OgreMax Viewports
OgreMax viewports allow the scene to be rendered in real-time using the Ogre 3D renderer.
Purpose
The OgreMax viewports are primarily intended to aid in the development of OgreMax materials, though they're also useful as a quick preview for what the scene will look like when exported from Softimage/XSI and viewed in one of the OgreMax viewers.
With that in mind, it's essential to know which features are supported in the viewports.
Supported
- Meshes - Meshes animated with a skeleton or shape keys are displayed in real-time. All other animation types (such as an animated Bend modifier) require the object to be refreshed.
- OgreMax Materials - OgreMax material changes are reflected in real-time.
- Softimage/XSI Phong, Blinn, Lambert, Cook-Torrance, Strauss, Ward, and Constant Materials - These material types are partially supported, but not in real-time. Any changes made to a material of one of these types must be manually refreshed in the OgreMax viewports. For a full list of supported settings, see Supported Materials.
- Node Animations - Softimage/XSI animations that move, rotate, or scale an object's node transform are displayed in real-time.
- Cameras - Cameras will be selectable within the Viewport Menu.
- Lights - Spot, omni, and directional lights illuminate objects in real-time.
- Particle Systems - Particle systems defined in external files are displayed in real-time, assuming the necessary resource locations have been defined in the Ogre settings.
- Skies - Sky boxes, domes, and planes are displayed in real-time. Due to the way the Ogre 3D graphics engine is designed, only one sky will be used at any time.
- Billboards - Billboard sets (and their child billboards) are displayed in real-time.
- Environment - The environment settings are displayed in real-time.
Not Supported
- Render Texture - The Render Texture, which is defined within OgreMax materials, is ignored.
- Mesh Animation Bone Inclusions/Exclusions - Bones included and excluded for mesh animations have no effect. Mesh animations are shown in the same way Softimage/XSI sees them.
- Submeshes - Meshes configured to be a submeshes within the Object Settings will be treated as regular meshes. That is, they will not be combined into the parent mesh as they are when the scene is exported. They will be displayed as separate objects.
- "Ignore" Object Hierarchies - Objects set to the Ignore type within the Object Settings will be ignored, but their descendants will not. This differs from the exporter, which ignores all descendants of such objects.
- Terrain - A terrain file will be treated as a mesh, not as a terrain. Because of this, it's most helpful if the terrain mesh looks like the terrain defined in the terrain file.
- Mesh LODs - Mesh LODs are ignored.
Adding New Objects to Viewports
Some objects, such as untargeted lights and cameras, will be added to the viewports automatically. Most objects, however, will needed to be manually added by selecting either the Refresh Selected Objects or Refresh All Objects item in the OgreMax menu or the viewport Menu.
Viewport Types
There are two types of OgreMax viewports:
- OgreMax Custom Display - This viewport type is embedded within the Softimage/XSI interface.
- Free-Floating Viewports - This viewport type floats over the Softimage/XSI interface.
Creating OgreMax Viewports
OgreMax viewports can be created in the following ways:
- OgreMax Custom Display - Created by selecting the OgreMax Scene Display item in any of the viewport menus.
- Free-Floating Viewports - Created by selecting Create OgreMax Scene Window item in the OgreMax Menu.
Controls
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Select Object(s) - Click the left mouse button once, or click, hold, and drag the left mouse button to draw a selection rectangle. Additional modifier keys:
- Shift key - Toggles the selection of objects.
- Ctrl key - Adds to the selection of objects.
- Alt key - Removes from the selection of objects.
- Turn View Camera - With no scene object selected, move mouse while holding Right button.
- Orbit View Camera - With a scene object selected, move mouse while holding Right button.
- Move View Camera Up, Down, Left, Right - Move mouse while holding middle mouse button.
- Move View Camera Forward, Backward - Move mouse in viewport while holding left and right mouse buttons
- First Person Camera Controls - Use the W/A/S/D/F/V and Up/Left/Down/Right/Page Up/Page Down keys while holding the right mouse button.
- Increase/decrease View Camera Field of View - Scroll mouse wheel Down/Up.
- Display Viewport Menu - Click the right mouse button in the viewport.
