Understanding Rendering Tools in BricsCAD
Quick answer: Rendering tools are available on the Rendering toolbar, in the View > Rendering menu, on the View and Visualize ribbon tabs, and in the General tab of the No Selection Quad.
The Rendering Tools
| Tool | Command | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Render | RENDER |
Photorealistic rendering using materials and lights |
| Hide | HIDE |
Hidden line view. If the previous shade mode was 2D Wireframe, the wireframe restores on zoom or pan; otherwise, the hidden line view stays until you choose a different shade mode |
| Shade | SHADE |
Shades entities between polygon faces, with curved surfaces segmented |
| 2D Wireframe | SHADEMODE + 2 |
Wireframe representation |
| 3D Wireframe | SHADEMODE + 3 |
Wireframe representation |
| Hidden | SHADEMODE + H |
Hidden line view |
| Flat | SHADEMODE + F |
Shades between polygon faces, curved surfaces segmented |
| Gouraud | SHADEMODE + G |
Shades between polygon faces, with smoother, more realistic curved surfaces |
| Flat + Edges | SHADEMODE + L |
Combines flat shading with wireframe lines and curves |
| Gouraud + Edges | SHADEMODE + O |
Combines Gouraud shading with wireframe lines and curves |
| Materials | MATERIALS |
Opens the Drawing Explorer’s Materials section |
| Material Map | MATERIALMAP |
Adjusts how a texture image maps onto a 3D solid’s faces, or filled entities like 3D faces, wide polylines, and polygon meshes |
| Light List | LIGHTLIST |
Opens the Drawing Explorer’s Lights section |
| Sun Properties | SUNPROPERTIES |
Also opens the Drawing Explorer’s Lights section |
| Geographic Location | GEOGRAPHICLOCATION |
Opens the Geographic Location dialog |
| Animation Path | ANIPATH |
Records a camera moving along a path or panning in a 3D model, saving it to a movie file |
| Animation Editor | ANIMATIONEDITOROPEN |
Opens the Animation Editor panel |
For Hide and Hidden specifically, DISPSILH controls whether curved surfaces display as silhouette lines instead of a full polygon mesh when on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Hide command’s hidden line view stay after I zoom or pan? Depends on the previous shade mode: if it was 2D Wireframe, wireframe restores on zoom or pan; otherwise the hidden line view stays until you choose a different mode.
What’s the difference between Light List and Sun Properties? Both open the same Drawing Explorer Lights section, just via different named tools.
How do curved surfaces look different with DISPSILH on versus off? On, they display as silhouette lines; off, they display as a full polygon mesh.
What’s the difference between Flat and Gouraud shading? Flat segments curved surfaces more visibly, while Gouraud produces smoother, more realistic curves between polygon faces.