Pencil+ 4 Line¶
Pencil+ 4 Line is used to draw lines over objects. It supports multi-threading for fast drawing.
Objects and materials added to [Line Sets] become the targets for drawing the lines. [Line Sets] contain [Brush Settings] which control the color and thickness of the lines, as well as detection settings for 8 types of edges to specify the edges in the geometry over which lines should be drawn. Independent [Brush Settings] can be used for each type of edge in the edge detection settings for extra flexibility in the specification of line color and thickness. By also using the [Reduction] settings to change line thickness according to the distance to the camera, all kinds of lines can be created.
Turn on 3ds Max's [Interactive] functionality to see the effects of parameter changes in real-time.
Pencil+ 4 Line Parameters¶
This sections contains settings related to Pencil+ 4 Line rendering.
Line Sets List¶
[Line Sets] are used to manage groups of objects and materials. You specify the objects over which lines will be drawn by adding objects and materials to [Line Sets]. Selecting (clicking on) a [Line Set] in the Line Sets list, will display the values of its parameters in the Line Set section.
[Line Sets] at the top of the Line Sets list have priority over the ones listed below them. For example, suppose that [Line] settings are applied to a whole object and that you wish to apply other [Line] settings to a specific material on this object. To do this, the [Line Set] applied to the material needs to be above the [Line Set] applied to the object. By using this feature, it is also possible to inhibit drawing of specific Edges.
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| The object was added to a Line Set. | The red material was added to another Line Set where the line color is green. | Specific edges are disabled. |
Add¶
Add a new line set to the list.
Delete¶
Delete the currently selected Line Set.
Up, Down arrows¶
Move the currently selected Line Set up or down in the list.
Objects List¶
Displays the objects added to the current Line Set. Lines will be drawn on the objects in the list using the settings of the [Line Set].
Add¶
Open the [Add Objects] dialog. Select objects in the [Add Objects] dialog and click [Add] to register the objects to the Objects List.
Delete¶
Open the [Delete Objects] dialog. Select objects in the [Delete Objects] dialog and click [Delete] to remove the objects from the Objects List.
Materials List¶
Displays the materials added to the current Line Set. Lines will be drawn on the materials in the list using the settings of the [Line Set].
Add¶
Open the [Add Material] dialog. Select materials in the [Add Material] dialog and click [OK] to register the materials to the Materials List.
Delete¶
Open the [Delete Material] dialog. Select materials in the [Delete Material] dialog and click [OK] to remove the materials from the Materials List.
Update Materials¶
Removes materials with broken links from the list or replaces them with materials in the scene that have the same name. Use this when material connections are lost due to merging files or effects or other 3ds Max operations.
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| Update Materials dialog |
Line Size¶
Define the relationship between line thickness and the rendered image size here.
Absolute¶
Draw lines with a fixed size, regardless of the rendered image size. If the brush [Size] is set to 1, the line will always be rendered with a thickness of 1 pixel even if the rendering size changes.
Relative¶
Scale lines according to the size of the rendered image. The scaling rate is based on an image size of 640×480 pixels. If the rendering size changes, the line thickness will be maintained in proportion to the change.
Line Animation¶
Settings related to animating lines automatically.
Animate¶
Enable / disable line animation. When enabled, it will change the random seed for [Brush Details] to animate the lines.
Interval¶
Specify the interval between changes to the random seed. Setting [Interval] to 5 means that the lines will change every 5 frames.
Apply in Motion Only¶
When enabled, the random seed will only be changed if the objects and materials in the [Line Set] are moved or deformed.
Warning
This function is not compatible with network rendering.
Others¶
Settings for line rendering.
Output to Render Elements only¶
Enable / disable the drawing of Lines on the rendered image. When enabled, the Lines are not drawn on the rendered image, but they are drawn to [Render Elements] [Pencil+ 4 Line Output]. This functionality is used produce output images for editing with compositing software. This functionality was introduced in Pencil+ 2, but Pencil+ 4 Materials were added to Render Elements starting with Pencil+ 3, making Render Elements more convenient.
Warning
Does not support [Pencil+ 4 Reflection / Refraction].
Over Sampling¶
Use oversampling to improve the quality of details. Effective for drawing fine or complex lines. Increasing the value of [Over Sampling] improves quality but it also increases memory usage and rendering time.
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| Over Sampling: 1 | Over Sampling: 2 | Over Sampling: 3 |
Antialiasing¶
Adjust the intensity of antialiasing on lines. Set [Over Sampling] to 1 and [antialiasing] to 0 to disable antialiasing.
Offscreen Distance¶
Set a margin outside the rendering area when drawing Lines. The value is in pixels.
When objects where [Stroke Size Reduction] or [Stroke Alpha Reduction] is applied extend outside the camera frame, using an appropriate value for [Offscreen Distance] makes the circumference of the image look natural. Use a large value when using extremely thick lines or large rendering sizes.
Random Seed¶
Set the seed used to generate the [Random] values in [Brush Details].
Multithread¶
Enable / disable multithreading. When enabled, uses parallel computation for rendering the Lines. Efficient when using Pencil+ 4 Line on a computer with a multi-core CPU.
Pencil+ 4 Line splits the processing on an object basis. Rendering a model split into multiple objects will be faster than rendering an equivalent model made with a single complex object.
Line Set¶
Setup [Line Sets] here. Line Sets define line color, thickness, appearance as well as edge detection parameters.
Line Set¶
Basic Line Set settings.
On¶
Enable / disable the [Line Set]. The [Line Set] settings are ignored when disabled.
Open¶
Load a ".pl4" file where Line Set settings are saved.
Save¶
Save the Line Set settings to a ".pl4" file. Use this to copy the Line Set settings to another Line Set or to use them in another scene.
Warning
The Map settings are not saved.
Name¶
Define the name of the Line Set. This [Name] is displayed in the Line Sets list.
Line Set ID¶
Assign an ID number between 1 and 8 to this Line Set. This ID is used by [Pencil+ 4 Line Output] in [Render Elements].
Use this to output only specific objects or Lines. For example, by assigning different Line Set IDs to a character and its background, you can output the character and the background to their own respective image files.
Visible Lines / Hidden Lines Tabs¶
Use these tabs to switch between the parameters for Visible and Hidden Lines.
[Visible Lines] and [Hidden Lines] are defined by the same parameters, but they each have their own set of values for the parameters. By using different values for Visible and Hidden Lines, you can create lines such as those used in industrial drawings.
Visible Lines¶
Drawn on the visible polygon edges on the front faces of objects.
Hidden Lines¶
Drawn on the hidden polygon edges on the back faces of objects. Pencil+ 4 Lines also use materials' [2-sided] settings.
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| Rendering Visible Lines Stroke: Full |
Rendering Hidden Lines Stroke: Dashed |
Rendering both Visible and Hidden Lines |
Brush¶
Define the brush settings used for drawing lines. Pencil+ 4 Lines are drawn as if the brush was stamped repeatedly over the edges. By changing the shape of the brush, it is possible to reproduce the appearance of lines drawn with a paint brush, draw soft lines, etc.
Blend Mode¶
Select the method to blend the base color.
Amount¶
Adjust the blending intensity. Lower the value to make the Line transparent.
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| Amount: 0 | Amount: 20 | Amount: 40 |
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| Amount: 60 | Amount: 80 | Amount: 100 |
Brush Details¶
Click this button to open the [Brush Details] window where detailed brush settings can be adjusted. These Brush settings are used as the default Brush settings for all the [Edge] types in this Line Set. Edges where the [Specific Brush Settings] checkbox is checked ignore these default settings.
The Brush Settings are organized in a layered structure to make their management more efficient. They are split between the [Brush Settings] where Line color and size are adjusted and [Brush Details] where the shape of the brush and the feel of the strokes are adjusted.
As an example of the efficiency of this structure, imagine you want to use a different Line color, but the same brush settings, for each Line Set or each edge. In such a case, you could use individual [Brush Settings] but use a shared instance for the [Brush Details] to make management of your settings easy.
To create an instance of the settings, right-click the button to show a menu where you get the options [Copy], [Paste (Copy)] and [Paste (Instance)].
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| Button pop-up menu |
Color¶
Set the base line color.
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| Usinig black | Usinig red | Usinig yellow |
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| Using green | Using purple | Using blue |
Map Opacity¶
Adjust the opacity of an active map. Lower the value to make the map transparent.
Map¶
Use a map for the line color.
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Map Opacity: 0 (Using a noise map) |
Map Opacity: 20 | Map Opacity: 40 |
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| Map Opacity: 60 | Map Opacity: 80 | Map Opacity: 100 |
Size¶
Set the line thickness (in pixels).
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| Size: 1 | Size: 5 | Size: 10 |
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| Size: 20 | Size: 40 | Size: 100 |
Enable Check Box¶
Enable / disable the Size Map.
Amount¶
Adjust the intensity of the Size Map.
Map Selector Button¶
Apply a map to the line size. Using this setting speeds up the painting when the [Brush Type] is [Normal] or [Multiple].
While the processing of [Stroke Size Reduction] is based on screen space, the [Size Map] sets the line thickness based on the geometry. This way, the lines are stable and there is no flickering between frames.
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Size: 30 Amount: 0 (Using a noise map) |
Size: 30 Amount: 20 |
Size: 30 Amount: 40 |
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Size: 30 Amount: 60 |
Size: 30 Amount: 80 |
Size: 30 Amount: 100 |
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| Example using animation |
Stretch¶
Define how close to a true circle the brush should be.
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Stretch: 0 Angle: 0 |
Stretch: 50 Angle: 0 |
Stretch: 90 Angle: 0 |
Angle¶
Define the angle applied to the brush.
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Stretch: 90 Angle: 0 |
Stretch: 90 Angle: 45 |
Stretch: 90 Angle: 90 |
Edge¶
Settings for the detection of the edges used to draw [Lines]. By combining these detection settings, lines can be drawn over specific edges.
Outline¶
Draw Lines over the silhouette of the objects.
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Using only Outline (The box and ball are a single object) |
Open Edge¶
Enable / disable drawing over open [Outline] edges.
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| Open Edge Off | Open Edge On |
Merge Group¶
When multiple objects are grouped together with 3ds Max's [Group] function, the objects in the group will be handled as a single object for drawing the outline.
Suitable for drawing silhouette lines on models made from multiple objects such as industrial goods.
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Merge Group Off (Individual box objects assigned to a single [Group]) |
Merge Group On |
Object¶
Draw over the inner lines of objects.
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Using only Object (The box and ball are a single object) |
Open Edge¶
Enable / disable drawing over open [Object] edges.
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Open Edge Off |
Open Edge On |
Intersection¶
Draw Lines on polygon intersections.
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| Using only intersection |
Self-Intersection¶
Enable / disable drawing over polygon intersections within an object.
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Self-Intersection Off (The box and ball are a single object) |
Self-Intersection On |
Smoothing Boundary¶
Draw Lines on the boundaries between [Smoothing Groups].
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| Using only Smoothing Boundary |
Material ID Boundary¶
Draw lines on the boundaries between different materials.
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| Using only Material ID Boundary |
Selected Edge¶
Draw Lines over the edges specified with the [Pencil+ 4 Select Edge] modifier.
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| Using only Selected Edge |
Normal Angle¶
Draw Lines on edges on the geometry with normal angles within the specified range. The range is specified by the [Min] and [Max] values.
Min / Max¶
Define the range for the polygon normal angles.
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| Using only Normal Angle |
Wire¶
Draw wireframe-like Lines.
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| Using only Wire |
Specific Brush Settings¶
Define specific Brush Settings for individual Edge types. Click to open the [Brush Settings] window. When the checkbox is checked, the specified Brush Settings will be applied to that Edge type.
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| Using different settings for different Edge types |
Weld Edges Between Objects¶
When the Line Set settings target several objects, connects the detected Edges. Enable to connect the Line Strokes between objects.
This setting produces striking results when using [Stroke Size Reduction], [Stroke Alpha Reduction] or [Color Range]. For example, use it when the edges of objects overlap to create a straight line and you want to create a single connected stroke.
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| Weld Edges Between Objects Off Line Split Angle: 60 Stroke Size Reduction: On (The blue and red boxes are separate objects) |
Weld Edges Between Objects On Line Split Angle: 60 Stroke Size Reduction: On (The vertical Lines connect Edges between separate objects) |
Mask Hidden Lines of Other Line Sets¶
When enabled, Hidden Lines from other line sets are obscured by objects using this Line Set.
Use [Mask Hidden Lines of Targets] in [Line Related Functions] to control the masking of Hidden Lines on a material basis.
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| Mask Hidden Lines of Other Line Sets: Off | Mask Hidden Lines of Other Line Sets: On (The Hidden Lines of the box are masked by the cylinder) |
Reduction¶
These reduction settings are used to change Line thickness and opacity based on the distance to objects or the camera.
Reduction¶
Define the reduction settings here.
Size Reduction¶
Modify line size depending on the distance to an object or the camera.
Click the button to open the [Reduction Settings] window. [Reduction Settings] instances can be shared between Line Sets.
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| Size Reduction Off | Size Reduction On |
Alpha Reduction¶
Modify line opacity (alpha) depending on the distance to an object or the camera.
Click the button to open the [Reduction Settings] window. [Reduction Settings] instances can be shared between Line Sets.
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| Alpha Reduction Off | Alpha Reduction On |
User Defined¶
User defined data can be stored here. Use this to manage data. These settings have no effect on rendering.
User Defined¶
Set your user defined data here.
Label Color¶
Set the label color. This setting is currently used for displaying labels in Pencil+ 4 Spreadsheet.
Comment¶
You can input text here.