Changing Specific Viewer Behavior

Lights and Shadows

To change the lighting used for the Shaded (raw & filmlook) shading models:

• Select Display > Lighting > Off - this removes all lights from the Viewer.

• Select Display > Lighting > Selected Lights (or press 8) - all selected lights contribute to the lighting in the Viewer.

• Select Display > Lighting > All Lights (or press 7) - all lights within the scene contribute to the lighting in the Viewer.

To change whether shadows are used for the Shaded (raw & filmlook) shading models:

• Select Display > Shadows > Off - no shadows from lights are used in the Viewer.

• Select Display > Shadows > Selected Lights - all selected lights create shadows for the lighting in the Viewer.

• Select Display > Shadows > All Lights - all lights create shadows for the lighting in the Viewer.

Multi-sample Anti-aliasing

Multi-sampling, also known as multi-sample anti-aliasing (MSAA), is one method for achieving full-screen anti-aliasing (FSAA). With multi-sampling, each pixel at the edge of a polygon is sampled multiple times. For each sample-pass, a slight offset is applied to all screen coordinates. This offset is smaller than the actual size of the pixels. By averaging all these samples, the result is a smoother transition of the colors at the edges. Unlike super-sampling (SSAA), which can result in the same pixel being shaded multiple times per pixel, multi-sampling runs the fragment program just once per pixel rasterized. However with MSAA multiple depth/stencil comparisons are performed per pixel, one for each of the sub-samples, which gives you sub-pixel spatial precision on your geometry and nice, smoothed edges on your polygons.

The OpenGL driver for the graphics card returns a value for GL_MAX_SAMPLES. This value indicates the maximum supported number of samples for multi-sampling you can have.

To change the multi-sample anti-aliasing:

• Select Display > Anti-Aliasing > Off - multi-sample anti-aliasing is not applied.

• Select Display > Anti-Aliasing > Quarter - a quarter of the maximum supported number of samples are applied.

• Select Display > Anti-Aliasing > Half - half the value of the maximum supported number of samples are applied.

• Select Display > Anti-Aliasing > Full - the full value of the maximum supported number of samples are applied.

Note:  Full-quality MSAA may have a negative impact on real-time performance on lower-end machines.

Tip:  Visit http://opengl.gpuinfo.org/ to search the value for your graphics card.

Anti-Aliasing Settings

To change the anti-aliasing for lines and points:

• Select Display > Smoothing > Off - anti-aliasing is not applied to either points or lines.

• Select Display > Smoothing > Points - toggles point anti-aliasing in the Viewer.

• Select Display > Smoothing > Lines - toggles line anti-aliasing in the Viewer.

Proxies

To change how proxies are displayed:

• Select Display > Proxies > Bounding Box (or press Ctrl+B) - only proxy bounding boxes are displayed.

• Select Display > Proxies > Geometry (or press Ctrl+G) - only proxy geometry is displayed.

• Select Display > Proxies > Both (or press Ctrl+Shift+G) - both proxy geometry and proxy bounding boxes are displayed.

Note:  If no proxies have been associated with the geometry, bounding boxes are not automatically calculated.

Selected Locations

By default the Viewer tab highlights (with a white wireframe) the location(s) that are currently selected.

To change the way Katana displays selected locations, select Display > ... while selected > ...

Note:  Any display changes made only affect locations while they are selected.

Dragging Behavior

For some scenes with complicated geometry or lighting it may make sense to lower the display quality while dragging geometry or lights around the scene.

To change the way Katana displays the scene while dragging, select Display > ... while dragging > ...

Note:  Any settings within this menu override the default display behavior while something within the viewer is being dragged.

Background Color

The background color for the tab can be changed to make the scene easier to read, to reduce eye fatigue, or to better match the background color when rendered.

To change the background color, select Display > Background Color > ... :

• Black (or press T)

• Gray (or press Alt+T)

• White (or press Shift+T)