Overview
Upon loading the 3Delight for Maya plugin, a 3Delight Menu and Shelf will be installed.
The 3Delight Menu
The Shelf contains buttons to access most of 3Delight for Maya functionalities through a single mouse click. There are three groups of buttons on the shelf: one group for rendering, another group for creating nodes and the last group to bring up windows or dialogs (all related to 3Delight for Maya only).
The 3Delight Shelf
Description of Shelf Buttons and related Menu items
Rendering | |
 Render___________________________ | Selects 3Delight as the current renderer and starts a render using the Render Pass selected in the Render Settings window. Right-clicking on the button instead pops up a menu listing all the Render Passes in the scene; selecting one makes it active in the Render Settings window, selects 3Delight as the current renderer and renders that Render Pass. In the 3Delight Menu, the Render item serves the same function as clicking on the Render shelf button. Whereas the Render with sub-menu list all the Render Passes in the scene; selecting one makes it active in the Render Settings window, selects 3Delight as the current renderer and renders that Render Pass. The Render menu function is bonded to the " |
 Launch IPR Session | Selects 3Delight as the current renderer and begins an Interactive Photorealistic Rendering session using the Render Pass selected in the Render Settings window. Right-clicking on the button instead pops up a menu listing all the Render Passes in the scene. Selecting one will start an IPR session using it. There are no equivalent 3Delight Menu items for this function. |
| Creates a new Render Pass with all available attributes set to their default values. Right-clicking on the button instead, pops up a menu listing all Render Pass Templates; selecting one will create a new Render Pass using that template. In the 3Delight Menu, the Create Render Pass item serves the same function. Whereas the Create Render Pass from Template sub-menu lists all the templates; selecting one will create a Render Pass using that template. In all cases, the new Render Pass node is selected in Maya upon creation and displayed in the Attribute Editor. |
| This button is to select a Render Pass node and have it displayed in the Attribute Editor. It pops up a menu listing all Render Pass in the scene, starting with the active one in the Render Settings window. In the 3Delight Menu, the Select Render Pass sub-menu serves the same function. The Create and Select Render Pass buttons do not make them active in the Render Settings window (and thus will not be the ones rendered using the Render button and menu item). |
| Refer to The Render Pass for a good overview of the concept of Render Pass and Managing Render Passes for more information about creating, selecting and rendering Render Passes. | |
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3Delight Environment | Creates a 3Delight Mask Set in the scene. |
 3Delight Environment | Creates a 3Delight Environment Shape in the scene.
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 Constructive Geometry | Creates a CSG Node in the scene.
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 Coordinate System | Creates a Coordinate System Node in the scene.
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 RIB Archive | Creates a RIB Archive Node in the scene.
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 Clipping Plane | Creates a Clipping Plane Node in the scene.
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| Creates a 3Delight VDB Node in the scene. |
| Right-clicking instead on any of these nodes buttons pops up a menu listing all nodes of the same type, allowing you to select one and display it in the Attribute Editor. | |
3Delight Materials | |
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3Delight Material | Create a 3Delight Material and assign it to the current selection. |
3Delight Glass | Create a 3Delight Glass shader and assign it to the current selection. |
3Delight Skin | Create a 3Delight Skin shader and assign it to the current selection. |
3Delight Hair | Create a 3Delight Hair shader and assign it to the current selection. |
3Delight Windows and Dialogs | |
 Assignment Panel | Brings up the 3Delight Assignement Panel. |
 3Delight Relationship Editor | Brings up the 3Delight Relationship Editor.
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 3Delight Preferences | Brings up the 3Delight Preferences dialog.
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