Change scene quality on the fly

A very good question I was asked recently about the possibility of change on the fly graphics quality of a scene. It's indeed possible in different ways:

• Using Nova Studio: just go to the "Developer" menu and click on Engine Options:

This options will display the following panel that will allow you to enable or disable any Nova quality options and channels and therefore the speed of rendering.

• Using Nova scripting, Nova plugin model or Nova SDK. Indeed all Nova quality options and channels are available through Nova Object Model. In the following script, I first create a slider that will change on the fly Nova Engine option according 3 values ranges:
  • From 0.0 to 1.0 excluded: main quality options are disabled.
  • From 1.0 to 2.0 excluded: some quality options are enabled.
  • Else: all quality options are enabled.

Class Script

    Private slider As NovaSlider
    Private currentScene As NovaScene 
    
    Public Sub New(scene As NovaScene)
        currentScene = scene
        slider = Scene.CreateSlider()

        slider.Top = 10
        slider.Left = 10

        slider.Min = 0.0
        slider.Max = 3.0
        slider.Value = slider.Max
        slider.Width = 300
        slider.ID = "SliderQualitySensor"
        slider.Text = "Quality Sensor"
        slider.RelativeWidth = False
        slider.Visible = True
        
        AddHandler slider.ValueChanged, AddressOf manageValueChanged
    End Sub

    Private Sub manageValueChanged(ByVal o As Object, e As EventArgs)
        If  slider.Value >= 0.0 AndAlso slider.Value < 1.0 Then
            changeToLowQuality()                
        ElseIf  slider.Value >= 1.0 AndAlso slider.Value < 2.0 Then
            changeToMediumQuality()
        Else
            changeToHighQuality()
        End If
    End Sub
    
    Private Sub changeToLowQuality()
        currentScene.Engine.QualityLevel = 0
        NovaEngine.Shadows = False
                
        NovaEngine.BumpChannel = False
        NovaEngine.SpecularChannel = False
        NovaEngine.ReflectionChannel = False
        NovaEngine.RefractionChannel = False
        Novaengine.EmissiveChannel = False
        Novaengine.AmbientChannel = False 
        NovaEngine.ParticleSystems = False
        NovaEngine.MirrorMatrixActivated = False
    End Sub
    
    Private Sub changeToMediumQuality()
        currentScene.Engine.QualityLevel = 1
        NovaEngine.Shadows = False
                
        NovaEngine.BumpChannel = True
        NovaEngine.SpecularChannel = True
        NovaEngine.ReflectionChannel = True
        NovaEngine.RefractionChannel = False
        Novaengine.EmissiveChannel = False
        Novaengine.AmbientChannel = False 
        NovaEngine.ParticleSystems = True
        NovaEngine.MirrorMatrixActivated = False
    End Sub
    
    Private Sub changeToHighQuality()
        currentScene.Engine.QualityLevel = 3
        NovaEngine.Shadows = True

        NovaEngine.BumpChannel = True
        NovaEngine.SpecularChannel = True
        NovaEngine.ReflectionChannel = True
        NovaEngine.RefractionChannel = True
        Novaengine.EmissiveChannel = True
        Novaengine.AmbientChannel = True 
        NovaEngine.ParticleSystems = True
        NovaEngine.MirrorMatrixActivated = True
    End Sub
    
    Protected Overrides Sub Finalize()
        RemoveHandler slider.ValueChanged, AddressOf manageValueChanged
        currentScene.Widgets.Clear()
    End Sub
End Class