Camera, materials and ground

Availability#

The compact view controller and object transform tools in Render Preview are available in every Usage Mode. These extended numeric controls require Advance mode. They are sibling sections in Scene Settings: Viewport and Display, Camera and Dynamic Ground. Model Animation appears when clips are available.

Viewport and Display#

Choose Perspective, Isometric, orthogonal named views or Custom. Standard directional views and Isometric select orthographic projection; you can then change projection separately. Set Y Up or Z Up, a display channel and background. The separate Background section offers Default Background, Transparent, Show Light Stack, Color, Gradient and Choose Template. An image background has an sRGB/Linear profile choice.

These controls affect the preview and snapshots, not the lighting environment exported through Export HDRi.

Camera#

Choose Perspective for perspective convergence or Parallel for an orthographic view. Field of View controls perspective framing; Parallel View Height controls orthographic framing. Distance, orbit angle, elevation and the target coordinates position the camera. Near and far clipping determine the visible depth range. Damping smooths navigation.

Use Reset Camera and Framing to recover a useful view. A viewport preset also updates the camera pose, so its label and position remain consistent.

Materials#

Use the dedicated Materials and Material Properties panels to create and edit scene materials. The obsolete Materials section in Scene Settings has been removed. Existing projects retain legacy preview fallback values for compatibility; imported source materials remain preserved.

Dynamic Ground#

Choose + Geometry → Dynamic Ground or Scene Settings → Dynamic Ground → Enable Dynamic Ground. Both locations edit the same object in Geometry Tree. Adding it again reuses that object. Turning it off keeps the tree entry and its settings; deleting it removes the entry. Undo restores scene edits, including deletion. Save and reopen a project to retain its ground settings and material assignment.

Settings exposes the same Geometry Properties controls: name, parent, object layer, transform, material assignment, visibility and scene connection. Rectangle and Disc shapes automatically fit the other visible scene geometry. Size, width/depth and height adjust the automatic fit; object transforms offset it. The ground does not enlarge its own fit. Only one Dynamic Ground is supported per document; ordinary Plane objects remain available for additional fixed surfaces.

Choose Shadow Only to receive shadows without a solid surface, or Geometry and Material to display the assigned scene material. Use Chosen Material, Use Layer Material or Use Parent Material, just as for other mesh objects. Edit color, roughness, metalness, IOR, textures and other material properties in Material Properties. New grounds select the first compatible scene material when available; with no resolved material they use a neutral fallback. Shadow Only retains the assignment for switching back. Shadow opacity controls Shadow Only and the overhead HDRi shadow overlay on lit surface materials. Unlit and custom shaders retain their own shading. Shadow softness adjusts the overhead HDRi shadow light.

Older enabled floors migrate to a Dynamic Ground object and a reusable scene material that retains their previous color and surface values. A full material registry must have a slot freed before this migration. Reset Dynamic Ground restores its fitting/shadow defaults and disables it, while keeping its material and object transform. Locked objects and layers protect edits in both locations.

The viewport's shadow and grid controls remain independent. The grid is an editing guide. Dynamic Ground appears in preview captures; HDRi exports contain only the lighting environment. Check glossy reflections, shadows and imported scenes on your target graphics device; this remains a real-time renderer.

Model Animation#

Set image dimensions in Render Canvas. If an imported GLB contains animation clips, select a clip, scrub the timeline, adjust playback speed and looping, then play or pause it. Playback is not automatically resumed when a project is restored. Importing animation does not provide a full animation authoring timeline.

Color controls#

Background Color and material colors use the shared color picker, including named palettes and value modes. These inputs stay solid. Transparent remains a separate background option; gradient stops can also carry opacity. See Background and Gradient Creator.

Dynamic Ground in Settings#

Expand Scene Settings → Dynamic Ground to edit the shared ground object. Settings uses one scrollbar for the complete section, including transforms and material assignment. The controls use consistent spacing and long material names wrap within the panel. The separate Geometry Properties panel retains its own scrolling. Frame beside the ground name frames that object in Render Preview.

Disabling or resetting Dynamic Ground#

Disabling Enable Dynamic Ground, resetting the Dynamic Ground sub-panel, or resetting all Scene Settings asks for confirmation when the shared ground object is enabled. The message explains that the Geometry Tree object will also be disabled. Cancel preserves all settings; Continue performs the requested action. The object remains in the tree and can be enabled again. Reset actions retain their scoped Undo.

Render Preview follows panel size and the header DPR. Set image dimensions in Export Preview, available in Scene Settings and the Render Preview panel menu. Legacy fixed viewport dimensions remain readable in saved projects but no longer determine the interactive viewport size.

Progressive Shadows#

In Scene Settings, enable Progressive Shadows and choose 16, 32, 64 or 128 samples plus light spread. A visible Dynamic Ground in Shadow Only mode is required; the module can enable that shared ground for you. This uses the existing ground object, so it does not add an overlapping floor.

The shadow refines while the scene is still and stops when the sample limit is reached. Camera orbit keeps the result. Geometry or lighting edits restart it; continuous animation uses the normal shadow until the scene settles. The shadow texture is 512 × 512, independent of Canvas DPR. Image capture completes the bounded accumulation before capture. Larger sample counts take longer, especially during animation export. Physical ground materials keep their existing shadow behavior.

Disabling Dynamic Ground or resetting it or all Scene Settings opens an application confirmation dialog. Cancel leaves the scene unchanged; confirmation retains the object in Geometry Tree and disables it. Undo can restore the change.

Camera Animation and Model Animation#

Camera appears above Orbit Control. Open Panels → Camera Animation, then frame the subject and choose Save current view. Name, update, revisit, reorder or delete views. At least two views enable playback. Per-transition durations, hold time, Bézier smoothing, motion and looping define one shared timeline for preview and export. Up to 32 views are retained in the project. Mixed perspective/parallel views change projection at the view boundary; keep one projection for uninterrupted motion. Orbiting stops the journey.

Model Animation replaces the old Render Settings section and appears only when the imported model contains clips. Choose a clip, play/pause, restart, scrub the timeline, set speed and toggle looping. If no clips exist, Export Animation explains why Model Animation is unavailable. Playback controls do not reset Render Canvas. GLB scene export remains a static pose; use Export Animation for animated media.

Edge Rounding#

Enable Edge Rounding for a subtle screen-space blend of surface normals before lighting. The scene default is Off, with a 2 px radius and 0.65 strength when enabled. Object Properties offers scene inheritance, Off, or a custom 0.5–6 px radius. This is a visual approximation on Standard/Physical surfaces in Rendered and Shaded views; it does not change geometry, silhouettes, hidden edges, or produce Octane-style ray-traced intersection bevels. Material arrays are currently excluded. Very thin surfaces and adjacent geometry can show screen-space limitations. Geometry exports contain the original mesh.

Camera view row actions#

Camera Animation uses a compact, full-width toolbar for duplicate, move up/down and delete. Click a row, Shift-click a range, or Ctrl/Command-click to toggle individual views. Drag selected views to reorder them. Right-click a row for Go to view, Update from current view, Rename view, duplicate, move, Select all, Clear selection and delete. Right-clicking an unselected row selects it; right-clicking a selected row keeps the group selection. Rename opens a Save/Cancel popup and does not change the name until saved. Duplication respects the 32-view limit.

Plan a camera journey#

The landscape panel keeps the action toolbar within the left column, matching the width of the inset view-list area. Timing and motion start at the top of the right column. + Save Current View sits immediately before Delete in the left action toolbar. The preview/export controls remain available while you scroll. The empty-state camera guidance disappears after your first saved view.

Default transition (seconds) sets travel time for views without a custom value. Edit a named “View 1 → View 2” transition to override it; the reset icon restores its default. The outgoing time stays with its starting view when you reorder or duplicate it. Hold each view (seconds) defaults to 0 for new projects; existing saved holds remain unchanged. Holds occur before each move, with a final hold for a non-looping journey. Loop journey adds the last-to-first transition.

Choose Motion → Ease in / out to slow at each view, or Constant speed for even camera travel within each transition. Independently chosen distances and times can change speed at a view. Bézier smoothing softens the path through saved views; its amount adjusts the interpolation without overshooting the saved scalar framing values. Matching projections avoid a projection switch at arrival.

Use Explore journey to scrub the complete journey. Preview journey plays it in Render Preview; orbiting stops playback. Export Animation beside it opens the existing export popup with Camera Animation and the journey duration selected. Choose Video or PNG frames and generate your file. The current export duration limit is 60 seconds; longer journeys show a warning and export their first 60 seconds.

Animate HDRi Stack rotation#

Enable Animate HDRi rotation and choose a starting angle, total rotation and direction, viewed from above. Rotation Duration Type → Match animation uses the complete Preview Journey duration, including holds and the return transition when looping. It updates automatically when the journey changes. With fewer than two views, matching holds the start angle; save another view or choose Custom. Custom reveals Rotation duration (seconds) and retains that value when you switch back to matching. Older projects with an explicit rotation duration keep Custom.

Rotation motion chooses Constant speed or Ease in / out. After rotation can Hold end angle, Repeat from start, or go Back and forth. A partial-angle repeat jumps to its start; use full turns or Back and forth for a continuous result. In Back and forth, the duration is one leg; a round trip takes twice that duration.

The lighting track runs alongside camera holds and loops, model playback, auto-rotate and animation exports. Match animation always refers to the camera journey, even in other export modes; use Custom to set a different lighting duration. Scrubbing samples the same deterministic clock. This rotates the combined HDRi lighting and visible environment around the vertical world axis, preserving source lights and exported HDR maps. Separate diamond/refraction environments and shutter motion blur are not included.

Catch shadows and glossy reflections on transparent ground#

For more than a contact shadow, switch Dynamic Ground to Geometry and Material and assign Catcher · shadows & reflections from Materials. Its controls combine shadow strength/spread, blurred reflections, thin-surface refraction, approximate diffuse bounce and edge fading. A plane or disc created/imported into the scene can use the same material. See Transparent surface catcher.

The catcher refines while the scene is still and reuses its result after settling. Moving the camera or editing the scene restarts refinement. Ordinary flat, opaque PBR surfaces with Roughness below 0.65 use a mirrored scene capture when SSR is enabled, avoiding competing screen-space reflections on those surfaces. Up to four such PBR surfaces are supported at once; other surfaces retain SSR. This is an approximation, not a path-traced floor. Imported flat surfaces are detected from their actual vertices, regardless of name or orientation.

Reflections near contact#

On flat catchers and mirrored PBR floors, Roughness now softens reflections according to the reflected object’s distance from the surface. Contact stays sharper; raised parts produce a wider blur. This follows the receiver and camera when you orbit, including orthographic views. Set Roughness to zero for a sharp mirror.

This is a depth-based, filtered approximation of glossy reflection, not Light Tracer’s path tracing. Blur is bounded to keep refinement affordable; depth discontinuities, transparent objects that do not write depth, capture edges and very rough surfaces can still show differences. Existing catcher sample and capture limits apply.