Ray Tracing dialog box

Used to adjust all ray tracing settings. Opens when Settings > Rendering > Ray Tracing is chosen, or when the Open Ray Tracing settings dialog button is clicked in the Render tool dialog box (with Ray Trace as the Render Mode) or in the Display section of the Particle Tracing dialog box. Each section of the Ray Tracing dialog box can be collapsed/expanded as required.

Ray Tracing dialog box collapsed (left) and fully expanded (right).

File menu > Update Environment Maps

Updates the environment maps if they have been manually edited in the material assignments table.

File menu > Default Scale

Restores the default value for the Render Scale parameter.

Key-in: RAYTRACE DEFAULTS

File menu > Reset Default Settings

Resets the ray tracing settings to their default values.

File menu > Load Solution

Opens the Load Rendering Database dialog box, which lets you load a previously saved radiosity or particle tracing solution.

File menu > Save Solution

Opens the Save Rendering Database dialog box, which lets you save the current rendering database as a radiosity or particle tracing solution.

File menu > Clear Solution

Lets you clear the current rendering database from memory.

Normally, the rendering database is constructed in memory during pre-processing. By default, MicroStation retains the current rendering database in memory, letting you quickly ray trace other views of the model. This is particularly useful for large designs, where keeping the database in memory can save significant time. The rendering database remains active in memory until you manually clear the solution, create a new solution, or close the design.

Even if you render with a non-photorealistic render mode (such as Phong or Smooth), after ray tracing a view, the rendering database remains active in memory. That is, it is not cleared when you render with the non-photorealistic render mode.