Chapter 2 The Shade Interface
From ShadeCamp
In this chapter we’ll look at the basic user interface you will use in Shade to model an object.
Contents |
The Figure Window
The Figure window is the main window in Shade, used to create and edit objects. The Figure window provides up to four views of the workspace, giving you greater control over your scene. The Figure window is used to model objects, change the camera angle and adjust the lighting in a scene. Here we will introduce each area of the interface in Shade.
The Menu Bar
The Menu Bar contains most of the commands used in Shade and provides access to all the windows and plug-ins available in Shade. For descriptions of all the menu options in the Menu Bar see the Reference Manual.
The Control Bar
The Control Bar provides easy access to settings that affect the Figure window view, display and controls for the 3D Manipulator.
The Location Bar
The Location Bar displays the X, Y and Z coordinates and measurements of the cursor at the bottom of the Figure Window.
The Toolbox
The Toolbox contains most of the tools and commands used for modeling objects. Buttons in the Toolbox with a small downward-facing black triangle have multiple options that will display in a pull-down menu when clicked.
Viewports
Every Shade document you open in Shade opens as a Figure Window made up of four viewports. Viewports act like openings or windows into the 3D scene you create. You can resize each viewport by clicking and dragging the separator lines dividing the views.
If you create a new document, the four viewports are set to show an empty scene from four different angles: Perspective view, Top view, Front view and Right view. Each viewport can be customized to display eight different built in view types in addition to a view based on the meta-camera or based on cameras you create.
Each viewport has View selector and View Display options so that you can customize the the way you work.
View Display Option
The Viewport Display Option on the Viewport Bar lets you control the preview quality and appearance of each viewport.
View Selector
The Viewport Selector lets you associate a viewport with a view type, the meta-camera or a custom camera you create. There are eight view types.
Perspective View
The Perspective view shows the workspace from a three point perspective. It also shows all three axis in the direction guide.
Top View
The Top view shows the workspace from directly above, looking down the positive Y axis.
Front View
The Front view shows the workspace from the positive Z axis, i.e. the “front” of the workspace.
Back View
The Back view shows the workspace from the negative Z axis.
Right View
The Right view shows the workspace from the positive X axis.
Left View
The Left view shows the workspace from the negative X axis.
UV View
UV View is a special view for viewing and editing a UV Map when you select the a polygon mesh object.
Control Windows
The other windows in Shade are generally referred to collectively as control windows. Each of the control windows can be shown or hidden by selecting its name from the View menu.
The Toolbox
As mentioned previously, the Toolbox is the main window for selecting modeling tools and related commands. The tools and commands found in the Toolbox are also available from the Tools menu.
The Polygon Mesh Toolbox
The Polygon Mesh Toolbox (“Mesh Toolbox” for short) is an extension of the standard Toolbox which contains the tools and commands used when editing polygon meshes. The Mesh Toolbox can be displayed by clicking the Mesh button located at the bottom of the standard Toolbox.
The Browser
The Browser displays information about all the objects in the scene and shows the hierarchical relationship between them. The row of checkboxes displayed to the right of each object allow you to apply special settings to individual objects, including hiding the object, locking the object to prevent accidental changes and more.
The Aggregate Palette
The Aggregate Palette is a tabbed group of commonly used controls. The Aggregate palette includes: Camera window, Distant Light window, Background window, Surface window and Object Info window. You can detach control windows by switching to the desired tab in the Aggregate palette and then clicking the Detach button.
The Camera Window
The Camera window provides a virtual joystick for moving the camera around the scene and zooming in or out. The view from the camera is displayed in the Perspective view and is used when rendering an image of the scene.
The Distant Light Window
A distant light is a source of light that illuminates everything in the scene equally, like natural sunlight. The Distant Light window gives you control over the direction, intensity, color and other settings for distant lights in the scene.
Background Window
The Background window contains all the options available for controlling the appearance of the background used when rendering. Images can also be used as backgrounds.
Surface Window
The Surface window gives you complete control over the appearance and texture of the objects in your scene. By adjusting the many surface attributes appropriately you can create the look of metal, plastic, glass or countless other materials.
Object Info Window
The Object Info window provides detailed information about the currently selected object. For more information about the Object Info window, please see the User Guide.
The Image Window
The Image window is where Shade scenes are rendered to create images. Rendered images can then be saved as any of several standard image file formats. The Image window also contains the Rendering Options, which give you complete control over the rendering engine used and many other settings.
