SOLIDWORKS Visualize Appearances: DSPBR Base Parameter Group Explained

SOLIDWORKS Visualize, which replaced PhotoView360 after its retirement in 2024, is a photorealistic rendering software used to create marketing content, brochure images, and other real-life-looking renderings of your SOLIDWORKS models.

SOLIDWORKS Visualize Tiers

SOLIDWORKS Visualize is available in two tiers: Standard and Professional. Included with every seat of SOLIDWORKS Professional or SOLIDWORKS Premium on active subscription is a seat of Visualize Standard (which can be reqested from Technical Support or your Account Manager).

Visualize Professional includes all the features of the Standard version, along with additional capabilities such as importing SOLIDWORKS configurations, importing Motion studies from SOLIDWORKS, creating animations within Visualize, customizing lighting, and incorporating Virtual Reality (VR) and 360° model interactivity, among other features.

This article will discuss the Appearances section of SOLIDWORKS Visualize, specifically those introduced in 2024: DSPBR Appearances.

Appearance Parameter Groups Overview

DSPBR (Dassault Systèmes Physically Based Rendering) Appearances were introduced in SOLIDWORKS Visualize 2024 (Standard and Professional). These appearances are each defined with scientifically accurate parameters in mind (i.e., each appearance has a unique set of appearances and texture properties used that will simulate a real-world appearance). The appearance properties are grouped into seven distinct parameter groups: Base, Iridescence, Sheen, Flakes, Emission, Coating, and Volume Parameter. For succinctness, today we will just discuss the Base Parameter Group and its features.

The Base Parameter Group

The Base Parameter Group of DSPBR comprises 12 distinct parameters: Albedo, Metallic, Roughness, Anisotropy, Anisotropy Rotation, Normal, Displacement, Translucency, Transparency, Cut-Out Opacity, Specular, and Specular Tint.

To illustrate each of these Base Group parameters, I made 13 identical spheres and imported them into SOLIDWORKS Visualize via the Export Advanced button. The first 12 spheres, counting from the left side, will represent the individual parameters, and the thirteenth will be used to illustrate the combination of a handful of the parameters simultaneously.

(I deleted all Appearances of my model in SOLIDWORKS Visualize and rendered a quick “before” photo.)

Now, let's look at the 12 parameters of the Base Parameter Group, starting with Albedo.

Albedo

The Albedo parameter simply defines the color of the material. Here, I’ll start with the RGB value, [206, 32, 41], otherwise known as ‘Fire Engine Red.’

To apply a Fire Engine Red DSPBR appearance, navigate to the Appearances pane > + > New Appearance.

The appearance will default to Basic, so you will need to navigate to the Appearance Type dropdown menu and select Enterprise PBR Shading Model.

This is where the magic starts. You will notice that once you change the Appearance Type selection to Enterprise PBR Shading Model, all the parameters mentioned above show up. To set the Albedo example Appearance to the RGB value [206, 32, 41], click on the color bar under Albedo (to the right of [+], highlighted by the yellow rectangle below) and enter the value [206, 32, 41].

This yields our new ‘Fire Engine Red’ appearance, which I named Albedo Example Appearance.

Tip: To apply this to my first sphere, I’ll use the following keystrokes to quickly add it to the model: Hold SHIFT and left-click the Albedo Example Appearance in the Appearances pane in SOLIDWORKS Visualize. Next, I'll find the model I'd like to add it to in the Viewport. Hold SHIFT and right-click the model. Two keystrokes and two mouse button clicks later, your appearance is added to your model.

Metallic

While sticking with the Fire Engine Red theme, let’s discuss the Metallic parameter. I want to keep the same ‘red’ as my first sphere, but I want to add some shininess to it. That’s where the Metallic parameter comes in.

The Metallic parameter uses a range of values from 0 – 1, on a bit of a continuum: non-metallic is 0, metallic is 1. If you are going for something in between, the world is your oyster. SOLIDWORKS recommends that when wanting to emulate a ‘rusty iron surface,’ a value other than 0 or 1 would be agreeable.

I would really like to show just how “metallic” SOLIDWORKS Visualize can make this sphere look, so I will use a value of 1.

To quickly create this appearance, I can copy and paste (CTRL+C; CTRL+V) my Albedo Example Appearance and rename the copy to Metallic Example Appearance.

This yields:

Roughness

As the name of the parameter suggests, Roughness controls how shiny or rough a surface is. Like the Metallic parameter, the Roughness parameter ranges from 0 (shiny) to 1 (rough). Here, we’ll showcase a value of 1, based on the original Albedo (Fire Engine Red) Appearance. The Roughness parameter of 1 will result in a matte-like appearance as displayed below.

Anisotropy

Anisotropy is how much a material’s qualities vary across different directions or axes.

It is illustrated in SOLIDWORKS Visualize, in values, again, ranging from 0 to 1, defining its intensity. For this example’s sake, I’ll set the Anisotropy value to 1 to most distinctly illustrate the parameter, though it can be set to any value between 0 and 1. SOLIDWORKS indicates that this parameter is best used to illustrate a grain directionality (i.e., brushed finishes or metallic surface).

In combination with the Metallic Parameter set to 0.5, this is most evident as illustrated below:

Anisotropy Rotation

Anisotropy rotation goes hand-in-hand with the Anisotropy parameter, again, valuing from 0 to 1 to dictate the highlight of the anisotropy. To maintain the default orientation of the Anisotropy parameter, you would need to leave Anisotropy Rotation at 1. For a full 360° rotation: value it at 1. For illustration, we’ll use the Metallic, Roughness, and Anisotropy set to 0.5 and Anisotropy Rotation at 1. Notice in the sphere model below (5th from the left) that the lighting is skewed directionally and creates a whole new appearance in the model.

Normal

The Normal Appearance parameter is used a bit differently than the Appearance parameters we’ve discussed so far. The first five parameters, Albedo, Metallic, Roughness, Anisotropy, and Anisotropy Rotation, all use a decimal-based system (values 0 to 1), while the Normal parameter requires a 3D vector input, in this case, an RGB image.

The Normal parameter adds a texture to the model, without changing the size of the geometry (think bumps and dents). This does differ from the Displacement parameter, which we’ll cover next.

You will notice there is no slider bar for the Normal parameter, but rather a box with a + symbol. Clicking on the + button launches your SOLIDWORKS Visualize Content folder > Textures. In this example we’ll choose an RGB image that contains the word ‘normal’ appended to the name – in this case, ‘carbon normal.jpg’:

Displacement

The Displacement Appearance parameter is very similar to the Normal Appearance parameter, but with a distinct difference: it does change the geometry of the model/surface. In contrast to the image used for mapping the surface points with the Normal Appearance parameter, the input image must be a grayscale image.

Additionally, the extent to which the model/surface is displaced will be adjusted in the Depth section of the Texture tab. Here, I chose a small value (0.01) to illustrate the effect of the Displacement Appearance parameter and the Depth.

Translucency

At this point in our Base Parameter discussion, we will hop back to the ‘decimal’ value parameters – one that doesn’t require an image input.

Translucency, in this case, controls the amount of light passing through the surface – it will be used for those realistic appearances like human skin and plant leaves.

Here, I have set the value of my Translucency parameter to 0.5, but it can range from 0 to 1.

Note that below the toggle for the Translucency is Translucency Color. I left this as default to match the color and temperature of the lighting in my scene.

Transparency

Transparency differs from translucency as the transparency characteristic of a material allows light to pass through it, unimpeded by scattering or diffusion. The translucency characteristic allows some light to pass through, but scatters it, leaving a blurred view of the ‘other side.’

In SOLIDWORKS Visualize, the Transparency parameter determines how see-through or glass-like an appearance may appear. Think here, translucency = frosted glass, transparency = clear glass. Here, our Transparency parameter will have a red tint to it as we are combining it with the ‘Fire Engine Red’ Albedo parameter.

Cut-Out Opacity

If you have ever removed the background from a photo, you are probably familiar with the checkered-like background – otherwise known as an alpha channel. The Cut-Out Opacity parameter works similarly to this in SOLIDWORKS Visualize. In the case of using it in Visualize, there are two ways to work with this: defining a decimal range or using a grayscale image as a texture. The decimal range (0 to 1) defines the opacity of the object, 0 being completely invisible, 1 meaning a completely opaque appearance. In this example below, I’ve used a Cut-Out Opacity value of 0.5 to illustrate.

Notice that the Translucency parameter and the Cut-Out opacity parameter yield very similar results.

Specular

The Specular parameter and the Specular Tint parameter go hand-in-hand in SOLIDWORKS Visualize. In Visualize, Specular refers to how much reflection is shown on a non-metallic surface. Again, a decimal range is used here (0 to 1), and the default value is set to 1. A completely non-reflective surface would utilize the value of 0 (think: matte-like materials: concrete, cardboard, etc.), and a highly reflective surface would utilize the value of 1.

Using a Specular parameter value of 0 gives the model a brighter matte appearance compared to using the Roughness parameter, but they can almost be used interchangeably.

Specular Tint

As mentioned previously, the Specular Tint parameter goes hand-in-hand with the Specular parameter. This will dictate the color of the specular reflection of those non-metallic appearances.

For this example, I’d like to use the RGB value for goldenrod yellow, [218, 165, 32], here as the reflective tint for my Specular parameter. Since I want the model to show some amount of reflection, I will change my Specular parameter to 1, and enter the RGB value [218, 165, 32] for the Specular Tint parameter by clicking on the color bar under Specular Tint.

Below, I used my last sphere to generate an orange skin-like appearance.

The parameters can be combined in myriad ways to generate realistic, life-like appearances.

Thanks for reading our discussion on the DSPRB Base Parameter group. Check out more tips and tricks from our team below. Additionally, join the GoEngineer Community to participate in the conversation, create forum posts, and answer questions from other SOLIDWORKS users. 

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