Render modes

Render modes are ways that the tree can be drawn in both the Tree Window and elsewhere in the Modeler. Render modes are configurable, meaning you can edit them or make entirely new ones.

To edit a built-in render mode or make a new one, refer to Make a custom render mode.

Uses

The most obvious use for render modes is for the tree display in the Tree Window. In addition to the Standard render mode, which shows a PBR-lit tree, you can examine all of the different material values individually (Material/Color, for example), look at only certain aspect of lighting (Lighting/Diffuse), or even debug parts of the tree through special rendering methods (Albedo Check).

You can also pack render modes into image channels during image exports.

Built-in render modes

Change render modes from the Tree Window toolbar.

Render mode	Description
Standard	Render a realistic physically based view with full lighting (default option).
Scribed	Render an untextured view with polygon outlines overlaid on the geometry. Transparency displays in red.
AO	Render only the ambient occlusion (AO) value. This mode is useful when tuning AO.
Albedo Check	Check if the color/albedo is within normal, natural ranges. Ranges that are too high appear in red. Ranges that are too low appear in blue.
Saturation Check	Check that material colors are within natural ranges of saturation for physically based rendering. Colors that might be too saturated appear in red.
Subsurface Check	Check if the subsurface values are within normal, natural ranges. Ranges that are too high appear in red. Ranges that are too low appear in blue.
Lightmap	Render the density of the lightmap UVs. Green indicates ideal density. Blue indicates the lightmap resolution is too low, and red indicates the lightmap resolution is too high. This mode is useful for tuning lightmap atlas layout and is only available in the Games version of the Modeler. See Lightmap UVs.
Lighting	Render different components of the full lighting equation used in Standard.
	Untextured	Fully lit with all color textures set to default values.
	Diffuse	Lit with the diffuse light scattered from the surface.
	Specular	Lit with the specular light reflected off the surface.
	Subsurface	Lit with the light transmitted through the surface.
	Direct	Lit with direct sunlight.
	Ambient	Lit with light from the environment.
	Shadow	Only shadows.
Material	Render the textures or values set to the maps in the Material bar. Choose from the following options: Color Opacity Gloss Normal (render a normal map that's rotated into screen space.) Specular Metallic Subsurface Subsurface Amount Custom Height
Vertex Colors	Render the per-vertex colors (red, green, blue, or all colors) set on the model geometry.
Wind Weights	Render the wind weights for the different levels of branch wind and leaf and frond ripple. This isn't a full display of all per-vertex wind information. It’s useful for spot-checking a tree for wind problems.
Other	Render with different shader styles and other miscellaneous options.
	Phong	Render with a Phong shader.
	Blinn-Phong	Render with a Blinn-Phong shader.
	Oren-Nayar	Render with an Oren-Nayer diffuse shader.
	Lambert	Render with a Lambert shader.
	Flat	Render with flat polygons and simple specular for a low-poly look.
	Snow	Render in Standard mode with simulated snow accumulation.
	Billboard Subsurface Amount	Render the subsurface amount. This setting is helpful if you’re exporting billboard atlases.
	Depth	Render the depth/height of the tree, scaled to the bounding sphere.
	Face Normal Check	Check the difference between the polygon face normals and per-vertex normals. Red indicates a significant difference. This mode is useful when tracking down problems in physically based rendering.
	Matcap	Render matcap sculpting.
	Overdraw	Render polygon overdraw, when many polygons draw on top of each other. This mode is helpful when optimizing a model for real-time rendering. Areas with higher overdraw appear more saturated in red.
	Texcoord	Render the fractional part of the actual texcoords. Red indicates U coordinates and green indicates V coordinates.
	Texcoord Seams	Render any texcoord seam problems. Hard edges of color highlight where the UVs are discontinuous.
	Texel Density	Render the texel density, a combination of the used UVs and texture sizes. Green indicates ideal density, red indicates a density that is too high, and blue indicates too low. This mode is similar to the Lightmap mode, but it uses the main UV, material, and texture sizes, and the target value set in the Application Preferences.