RefGen
How To
1. Run the RefGen1 LScript.
The following requester will appear:
Let's go through the settings one by one.
1. Save current scene2. Render the scene
As the script will modify your scene, and then close / reload it there's a risk of loss of data. This toggle is on as a safety measure - you get one more change to save the scene.
2. Type
2a
If the Type is set to Still, RefGen renders six frames from your scene, and in the next stage (RefGen2) compiles them to a single panorama image. The images will render in frames 0 - 5 so you shouldn't have a lot of changes in the scene during the first six frames.
2b
When the Type is set to Sequence, RefGen exports six scenes (for front, right, back, left, up and down views) and you will need to render them all in order to proceed. If you run RefGen again, you will have the option to render any of the scenes automaticly.
3. Parent item
This selection lets you select a parent item for the RefGen camera. i.e. if you wish to make a reflection map for an object, you can make it unseen by camera, and then, when running the RefGen script, select it as the RefGen parent object. This will cause the reflections to look correct, almost like they were raytraced.
If nothing is selected, the camera will be parented to RefGen null, which by default is positioned two meters high above the scene origin.
4. Resolution
Here you can select the resolution for the initial 6 images rendered by RefGen. A setting of 256 (the default) will result in six 256*256 images, and can be used to render a panorama at up to 512*1024 final resolution.
5. Antialiasing & Adaptive sampling
Use this setting to set up AA for the initial RefGen render. Remember that you will need some amount of AA if you have Overcaster lights in the scene. The adaptive sampling setting works just like the one in the camera panel of LW.
6. Motion Blur
Use this option if you have Overcaster lights in your scene - OC lights need at least some amount of MB in order to work correctly.
Note that the RefGen camera's motion blur is set to -50%, if it was set to normal 50%, there would be bad artifacts due to the camera's stepped motion. This may cause some OC rigs (i.e. OC_Window) to give erratic results.
RefGen will ask you if you are ready to render out the scene when everything is set up. If you wish i.e. to change the camera position, or otherwise modify the scene, you can always render later, by pressing [F9] (while the RefGen camera being the active camera). If you are creating an animated reflection map, you will need to render the six scenes exported by RefGen.
3. Compile the panorama
Run RefGen2 LScript. A requester asking for the final panorama resolution will appear. You also have the option to save the modified RefGen scene here. RefGen will ask you if you wish to render the panorama now - and Tadaa!! You now have a 360 degree panorama of your scene!!