SimLab Composer 2.

Help Manual

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 SimLab Composer 2.4

Table Of Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 5

What is SimLab Composer? ......................................................................................................... 5

Import and export ........................................................................................................................... 5

Supported import formats .......................................................................................................... 5

Supported export formats........................................................................................................... 6
Exporting to IPad ......................................................................................................................... 6
Building 3D Scenes .......................................................................................................................... 8

Navigating the scene and the camera control ............................................................................ 8

Selection and the Object tree ..................................................................................................... 9
Building 3D scenes..................................................................................................................... 10
Creating Cameras ...................................................................................................................... 14
Texture coordinate generation ................................................................................................. 14
Precise Transformation ............................................................................................................. 16
3D Text ...................................................................................................................................... 17
Geometrical info........................................................................................................................ 17
Exploded View ........................................................................................................................... 17
Section Plane ............................................................................................................................. 18
Object Library ............................................................................................................................ 20
Scene States .............................................................................................................................. 21
Decal .......................................................................................................................................... 24
Creating 3D PDF ............................................................................................................................ 27

Page Settings ............................................................................................................................. 27

Header/Footer/Logo Settings ................................................................................................... 29
3D Settings ................................................................................................................................ 30
Animation Settings .................................................................................................................... 32
Advance settings ....................................................................................................................... 33
Rendering ...................................................................................................................................... 33

Depth of Field (DOF) .................................................................................................................. 33

Material libraries ....................................................................................................................... 35
Render Settings ......................................................................................................................... 36
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General Properties................................................................................................................. 36

Settings .................................................................................................................................. 36

Advanced ............................................................................................................................... 38

Preview Settings .................................................................................................................... 39

Lights ......................................................................................................................................... 39
Sample images rendered using SimLab Composer ................................................................... 40
Animation...................................................................................................................................... 45

Introduction............................................................................................................................... 45
Introduction example ................................................................................................................ 45
Object Movement animation .................................................................................................... 46
Round table animation .......................................................................................................... 46

Wheel animation ................................................................................................................... 47

Path animation ...................................................................................................................... 48

Key Frame object movement animation ............................................................................... 51

Playing animation ...................................................................................................................... 53

Camera animation ..................................................................................................................... 53
Camera animation example .................................................................................................. 53

Creating camera animation ................................................................................................... 54

Selecting rendering camera ................................................................................................... 56

Director Camera .................................................................................................................... 56

Material Animation ................................................................................................................... 58

Material Animation Example ................................................................................................. 58

Material Animation Notes ..................................................................................................... 59

Light Animation ......................................................................................................................... 59

Time Line ................................................................................................................................... 60
Advanced Capabilities ................................................................................................................... 62

Material Management .............................................................................................................. 62

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Retain Materials .................................................................................................................... 63

Create copy and make instance ................................................................................................ 66

Managing the Object tree ......................................................................................................... 66
Break Geometry ........................................................................................................................ 68
Break Faces ................................................................................................................................ 68
Converting Models .................................................................................................................... 69
Hotkeys ......................................................................................................................................... 70

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Introduction

What is SimLab Composer?

SimLab Composer is a 3D scene building and sharing application, it supports importing native
and standard 3D files to build 3D scenes that can be exported to many file formats.

SimLab Composer was designed to be very easy to use, with a short learning curve, without
limiting its users.

SimLab Composer is provided in 3 Editions:

1- SimLab Composer (3D PDF Edition): this edition allows the user to import 3D Files, build
3D scenes, and to export scenes to different file formats including 3D PDF.
2- SimLab Composer (Rendering Edition): in addition to the capabilities of the 3D PDF
edition, the rendering edition allows the user to create photorealistic rendered images
of the created scenes.
3- SimLab Composer (Animation Edition): in addition to the rendering edition capabilities,
the animation edition allows the user to add animation to the 3D scene; added
animations are exported to the generated 3D PDF files. The user also can create
rendered videos showing the animation of the 3D scene.

Import and export

Supported import formats

SimLab Composer supports importing the following industry standards CAD/3D file formats:

File Format Source Package 3D PDF edition Rendering and

Animation editions
xaml Standard format
3dxml CATIA
skp SketchUp (up to ver 8)
3dm Rhino (up to ver 5)
sldprt, sldasm SolidWorks (up to ver 2011) (Windows only) (Windows only)
iam, ipt Inventor
sat ACIS
Step Standard CAD format
IGES Standard CAD format
U3D Standard format
3D PDF Adobe Acrobat (U3D Based)
Dae Collada (Standard format)
File Format Source Package 3D PDF edition Rendering and

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Animation editions
Fbx animation (up to ver 2012.1)
3DS 3DS
Obj Wavefront
Stl Stereolithography
Dwg AutoCad
Dxf AutoCad
OSG Open Scene Graph
ipt, iam AutoDesk Inventor (up to 2012) (Windows only) (Windows only)
par, asm, psm SolidEdge (up to ST4) (Windows only) (Windows only)
Zim SimLab Archive
Sim SimLab Composer

Supported export formats

3D Scenes built using SimLab Composer can be exported in the following file formats (Export
formats are supported by all editions of SimLab Composer).

Export File Formats

3D PDF (*.pdf)
osg (*.osg)
ive (*.ive)
obj (*.obj)
SketchUp (*.skp)
3DS(*.3ds)
U3d (*.u3d)
KeyShot (*.bip)
Collada (*.dae)
FBX (*.fbx)
DirectX (*.x)
STL (*.stl)

Exporting to IPad

The user can export 3D scenes created in SimLab Composer to IPad. The exported scene will be
saved as a *.zim file, readable by SimLab IPad viewer. SimLab IPad Viewer can be installed from
Apple iTunes.

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Information exported to IPad includes: geometries, normals, materials, textures, cameras and
scene states. Exporting animation to IPad is now available in this release.

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Building 3D Scenes

Navigating the scene and the camera control

The Camera Toolbar provides the following function buttons:

Button Effect Short Cut

Select one of the default views, ISO, Top, Bottom, Front,
Back, Right or Left
Set camera Target vertex C

Set camera target to the center of selected object(s) V

Fit all, automatically updates camera to fit all objects in Ctrl + F

the scene
Zooms camera to selected object(s) Ctrl + J

Create new camera

Capture scene state Ctrl + D

Change Viewer DOF Settings

When starting SimLab Composer it uses the default view behavior. Default view behavior is
described in the following table.

Navigation Mouse Buttons

Pan Middle mouse button

Rotate Left mouse button

Zoom Right mouse button

Change Field of View Ctrl + Right mouse button

Box selection Alt + Left mouse button

Append to selection Alt + Ctrl + Left mouse button

Remove from selection Alt + Shift + Left mouse button

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The Camera Toolbar enables the user to change the default navigation mode, changing the
navigation mode affects the behavior of the Left mouse button. In addition to the rotate default
behavior, the user can select one of the following navigation modes.

Navigation mode Behavior

Default View Behavior

Pan

Zoom

Box selection

Append to selection

Remove from selection

Selection and the Object tree

When geometry files are imported into SimLab Composer, their assembly structures is
maintained. Maintaining the assembly structure enhances the usability of the model, as it
allows the user to move parts/assemblies, reassign materials, and hide/show geometries easily.

By default, picking selects a 3D object ( ), which is the leaf level in the assembly tree. The user
can then navigate up the tree in one of the following ways:

Double clicking, selects the top level assembly of the tree.

Holding Shift while double clicking moves up the tree one level at a time. So repeating
Shift + double click eventually will reach the top level assembly of the tree.
Finally, the user can select the desired branch directly from the tree.

Holding Ctrl key allows for selecting multiple geometries. All draggers and functions can then be
applied to the multiple selected geometries.

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Building 3D scenes

The first step in building a scene is selecting

the appropriate ground. The user has the
option of selecting 2D or a 3D ground. If the
user prefers to start with an empty scene with
no ground he can select the option No
Ground. The user can also select the world
size, and by default imported 3D models are
scaled to fit in the world size.

The user can input the default values for these dimensions, in addition to the ground type in
the Preferences window under Edit menu.

The next step is adding 3D models to the scene. The

user can import models using Import function under
the File menu, or by dropping a file on the
applications window. When importing a 3D model it
will be placed by default at the center of the ground.

After importing the geometry, it can be placed in the

scene using one of the following tools:

Move 2D function button: allows moving the geometry in the X and Y directions, and
rotating around the up vector in SimLab Composer (Z axis).

Move 3D function button: allows movement in all three directions, and rotation around all
three axes.

Uniform Scale function button: is used to change the size of the geometry.

Edit Pivot function button: Objects in SimLab Composer are rotated around their pivots; by
default the pivot is located at the center of the object. This function enables the user to change
the location of object(s) pivot(s).

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Geometry by default is rotated around its center

Center of rotation changed using Edit Pivot function

The user can empty selection by clicking the Select tool button (Shortcut is Esc).

SimLab Composer provides unique tools that make building 3D scene easy, and enjoyable,
those tools include:

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Snap To Ground function button: snaps the selected geometry(s) to ground. If the scene
does not include a ground, this function will snap the geometry to the ground plane of the
world.

Snap To Object function button: this function can be used to place a bottle on a table, or
a car on a street. Just select the geometry you want to snap, press the button and then select
the location you want to snap the geometry to.

Bottle snapped to the table

After having a number of geometries already set in place within the scene, Freeze function
button comes in handy. Frozen objects cannot be moved by draggers. The freeze icon will be
added beside frozen objects in the Object Tree.

The Un Freeze function button, as the name implies, will undo the effect of the Freeze
function.

Hiding and showing geometries can be done using the Hide and Show function
buttons.

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Freeze and Hide icons in the object tree

The user of SimLab Composer can select the number of views from the Window menu. The user
can select to have one, two, three, and up to four views in the 3D area. Views can also be
displayed by pulling the right and bottom edges of the 3D area.

Four views in SimLab Composer

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Creating Cameras

The user can create a camera

by clicking Create Camera
button from the Camera
toolbar. When creating a
camera the current view of the
3D scene is saved in the new
camera.

To show the view saved in any

camera, the user can link the
camera to a view. This can be
done by dragging the camera
and dropping it on that view.
The name of the linked camera
will be displayed on the top left corner of the work area. Changes made to the view will be
stored in the linked camera. The user can also change the view of a camera by selecting the
cameras geometry, and moving it using the Move 2D or Move 3D draggers. Created cameras
can be optionally exported to 3D PDF files.

Texture coordinate generation

Texturing is the process of applying an image to a 3D object, to

give it a more realistic look. Generate Texture Coordinates
function is found under Geometry under the Tools menu.
Texture coordinates define the way the image is applied to the
object. SimLab Composer can be used to generate and update
texture coordinates for 3D objects. SimLab Composer supports
four methods for generating texture coordinate:

Plane: this method treats the selected geometry as a plane

when performing the texture coordinates generation. This
method can be used to generate texture coordinates for the
ground, or a computer screen, for example.

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Box: the box method is suitable for geometries better represented by a box. This method also
has a Caped check box option.

Sphere: As the name implies, this method treats the geometry as a sphere.

Cylinder: This method has the Caped option as the Box method.

Caped box texture generation

After generating texture coordinates the user can adjust them using rotate, scale, and offset
parameters.

Rotation: rotates the texture by the angle (in degrees) entered in this field.
U Scale and V Scale: are scaling factors in the u, and v directions. The user can scale the
texture either by widening it (giving scale values greater than one), or shrinking it
(giving scale values less than one).
U Offset and V Offset: shifts the texture in either direction by the value entered.

Texture coordinates generation in SimLab Composer supports the Group objects options. By
checking this option, selected objects are treated as a single object when generating texture
coordinates. This is useful for example when generating box texture coordinates for a number
of faces.

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Precise Transformation
Precise transformation is accessible from the Tools menu,
the basic tab enables the user to rotates, translate and scale
selected object(s).

Rotation can be performed around selection center or

around the pivot of the selected object.

Translation can be done along global x,y, and z axis, or along

the x,y and z axis of the pivot.

The user can use the basic tab to perform a uniform or none
uniform scaling around selection center, along the global x,
y, and z axis.

In the advanced tab, the user can set the global or local
location, orientation and scale of the center of the selected
object.

The user can also use the advanced tap to set global or local
location and orientation of the pivot of the selected object.

When selecting more than one object, the user can use the
advanced tab to set the global location of the center of the
group.

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3D Text

To create 3D Text, the user can select 3D

Text from the Create menu, in the 3D text
dialog the user types the text, and selects
the font. The user can change the material
of the generated 3D Text.

Geometrical info

Knowing the number of vertexes and polygons can help the user estimate the size of the output
file, to select some details to be ignored, and to choose the configurations to be used.

Geometrical info can be obtained by selecting one or multiple objects and clicking on Tools ->
Geometrical info.

Exploded View
Exploded view makes it easy to show the components of an assembly. The functionality can be
found under the Tools menu. When selected the explode geometry dragger will appear and will
allow the user to explode the assembly in the X, Y, and Z directions. The user can also rotate the
dragger to select an arbitrary vector to be used for exploding the assembly.

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The user should click the correct mark in the top left part of the screen when done with
exploding the geometry. Clicking the X mark will cancel the operation of creating the exploded
view. After completing the explode operation the user can go back to the original model by
selecting the UnExplode function from the Tools menu.

Section Plane

Section planes can be created from the top level menu Create -> Section plan. The user can
rotate and position the active section plane using the dragger. To activate a section plane, the
user can select it from the object tree.

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Section plane effects are exported to the generated 3D PDF files, rendered images, and
exported file formats as OBJ.

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Object Library

Object library provides the user with quick access to frequently used models. The Object Library
can be shown by clicking View -> Object Library. Objects in the object library can be organized
in different groups.

Adding current scene to the object library can be done by clicking

Add Current Scene button in the object library window. The user is
then asked to provide a name for the new model. The add new scene
dialog enables the user to automatically generate a rendered
preview image to the model to be added to the object tree.

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Object library dialog allows the user to delete a model from the library. To import a SimLab
archive file (*.zim) to the library (this facilitates exchanging library objects with other users),
and to change the name of the model in the object library.

Category management functionality includes: add, delete and rename a category.

To add a model from the object library, the user can just drag the model from the library and
drop it on the scene.

Scene States
The current scene state of a scene can be captured in one of two ways:

Using the scene state management dialog: The user can open the scene state management
dialog from the top level menu Scene States -> Manage Scene States (short cut Ctrl + Shift + D),
and click on the Capture button.

Using the Capture Scene State button in the camera tool bar (shortcut Ctrl + D).

When capturing a scene state, the following information is captured:

1- Camera information
2- Material properties
3- Locations of objects
4- Hide/Shown states of objects
5- Light Power
6- Cross section
7- A small image representing the current state of the model

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Scene state management dialog enables the user to perform the following tasks:

Button name Description

Capture Captures a scene state

Delete Deletes the selected scene state

Regenerate Generates a rendered preview image for the selected

scene state
Regenerate All Generates rendered preview images for all the scene
states

Scene states have many useful applications including:

Rendering

The user can create multiple scene states for complex scenes, to experiment with views,
materials, lights, prepare different configurations of a scene, etc. Then and in the ideal time
for the machine, the user can click Render Scene States under the Render menu, and the scene
states will be rendered one after the other.

3D PDF generation

When generating a 3D PDF file from a scene that includes scene states, the Manage Scene
States dialog will appear.

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This dialog allows the user to select which scene states to be

included in the 3D PDF file, and the order of the scene states.

Scene states in 3D PDF files have many practical usages; some of

those are shown in the following images:

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Decal

Applying company Logo, or product images to 3D models is made easier with SimLab Decal
feature.

Create a new *.sim file and import the 3D model you want to apply the Decal to. In this
case we will be using a 3D car model.
Go to Create menu and select Decal, which will open the Decal widow.
In the Image textbox navigate to the image file you want.
In SimLab Composer the Decal will be applied by specifying a bounding rectangle. The
first point of the rectangle is the upper left point as indicated by the number 1 button
colored in red.

On the 3D model select the first point of the bounding rectangle. A little white ball will
appear in the selected location, and in the Decal window the number 2 button will be
highlighted in red now.

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Continue to select the remaining bounding points. When done the Center button will be
highlighted for you to select the center point for placing the Decal.

Select the center, and then click Generate. If the object to generate the decal on is not
yet selected, a message may appear asking for the object selection. Select the front top
of the car to be highlighted in the Object Tree, and then click Generate again.

Before closing the Decal window we need to talk about the remaining three parameters
for the Decal feature. Rotation is how much the decal image will be rotated around the
center in a CCW direction. Scale is the scale factor for the image. And finally the Depth
Factor, as long as the selected decal object is only one geometry, this parameter needs
not to be changed. If more than one geometry are selected, and/or the decal need to be
printed on more than one surface, the user can indicate the depth for applying another
image of the decal.

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The Decal can still be edited by selecting the Decal object in the Object Tree, the clicking
the Edit property in the Properties window. When you open the Decal window press the
buttons corresponding to the points you want to edit, change the values for the
Rotation, Scale, or Depth Factor, then click Generate.

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Creating 3D PDF
3D Scenes created in SimLab Composer can be exported as 3D PDF files, which can be opened
using the free Acrobat reader; version 9.0 or newer should be used to take advantage of all the
features in the generated 3D PDF file.

Creating a 3D PDF file can be done in two ways; Either by clicking the export button in 3D PDF
Settings dialog, accessible from Settings under the 3D PDF menu. Or by selecting File -> Export
and setting the output file format to 3D PDF.

In case the model includes Scene States, the Manage Scene States dialog will appear when
exporting a 3D PDF file. This dialog (as stated before) will allow the user to select which scene
state(s) to be included in the generated 3D PDF file, and to order scene states in the file.

For models with no Scene States, and which include multiple cameras the cameras manage
dialog will appear. This dialog allows the user to order, rename, and select cameras to be
included in the generated 3D PDF file.

3D PDF Settings dialog enables the user to control the generated file. It has different tabs:

Page Settings

Prepend the following file to 3D PDF: this option is

used for appending two PDF files together. This can
be used to append a 3D model to a companys
header, or a project description available in PDF
format. PDF files can be generated using different
programs, such as; Acrobat, WinWord, PowerPoint,
or Open Office. Different 3D PDF files generated by
SimLab Composer can also be appended together.

Background: This option controls the appearance of

the section of the PDF document out of the 3D area.
The user can set the background to be either of a
single color, or to be an image. The Scale To Fit
option is available if the image needs to be scaled to
fit the background area.

Background music option is available for users to add

music, in *.mp3 format, to the created 3D PDF files.
Selected music will be automatically played while the 3D PDF file is open, the file recipient can
optionally turn off the music. Checking the Repeat option will cause the mp3 file to
automatically repeat itself. The selected mp3 file will be automatically embedded inside the 3D
PDF file.

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The following example shows a 3D PDF file added to an existing PDF template file.

Margins of the 3D PDF page determine the 3D model area.

In the left image, left and right margins were set to 40, while in the image on the right both left
and right margins were set to 0.

File Password: using the optional password will protect the contents of the generated 3D PDF
file; the recipient will need to use the password to view the 3D PDF file.

Page Size setting enables the user to input the required page size of the created 3D PDF file.

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Header/Footer/Logo Settings
The user can use the Header/Footer settings to input text, color, font, and font size for both
header and/or footer for the created 3D PDF file.

In the image bellow a header was added to the

generated file. This file was created by selecting the
Image option in the Background setting, under Page tab.
For the image to cover the 3D models area the
Transparent option was selected in 3D tab.

In the Logo group the user has the option to browse to a logo image file. The Position and Size
options are available to format where the image will appear in the generated 3D PDF file.

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3D Settings

Show 3D Toolbar: shows or hides the 3D toolbar in

Acrobat reader when opening the 3D PDF file.

Show World Axes: shows or hides the world access in the

lower left part in the 3D PDF file.

Disable Selection: disables or enables selection of

geometries in the 3D PDF file.

Navigation Mode: the user can set the default navigation

mode when opening the 3D PDF file to be one of the
following Rotate, Spin or Walk. The user of the 3D PDF
file can choose to change this default mode inside the 3D
PDF file.

Default Render Mode: using this option, the user can

select the default render mode to be one of the following
(Solid, Solid Wireframe, Transparent, Transparent
Wireframe, Illustration, Shaded Illustration, Solid Outline, or Bounding Box).

The following images show the same model using different render modes.

Default Light Type: light type can be one of the

following white, day, night, bright, CAD optimized,
cube, head lamp, or Lights from file.

Lights from file means lights will be exported from

SimLab Composer. The example on the left shows 3D
PDF file that uses lights from file.

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Light Power Multiplier: increasing this value increases the brightness of the generated 3D PDF
file.

Automatic Camera: This option enables automatic switching between the different cameras in
the scene. When automatic camera is enabled, the user can select the Camera Pause Duration,
which is the time in seconds for which the camera will stand still before camera effect starts.

The user can select the camera effect to be Zoom, Roll or the two combined. The camera effect
will take place for the camera effect duration.

Background option controls the appearance of the 3D area. The user has the option to set the
background to either a Single Color, or an Image. If the user wishes the 3D area to use the same
background used in the page settings, he can select the Transparent option.

The Preview Image selection box is available for the user to select an image that will be
displayed upon browsing for the 3D PDF files. This image will also be displayed when the user
first opens the 3D PDF file, then the original 3D model will appear. This image can be a
rendered view image of the model. As this image will be displayed on top of the 3D model, then
it can have an alpha value to show what is behind. The user has the option to Keep Alpha by
checking the corresponding checkbox in the 3D tab.

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This image will also appear when browsing for 3D PDF files, to help the user in selecting the
required file.

Animation Settings

Animation setting is only available in the Animation Edition of

SimLab Composer. Animation options include:

Frames Per Second: determines the number of frames per

second to be used when playing the animation in the 3D PDF
file.

Playing Mode: determines the behavior of the animation,

after it reaches the end of a cycle. The user can select Repeat
to make the animation automatically restarts playing from the
beginning, or Swing to reverse the animation back to its
beginning.

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Advance settings

Advanced users can use those settings to insert Java scripts to

control both, the PDF document, and the included 3D model.

Details about Java script support in 3D PDF files can be found

at http://www.adobe.com/devnet/acrobat/javascript.html

Using advanced settings the user can Enable/Disable

measurements in the generated 3D PDF file. And make the 3D
PDF file start in Full screen mode if needed.

Rendering

SimLab Composer is equipped with a state of the art renderer licensed from Luxion
(www.luxion.com). This renderer is fast and provides high quality images. The renderer is
optimally parallelized, so it can take advantage of all the CPUs available in the machine.

Depth of Field (DOF)

Changing the viewers depth of field is accessible via Change Viewer DOF Settings icon in
the Camera Toolbar. When clicking this icon the Viewer Camera Attributes window will open.
To have the DOF effect check its checkbox, then click the focus point selection button. Click in
the 3D area where you want that point to be. Upon selecting the focus point, the distance
between the camera and the point you selected will be saved in the DOF Distance spin box.

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In the image below the focus point was set at the rear left of the car, and the DOF stop was set
to 0.1.

With decreasing the value of DOF field stop to 0.05 we get the image below. So decreasing the
value of the field stop will increase the blur of the area outside the DOF focus point.

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Material libraries

Assigning materials to objects in the scene can be done by dragging a material from the
material library and dropping it on an object in the 3D area (or in the Object tree).

Material libraries can be shown by clicking Material -> Show material libraries.

The Material Library combo box, displays the available libraries where switching between them
can be done.

The Material section, in the Material library window enables the user to Create, Delete, and
Regenerate new materials. The Create button when pressed, will add a new material to the
current group. Delete button can be used to delete the selected material from the library.

When a new material is added to the library it uses a quick (OpenGL) spherical representation,
clicking on the Regenerate button creates an image that shows how the material will appear
when rendered, the image generated when pressing the Regenerate button is automatically
saved in the library, so it is used the next time the user opens the material library.

Clicking the Regenerate button in the Library section will automatically regenerate the images
for all the materials in the material libraries.

The Manage button in the Material Library section enables the user to create a new library or
to manage an existing one. When clicking on the Manage button the Manage Material Libraries
dialog opens.

Manage Material Libraries dialog

enables the user to create, Rename, or
Delete Libraries and Groups.

The user can export a library by

selecting it from the Manager Material
Libraries dialog and clicking the export
button, all materials data, textures and
preview images are stored in a single
material library file (*.mlb).

Material libraries can be shared with

other users, the recipient of a material library file can add its content by using the Import
button.
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The user can merge the contents of two material libraries in one; this is convenient in case the
user receives a single material in its own library.

Render Settings
Render settings are accessible from the Render settings tool button in the Render toolbar.
Render settings can be saved, so they are used as defaults, the next time SimLab Composer is
opened. Render settings include:

General Properties

Output Width/Height of the rendered image, where a

user can set the image size in pixels.

Output Folder is the folder the rendered image will be

saved in.

Output Name Base for the rendered images to be

generated. Automatic sequential numbers will be
added to the name base for each generated image.
For example, if the name base was SimLab, the images
generated will have the sequential names SimLab_1,
SimLab_2 etc.

Camera, this determines the camera to be used for

rendering an image or movie. The combo box lists all
the cameras included in the scene to allow the user to
select the camera to be used. The default option is
Active view, which uses the camera connected to the
active view.

Settings

Environment Image: by default SimLab Composer

uses environment images to render 3D scenes.
Environment images, are files of types (*.hdr) or
(*.exr). Environment images are applied as a sphere
surrounding the 3D scene. Environment images
include light sources that are automatically used
when rendering the 3D Scene. SimLab Composer
provides a number of environment images, free
and commercial environment images can be used
to extend the SimLab Composer selection of
environment images.

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The user can view the Environment image from inside SimLab Composer by clicking the menu
Render -> Background Settings -> Preview Environment as shown in the following image.

The user can rotate and scale the Environment image using Render -> Background Settings ->
Rotate Environment and Render -> Background Settings -> Scale Environment respectively.

Showing the environment image from inside SimLab Composer

Back Plate, this setting allows the user to select the source of the background to be used when
rendering the image, the user can chose the background to be one of the following

o Single Color
o Image: The user selects the image to be used as background
o From Environment: The background shows the portion of the environment image that
appears to the user

The user can view the background from inside SimLab Composer by clicking the menu Render -
> Background Settings -> Preview Background as shown in the following image.

Showing the background image from inside SimLab Composer

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 SimLab Composer 2.4

Gamma and Brightness, those values control the brightness of the scene.

Keep image open after rendering option. This option when checked will keep the image window
open after rendering until the user closes it manually.

Advanced

Detailed Shadow option; when checked, the

rendered image will include detailed shadow;
this will improve the quality of the image, but will
require more time to render.

Ground Shadow: when checked, the renderer

generates ground shadow on the ground.
Ground Reflection: when checked, the renderer
generates reflection on the ground.
Number of Samples; the number of samples for
each pixel.

Number of Ray Bounces; increasing the ray bounces improves lighting for complex scenes,
especially diamond and glass scenes, but it slows rendering.

Anti-Aliasing Filter Size: This value can range between 1.00 and 4.00, setting this value to 1.00
turns anti aliasing off, SimLab Composer uses Mitchell filter for anti aliasing.

Anti Aliasing = 3.00 Anti Aliasing = 1.00

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Image rendered with Ground Reflection and Ground Shadow

Preview Settings

Render preview can help the user to make a quick judgment for the included lights, selected
materials and values of Gama and brightness. Preview settings are used when the user clicks on
the render preview button in the Render tool bar.

Preview Ratio is the scale between the size of the preview render and the size of the final
render, this value should be between 0 and 1. Setting Preview ratio to 1 means the preview
image will have the same size as the final rendered image

Lights

SimLab Composer has four different light types that can be used to add light sources in addition
to the light sources included from the environment image. Those types are:

Point Light,

Area Light,

Spot Light,

Directional Light.

A new light is created by clicking on its button in the light toolbar, except for the (Directional
Light) lights can be moved and positioned, using any of the move draggers.

Spot Light has a blend property, which determines the way a light is blended. Having a 0 value
makes the light very sharp, increasing this value insures smooth transition of the light as shown
in the following images.

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Blend = 0 Blend = 0.5

Sample images rendered using SimLab Composer

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 SimLab Composer 2.4

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 SimLab Composer 2.4

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 SimLab Composer 2.4

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 SimLab Composer 2.4

Animation
Introduction

SimLab Composer Animation edition supports four types of animation:

1- Model (assembly) animation

2- Camera animation
3- Light animation
4- Material animation

Animation in SimLab Composer can be created by doing one of the following, at a frame other
than 0:

1- Moving an object (this works for all objects including 3D Objects, Cameras and Lights)
2- Changing properties (this works for Cameras, Lights and Materials)

Introduction example

The purpose of this example is to introduce the animation elements in SimLab Composer.

Creating an animation usually starts with selecting the end frame of the animation, by default
the end frame is 100, the user can change the end frame by clicking on the Time Line button in
the animation toolbar, then entering the end frame value in the end frame spin box.

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In this example we will create a round table animation of the object. For creating a round
table animation the user needs to select the top level car assembly and to click on the Round
Table Object tool button in the Animation Toolbar.

This creates a round table animation rotating the object 360 degrees around the global z axis.
To view the animation the user should click the Play button in the animation controls toolbar
(short cut Space bar).

Object Movement animation

Object movement animation can be used to animate models (assemblies, parts or 3D objects),
cameras and lights. It can be created by either applying an animation, from the Animation
ToolBar on object(s) or by using key frames, (changing any properties of object(s) on a frame
other than 0).

SimLab Composer supports the following types of animations that can be applied on objects:

Round table animation

Round table animation rotates the selected object 360 degrees around the global z axis, the
animation starts at frame 0 and ends at the last frame. By selecting the green animation line of
the object, and in the properties window, the user can change the animation parameters
including the angle and the axis of rotation.

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Wheel animation

Wheel animation is useful for rotating an object around a selected axis, to create wheel
animation the user needs to select the object(s) to be rotated, then to click on the wheel
animation tool button in the animation toolbar.

When clicking on the wheel animation tool button, the wheel animation dialog will appear.

Wheel animation dialog allows the user to select the start frame for the rotation effect, the end
frame and the number of revolutions. Number of revolutions is the number of full rotations to
be done by the selected object(s).

The user can also select the rotation direction to be Clockwise or Counter Clockwise, the
direction is determined using the right hand rule around the rotation axis (always points out of
the geometry).

After setting the parameters the user clicks the pick center button. Wheel animation creation is
completed by picking the rotation center. The rotation center determines the center of rotation
and the direction, which is the same as the normal of the geometry at the picked center.

The following example shows how to use the wheel animation:

1- Select the object to be rotated

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2- Click the wheel animation tool button in the animation toolbar

3- Select the rotation parameters (Notice the Counter Clockwise directions in this example)

Counter Clockwise rotation

Center to be used

4- Click to select the rotation center

Path animation

Path animation can be used to make an object follow a predefined path. Following are the steps
for creating a path animation:

1- Create the Path (Open or Closed).

2- Select the object to be animated.
3- Click the path animation tool button in the animation toolbar.
4- Select the path by picking on any of its points.
5- Adjust the location and orientation of the animated object at the beginning of the path.

Creating animation path

Animation path can be created using the top level menu Create -> Path, and selecting the path
type open or closed.

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Each time the user clicks on an existing geometry a new point is added to the path, the point
records both the location and the normal of the picked location. After adding all the points for
the animation path the user clicks the correct mark to add the path, clicking on the X mark will
cancel the operation.

The path maintains all the data it needs, so the user can delete any geometry used in its
construction.

Path can be edited by clicking on the select tool button (or ESC shortcut) and selecting one of its
points. The dragger will allow the user to change the location and the normal direction of the
selected point. The user can end the edit operation by selecting another object or clicking the
select tool button, or ESC shortcut.

Path animation example

Creating the path is the first step in creating a path animation. In this example we create an
open path by clicking Create -> Path -> Open Path and selecting the path points, then clicking
the correct mark.

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Next we select the object to be animated and we click on the Path Animation tool button in the
Animation toolbar, when clicking on the Path Animation, the Path Animation dialog appears.

Path Animation dialog allows the user to select the duration of the path animation, and the
constant speed duration.

In this example the begin frame is set to 0 and the end frame is set to 100 which means the
path animation will be active between frames 0 and 100. Constant speed duration is set to be
from 10 to 90, which means the object will start at 0 speed, and accelerate until frame 10; it will
run at a constant speed until frame 90, then in will decelerate until it stops at frame 100.

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To get constant speed during the full motion time, the constant speed duration should be the
full range of the animation.

After setting the path animation dialog parameters, the user should click on Pick Path, and
select the path by clicking on one of its points.

The user should set the initial alignment of the animated object with the used path. A white
arrow showing the path direction at the first point is shown to help aligning the object. When
the alignment is completed the user should click the correct button.

Note: To improve the quality of the path animation, the user should select equal distances
between points when creating the path.

Key Frame object movement animation

Key frames will be automatically added when the object is moved (translated, rotated or
scaled), at any frame other than frame 0. Moving an object at a frame other than frame 0 will
check if it has a reference key frame at frame 0, if not a reference frame will be automatically
created.

The following example shows the steps for creating a key frame based animation:

The process starts by setting the key frame to any value other than 0. This can be done using
the Time Line, which appears by clicking on the time line tool button in the animation toolbar,
and entering a value in current frame spin box. Another way to do that is by dragging the Time
Line slide bar to a frame.

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Moving the objects will automatically add the needed key frames. SimLab Composer will
manage the transition from the initial key frame created at frame 0 and the current key frame.

SimLab Composer draws a red line when the current frame is set to any value other than 0, to
inform the user that moving objects will automatically create key frames.

The current frame number is indicated in the left spin box in the animation Time Line. The user
can use the + shortcut to move to the next frame, and the - shortcut to move to the
previous one. Using Page Up moves the current frame 10 frames forward, while Page Down
moves it 10 frames backward.

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Playing animation

The user can play animation by clicking the Play Animation tool button (Shortcut Space Bar) in
the Animation Controls tool bar. The tool bar also includes the tool buttons Go to First Frame
(Shortcut Home) and Go to Last Frame (Shortcut End).

Playing the animation replaces the play button with a pause button, which enables the user to
pause the animation.

The Animation Controls toolbar is duplicated in the time line for convenience.

Camera animation

Camera animation enables the user to create walkthroughs for buildings and large scenes, to
show different parts of a machine, and to keep the eye of the viewer on the important part of
the scene.

Camera animation example

To create a camera animation first the user needs to import the model and to set the initial
view to frame 0

To create a camera key frame at frame 0, the user should click on the Capture Camera Key
Frame tool button in the animation toolbar. This will automatically create a new camera; attach
it to the current view, and save the camera key frame at frame 0.

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By clicking Create Camera key

frame, a new camera is created and
attached to the current view

ached to the current view

Next, the current frame should be changed to the frame at which the user wants to save the
next camera key frame. Then select the view and click capture camera key frame.

Playing the animation will show the camera moving between the two saved key frames. The
user can add more camera key frames to complete the animation.

Creating camera animation

For creating camera animation the user can pick one of the following methods:

1- Capturing camera key frames (as described in the previous example).

2- Applying object movement methods on the camera (the camera is an object in SimLab
Composer and it can be moved as any other object).
3- Using any of the predefined camera animation function buttons.

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The animation toolbar includes two predefined Camera animation function buttons to enable
the user to create automatic camera animations. Those two buttons are:

Round Table Camera: round table camera tool button creates an animation that rotates
the camera 360 degrees around the global Z axis. By default this animation starts at frame 0
and ends at the last frame of the animation.

Helical Camera: similar to round table camera, this button creates an animation that
rotates the camera 360 degrees around the global Z axis. It also adds translation from the
current elevation of the camera to the ground (Z = 0). This type of animation can be used to
show high buildings.

Spherical Animation: is a special purpose animation, that facilitates the creation of

multiple images showing the model. Images generated using spherical animation enables the
creation of an interactive presentation, where the user has the feeling of navigating the model
by switching between those images.

Generating images from spherical animation can be done by one of the following methods:

1- Rendering animation
2- Using capture video from view, which is available under the animation menu

Spherical animation supports the following types of camera animation:

1- Round table
2- Hemispherical (useful for objects that the user can not view under, like architectural
models)
3- Spherical

The user can determine the start offset, which is the first frame used by the generated spherical
animation.

For round table spherical animation, the user can select the number of images to represent a
full camera rotation around the object by settings the number of columns.

In case of hemispherical and spherical animations, the user can set the number of columns and
rows.
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For a spherical animation, the user can select to add more images to enable full 360 view of the
object by checking the vertical wrap check box.

Checking Fit time line to animation updates the end frame of the animation to make it match
the number of frames needed by the spherical animation.

Selecting rendering camera

In SimLab Composer the user can create multiple cameras; each camera may have its
animation. To view the animation of a camera, the user can drop the camera from the object
tree on a view. Playing the animation will show the animation of the camera in the view.
Disconnecting a camera from a view can be done by clicking on the view and clicking Window
-> Disconnect Camera

The user can select the camera source to be used for rendering from the Render Settings dialog.
All available cameras will be listed for the user. The default option is Active View, which makes
the rendering automatically use the same camera used by the active view.

Director Camera

Director gives the user the ability to create an animation that combines views from multiple
cameras. Director camera functionality is accessible by clicking the Director Record button in
the Animation Controls toolbar. Clicking the Director Record tool button will create a new
camera named director camera and will start recording its contents from the existing cameras
in the scene.

Director Camera Example

In this example the user shows four views in SimLab Composer (this can be done by clicking
Windows -> 4 Views). A camera with animation is attached to each one of those views.

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To create a director camera the user should first select the view to start recording the director
camera from, and then on the director camera tool button.

Animation will be played, and the director camera will be recording the camera in the active
view. The user can click on another view to make it the active one, which makes the director
camera records its view.

The user can switch between the views as many times as needed. At the end of the process the
user will get a new camera named director camera in the Object Tree; the user can drop the
director camera on one of the views and play animation to see its content.

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Material Animation

Material animation can be used to show different material combinations of a product, to show
effects like turning a light on, or to add a visual effect to the animation.

Material Animation Example

After importing the press model, blue metal material was assigned to the body of the press, by
dropping it from the material library at frame 0.

The current frame is changed to the last frame (by clicking End) and the material properties
were updated (color is set to Red, and roughness is changed to 0.6)

Playing the animation will show the material transitioning its properties from what was set at
frame 0 and what was set at the last frame. The following image shows the model at frame 50.

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Material Animation Notes

Best automatic material transition results are achieved when changing material properties of
the same material type; as shown in the previous example, where properties were changed, for
the same material type (Metal).

During material animation the user can change the material type. In this case it is advised to
manage the material type transition. For example if the user is using metal material at frame 0
and plastic material at frame 100, the user should play the animation, to see if the material
transition is consistent with the expectations. The user can manage the material transition by
adding metal material at frame 50 and plastic material at frame 51, and by setting the material
properties in a way to insures smooth transition.

For making parts disappear during animation, the user should use a material that has alpha like
advanced or general materials; the value of alpha can be animated to reach 0, which makes the
parts disappear.

Light Animation

Similar to cameras, lights in SimLab Composer are objects, which mean object movement
animation can be applied on lights to move them and change their directions.

In addition to moving lights, the user can change their properties at different key frames, which
will create an animation showing properties transitions.

In the following example, power, color and direction of a directional light were modified to
create 3 key frames. This simulates the sun light changes.

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Time Line

Time Line provides the user with a tool to visualize and edit animation key frames. To get the
detailed view of the time line, the user needs to click Show Time Line in the animation toolbar
and then to click on the Show details button in the top right part of the time line.

In this example the last key frame was set to 200, the top part of the loader rotates between
frames 0 and 100 as shown in the following images. Round table camera animation was applied
to the loader.

The animation details appear in the time line.

The current frame is marked in the time line by a red line. The names of the animated objects
appear in the left part of the time line, clicking on the name of any object automatically selects
it in the 3D area.

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Clicking on an animation key frame in the time line shows its properties, for example clicking on
the round table camera animation (the green line) shows the following properties.

The user can change those properties, start and end frames of the round table can be changed
for example to be 50 and 150, the rotation angle can be changed to be 180 to make the camera
do half a round.

The user also can change the frames of the key frame by dragging it in the time line, for
example to make the camera round table start at frame 30, all what the user needs to do is to
drag the camera round table key frame, and to move it to frame 30.

Time Line supports copying key frames, for example to make the Loader go back to its initial
position the user should select the top level key frame (at frame 0), and then select create copy
from the edit menu .

The new copied key frame will be shown in yellow on top of the copied frame; the user can
drag the copied key frame and drop it in its new location (at frame 200).

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The user can drag a selection box to copy multiple key frames.

The user can delete all the key frames by clicking the Delete All Animations tool button in the
time line.

Advanced Capabilities
SimLab Composer was designed from the ground up to be easy to use, so the user can be
productive in few minutes of using the application. At the same time SimLab Composer includes
some capabilities tailored for advanced users. Advanced capabilities in SimLab Composer
enable the user to use it as a unique pre-rendering application, and to have fine grained control
over generated 3D PDF files. This section of the manual presents the advanced capabilities
available in SimLab Composer.

Material Management
When importing a 3D model in SimLab Composer, SimLab Composer maintains the material
structure of the imported model. It retains the information that a group of objects is using the
same material in the original model.

Dropping a material from the material library in the 3D area on any

object in the group will change the material properties. This means
the appearance of all objects using the same material will be updated.

The user can also change the material properties by selecting a

material from the scene materials window, and changing its
properties in the properties window.

Material management gives the user the ability to make changes to the material usage in the
scene, so multiple objects using the same material can be separated, and objects using different
materials can be combined to use the same material to make material assignment easier for the
user.

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Scene Materials window is opened by clicking Manage Scene

Materials under the Materials menu (Shortcut Ctrl + M). Scene
Materials window provides the user with the following
capabilities:

Create Material: Creates a new default material and adds it to the

Scene Materials window.

Delete Material: Deletes the selected material. In case the

material is used by objects in the scene, a dialog will appear asking
the user to select a replacement material before the deletion.

Delete Unused Materials: Deletes all materials not referenced by

object in the scene.

Select Objects Using Material: Selects all objects using the selected
material.

Apply Material To Selected Objects: Makes all selected objects use

the selected material.

Merge Identical Materials: in some cases different geometry

within the model will be using the same material. Different copies of that material will appear
in the Scene Materials window. This function cleans the materials window from unnecessary
duplicates.

Change View: this display option is available for the user to change the way the materials are
displayed. They can be displayed in Large, or Small icons, or can be shown as a list.

Sort By Name\Sort By Attributes: these are two sorting methods for the Scene Materials.

Default Retain Library: is the material library the user is going to use for retaining previously
applied materials.

Retain Materials From Library: after specifying the material library to use for retaining
materials, this function button will do the job. It will reapply materials to different geometry
based on previously assigned material names.

Save Materials as a new library: Creates a new material library, and saves the materials
currently included in the scene in it.

Retain Materials
Retain materials is the process of automatically reapplying material properties based on
material names. Retaining material process can save designers a significant amount of time in
assigning materials. The following example describes a sample workflow for retaining materials:

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1- The user starts with importing the first version of the CAD model to SimLab Composer.

2- The user assigns materials by dragging them from the material library on to the 3D
model.

3- The user creates a material library based on the material assignments preformed; this is
done by clicking Save Materials as a new library in the Scene Materials window. The user
is asked to name the new material library.

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4- Later, the user might import an updated version of the model to SimLab Composer. The
model will be imported with its original materials.

5- To retain the materials the user applied last time, selects the material library to be used
and clicks Retain Materials from Library.

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Create copy and make instance

SimLab Composer supports the creation of multiple duplicates of an object. This can be done
either by creating a copy, or an instance of that object. Both functions are found under the Edit
menu, and both create a second duplicate of the object.

Create a Copy creates a copy of the selected object, together with a copy of all the materials
and transforms it uses. Each of the two copies will have its own materials, and transformations.
Thus changes to the materials properties of one can be done without affecting the properties
of the other. Different transformations can be applied to each without affecting the other, as
well.

Create an Instance creates an instance of the selected object, with the same materials
structure and transforms as the original object. Thus changing the materials properties will be
applied to both objects. Also transformations applied to either one of the instances will be
applied to the other.

Managing the Object tree

When importing a 3D model in SimLab Composer, Composer tries to rebuild the full assembly
tree of the imported model, having access to the Object tree gives a clear description of the
model and its hierarchy. In addition to selecting the level to work on, SimLab Composer has
additional uses of the Object tree, which include:

1- Exporting the tree to the 3D PDF file. When opening a 3D PDF file and clicking on Model Tree,
the user sees the same tree in composer, changes made to the object tree are reflected in the
generated 3D PDF.

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Showing the model tree for a 3D PDF file

2- The object tree enhances the usability of moving different parts in the model, This can be
shown easily be looking at the following SketchUp tank model, having access to the object tree
makes rotating the gun part a very easy task, this feature makes creating multiple none
identical copies of the model an easy task.

Using the Object tree to move parts in the scene

3- Object tree can be used to restructure material assignment, as described in the section
managing scene material

The user of SimLab Composer has the ability to restructure the object tree using the following
functions:

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Changing parent of objects in the Object tree

Create assembly: to use this tool the user selects a list of existing objects and clicks the tool
button create assembly, a new assembly that becomes the parent of all selected objects is
created. For example, the user selects the objects wheel 1, wheel 2, wheel 3 and wheel 4 and
clicks create assembly to create the parent assembly Wheels

Restructuring mode: when the user clicks the toggle button, the restructuring mode is started.
In this mode the user can restructure the tree by dragging an object or a number of objects and
dropping them on a new parent

Change parent: to use this tool the user selects an object or a number of objects and clicks on
the change parent, he is then asked to select a new parent for the selected objects.

Break Geometry

The smallest presentation of geometry in SimLab Composer is a 3D Geom. A 3D Geom is a

geometry that has one transform and one material applied to it. So all contents of a 3D Geom
must be moved together and must have the same material. Some model formats do not
support saving Object tree structure, when importing 3D models using those formats, a 3D
Geom can contain many none connected parts. Using the Break geometry tool enables the user
to break a 3D Geom that contains none connected parts to multiple 3D Geoms. Each one of the
new 3D Geoms can be moved separately and can be assigned a unique material.

Break geometry functionality can be used by selecting an object from the tree and clicking on
Tools -> Break Geometry.

Break Faces
Break faces tool (available from Tools -> Break faces) breaks the selected 3D object to its faces.
Each face will be converted to a 3D Geom, this means unique material can be assigned for each
face.

The following image shows an imported geometry where the top part is imported as a single 3D
Object.

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Breaking the 3D object using the break faces generates multiple 3D objects, which enables the
user to assign different material to each face as shown in the following image.

Converting Models
Convert Models is a standalone tool which enables the user to convert a number of 3D files
from one format to another. After starting the Model convert tool, under the SimLab directory,
the user clicks Add Files to List and selects the input files to be converted. Then he specifies the
output file formats, as well as the output directory. Clicking Start Convert will execute
converting the files one by one. Converting models using Model convert requires less memory
and executes faster than importing models to SimLab Composer as it does not create the
structures needed to show the geometry.

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Hotkeys

Short Cut
Function
Create New Scene [Ctrl] + [N]
Open Scene [Ctrl] + [O]
Save Scene [Ctrl] + [S]
Pack The Scene [Ctrl] + [P]
Import Geometry [Ctrl] + [I]
Export [Ctrl] + [E]
Exit [Ctrl] + [Q]
Undo [Ctrl] + [Z]
Redo [Ctrl] + [Y]
Make Instance [Ctrl] + [T]
Create Copy [Ctrl] + [C]
Precise Transform [Ctrl] + [R]
Generate Texture Coordinates [Ctrl] + [G]
Manage Materials [Ctrl] + [M]
Show Material Libraries [Ctrl] + [B]
Show Time Line [Ctrl] + [L]
Capture Camera Key Frame [Ctrl] + [K]
About [Ctrl] + [A]
Capture Scene State [Ctrl] + [D]
Manage Scene States [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [D]
View Object Library [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [O]
View Geometrical Info [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [I]
Help F1
Render Preview F4
Render F5
Render Settings F6
3D PDF Settings F9
Select (Main ToolBar Button) Esc
Move 2D (Main ToolBar Button) 1
Move 3D (Main ToolBar Button) 2
Uniform Scale (Main ToolBar Button) 3
Edit Pivot (Main ToolBar Button) 4
Snap To Ground (Main ToolBar Button) G
Snap To Object (Main ToolBar Button) N
Hide (Main ToolBar Button) H
Show (Main ToolBar Button) S
Freeze (Main ToolBar Button) F
Unfreeze (Main ToolBar Button) U
Delete Del
Top View [Ctrl] + 1
Bottom View [Ctrl] + 2
Front View [Ctrl] + 3

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Back View [Ctrl] + 4

Right View [Ctrl] + 5
Left View [Ctrl] + 6
Default View [Ctrl] + 7
Set Camera Target Vertex C
Set Camera Target Into Selected Geometry V
Center
Fit All [Ctrl] + [F]
Zoom To Object [Ctrl] + [J]
Go To First Frame Home
Play Animation Space Bar
Go To Last Frame End
Move to Next Frame +
Move to Previous Frame -
Move 10 Frames Forward Page Up
Move 10 Frames Backward Page Down
Rubber Band Selection Alt
Append To Current Selection Alt + Ctrl
Remove From Current Selection Alt + Shift

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