MicroStation CONNECT Edition Help

Light Manager Dialog, Properties - Brightness

Contains controls for adjusting the Brightness lighting settings. Opens when you select the Brightness light name in the Light Manager dialog.



SettingDescription
Display Brightness (Applies to views that are set to Smooth only) Specifies how the brightness of a solution can be adjusted.
  • Brightness Multiplier scales all pixels by a specified factor. In the field, set the scale factor to be applied to the brightness of the pixels for the next rendering.
  • Adapt to Brightness sets the brightness for the middle of the range. In the field, set the intensity (in lumens) that should be used as the middle of the display range for the next rendering.
Display Range Slider Used to interactively brighten or darken the image in the current display style.
Global Illumination Brightness Tone Mapping Mode Specifies how the global illumination brightness of a solution can be adjusted.
  • Brightness Multiplier scales all pixels by a specified factor. In the field, set the scale factor to be applied to the brightness of the pixels for the next rendering.
  • Adapt to Brightness sets the brightness for the middle of the range. In the field, set the intensity (in lumens) that should be used as the middle of the display range for the next rendering.
  • Drago tone mapping imitates the response of the human eye to light, with good preservation of details and contrast.
  • Reinhard tone mapping works best with complete images where all pixels are lit; does not work well when you have many unlit background pixels.
Display Range (Tone Mapping Mode set to Brightness Multiplier, Brightness Adaptation) Used to reflect the interactively brighten or darken the image in the current display style.
Brightness (Tone Mapping Mode set to Brightness Multiplier, Brightness Adaptation) When Tone Mapping Mode is set to Brightness Multiplier, sets the scale factor to be applied to the brightness of the pixels for the next rendering. When Tone Mapping Mode is set to Adapt to Brightness, sets the intensity (in lumens per square meter) that should be used as the middle of the display range for the next rendering.
Contrast (Tone Mapping Mode set to Brightness Multiplier, Brightness Adaptation, Reinhard) Used to set the display contrast for the next rending. When set to Adapt to Brightness or Brightness Multiplier, the allowable contrast range is -2 to 2. A value of 1.0 represents the maximum contrast. Higher numbers, up to 5.0, soften the contrast of the image and increase the range of brightness that can be displayed.

When set to Reinhard, the allowable range is 0.3 to 1.0. If set to 0, the contrast is calculated automatically.

Photographic Tone Mapping (Tone Mapping Mode set to Brightness Multiplier, Brightness Adaptation) If enabled, photographic tone mapping is applied to the image. This setting produces an image that is more like that which your eyes would see. This applies particularly to images with a small dynamic range (where the lightest pixel is only about 100 times brighter than the darkest). Where the image has a high dynamic range, the normal image may be better. Tone mapping is mapping the values of the pixels from lux (lumens per square meter) into the 0-255 range for graphics displays. No matter what, some tone mapping operator is always required. Comparing the two methods:
  • Photographic Tone Mapping tries to approximate the human visual system.
  • Non-Photographic Tone Mapping tries to spread the brightness across the range of the display.

In general, Non-Photographic Tone Mapping always gives you a reasonable image, but Photographic Tone Mapping gives you a more realistic image.

Note: Vue renders to a 64-bit High Dynamic Range (HDR) image. These images must be tone mapped to display on non-HDR monitors.
Exposure (Tone Mapping Mode set to Drago) Controls the brightness of the output image.
Intensity (Tone Mapping Mode set to Reinhard) Controls the overall image intensity for the rendering.
Auto Gamma Correct Color Maps Sets the gamma value for textures used in environment images and color maps. When on, automatically gamma corrects all color texture maps, which improves contrast and prevents textures from appearing faded out especially when higher display gamma values are used.
Gamma Sets the display gamma level for the next rendering. The default gamma used to render is 1.7. Increasing the gamma value lightens the image, decreasing it darkens the image.
Gamma slider Used to adjust the gamma setting.
Parent topic: Light Manager Dialog