Page 1121 - Chief Architect Reference Manual

Chapter 34:

Ray Tracing

You can use Ray Tracing to create highly Chapter Contents
realistic images of your Chief Architect • Ray Trace Views
plans. As the name implies, ray tracing • Ray Trace Configurations
calculates the rays of light in a view as they • Ray Trace Options
travel through the 3D model and reflect off • Ray Trace Assistant
surfaces. As a result, ray tracing is slower • Adjusting Ray Trace Properties and Effects
than OpenGL rendering, but can be used to • Ray Tracing Tips
achieve much more complex effects such as
reflections and highly realistic lighting.

Ray Trace Views

Ray tracing is a method of generating To create a ray trace
high-quality 3D views in which the
paths of individual rays of light are 1. Create a 3D camera view or overview.
calculated, making it possible to model • The Standard Rendering Technique
effects like reflectivity. Ray tracing a scene must be used. See “Standard
can be time consuming, but when lighting Rendering” on page 1106.
and materials are set up properly, the results • Perspective views are preferable to
can be impressively realistic. Orthographic views for ray tracing
because they are more realistic to the
Ray trace views are generated in their own human eye. See “Perspective and
view window and are static images of the Orthographic Views” on page 1042.
model - not dynamic. That is, if you make
changes to the 3D model, any previously
created ray trace views will not be affected.

1121