Ambience Creation Dialog Box

Step Indication

The Ambience Creation dialog box contains two steps: the first in which you can specify the images for lighting and the background, and the second Adjust step, to define the properties for both. You can switch between both steps either with the indicator on the left side of the viewer or by using Next and Back.

Note: This function is only available on desktop devices.

Ambience Name

Specifies the name with which the newly created ambience is saved.

Viewer

The viewer provides you a preview of your products in the ambience you are creating. It reflects all the specifications you do in the Ambience Creation dialog box, and lets you navigate to get an impression of the final result. The Aspect Ratio of the scene camera is also considered and indicated in the viewer.

Note: This function is only available on desktop devices.

Tip: When you drag a locally stored image to the viewer, or the app it is automatically applied as Lighting and as Background.

Lighting

Defines a locally stored HDR as lighting image for the ambience environment. Alternatively you can use a 2D backplate image in .png, .jpg, or .jpeg format from which a corresponding HDR lighting image is created automatically. The lighting image is essential for the creation of a new ambience. It provides the lighting for the scene and is reflected in the product materials, but it is not directly visible itself.

You can load up to three images to compare the possible results by clicking the thumbnails in the switcher. The top entry always shows the default image coming from the scene ambience. The active thumbnail is marked by a blue frame and displayed in the preview and in the viewer. If you load a fourth image, it is added to the second position of the switcher and the lowest entry is removed.

Note: You can load images up to 8k resolution.


	Browse Lets you search for the lighting image locally. On tablet devices the following options are available: Photo library - Lets you select an image from the tablet's photo gallery. Take photo - Lets you take a photo with the tablet which is used as background image. The photo is not saved on the tablet. Browse - Lets you select a locally stored image.
	Drop image You can define the lighting image also by dragging it to the Lighting drop zone.

If you are in the second step of the ambience creation, you can adjust the following properties for the lighting HDR:

Note: These options are only available on desktop devices.


	Exposure Defines the brightness of the ambience's lighting.
	Rotation Defines the rotation parameter of the lighting in the scene.

Note: By default, the property values are taken from the ambience assigned to the active scene.

Background

Specifies if you add a customized image as background for the ambience environment, or not.

If disabled, a default white backplate is used as background. You can disable the backplate after creation in the ambience properties panel.
If enabled, you can define an HDR or a 2D image in .png, .jpg, or .jpeg format from 3DDrive or your local storage as visible background.
- If you choose an HDR, it is mapped to a dome geometry to create a 3D environment.
- If you use a 2D image, it serves as a backplate in the ambience.

Recommendation: Do not use a .png image with alpha, as transparency is not taken into account for the background and may appear black.

You can load up to three images to compare the possible results by clicking the thumbnails in the switcher. The top entry always shows the default image coming from the scene ambience. The active thumbnail is marked by a blue frame and displayed in the preview and in the viewer. If you load a fourth image, it is added to the second position of the switcher and the lowest entry is removed.

Note: You can load images up to 8k resolution.


	Browse Lets you search for the background image locally. On tablet devices the following options are available: Photo library - Lets you select an image from the tablet's photo gallery. Take photo - Lets you take a photo with the tablet which is used as background image. The photo is not saved on the tablet. Browse - Lets you select a locally stored image.
	Drop image You can define the background image also by dragging it to the Background drop zone or to the viewer.

If you are in the second step of the ambience creation, you can adjust the following properties for the background, in case it is an HDR image. If you choose a 2D image as background, no properties are available for you to edit.

Note: These options are only available on desktop devices.

Radius: Resizes the dome radius of the ambience so that you can fit the product to the background. The Radius value affects the virtual camera height of the ambience.
Note: Values are in mm. For example if the ambience is a plaza with a 20 meters diameter, enter the value 10.000.

Scale Ratio

Specifies the mapping of the background image to the dome representing the camera heights in the scene to fit the ground and the background to the product.

Tip: Scale the ambience until the product shadow and the reflection are completely visible.

Note: By default, the property values are taken from the ambience assigned to the active scene.

Dialog Box Options


	Minimize Hides the Ambience Creation dialog box, but keeps the specifications you did. You can open the hidden dialog box again, by clicking Create Ambience in the action bar. If you change properties of the ambience assigned to the active scene while the dialog box is hidden, the properties in the dialog box are overwritten with the new values.
	Close or Cancel Closes the Ambience Creation dialog box and resets the specifications you did.