The LIGHT Panel

The lighting model in D3PLOT is a simplified version of the diffuse and specular models found in most graphics hardware ⁽¹⁾ , and in standard computer graphics texts ⁽²⁾ . It is a compromise between speed and appearance that is adequate for rendering engineering plots and simple presentational material, but its results fall short of those from a ray-tracing package: shadows and reflections are not provided, and surface properties are crude.

Geometry can be exported to external rendering packages via the UTILITIES , VISUALISATION menu for those cases where higher quality images are required.

The lighting model is best thought of as having three parts:

1. The light sources .
2. The way in which the objects are shaded .
3. The material properties of the lit objects .

The Light panel ontrols the following lighting and shading attributes:

On/off switch, position, intensity, space system (model/screen).

Angular difference limit for smooth shading across adjacent facets.