Page 282 - Enhancing CAD Drawings with Photoshop

4386.book Page 266 Monday, November 15, 2004 3:27 PM

266 CHAPTER 8 ILLUSTRATING ARCHITECTURE

Figure 8.10
The ObjectIDAssigner
MAXScript window

7. To verify that objects have unique ObjectIDs, choose an object at random and check its prop-
erties: Click the roof object in the viewport. Right-click and choose Properties. Verify that the
object has a nonzero Object Channel number. Click Cancel.
8. Now use the second MAXScript to render the special image channels discussed earlier: Click
the Open Script button in the MAXScript rollout and select the file ChannelRenderer0.3.ms
from the companion CD. Figure 8.11 shows the MAXScript window. Even if you don’t under-
stand the language, scan the code to get a sense of what this script is doing; you will probably
understand more than you might suppose. Choose File Evaluate All from the MAXScript
window. Then close the window.

ChannelRenderer saves the ObjectID, Normal, and Zdepth image channels as Portable Net-
work Graphics files (called ping, or .png, files) when it is applied as a render effect.
9. Choose Rendering Effects. Click the Add button, select ChannelRenderer from the list, and
click OK.

10. Click the Get Path button (see Figure 8.12) in the Channel Renderer rollout at the bottom of the
Environment And Effects dialog box. Select the project folder on your hard drive where you’d
like to save the three .png images.
11. Click the Render button in the Render Scene dialog box and wait until the rendering is com-
plete. Close all the open dialog boxes. Close VIZ without saving the file.