9

User Defined Panel (Object Properties Dialog) 127
Displacement group
These settings let you apply displacement
parameters on a per-object basis.
Use G lobal S ettings—When on, applies to all
objects the Displacement settings on the Render
Scene dialog > Renderer panel > Shadows and
Displacement rollout (page 3–114).Turnoffto
make settings on a p er-object basis. Default=on.
V i ew-Dependent—Defines the space for
displacement. When View-Dependent is on, the
Edge Length setting specifies t he length in pixels.
When off, Edge Length is specified in world-space
units. Default=on.
Smoothing—Turn off to have the mental ray
renderer correctly render height maps. Height
maps can be generated by norm al mapping; see
Cr ea ting and U sing Normal Bump Maps (page
3–150).
When on, mental ray simply smoothes the
geometry using the interpolated normals, making
the geometry look better. This result, however,
cannot be used for height map displacement
because smoothing affects geometry in a way that
is incompatible with heig ht mapping.
Edge Length—Defines the smallest a llowable
edge length. The mental ray renderer will stop
subdividing an edge once it reaches this size.
Default=2.0 pixels.
Max. Displace—Controls the maximum offset, in
world units, that can be given to a vertex when
displacing it. This value can affect the bounding
box of an object. Default=20.0.
Tip: If displaced geometr y appears to be “clipped,”
try increasing the va lue of Maximum Displace.
Note: When using placeholders (see the Translator
Options rollout (page 3–119)), if this value is larger
than it needs to be, it can reduce performance. If
youexperienceslowtimeswhiledisplacedobjects
when Use Placeholder Objects is on, try lowering
the Max. Displace value.
Max. Level—Controls how many times a triangle
can be subdivided. Default=6.
User Def in ed Pa nel ( Obj ect
Properties Dial og)
Edit menu > Object Properties > Object Properties dialog
>UserDefinedpanel
Select object or objects. > Rig ht-click. > Transform
(lower-right) quadrant of the quad menu > Properties >
Object Properties dialog > User Defined panel
Layer manager > Click the icon next to an object ’s name.
> O b ject Properties dialog > User Defined panel
This panel of the Object Proper t ies dialog lets
you enter properties or comments that you define
yourself.