Render settings
The RENDER SETTINGS sheet holds every control of the render look. Its six sections are PRESET, SHADING, OUTPUT, WIREFRAME, EFFECTS and PERFORMANCE. To open it, click the RENDER card at the bottom right of the window, the card that names the current look and reads EDIT ▸ at its right edge. EDIT RENDER SETTINGS… opens the same sheet from EXPORT RENDER, EXPORT TURNTABLE and the PLAYBACK column of Loop Studio, and the command palette lists it as OPEN RENDER SETTINGS.
Each change takes effect as you make it, and DONE (Return) and the X in the header (Esc) only close the sheet. PRESET is always open. Of the other sections, only SHADING is open when the sheet appears; click a heading to open or close its section. While SHOW TOOLTIPS is on in the INTERFACE section of SETTINGS, holding the pointer over a control puts a line of help at the bottom of the sheet.
Where the settings apply
The LIVE preview, stills from EXPORT RENDER, turntables and Loop Studio exports all use these settings. Three controls reach fewer of them.
| Control | Outputs it affects |
|---|---|
| DEPTH OF FIELD | Shaded stills from EXPORT RENDER only |
| WIREFRAME MODE | EXPORT RENDER, turntables and Loop Studio exports. The LIVE preview stays shaded. |
| THREADS | EXPORT RENDER, turntables and Loop Studio exports. The LIVE preview uses half the processor cores, at least two. |
The viewport follows SURFACE, SPECULAR and GAMMA, and the limit each look places on how small a highlight can get. The rest of the sheet changes traced pictures only, as The viewport, the preview and the render explains. The SOLO render of a single light ignores the sheet and uses Orbit's starting look with no effects.
Orbit stores these settings in its own preferences. They carry over from one launch to the next and apply to whichever scene is open, and a .orbit file records none of them. Undo does not reverse a change to them.
Preset
| Label | Values and default | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| RAY '95, TERRA '96, GLIDE '99, CHROME 2000, RADIOSITY '96 | One highlighted at a time. On first launch none is highlighted, and CUSTOM is. | Clicking a look sets the controls listed for it in the next section. |
| CUSTOM | Highlighted when the SHADING and OUTPUT settings match none of the five looks | Clicking it does nothing. |
| The line under the row | KNIFE SHADOWS, NEEDLE CHROME, BLOWOUT for RAY '95, SKY-DOME AMBIENT, GRAIN, HAZE-READY for TERRA '96, 565 CROSS-HATCH, SOFT SPECULAR, REALTIME for GLIDE '99, SILKY, SCHLICK CHROME, NEEDLE STREAKS for CHROME 2000, GATHERED BOUNCE LIGHT, COLOR BLEED, SOFT for RADIOSITY '96 and CUSTOM CONFIGURATION otherwise | Describes the highlighted look |
| TERRA PAIRS WITH FOG | Appears after a click on TERRA '96 in a scene whose fog is off | ENABLE adds a thin, cool blue fog to the scene. The ✕ closes the banner and leaves the scene alone. A click on another look also closes it. |
The row reads CUSTOM as soon as a control in SHADING or OUTPUT, other than ANTI-ALIASING, differs from the highlighted look. ANTI-ALIASING and the controls in WIREFRAME, EFFECTS and PERFORMANCE leave the highlight where it is.
The RENDER card and the summary rows in the export sheets name the look in mixed case. They call RAY '95 "Raytrace '95", and the other looks keep their names, such as "Chrome 2000". Otherwise they read "Custom".
The fog from ENABLE belongs to the scene and is saved in its file. Undo counts it as part of the change made before it, as What undo covers describes. The LOOK buttons in EXPORT TURNTABLE and Loop Studio offer the same banner, and the command palette entries LOOK: RAY '95 to LOOK: RADIOSITY '96 apply a look without it. Choose a render look helps you decide between them.
What each preset sets
The last column holds the settings Orbit starts with on first launch, which read as CUSTOM.
| Setting | RAY '95 | TERRA '96 | GLIDE '99 | CHROME 2000 | RADIOSITY '96 | First launch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SURFACE | SMOOTH | SMOOTH | GOURAUD | SMOOTH | SMOOTH | SMOOTH |
| SPECULAR | PHONG | PHONG | BLINN-PHONG | BLINN-PHONG | BLINN-PHONG | BLINN-PHONG |
| AMBIENT | FLAT | SKY-TINTED | FLAT | SKY-TINTED | GATHERED, 8 rays | SKY-TINTED |
| REFLECTION | FIXED | FIXED | FIXED | SCHLICK | SCHLICK | SCHLICK |
| GLOSSY RAYS | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| REFL DEPTH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| GAMMA | LINEAR | LINEAR | CORRECTED | CORRECTED | CORRECTED | CORRECTED |
| TONEMAP | CLIP | CLIP | CLIP | SOFT CLIP | SOFT CLIP | CLIP |
| TEMPERATURE | 0 | −0.15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| COLOR DEPTH | 24-BIT | 24-BIT | 16-BIT | 24-BIT | 24-BIT | 24-BIT |
| DITHER | NOISE | NOISE | BAYER 4 | NONE | NONE | NONE |
| ANTI-ALIASING | NONE | 2×2 (4 SAMPLES) | NONE | 2×2 (4 SAMPLES) | 2×2 (4 SAMPLES) | NONE |
| AMBIENT OCCLUSION | Off | Off | Off | Off | Off | Off |
| GLOW / BLOOM | Off | Unchanged | Off | Unchanged | Off | Off |
| LENS FLARE | Off | Unchanged | Off | Unchanged | Off | Off |
| DEPTH OF FIELD | Off | Off | Off | Unchanged | Off | Off |
Every look leaves TINT at 0 and SATURATION at 1. None of them touches WIREFRAME MODE, THREADS or the sliders under the effects, such as THRESHOLD and FOCUS DIST.
A look also sets five things that have no control in the sheet. They stay as the last look set them after the row turns to CUSTOM, so a look built from RAY '95 keeps its hard shadows and blocky textures.
| Trait | RAY '95 | TERRA '96 | GLIDE '99 | CHROME 2000 | RADIOSITY '96 | First launch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smallest possible highlight | Pinpoint | Medium | Broad | Pinpoint | Small | Medium |
| Highlight brightness | Standard | Standard | Standard | Standard | Standard | 1.4 times standard |
| Shadows of area lights | Hard edged | Hard edged | Hard edged | Soft | Soft | Soft |
| Reflections | Added to the surface color, so chrome can turn white | Mixed with the surface color | Mixed | Mixed | Mixed | Mixed |
| Image textures up close | Blocky | Smoothed | Smoothed | Smoothed | Smoothed | Smoothed |
No control in Orbit brings back the first launch settings once a look has been picked. RESET ALL SETTINGS in SETTINGS leaves the render settings as they are.
Shading
| Label | Values and default | Effect | Interactions |
|---|---|---|---|
| SURFACE | SMOOTH, GOURAUD. Default SMOOTH. | SMOOTH works out the light at every pixel. GOURAUD works it out at the three corners of each triangle and blends the color across the triangle, so highlights slide or disappear between widely spaced corners. Under GOURAUD, image textures and bumps are not drawn; terrain colors that change with height still show. | The viewport follows it. |
| SPECULAR | PHONG, BLINN-PHONG. Default BLINN-PHONG. | The formula for highlights. PHONG gives smaller, sharper highlights than BLINN-PHONG on the same material. | The viewport follows it. |
| AMBIENT | FLAT, SKY-TINTED, GATHERED. Default SKY-TINTED. | The light that reaches surfaces in shadow. FLAT adds an even amount of the object's own color. SKY-TINTED takes its color from the sky in the direction the surface faces. GATHERED traces rays out from each point the camera sees and picks up light bounced off nearby surfaces, so a colored wall tints the floor beside it, and enclosed corners darken without turning black. | Reflections and objects seen through glass get SKY-TINTED fill under GATHERED. Choosing GATHERED sets GATHER RAYS to 8 unless it already has a value. |
| GATHER RAYS | 1 to 32. Starts at 8. | Rays traced from each point for GATHERED fill. More rays give smoother fill, and render time grows in step with the count. | Shown only while AMBIENT is GATHERED |
| REFLECTION | FIXED, SCHLICK. Default SCHLICK. | FIXED reflects the amount the material sets, evenly across the surface. SCHLICK reflects more toward an object's outline, where the surface turns away from the camera. | |
| GLOSSY RAYS | 1 to 16. Default 1. | At 1, reflections are sharp mirrors. Above 1, rough materials blur their reflections and what shows through them, and a rougher material blurs more. Smooth materials stay sharp at any count. | Each blurred reflection costs this many rays, at every bounce allowed by REFL DEPTH. |
| REFL DEPTH | 0 to 8. Default 2. | How many times a ray may bounce. Reflections on objects, reflections in the ground plane and in water, and transparent materials all draw on it. At 0 no surface reflects, and transparent materials stop showing what lies behind them. High values slow scenes full of mirrors. | Every look sets 1 or 2. |
Output
| Label | Values and default | Effect | Interactions |
|---|---|---|---|
| GAMMA | LINEAR, CORRECTED. Default CORRECTED. | CORRECTED converts the picture for a standard display with a gamma of 2.2. LINEAR writes the traced values unconverted, which darkens midtones and hardens contrast. | The viewport follows it. |
| TONEMAP | CLIP, SOFT CLIP. Default CLIP. | Under CLIP, anything brighter than white is drawn as flat white. SOFT CLIP leaves brightness up to 80 percent of white untouched and eases everything brighter toward white, so pure white lands at 90 percent and a bright highlight keeps some shading. | Under SOFT CLIP, GLOW / BLOOM and depth of field work on brightness above white. |
| TEMPERATURE | −1 to 1. Default 0. | Above 0 the picture turns warmer, with more red and less blue; below 0 it turns cooler. At 1 or −1 each of those colors changes by 25 percent. | A value within 0.01 of 0 is stored as 0. |
| TINT | −1 to 1. Default 0. | Above 0 the picture leans toward magenta, with less green; below 0 it leans toward green. The change at the ends is 25 percent. | A value within 0.01 of 0 is stored as 0. |
| SATURATION | 0 to 2. Default 1. | 0 is gray, 1 leaves color as it is and higher values strengthen it. Brightness stays the same. | A value within 0.01 of 1 is stored as 1. |
| COLOR DEPTH | 24-BIT, 16-BIT, 15-BIT. Default 24-BIT. | 16-BIT keeps 32 levels each of red and blue and 64 of green. 15-BIT keeps 32 levels of each color. Smooth gradients such as a sky break into visible bands. | DITHER scales its pattern to the coarser steps, so it still breaks up the bands. |
| DITHER | NONE, NOISE, BAYER 2, BAYER 4, BAYER 8. Default NONE. | Scatters fine variation over the picture to hide banding. NOISE is random grain that differs from one color to another. BAYER 2, BAYER 4 and BAYER 8 lay a regular crosshatch that repeats every 2, 4 or 8 pixels. | Applied before COLOR DEPTH reduces the colors |
| ANTI-ALIASING | NONE, 2×2 (4 SAMPLES). Default NONE. | NONE traces one ray per pixel and leaves the edges of objects stepped. 2×2 (4 SAMPLES) traces four rays per pixel and blends them, which smooths edges and takes about four times as long. | Changing it does not turn the PRESET row to CUSTOM. |
Wireframe
With WIREFRAME MODE on, a render draws the edges of each object as lines of one color over a flat background. Export a wireframe drawing describes what the drawing contains.
| Label | Values and default | Effect | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| WIREFRAME MODE | Checkbox, off | EXPORT RENDER, turntables and Loop Studio exports draw lines with no lights, materials, sky, ground plane or water. Depth of field, glow and the render look do not apply. | Always |
| LINE WIDTH | 0.5 to 8 pixels. Default 2.00. | The thickness of the lines, the same at any image size. Metaballs, objects with ORGANIC on and a few others are drawn with 1 pixel lines whatever this says. | While WIREFRAME MODE is on |
| LINE COLOR | Color swatch. Default white. | The color of the lines | While WIREFRAME MODE is on |
| BACKGROUND | Color swatch. Default black. | The flat color behind the lines. Turntables and Loop Studio exports use it even when TRANSPARENT is chosen for stills. | While WIREFRAME MODE is on and TRANSPARENT is not chosen under BACKGROUND in EXPORT RENDER. Otherwise BACKGROUND HIDDEN WHILE TRANSPARENT EXPORT IS ON. takes its place. |
The swatches open Orbit's color picker.
Effects
Each effect has a checkbox, and its sliders appear under it while it is on.
| Label | Values and default | Effect | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| AMBIENT OCCLUSION | Checkbox, off | Darkens the shadow fill in creases and where objects meet. Direct light from the sun and lamps is not affected. | Always. Every look turns it off. |
| QUALITY | LOW, MED, HIGH, ULTRA, which trace 8, 16, 32 and 64 rays. Default MED. | More rays give smoother darkening and a slower render. | While AMBIENT OCCLUSION is on |
| MAX DIST | 0.1 to 10 m. Default 1.00 m. | How far from a point a surface can be and still darken it | While AMBIENT OCCLUSION is on |
| STRENGTH | 0 to 1. Default 0.80. | How dark the creases get. 1 is the full effect. | While AMBIENT OCCLUSION is on |
| GLOW / BLOOM | Checkbox, off | Bright areas spread a soft glow into their surroundings. Lens flares and glowing motes glow as well. | Always |
| THRESHOLD | 0.1 to 2.0. Default 0.80. | The brightness where glow begins. Under TONEMAP CLIP no traced surface is brighter than 1.0, so a threshold of 1.0 or more makes only flares and motes glow. | While GLOW / BLOOM is on |
| INTENSITY | 0 to 2.0. Default 0.60. | The strength of the glow. At 0 there is none. | While GLOW / BLOOM is on |
| RADIUS | 1 to 64 pixels. Default 16. | How far the glow spreads, in pixels of the render. The same setting covers less of a larger picture. | While GLOW / BLOOM is on |
| LENS FLARE | Checkbox, off | Adds a camera flare at the sun and at point and spot lights whose INTENSITY is 1.5 or more. A glow sits on each light, and ghost shapes line up through the center of the picture. A light hidden behind an object, the ground plane or water gives no flare, and a flare fades out once its light moves past the edge of the picture. | Always. There are no flares in the flat views such as TOP and FRONT, and none from area lights. |
| INTENSITY | 0 to 2.0. Default 0.80. | The strength of the flare | While LENS FLARE is on |
| GHOSTS | 0 to 10. Default 6. | How many ghost shapes to draw, taken in a fixed order of discs, hexagons and rings | While LENS FLARE is on |
| STARBURST | Checkbox, on | Six spikes of light around the light itself | While LENS FLARE is on |
| ANAMORPHIC | Checkbox, off | A horizontal blue streak through the light, about nine tenths the width of the picture | While LENS FLARE is on |
| DEPTH OF FIELD | Checkbox, off | Keeps one distance sharp and blurs what is nearer or farther, as a 50 mm lens on 35 mm film would. The sky gets the blur of a distant background. SET DOF FOCUS in an object's right-click menu sets FOCUS DIST to that object and turns this on. | Always. The blur appears in shaded stills from EXPORT RENDER and nowhere else. |
| FOCUS DIST | 0.1 to 100 m. Default 5.00 m. | The distance from the camera that stays sharp | While DEPTH OF FIELD is on |
| F-STOP | 0.3 to 22. Default 5.60. | A lower value narrows the sharp zone and blurs more. | While DEPTH OF FIELD is on |
| MAX BLUR | 1 to 32 pixels. Default 8. | The largest blur, in pixels of the render. Blur grows with the width of the picture until it reaches this limit. | While DEPTH OF FIELD is on |
Performance
| Label | Values and default | Effect | Interactions |
|---|---|---|---|
| THREADS | 1 to the number of processor cores in the Mac. Default all of them. | How many cores a render uses. Fewer threads render more slowly and leave the rest of the Mac more responsive. The line below reads, for example, 8 OF 10 CORES. | The LIVE preview ignores it. A change does not redraw the preview. |
Related: Choose a render look, The era looks, Render and save an image, Export settings and Preview the render while you work.