off, you may notice lighting and surfaces appear incorrect after multiple camera movements.

A model can be rebuilt in any view by pressing F5 on the keyboard or clicking Refresh Display .

The Keep All Surfaces option makes the renderer calculate all surfaces of a model. Turning off this feature may speed up rendering because surfaces that cannot be seen in the view are ignored, but if the camera is moved and a surface that was not originally visible comes into view, there will be a gap in the view. This feature is not needed when Always Rebuild is selected.

You can also get fast performance in render view by checking Keep All Surfaces clearing the Always Rebuild check box. Lighting may be wrong when the camera moves between rooms, so use F5 to refresh the screen and update the lighting.

The Use Optimizations option directs your computer to save rendering data to video card. On some OpenGL graphics cards, this may cause problems if the rendering data for your model is greater than the amount of memory on the card. If your computer stops responding when rendering, try removing the check from this check box. This slows down the rendering time considerably, so if the problem is not solved, leave the check box selected.

The Surface Backdrop option generates the backdrop image using hardware acceleration. For some graphics cards, this option improves rendering speed considerably.

Information regarding your OpenGL graphics card displays here. This information may be important if you are having problems generating render views.

Notice the information following the Acceleration label. If your video card supports hardware acceleration for OpenGL, this says "Installed Client Driver." If it does not, it says "No Hardware Acceleration." There is a significant difference in speed between rendering with acceleration and without.

The Max Lights value indicates how many lights you can have turned on at any given time when generating a render view. This value should be 8 or higher, depending on your video card.