Snapshots

Snapshot is the save state of the whole scene. This includes camera position, objects visibility and transformations, lighting parameters, environment settings and so on.

You can create as many snapshots as needed and switch between them using the snapshots panel on the left.

The snapshots panel contains the list of snapshots and the preview of the currently selected snapshot at the bottom.

Managing Snapshots

You can make a new snapshot by clicking the button at the top right corner of the snapshots panel:

New snapshots are added to the end of the list.

You can re–order the snapshot using the items in the right click context menu.

You can activate snapshots by double–clicking them in the list or by right–clicking it and using the popup menu.

Deleting and renaming snapshots is also done using the context menu.

You can update the snapshot by re–capturing the current scene. Again, this is done using the context menu. Everything is there.

Stored Information

Each snapshot stores the following information:

• Camera parameters — position, angles, field of view, distance and so on;
• Environment settings — HDR environment image and its parameters;
• Background settings — background mode, image and tint, if applicable;
• Floor — all the floor parameters, including the reflection;
• Sunlight — the sun lighting angles, intensity and color;
• Visibility — the visibility state of every element of the scene;
• Transformation — offset, rotation and scale of all the scene objects;
• Selection — the currently selected shapes in the scene.

Every time you take or update the snapshot, all the information above is captured and stored. This happens regardless of the snapshots option, Boxshot simply captures everything.

However, when it comes to activating the snapshot, Boxshot takes into account which parameters to apply to the scene. You can configure that using the right–click menu or by clicking the snapshot preview. This opens a very convenient panel with snapshot options:

Each parameter represents an item from the list above. If something is unchecked, it will not be applied when you activate the snapshot.

This way you can make snapshots that just hide or show some elements, or just change the background or camera, leaving the rest of the scene intact.

Using Snapshots for Scene Animation

Snapshots can be used with transition animation renderer to create complex scene animations.

The snapshots can contain scene element in different locations with a different camera views and you can render the transition between two or more snapshots. This effectively allows you quite a complex scene animations with a very intuitive setup.

Notes

Although snapshots store the scene state, changing the scene itself may affect this. Read the information below to avoid any possible issues.

• Deleting scene objects also delete them from snapshots. Activating the snapshot will not restore deleted objects;
• New scene objects are not affected by the snapshots created before them;
• Boxshot stores relative transformation of the object, so if you move an object to another node or re–group them, transformations will likely be affected;
• It is OK to rename scene objects, this does not affect snapshots;
• Snapshots don’t store materials, decals and shapes parameters, only visibility and transformation;
• Snapshots don’t store background and environment images, only their pats (same as materials).

More Tutorials

Rendering

• Realistic Rendering — improving scenes visual appearance;
• Lighting — control environment and directional lighting;
• Saturated Reflection — make "rich" colorful reflections;
• Floor Reflection — reflecting scene objects in the floor;
• Job Manager — rendering jobs later;
• GPU Rendering — rendering scenes faster on GPU;
• Rendering Time and Quality — getting more control on rendering;
• Simple and Realistic Lighting — speeding up scene rendering.

Materials

• Texture Slots — how to use texture slots in Boxshot;
• Glass Materials — how to make semi–transparent objects look attractive;
• UV–Spot — how to make a UV–spot effect easily;
• Foil Effect — how to add foil–finishing to your shapes;
• Bump — adding relief to your materials;
• Copying Materials — how to copy materials to other shapes;
• Custom Materials — extend the materials library with your own ones;
• Semi–Transparent Labels — making semi–transparent and partial labels;
• Boxshot Materials — more details about Boxshot materials.

Features

• Decals — applying decals and configuring them;
• Bump Decals — applying bump where it is needed;
• Depth Of Field — adding more realism to your renderings;
• Tools — read more about Boxshot tools;
• Managing Images — how to manage image files used by Boxshot projects;
• Shapes Instances — creating lightweight copies of other shapes;
• Model Editor — edit embedded models in many ways;
• Shrink Wrap — heat–shrink film simulation for objects wrapping;
• Physics Simulation — applying gravity to your scene;
• Palletize — arrange scene objects for the pallet;
• Snapshots — save scene state to re–use it later;
• Translation — teach Boxshot to speak your language;
• Vector Artwork — how to maintain the quality of vector artwork.

Shapes

• Lathe Objects — making symmetrical objects using revolving curves;
• Loft Objects — making custom objects with 2D cross–sections;
• 3D Text — making 3D text objects in Boxshot;
• Extruded Objects — how to make thick 3D object of your flat 2D curve;
• Conical Labels — making conical labels with distorted artwork;
• Dieline Box — a very realistic dieline–based box;
• Custom Shapes — adding custom shapes to the left panel;
• Third Party Shapes — importing third party shapes to Boxshot.