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This page provides information about the menus of Chaos Vantage.

 

 


Chaos Vantage has menus that give you access to a range of functionalities for managing your scene performance and settings.

 

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 You can use the right mouse button click to reset the parameters numeric values to defaults.

 

 


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Open Scene... – Opens a browse window to load a .vrscene or a .vantage file. (Shortcut: Ctrl+O )

Open Scene as Config Only... – Opens a browse window to load a .vantage configuration file containing information about the scene's render settings, stored cameras, etc.

Reload Scene – Reloads the currently loaded scene. Any changes made to the scene are reverted.

Recent Files – Displays a list of up to 10 recently opened scenes and allows you to load any of them.

Advanced Scene Settings – Opens the Advanced Scene Settings window where you can modify rendering, post-processing and camera settings. See the Advanced Scene Settings section below.

Scene Stats – Displays statistics about the currently loaded scene.

Save Scene – Saves the .vantage configuration file of the scene, containing loaded/merged .vrscenes, scene settings, stored cameras, object properties and parameters, etc. The file is stored in the same directory as the loaded .vrscene file with the same name as the scene. (Shortcut: Ctrl+S )

Save Scene As...Saves the .vantage configuration file of the scene, containing loaded/merged .vrscenes, scene settings, stored cameras, object properties and parameters, etc. You can specify a name and directory for the file.

Save Image... – Saves the current image from the viewport into a specified directory.

Save Image in Scene FolderSaves the current image from the viewport in the same directory as the loaded .vrscene file.

Quit – Closes Chaos Vantage.

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Light cache – Enables light cache.

Filter primary rays – Enables filtering for primary rays.

Cell size (world) – Specifies the size of a single voxel, in scene units.

Sample limit – Specifies the maximum samples per pixel for refining the image.

Retrace thresh. – Specifies the extent to which GI near corners are retraced instead of being read from the light cache. A value of 0.0 disables retracing.


Misc.

Transparent shadows – Enables materials to cast transparent shadows.

AA filter – Enables the use of Anti-aliasing filter.

Total ray bounces – Specifies a limit for reflection and refraction bounces.

 

Area lights

Num samples – Specifies the number samples that area lights cast.

Rect. sampling – Specifies the way rectangle lights are sampled.

Area – It is faster for calculations (faster FPS) but clears the image more slowly.
Reprojection – It is slower for calculation (smaller FPS) but clears the image faster. From the very first sample, you can notice that there is far less noise than when using Area.

MIS mode – Selects the Multiple Importance Sampling mode for the lights.

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Denoising

Spatial filter strength – Specifies the spacial filter strength.

Temporal denoising – Enables denoising of the previous frames. When disabled, the current frame is denoised on its own.

Spacial denoising – Enables spacial denoising.

Spacial iterations – Controls one of the parameters for quality of denoising. Higher values make denoising more stable.

Temporal AAApplies time based anti-aliasing

H./V. overscanScales the image, so that border pixels can be denoised better.

Animated noise pattern – Enables the generation of random numbers (noise) for each frame.

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Motion blur – Enables motion blur.

Exposure time(s) – Specifies the amount of time the camera shutter is opened in sec. Small values produce less blurring while big values produce more blur.

Collisions

Step height ratioAdjusts sensitivity when climbing steps or obstacles. Higher values allow stepping on higher surfaces.

Height toleranceSpecifies the height up to which no collision is detected. For example, if you have small rocks or grass below that value, they are ignored and the camera does not bounce up and down.

GravitySpecifies the acceleration applied on the camera when collision is enabled.

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Undo – Reverses your last action. You can reverse more than one action. (Shortcut: Ctrl+Z )

Redo – Reverses your last Undo. You can reverse more than one action that has been undone. (Shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+Z )

Undo Switch Camera – Reverses your camera transformation. (Shortcut: Alt+Z )

Redo Camera – Reverses your Undo Switch Camera actions. (Shortcut: Alt+Shift+Z )

Preferences – Opens the Preferences window. See the Preferences section below.

Render Devices – Opens the Render Devices window. See the Render Devices section below.

Mouse and Key Shortcuts – Opens the Shortcuts window. Check the Shortcuts page for additional information.

Saves Scene Settings as Default – Saves the current scene settings as default settings for all projects.

Reset Default Scene Settings – Resets the scene settings to their default values.

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Save camera in Vantage file – Saves the last camera position in viewport in a .vantage file. When disabled, saves the render settings in a .vantage file without saving camera changes.

Compact loaded geometry – Enable to save GPU memory by doing an additional post-processing step on loaded geometries.

Save opacity (alpha) in PNG – When enabled, stores the environment in the alpha channel of the .png file.

Load startup scene – Enable to load the test startup scene provided by Chaos Group.

Pause when app loses focus – Pauses rendering when the app loses focus. This applies to interactive rendering only.

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The Pause when app loses focus option will be ignored when in Live Link session

Safe GPU allocation – When enabled Chaos Vantage will try not to use more GPU memory than the available physical memory. This prevents crashes and/or reduces system performance. Disabling this may lead to crashes with heavy scenes.

Dropped scenes

Ask – When a .vrscene is dropped into the viewport, Chaos Vantage asks you whether to open, merge or place the scene.

OpenWhen a .vrscene is dropped into the viewport, Chaos Vantage opens the scene.

MergeWhen a .vrscene is dropped into the viewport, Chaos Vantage merges the scene at origin 0,0,0.

PlaceWhen a .vrscene is dropped into the viewport, Chaos Vantage merges the scene at the position of the red arrow indicator aligned to the normal of the surface.

Merge geometry – When a new .vrscene is dragged and dropped into the viewport, the geometries are merged into the scene.

Merge materialsWhen a new .vrscene is dragged and dropped into the viewport, the materials are merged into the scene.

Merge lightsWhen a new .vrscene is dragged and dropped into the viewport, the lights are merged into the scene.

Merge camerasWhen a new .vrscene is dragged and dropped into the viewport, the cameras are merged into the scene.

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Selection

Outline – Enables outlining of objects in the scene. This means that selected or highlighted objects have a thin line around them with color specified in the Highlight color and Selection color.

HighlightEnables highlighting of objects in the scene. This means that selected or highlighted objects are filled with a semi-transparent color specified in Highlight color and Selection color.

Highlight shadowing – Enables occlusion of the highlighted/selected objects behind other objects in the scene.

Outline inner contours – Outlines objects when multiple overlapping objects are selected.

Highlight during moves – Enables highlighting of objects during transformations.

Highlight color – Specifies a color for the outline when highlighting an object.

Selection color – Specifies a color for the outline for the selected object.

Color opacity – Controls the opacity of Highlight and Selection colors.

Cam transition time – Specifies the time for transition between saved cameras.

Mouse sensitivity – A multiplier for the mouse sensitivity when using dolly, orbit and camera zoom.

Auto-trim recorded camera – Removes repeated frames without movement from both ends of the recording.

Navigation

Roll snap – When using the roll hotkey(Ctrl+MMB drag), if the roll angle falls below this value, the camera snaps back to horizontal position/0 degrees roll.

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Offline

Default width – Specifies a default width for the render in High Quality Snapshot or High Quality Sequence.

Default heightSpecifies a default height for the render in High Quality Snapshot or High Quality Sequence.

Default samplesSpecifies default samples for the render in High Quality Snapshot or High Quality Sequence.

Default FPSSpecifies default FPS for the render in High Quality Sequence.

Denoiser – When enabled, NVIDIA AI denoiser will be applied to the rendered image.

Reduce denoiser flickering – Enables temporal rendering of the OptiX denoiser. Results and details may be blurry when enabled.

Enable Motion Blur – Enables the rendering of motion blur for the rendered image with the settings set in File > Advance Scene Settings > Camera > Exposure time


Interactive Denoiser

Type - Sets the type of the denoiser that will be used in the viewport.

NVIDIA AI – Uses NVIDIA AI denoiser that provides superior final quality when many render samples are accumulated over time.
Vantage – Uses the native Vantage denoiser that produces sharp initial image, but some artifacts remain even when more render samples are accumulated.
Combined –Uses the Vantage denoiser initially and then after specified samples in the Switch after parameter switches to NVIDIA OptiX denoiser.

Switch after – Specifies the amount of render samples that need to be accumulated before switching to the NVIDIA OptiX denoiser when the denoiser type is set to Combined.


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 NVIDIA OptiX denoiser requires NVIDIA display driver 466.11 and newer.

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 Combined denoiser type uses more memory.


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Window always on top – When enabled, the app window will be forced to be drawn on top other windows even when it is not in focus.

Show side panels on hover – When enabled, if the side panels are hidden they show up when the mouse is hovered over them. Otherwise, a click is required.

Display controls for all lights – When enabled, each light is listed in the Lights tab individually. When disabled, lights are grouped in the Lights tab and those with identical parameters are instances.

Enlarge font – When enabled, enlarges the UI font for better readability.

Popup dialogs for advanced camera properties – When enabled, the advanced camera properties are displayed in a separate popup window.

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In the Feedback Program tab the participation for customer feedback settings for Chaos Vantage can be changed.

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Select automatically – Selects the render device(s) based on their compute power automatically.

Change device order — Moves the selected device up or down in the list when Select automatically is disabled. The first devices has some additional load than the secondary.

List of available devices - Specifies which render device(s) will be used for rendering when Select automatically is disabled.

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Select Parent – Selects the parent of the currently selected object. (Shortcut: Ctrl+Up )

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Fullscreen – Maximizes Chaos Vantage's UI to display in fullscreen mode. (Shortcut: Alt+Return)

Flip Up Axis Y ↔ Z – Switches between Y and Z axis to be used as an Up vector. (Shortcut: Y )

Frame Selected/Scene – If an object is selected, zooms that object and frames it into the viewport. If no selection is made, fits the scene into view.

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Render High Quality Snapshot – Opens the Render snapshot... dialog where you can specify render parameters of the current view. See the Render High Quality  section below.

Render High Quality Sequence – Opens the Render sequence... dialog where you can specify the render resolution, samples and FPS. See the Render High Quality  section below.

Record Camera Movement – Creates a new camera slot in the Camera tab and records its movement. (Shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+R )

Quick Record Viewport – Starts capturing the viewport to an .mp4 file in the .vrscene file location. (Shortcut: Ctrl+Backspace)

Record Viewport to Video File – Opens the Viewport Video Capture dialog where you can specify the quality preset and frame rate . See the Viewport Video Capture  section below.

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Resolution Preset – Sets the render resolution from 4 predefined resolutions:

720p; 1080p; 1440p; 2160p(4K)

Width – Sets the width of the rendered snapshot in pixels.

Height – Sets the height of the rendered snapshot in pixels.

Samples – Specifies the samples per pixel for refining the image.

Pixel buffers – The amount of additional memory required for the currently set render resolution.

Denoiser – When enabled NVIDIA AI denoiser will be applied to the rendered image. Denoiser amount will be 0, when disabled or 100, when enabled.

Denoiser Stats – The amount of additional memory required for the denoiser for the currently set render resolution.

Light Cache – Enables Light Cache when rendering.

Light Cache Stats – The amount of additional memory required for light cache for the currently set render resolution.

Motion Blur – Enables the rendering of motion blur for the rendered image with the settings set in File > Advance Scene Settings > Camera > Exposure time.

Approx. GPU memory needed – Displays an approximation of the needed GPU memory for the currently set render resolution and settings.

Camera Type – Specifies the type of the camera to be used when rendering a snapshot.

Perspective – Sets the current scene camera to be used to render the snapshot.
Cube 6x1 – Sets the use of a Box camera with the cube sides arranged in a single row useful in generating cubic VR output.
Stereo Cube 6x1 – Sets the use of a Left/Right stereo Box camera with the cube sides arranged in a single row useful in generating cubic stereo VR output.
Spherical – Sets the use of a spherical camera with independent horizontal (FOV X) and vertical (FOV Y) FOV selection that is useful for generating latlong images for spherical VR use.
Stereo Cube 6x1
Stereo spherical – Sets the use of a spherical Left/Right stereo camera with independent horizontal (FOV X) and vertical (FOV Y) FOV selection and that is useful for generating latlong images for spherical VR use. The stereo strength can be adjusted by modifying the Eye dist parameter.

FOV X – Specifies the horizontal field-of-view angle. Available only when Camera Type is set to Spherical or Stereo spherical.

FOV Y – Specifies the vertical field-of-view angle. Available only when Camera Type is set to Spherical or Stereo spherical.

Eye dist – Specifies the eye distance for which the stereoscopic image is rendered. Available only when Camera Type is set to Stereo Cube 6x1 or Stereo spherical.

Focus rotation – When enabled the left and right views are rotated so that their focus points coincide at the distance  specified by the Focus Distance parameter in the Camera tab. When disabled the left and right views directions are parallel.

Save PNG alpha – When enabled, stores the environment in the alpha channel of the .png file. In the ''Save Image' window a .png file format must be specified.

Save as defaults – Saves the current settings as default values.

 

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In the 'Save Image' window a .png or .exr file type must be added after the specified file name

e.g Camera01.png or Camera01.exr

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Resolution Preset – Sets the render resolution from 4 predefined resolutions:

720p; 1080p; 1440p; 2160p(4K)

Width – Sets the width of the rendered snapshot in pixels.

Height – Sets the height of the rendered snapshot in pixels.

Samples – Specifies the samples per pixel for refining the image.

FPS – Specifies the frames per second for the animation.

Pixel buffers – The amount of additional memory required for the currently set render resolution.

Denoiser – When enabled NVIDIA AI denoiser will be applied to the rendered image. Denoiser amount will be 0, when disabled or 100, when enabled.

Reduce flickeringEnables temporal rendering of the AI denoiser. Results and details may be blurry when enabled. Disabling it may increase image sharpness.

Denoiser Stats – The amount of additional memory required for the denoiser for the currently set render resolution.

Light Cache – Enables Light Cache when rendering.

Light Cache Stats – The amount of additional memory required for light cache for the currently set render resolution.

Motion Blur – Enables the rendering of motion blur for the rendered image with the settings set in File > Advance Scene Settings > Camera > Exposure time.

Approx. GPU memory needed – Displays an approximation of the needed GPU memory for the currently set render resolution and settings.

Camera Type – Specifies the type of the camera to be used when rendering a snapshot.

Perspective – Sets the current scene camera to be used to render the snapshot.
Cube 6x1 – Sets the use of a Box camera with the cube sides arranged in a single row useful in generating cubic VR output.
Stereo Cube 6x1 – Sets the use of a Left/Right stereo Box camera with the cube sides arranged in a single row useful in generating cubic stereo VR output.
Spherical – Sets the use of a spherical camera with independent horizontal (FOV X) and vertical (FOV Y) FOV selection that is useful for generating latlong images for spherical VR use.
Stereo Cube 6x1
Stereo spherical – Sets the use of a spherical Left/Right stereo camera with independent horizontal (FOV X) and vertical (FOV Y) FOV selection and that is useful for generating latlong images for spherical VR use. The stereo strength can be adjusted by modifying the Eye dist parameter.

FOV X – Specifies the horizontal field-of-view angle. Available only when Camera Type is set to Spherical or Stereo spherical.

FOV Y – Specifies the vertical field-of-view angle. Available only when Camera Type is set to Spherical or Stereo spherical.

Eye dist – Specifies the eye distance for which the stereoscopic image is rendered. Available only when Camera Type is set to Stereo Cube 6x1 or Stereo spherical.

Focus rotation – When enabled the left and right views are rotated so that their focus points coincide at the distance  specified by the Focus Distance parameter in the Camera tab. When disabled the left and right views directions are parallel.

Output file type – Specifies the file type for the rendered sequence.

Image – Output of the animation will be an imagesequence. In the ''Save Image' window a .png or .exr file format can be specified for the image sequence.
Image + MP4 – Output of the animation will be an image sequence and an .mp4 file. In the ''Save Image' window a .png or .exr file format can be specified for the image sequence.
Image + MKV – Output of the animation will be an image sequence and an .mkv file. In the ''Save Image' window a .png or .exr file format can be specified for the image sequence.
MP4 – Output of the animation will be an .mp4 file.
MKV – Output of the animation will be an .mkv file.

Save PNG alpha – When enabled, stores the environment in the alpha channel of the .png file. In the ''Save Image' window a .png file format must be specified.

Save as defaults – Saves the current settings as default values.

 

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In the 'Save Image' window a .png or .exr file type must be added after the specified file name

e.g Camera01.png or Camera01.exr

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Capture resolution – Shows the resolution at which the viewport will be captured. This can be controlled by resizing the Chaos Vantage app window.

Quality Preset – Specifies a preset for the capture quality.

High – High video quality with large file size.
Medium – Medium video quality with reasonable file size .
Low – Low video quality with very little file size.

Frame rate – Sets how many frames per second will be captured. Lower values will produce lower file size but video will have choppy quality while large values will result in smooth video quality but with large file size.

Capture Microphone – Enables the capture of input audio during viewport capture.

Start – When clicked opens a "Save Video" window to specify where the capture will be saved. After confirmation with the Save button starts the viewport capture.

Cancel – Closes the "Viewport Video Capture" window.

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Start Server – Starts Project Chaos Vantage live link server.

Stop Server – Stops Project Chaos Vantage live link server .

Change Port... – Sets the listening port for the live link server.

Start Server on Application Start – When enabled the live link server will be automatically start on the launch of the application.

Status – Displays status of the live link server e.g listening on port #### or server not running.

 
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Chaos Cosmos Browser – Opens the Chaos Cosmos Browser window. For more information visit the Chaos Cosmos Browser page.

Open in External Browser – Opens the Chaos Cosmos Browser in the default internet browser.

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Documentation Homepage – Opens the Chaos Vantage online documentation.

"Getting Started" Tutorials – Opens the Getting Started page of the Chaos Vantage online documentation.

Support Forums – Opens the supported forum page in an internet browser.

Mouse and Key Shortcuts – Opens the Command Shortcuts window where all shortcut keys are listed. They are updated depending on the navigation preset set in Edit > Preferences > Interaction.

Open Debug Log – Opens the Debug Log window.

Check for Updates – Forces a check if you are running the latest version of Chaos Vantage .

About – Shows you information about the installed version.

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