Wireframe rendering?

What's the best way to get a high-quality wireframe view of a part or
assembly? Photoworks doesn't seem to know how to do this. I've resorted to
simply screen captures of the workspace, but the quality isn't all that
good, even though I'm running on a very high resolution monitor.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

-Martin

 

In PhotoWorks you can use Contour Rendering to achieve this. You could also
create a drawing view and save it as a tiff file. When you save as a tiff
the options tab lets you specify the image quality.

 

Thanks, that's good to know. I'll play with both approaches.

-Martin

 

It's a long road, but it gets me there...

You will need Ghostscript (free download, you'll find it readily via
Google)
1.) Print your SW view to a PDF file
2.) Open the PDF in GHostscript
3.) Use Ghostscript to convert PDF to PNG

PNG format supports vector graphics and fonts, so fine detail isn't
lost in a pixelated blur. This is what I use to make pics for reports,
etc. in MS Word.

 

I have Corel Draw 12, which has an amazing range of file export/import
capabilities. I'll see if it can handle what you propose.

-Martin

 

You could also create a drawing view and save it as a tiff file. When you

This works pretty well. I'd like to add some notes:

- The sheet scale doesn't seem to matter
- You have to check the "Print capture" option
- The DPI can then be set
- Be sure to select "Packbits" for the compression scheme

Also, I wanted to have perspective in some of my views. The only way I
could do this in a drawing was to create a new view --with perspective
turned on-- in the modeler. That view could then be used to place on the
drawing sheet and perspective would be retained.

Thanks,

-Martin

 

Yes, agreed. I tried that one next. As you say, a lot more control.
However, the drawing approach is much quicker. The PW2 method ties-up the
machine for rendering (I'm doing at least 2048 x 1556 images).

I think each method has its place. I know I'll use both.



Incidentally, is there a way to change the lens on the PW2 camera?


Thanks,

-Martin

 

Not directly, easier is to use Photoshop / paintshop ETC...

Well, I'm after geometric changes that can't be easily done in Photoshop. I
think. Have to try it, I guess.

Interesting idea!

Thanks,

-Martin

 

You can shorten the rendering time by removing materials, scenes and

This brings up another question.

I need to render different views of the same product (an assembly). For
each of these you may want to customize lighting (number, type and position
of lights) as well as materials.

There doesn't seem to be a way to save different rendering setups under PW.
You get the one and that's it. I suppose one could save copies of the
assembly file just for the purpose of rendering in various PW
configurations. This has the potential of being a maintenance nightmare if
you make any changes.

The only other option I can think of is to create a new assembly for the
purpose of rendering. You'd then bring in the finshed product as a
sub-assembly. Several of these files could be created based on desired PW
settings.

Is that the best approach?

Thanks,

-Martin