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Rendering
Adjust the materials and environment of objects in the scene to create a photorealistic image.
Editors
Configure materials, the environment, lights, labels, the camera position, and the rendering settings.
Add Lights
Add, reposition, and edit lights for the scene.

Welcome
What's New
Discover new features and enhancements.
Get Started
New to Inspire? Learn the basics here.
Tutorials
Start using Inspire with our interactive tutorials.
Parametric Modeling
Create parametric sketches, geometry, and PolyNURBS with construction history and variables.
Implicit Modeling
Create implicit models with primitives, lattices, point clouds, fields, offsetting, Booleans, inverting, smoothing, morphing, and filleting.
Structures
Set up your model and run a structural analysis or optimization.
Motion
Set up and run a motion analysis, plot the results, and export the results.
Fluids
Prepare and run a computational fluid dynamics simulation.
Design Explorer
Evaluate designs by using geometric variables and applying a design-of-experiments (DOE) or optimization method. We recommend fully constraining your sketch when sketch variables are used in the design exploration.
Manufacture
Set up and run a basic porosity or thinning analysis.
Print 3D
Prepare and run an additive manufacturing simulation, and export a file for 3D printing.
Rendering
Adjust the materials and environment of objects in the scene to create a photorealistic image.
- Rendering Process Overview
  An overview of the typical rendering process.
- System Requirements
  A list of supported operating systems and minimum requirements for hardware and memory.
- Manage Rendering Assets
  The Assets folder includes a default set of images, textures, materials, models, and environments that are used for rendering. Custom user-created materials and environments are also saved in the Assets folder, in the User subfolder. You can install the full Altair and continue to install updates when the online library is updated.
- Interactive Rendering
  Interactive rendering modes are display modes that render your scene in real time, so you can interactively apply materials, modify the environment, and change the camera position.
- Editors
  Configure materials, the environment, lights, labels, the camera position, and the rendering settings.
  - Create a Material
    Create, modify, apply, save, and organize materials.
  - Modify the Environment
    Modify the background, lighting, and shadows. A default global environment is included in Inspire to place your model in a 3D context for rendering, but you can also customize the background image. Customize the illumination, reflection, and background.
  - Add Lights
    Add, reposition, and edit lights for the scene.
  - Apply, Edit, and Position Labels
    A label is a special type of texture that allows you to layer an image over an existing material. It is useful for applying logos or bar codes to objects in your scene.
  - Edit the Camera
    By customizing the camera's position, angle, rendering image resolution, and rendering image quality, you can view and render your models from multiple perspectives and create a more distinctive scene.
  - Define the Quality Render Settings
    Define the Quality Render settings including denoiser, tracing depth, and maximum samples.
- Libraries
  The Render Library contains preset and saved custom materials, environments, and models.
- Render
  Create a final rendered image. Learn how to adjust the rendering settings and change rendering engines.
Inspire Python API
Learn how to access the Inspire Python API including online help, quick start demos, and the Extension Manager.
Reference
View the glossary, frequently asked questions, and errors and alerts.
Keyboard Shortcuts and Mouse Controls
Learn keyboard shortcuts and mouse controls for common operations.

Add Lights

Add, reposition, and edit lights for the scene.

On the Rendering tab, select the Editors tool.

Tip: To find and open a tool, press Ctrl+F. For more information, see Find and Search for Tools.

The Render Editor appears.
Select the Environment Lights tab.
To add a light, click Add Environment Light.
The light is added to the list.

To edit the Light Properties:

Select the desired light from the list or in the illustration.

In the illustration, the selected light is outlined in red.


To	Do this (Render Editor)	Do this (Modeling Window)
Turn lights on or off	Under Light Properties, enable the On switch. Disable the switch to turn the light off. Lights that are on are highlighted yellow in the illustration. Lights that are off are gray.	In the Render Editor, turn on Environment sphere. In the modeling window, select a light. In the microdialog, enable or disable the On switch.
Change the color of a light	Under Light Properties, do one of the following: Next to Color, select preview image. By default, it is a white box. Next to Color, select , then click Select a Color. Define the color of the light, then click OK.	In the Render Editor, turn on Environment sphere. In the modeling window, a sphere appears with light bulbs, indicating lights and their positions within the environment dome. Selected lights are outlined in yellow. Click a light. In the microdialog, next to Color, select , then click Select a Color. Define the color of the light, then click OK.
Reposition a light	In the illustration, drag a yellow circle, which represents a light in the scene.	In the Render Editor, turn on Environment sphere. In the modeling window, a sphere appears with light bulbs, indicating lights and their positions within the environment dome. Selected lights are outlined in yellow. Drag a light. Note: To reposition multiple lights simultaneously, hold down Ctrl while dragging the lights.
Change the intensity	Enter the Intensity.	In the Render Editor, turn on Environment sphere. In the modeling window, a sphere appears with light bulbs, indicating lights and their positions within the environment dome. Selected lights are outlined in yellow. Click a light. In the microdialog, enter the Intensity.
Change the physical size of the light	Enter the Size.	In the Render Editor, turn on Environment sphere. In the modeling window, a sphere appears with light bulbs, indicating lights and their positions within the environment dome. Selected lights are outlined in yellow. Click a light. Enter the Size.
Position the light's target	Position Target is only when using the Environment sphere microdialog.	In the Render Editor, turn on Environment sphere. In the modeling window, a sphere appears with light bulbs, indicating lights and their positions within the environment dome. Selected lights are outlined in yellow. Click a light. Click Position Target. Click the area you'd like illuminated.
Position the light's reflection	Position Reflections is only when using the Environment sphere microdialog.	In the Render Editor, turn on Environment sphere. In the modeling window, a sphere appears with light bulbs, indicating lights and their positions within the environment dome. Selected lights are outlined in yellow. Click a light. Click Position Reflections . Click the area where you'd like the light to be reflected.
Adjust the transparency of the environment dome	In the Render Editor, turn on Environment sphere. Define the Transparency.	Transparency can only be adjusted using the Render Editor.
Automatically fit the lights to the scene	In the Render Editor, turn on Environment sphere. Click Fit.	The Fit option is only available in the Render Editor.
Remove a light	Select a light from the list or in the illustration Click Remove Selected Lights.	Remove Selected Lights is only available in the Render Editor.

To save the environment and lighting parameters to use as a preset later, click Save Environment and Lighting.
The Save Environment and Lighting window appears.