User's Reference - Render

### Render

Category

Rendering

Function

Renders an object.

Syntax

    image = Render(object, camera, format);

Inputs

Name | Type | Default | Description
--- | --- | --- | ---
`object` | object | none | object to be rendered
`camera` | camera | none | camera to be used for rendering
`format` | string | standard | format of resulting image

Outputs

Name | Type | Description
--- | --- | ---
`image` | image | resulting image

Functional Details

This module uses a specified camera to create an image of an object.

`object` | specifies the object to be rendered, which can contain surfaces, volumes, or combinations of surfaces and volumes. Note: The current algorithm does not support coincident volumes or volumes in perspective. (See Display for a discussion of Data Explorer rendering capabilities.) The specified object must contain a "colors," "front colors," or "back colors" component. Many modules add a default color. In addition, volume rendering (i.e., of cubes or tetrahedra) requires an "opacities" component. For surfaces, the lack of an "opacities" component implies an opaque surface.
`camera` | is the camera used to create the image. Note: A transformed camera cannot be used for this parameter.
`format` | is reserved for future use.

Notes:

1. The rendering properties of an object (e.g., shading) can be changed with the Options or Shade module (see Display). Render always invokes the software renderer and so ignores the "render mode" attribute.

2. Render creates 24-bit images if the DXPIXELTYPE environment variable is set to DXByte (the default is 96-bit images).

3. If you use the Display or Image tool rather than the Render module, Data Explorer will automatically choose a hardware-appropriate format for you. It is generally preferable to use one of these tools unless you want to operate on the image itself. For example, filtering the image or arranging several images together requires the Render module.

4. The interactive image-manipulation options provided by Data Explorer in the user interface require the Image tool. See "Controlling the Image: View Control..." in IBM Visualization Data Explorer User's Guide.

   See Display for information on:

     "Changing Rendering Properties"
     "Differences between Hardware and Software Rendering"
     "Shading"
     "Object fuzz"
     "Coloring Objects for Volume Rendering"

Components

Creates "positions," "connections," and "colors" components for the resulting image.

Example Visual Programs

    PlotLine.net
    UsingCompute.net
    UsingMorph.net
    SIMPLE/Arrange.net

See Also

Arrange, Compute, Display, Filter, Image, Options, WriteImage

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