This page provides information about the menus of Project Lavina.
Overview
Project Lavina has menus that give you access to a range of functionalities for managing your scene performance and settings.
You can use the right mouse button click to reset the parameters numeric values to defaults.
File
Open Scene... – Opens a browse window to load a .vrscene or a .vrdx file. (Shortcut: Ctrl+O )
Open Scene as Config Only... – Opens a browse window to load a.vrdx 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 (Lavina config) – Saves the .vrdx 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.
Save Scene As... – Saves the .vrdx 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 Folder – Saves the current image from the viewport in the same directory as the loaded .vrscene file.
Quit – Closes Lavina.
Advanced Scene Settings
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.
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 AA – Applies time based anti-aliasing
H./V. overscan – Scales the image, so that border pixels can be denoised better.
Animated noise pattern – Enables the generation of random numbers (noise) for each frame.
Depth of field
Center bias – Defines a bias shape for the bokeh effects. Positive values make the outer edge of the bokeh effects brighter; negative values make the center of the effect brighter.
Anisotropy – Allows stretching of the bokeh effect horizontally or vertically to simulate anamorphic lenses.
Polygonal – When enabled, a polygonal aperture is simulated, with the specified number of blades.
Num sides – Specifies the number of blades for the polygonal aperture.
Rotation – Defines the rotation of the blades in degrees.
Motion blur – Enables motion blur.
Exposure time(s) – When enabled, the Exposure value affects the image brightness.
Collisions
Step height ratio – Adjusts sensitivity when climbing steps or obstacles. Higher values allow stepping on higher surfaces.
Height tolerance – Specifies 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.
Gravity – Specifies the acceleration applied on the camera when collision is enabled.
Edit
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.
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.
Preferences
Save camera in config file – Saves the last camera position in viewport in a configuration (.vrdx) file. When disabled, saves the render settings in a configuration (.vrdx) file without saving camera changes.
Compact BLASes on scene load – Enable to save GPU memory by doing an additional post-processing step on loaded geometries.
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.
The Pause when app loses focus option will be ignored when in Live Link session
Safe GPU allocation – When enabled Project Lavina 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, Lavina asks you whether to merge or open the scene.
Open – When a .vrscene is dropped into the viewport, Lavina opens the scene.
Merge – When a .vrscene is dropped into the viewport, Lavina merges the scene.
Merge geometry – When a new .vrscene is dragged and dropped into the viewport, the geometries are merged into the scene.
Merge materials – When a new .vrscene is dragged and dropped into the viewport, the materials are merged into the scene.
Merge lights – When a new .vrscene is dragged and dropped into the viewport, the lights are merged into the scene.
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.
Highlight – Enables 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
Preset – Specifies the preset used for navigation from 3ds Max, Maya or SketchUp.
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.
Default width – Specifies a default width for the render in non-interactive mode.
Default height – Specifies a default height for the render in non-interactive mode.
Default samples – Specifies default samples for the render in non-interactive mode.
Default FPS – Specifies default FPS for the render in non-interactive mode.
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.
Select
Select Parent – Selects the parent of the currently selected object. (Shortcut: Ctrl+Up )
View
Fullscreen – Maximizes Lavina'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.
Tools
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 )
Render High Quality
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.
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 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.
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.
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 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 as defaults – Saves the current settings as default values.
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.
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 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.
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.
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 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 as defaults – Saves the current settings as default values.
Live Link
Start Server – Starts Project Lavina live link server.
Stop Server – Stops Project Laviana 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.
Help
Documentation Homepage – Opens the Lavina online documentation.
"Getting Started" Tutorials – Opens the Getting Started page of the Lavina 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 Project Lavina.
About – Shows you information about the installed version.