Lighting Styles

 

You can create lighting styles and use them to change the lighting effects. Lighting styles interact with appearances to control the visual display of a model.

The lighting settings including the active lighting style are stored in the model file.

Lighting Methods

There are three types of lighting methods that can be used for viewing models:

  • Standard lighting
  • Image Based Lighting
  • Combination of standard and image-based lighting.

Standard Lights

Standard lighting consists of four lights, each of which can be on or off.

Standard lights are directional lights. Their position can be edited in relation to the model. Two position sliders adjust the light direction:

  • Horizontal (azimuth): Zero at the eye, -90 at left, +90 at right, and +-180 from behind, shining toward the camera
  • Vertical (altitude): zero at the eye, +90 coming from directly above, -90 coming from directly below

The lighting results differ based on the light Relative movement setting:

  • Camera space lights are fixed to the view camera or what is commonly referred to as screen space or your eye position. As the camera and lights move through the scene, the shadows update in real time. Light position settings are relative to the screen.
  • ViewCube space lights are positioned relative to the ViewCube Front face. This method allows you to rotate the model and have the shadows stay relative to the model without regard for camera position.

Image Based Lights

Image-based lights, also called IBL, derive their lighting parameters from high dynamic range (HDR) images. The image provides a source location and luminance or radiance values that correspond more with real world lighting, providing a more realistic viewing experience. The scene lighting is derived from this 360 degree image providing more realistic results.

The IBL image source can be used as a 3D background in the scene. The background provides visual continuity with the light source and is seen in materials defined with high reflectance values.

Shadows

The active lighting style sets the direction and appearance of shadows.

To display shadows, select All Shadows from the Shadows list on the View tabAppearance panel.

Inventor Studio light settings differences

In Inventor Studio, the major differences from above are:

  • A lighting style consists of an unlimited number of lights (however, only a limited number (8) are currently represented on screen).
  • Lights are positioned in world space - that is, their position is constant relative to model objects in the scene, even when the camera moves.
  • Lights can be:
    • Directional: infinitely far away, with light coming in parallel rays from a given direction (like the sun).
    • Point: at a defined position in world space, radiating in all directions equally.
    • Spot: at a defined position in world space, pointing in a given direction, with output strongest along the direction they point, falling off over a given angle.
    • Ambient light in the scene can be defined in more complex ways for offline rendering.
  • Each light can have a different shadow density, softness, and effect in the scene.
NoteWhen rendering with “Current lighting” as the selected lighting style, the model environment Standard lighting is used.

See Inventor Studio documentation for details.

Procedures

Managing lighting styles

  1. On the ribbon, click Manage tab Styles and Standards panel Styles Editor.
  2. In the Style and Standard Editor, expand Lighting to display available lighting styles.
  3. To edit a lighting style, click the style, and change its settings on the Lighting Style panel. See the Style and Standard Editor - Lighting Style reference for more information.
    TipTo preview the edits immediately, activate the edited lighting style, and display shadows.
  4. To create a lighting style, select an existing lighting style to use as a template, click New, and enter the style name. Then edit settings of the new lighting style.
  5. Click Save to save changes to the current document.
  6. Click Done to close the Style and Standard Editor.

How to edit a lighting style

Add IBL Environments for lighting styles

Producing IBL environments for Inventor requires a level of photographic skill, used to product HDR images, and image editing technique. You can obtain and use additional IBL Environments with Inventor lighting styles.

Obtain additional IBL Environments

  1. To go to the Autodesk Exchange App Store, near the right end of the title bar, click .
  2. Locate, purchase, and download your new IBL environment.
  3. Install the new IBL environment per the instructions.
    NoteThe installation process locates the new environment with the installed environments. They are immediately accessible for use in an Inventor Lighting Style.

To use the new IBL Environment you must do either of the following:

Modify an existing lighting style

  1. On the Manage tab Styles and Standards panel click Styles Editor.
  2. Select an IBL lighting style where you want to use the new IBL environment.
  3. In the Image Based Lighting section, change the Source by selecting the new IBL environment from the dropdown list.
  4. Click Save.
  5. In the View tab Appearance panel, select the modified Lighting Style.

Add a new Lighting Style

  1. On the Manage tab Styles and Standards panel click Styles Editor.
  2. Right-click an IBL Lighting style and click New Style.
  3. In the New Local Style dialog box, change the name to indicate the new IBL environment.
  4. In the Image Based Lighting section, change the Source by selecting the new IBL environment from the dropdown list.
  5. Click Save.
    NoteTo make the style available to all it must be saved to the Style library.
  6. Optional: In the Style browser, right-click the new lighting style and click Save to Style Library.
  7. In the View tab Appearance panel, select the new Lighting Style.

References

Style and Standard Editor - Lighting Style

Access:

Click Manage tab Styles and Standards panel Styles Editor

In the Style and Standard Editor, expand Lighting, and click a lighting style to edit.

TipSee the Style and Standard Editor reference for description of the general options.

Standard Lights

Light

Switches lights on and off, and selects lights to edit.

 

Click to switch a light on or off.
 

Click to select a light.

Settings (Light #)

Edits properties of the selected light.

 

Move the vertical and horizontal sliders to specify the position of the selected light.

Color

Click the color pad to change the color of the light source.

Brightness

Use the slider to increase or decrease the intensity of the selected light source.

Relative Movement

Associates the selected light with the view camera. The behavior is like walking around in a room while using a video camera with its light on.

Associates the selected light with the ViewCube. The scene provides the lighting and the lights do not move with the camera.

When the ViewCube is redefined, the lighting direction is updated to represent the new position.

 
TipThe Move with Camera and Fixed to ViewCube options enable you to mix the two settings within a single lighting style.

All Standard Lights

Sets all standard lights in the style. The values are applied equally for each light.

Brightness

Sets the intensity of all the directed light sources. Use the slider to increase or decrease the intensity.

Ambience

Sets the level of ambient light in the scene, controlling the level of contrast between the lighted and unlighted areas of a face. Move the slider left to increase the contrast; move it right to decrease the contrast.

Imaged Based Lighting

You can define the source image, display the image as a 3D background, adjust brightness, rotation, and scale.
Use Image LightingSpecifies the use of image-based lighting in the style. Enables the corresponding controls.
SourceLists images used as sources for the various lighting styles. A thumbnail of the image previews below the list.
Display Scene ImageSets the image to display as the background image.
NoteSpecific hardware requirements must be met to display the source image as the background.
Note Move the cursor over this image to display a helpful message about positioning the image.
BrightnessIncreases or decreases the light source brightness in the scene.
Rotation

Adjusts the orientation of the environment around the model.

ScaleSets the scale factor for the image and 3D background geometry.

Shadow Settings

Shadow DirectionSelect a lighting direction to determine how the shadows look in the scene.
DensitySets the light to dark ratio for Object and Ground shadows. Positive values make the shadow darker and negative lightens the shadow.
SoftnessSets the amount of blending between the shadowed and non-shadowed areas of the scene. Move the slider to the left to harden the shadow, reducing the softness, providing a more distinct line between shaded and non-shaded areas. Move the slider to the right to increase the softness and reduce the distinction between the areas.
Ambient Shadows

Sets the ambient shadow intensity. Ambient shadows have to do with the amount of light that is scattered into areas within or between parts, providing more realistic scene lighting.

Negative values darken the ambient shadows, positive values lighten the ambient shadows.