Summary: Demonstrates how to render named views using RhinoScript.

The following sample RhinoScript code demonstrates how to render named views. In this script, the user will be prompted to select from a list of both user-defined named views and standard named view, such as Top, Left, etc. The script will then output render bitmaps into a selected folder. This script uses the currently active view as the render window, thus the size of the rendered images is dependent on how large the active view is at the time. But, this script could easily be modified to render to any size window.

To use this script:

1. Save the attached script to a text file with a .RVB extension.
2. Load the file into RhinoScript using the LoadScript command.
3. Run the script over and over using the RunScript command.

See the introduction section of the RhinoScript help file for more details on loading and running scripts.

 Option Explicit
 
 ' Renders one or more named views to a user-defined folder
 Sub RenderNamedViews
 
   ' Let the user pick the named view to render
   Dim render_views
   render_views = GetRenderViews
   If Not IsArray(render_views) Then Exit Sub
 
   ' Let the user pick the folder to save the renderings  
   Dim folder  
   folder = Rhino.BrowseForFolder(Rhino.DocumentPath, "Browse for folder", "Batch Render")
   If IsNull(folder) Then Exit Sub
 
   ' Save the active view
   Dim saved_view_name
   saved_view_name = Rhino.CurrentView
   Rhino.Command "_-NamedView _Save $$_save_$$ _Enter", 0
 
   ' Process each named view
   Dim view
   For Each view In render_views
     If IsStandardView(view) Then
       ' If the named view is a standard view
       Rhino.Command "_-SetView _World _" & view, 0 
     Else
       ' If the named view is not a standard view
       Rhino.Command "_-NamedView _Restore " & view & " _Enter", 0
     End If
     ' Render the scene with the current render engine
     Rhino.Command "_-Render"
     ' Save the render to a jpg file
     Rhino.Command "_-SaveRenderWindowAs " & GetRenderFileName(folder, view, "jpg")
     ' Close the render window
     Rhino.Command "_-CloseRenderWindow"    
   Next
 
   ' Restore the active view
   Rhino.Command "_-NamedView _Restore $$_save_$$ _Enter", 0
   Rhino.RenameView Rhino.CurrentView, saved_view_name
 
   ' Delete the temporary named view
   Rhino.Command "_-NamedView _Delete $$_save_$$ _Enter", 0
 
 End Sub
 
 ' Returns an array of view names to render
 Function GetRenderViews()
   GetRenderViews = vbNull  
   Dim all_views, selected_views
   all_views = GetAllViews
   selected_views = Rhino.MultiListBox(all_views, "Select views to render.", "Batch Render")
   If IsArray(selected_views) Then
     GetRenderViews = selected_views
   End If
 End Function
 
 ' Returns a render-formatted file name
 Function GetRenderFileName(folder, view, ext)
   Dim doc, file, temp
   doc = Rhino.DocumentName
   temp = "_" & view & "." & ext
   file = LCase(Replace(doc, ".3dm", temp, 1, -1, 1))
   GetRenderFileName = Chr(34) & folder & file & Chr(34)
 End Function
 
 ' Returns an array of both standard and named view names
 Function GetAllViews()
   Dim all_views, std_views, named_views
   std_views = GetStandardViews
   named_views = Rhino.NamedViews
   If IsArray(named_views) Then
     all_views = Rhino.JoinArrays(std_views, named_views)
     all_views = Rhino.CullDuplicateStrings(all_views)
     GetAllViews = Rhino.SortStrings(all_views)
   Else
     GetAllViews = std_views
   End If
 End Function
 
 ' Returns an array of standard view names
 Function GetStandardViews()
   GetStandardViews = Array("Back", "Bottom", "Front", "Left", "Perspective", "Right", "Top")
 End Function
 
 ' Verifies a string is a standard view name
 Function IsStandardView(str)
   IsStandardView = vbFalse
   Dim std_views, i
   std_views = GetStandardViews
   For i = 0 To UBound(std_views)
     If StrComp(std_views(i), str, 1) = 0 Then
       IsStandardView = vbTrue
       Exit For
     End If
   Next
 End Function