Single Frames

For attractive presentation of your designs, the first and simplest option is to use single frames. You can generate realtime displays as well as photorealistic images in pCon.planner.

Sections on this page

•Realtime displays

•Copy image

•Create image in Media Maker

•Photorealistic images

•Rendering settings

•Rendering examples

Realtime displays

By realtime display, pCon.planner means a depiction of a particular Projection and type of Rendering for a design. All objects and symbols (such as symbols for cameras and lights) which have been set as visible in the plan will be included in the display. The Layer dialog and Layer filter, and also Hide and unhide selections, will enable you to decide which objects are to be visible in the resulting image.

There are two ways of creating a realtime display in pCon.planner, which are described here.

Copy image

1.First set the Projection and Rendering you have in mind.

2.Click on the Copy image button in the Clipboard group on the Home tab. Now an image of the objects in the current viewport will be created and sent to the Windows clipboard.

3.Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+V to paste the image into a graphics application or into pCon.planner itself.

Create image in Media Maker

The second way of generating a realtime display is to use Media Maker, which can be started from the button of that name in the Presentation group, Presentation tab.

pCon.planner_media_maker_01

1.Having opened Media Maker, switch over to the Image tab (see screenshot on left).

2.Set the image size you require for the image using the Target Size dropdown menu. By clicking on the User Defined item you can also set an own size.

3.The next dropdown menu, Profiles, enables you to select one of the Screen items. Depending on the quality of the image you wish to create, you can select from two alternatives. There are further options for settings if you click on the pencil icon () next to the dropdown menu.

4.Now click on the Start button to generate the realtime display.

When the image for the display has been created, a window will open with the Image Output.

pCon.planner_media_maker_02

Here you can enter whether you want to save your image (use the Save As button), copy it into the clipboard (use Copy Image) or put it in the Media Box (use Add to Media Box).

If you take the last of these options, your image will be stored in your media collection in pCon.planner (the Media Box).

pCon.planner_media_maker_03

If you click on Switch to Media Box, you will be taken to the image you have just created and you can, for example, either upload this to the Internet or store it locally. Please bear in mind that only content which has been added to the Media Box will be displayed there. Go here to find out how to manage images in the Media Box and upload them to the Internet.

Photorealistic images

It is possible to use the Media Maker to make pictures resembling real photographs – called renderings – besides realtime displays. For the renderings, all visible objects in the current projection will be included in the computation for the image. The only exceptions are the symbols representing Cameras and Lighting.

pCon.planner_media_maker_04

1.First open Media Maker with a click on the button of the same name in the Presentation group, Presentation tab.

2.Set the resolution you require for the image using the Target Size dropdown menu. By clicking on the User Defined item you can also set your own figure for the size.

3.The dropdown menu Profiles enables you to select one of the Rendering items. Depending on the quality of the image you wish to create, you can select from various rendering profiles, Rendering-Preview, Rendering-Standard, Rendering-High.
If you click on the pencil icon () you will obtain access to other rendering options, which are described in detail in the following table.

4.Now click on the Start button to start the rendering process. This will take a varying amount of time depending on which profile has been selected or setting made.

When the image for the display has been created, a window will open with the Image Output. In this window you can opt whether to Save As, Copy Image or Add to Media Box. If you take the last of these options, your image will be stored in your media collection in pCon.planner (the Media Box). If you click on Switch to Media Box, you will be taken to the image you have just created and you can, for example, either upload this to the Internet or store it locally. Please bear in mind that only content which has been added to the Media Box will be displayed there. Go here to find out how to manage images in the Media Box and upload them to the Internet.

Rendering settings

The predefined profiles Rendering-Preview, Rendering-Standard and Rendering-High are quite suitable for most cases of application. If you do decide to make different settings, there are a number of parameters you can modify for the rendering. There is a short description of some of them in the following table. Please bear in mind that computation time will vary according to the settings you select.

Setting	Description
Basic Settings/Rendering mode	Here you have the choice of Rendering and Screen. Use the latter for realtime displays and the former for creating images resembling photographs.
Render Parameter/Anti aliasing passes	This setting serves the purpose of edge-smoothing. A higher figure will result in softer edges in the picture.
Render Parameter/Anti aliasing filter type	The choice of filter will determine whether objects are shown in sharper or fuzzier focus. The pre-set item (Mitchell-Netravali) steers a good middle path between the two.
Material/Material Mode	If you select Clay, all objects will be assigned the same (clay) material in the rendering process. If you select Full on the other hand, all the materials will be rendered as realistically as possible.
Lighting/Lighting Method	There are three options available for the means of lighting. Of these, the quickest is the default setting, Direct Lighting. Path Tracing and Photon Mapping tend to work more slowly but do take into account indirect light, which is the light reflected from the surfaces in your design. This is not the case with Direct Lighting.
Light/Export Lights	This is where you set whether or not the light sources you have included in your design are to be used in the computation for the image output.
Geometry/With Lines	This setting has the effect of ensuring the computation process takes account not only of the objects and surfaces themselves but also of lines and 2D Drawing Elements. If the option is selected, these will be visible in the resulting image.
Camera/Camera Type	There are two options here: Standard and Architect. Standard means the image will be computed in genuine perspective. The Architect setting takes out the distortion due to perspective and shows all vertical edges in the design as vertical in the rendering, too.

Rendering examples

The first of the following four images shows the classic rendering for a design which has been created using the Rendering-High preset profile in comparison to the results when the same scene is rendered with three different modifications: With Lines, Clay and Architect.


Classic Rendering (Profile: Rendering-High)	Rendering with lines included (With Lines)

Rendering with Clay as Material type	Rendering with Architect as Camera type