newbie with some newbie questions

[gibby]

Hello,

I'm brand new to XSI v6.02 so I'm going to be asking a lot of stupid question at first. I do my research first, of course, so if I post a question, chances are it's not covered in the tutorials (or I missed it). I appreciate your patients.

My first stupid questions are:

1) In the video tutorials, I've seen how the user can zoom in or out, and orbit the scene, but I missed how to do that. How is this done?

2) The trial version I got came with a bunch of .emdl files. They open but they don't seem to have any content. They're supposed to contain finished projects. I wanted to test rendering with a few of them, but since there's nothing in them, I can't. Is there something to .emdl files that I should know about?

[SebasProulx]

If you used the default options, use the "S" key with the right, middle or left button of your mouse. Or , like some old school users like me, use "O", "P", "Z".

If you choosed the other option ( the firts time you opened xsi) , use the "alt" key instead of "S"

This option can be changed in : file - interaction model

Have fun!

[gibby]

Thanks a lot, SebasProulx

Would you know anything about my second question?

[SebasProulx]

These files usualy work. Did you do : File - import model?

[gibby]

Ah, import - that worked. Thanks again, SebasProulx.

I imported a model of a factory and after rendering, it looked like this:

http://www.shahspace.com/factory.jpg

I'm assuming those colors aren't the original textures that the model was supposed to have. Is this what rendering looks like in XSI when textures are missing? I'm also assuming that textures and materials aren't imbedded in the files - that is, they're referenced instead. Would this make sense?

I hope you don't mind the additional questions. As I said, I'm new and have a lot to learn, so I think I'll use this thread to ask some more questions on rendering. Would you mind?

[Helli]

hey there

to answer your questions:
yes
yes
no textures are referenced, materials are imbedded.

[SebasProulx]

I don't know a lot about texturing and rendering but I'm sure you'll find someone to answer all of your questions.

[gibby]

Thanks for the answers Helli.

SebasProulx - no prob.

Maybe someone can answer these question for me:

1) The render engine always seems to want to render 100 frames. I'm not doing animation, so 1 frame is sufficient. Is there a way of limiting it to 1?

2) How do I increase the resolution of the final rendered product?

Thanks again for your answers

[norvman]

1) The render engine always seems to want to render 100 frames. I'm not doing animation, so 1 frame is sufficient. Is there a way of limiting it to 1?

a quick way to do this ...

Left Click on the word "Model" in the upper left hand command panel... pick Render...

the left comand panel now turns to the Render opitions...

go down to Render... then hit preview button... that will render the current frame you are on... (only one frame) you can then save that render....



To set Render resolution...

in the Render command menu....
goto.... Render > Render > Render Manager > Globals Tab...
(you can set number of frames to render here too...)
Scene Output Resolution...
set to Custom format or choose an output format...

also hit... F1 for help ....
type in " Output formats"
"Render > Preview"
"rendering"

hope that helps

[gibby]

Thanks a lot, norvman. That helped.

[dwigfor]

Gibby, I thought I'd add that you can also do a render region (q and drag to create region), then right click on the border of the region and pick save as.