HDR Environment images in PhotoView 360

PhotoView 360 uses HDR Environment images to create photorealistic renders. This video explains what these images are, and why they are the default method for lighting scenes in PhotView 360.

These HDR Environment images can be broken down into two components:

• The Environment, which is a 360degree panorama of a scene, which is reflected by the model you are rendering.

• The High Dynamic Range (HDR) image format, which captures more information per pixel than a standard image file, which provides PhotoView 360 with accurate lighting information for the scene

The panorama can be stitched together from a number of ordinary photographs, and the HDR image can be created by combining multiple exposures of the same image – both techniques can be done in image editing software such as Adobe Photoshop.

You can find all of the default PhotoView 360 HDR Environment images and backgrounds under [Program Files]\SolidWorks Corp\SolidWorks\data\Images\textures\background, where [Program Files] is your default Windows Program Files directory.

While the Basic scenes provide a range of generic photo studio environment images that create clean-looking renders, if you want to create interesting reflections, or an “in-context” shot of your product sitting in front of a realistic scene, you should consider using a custom Environment image that matches the model – e.g. a model of a car should use a road or car park scene, not a kitchen scene.

There are a huge number of resources on the internet for HDR Environment images that cover as many different scenes as you can imagine, most of which you can use in PhotoView 360:

Free HDR resources (not all products listed may be free):

• http://www.openfootage.net/
• http://www.hdrlabs.com/sibl/archive.html

HDR resources that you must buy to use:

• http://www.doschdesign.com/products/hdri
• http://www.3sixo.net/3sixo_categories.php
• http://www.aversis.be/hdri/
• http://www.lightworks-user.com/hdri_starter_collection.htm
• http://www.sachform.de/

HDR Light Studio is a program for generating custom HDR images of photographic studio set ups:

• http://www.hdrlightstudio.com/index.html

You can find many more HDR Environment image resources, plus detailed instructions for creating your own, simply by searching online.

Once you have your custom HDR Environment image downloaded, you can load it in PhotoView 360 through Display Manager tab >> RMB Scene >> Edit Scene >> Environment >> Browse... to the image location. Then rotate it to suit the model, adjust the floor options, alter the brightness and if you add any SolidWorks lights, you can save the whole shebang as a custom scene file for later use under the Advanced tab in Edit Scene.

Happy rendering!

How to change the SolidWorks splash screen and program background

WARNING!! Warranty void if seal is broken, etc. etc. If you decide to muck around with your SolidWorks system files, be prepared to reinstall if everything goes pear-shaped!

Do not proceed if you are uncomfortable with the steps outlined below.

Most Windows-based programs use images for icons, cursors and backgrounds. These image resources are stored in DLL, EXE and OCX files. To access and modify these files you need a resource editor.

1. Download and install Anolis Resourcer
   
2. Backup any DLL files you intend to change by Copy+pasting them
3. Open the DLL in Resourcer
4. Open the PNG folder in the DLL
5. Select the image you wish to change
6. Action >> Replace resource >> browse to the PNG file to replace it with >> OK
7. Save the DLL
8. Fire up SolidWorks!

The two DLL’s you will want to modify are:

• C:\Program Files\SolidWorks Corp\SolidWorks\
  • SwStyleBlueu.dll – contains the background image when you start SolidWorks
    • Background is PNG_BACKGROUND
    • SolidWorks logo that goes over the background is PNG_SWLOGO
  • \lang\english\sldresu.dll – contains the splash screen

• SWX version type is resource 1635 – 5621
• Cool product shot is resource 10025 - 10033

If you’re wondering how I worked this out, you can batch export every image from every DLL in a directory in Resourcer >> Tools >> Batch export. Then I sorted the images by size to find the biggest images, which turned out to be the splash screen, etc. The name of the exported file references the location of the image inside the DLL.

If you want to have transparency in the image, make sure you save the image as a PNG so that you can keep the Alpha channel (describes how transparent each pixel in an image is) so that it blends nicely over everything else.

And yes, it would be possible to completely “re-skin” all of the menu items, toolbars, etc. but I’ll leave that up to you :)