ViewportΒΆ

The viewport displays the document nodes from any aiming nodes in a 3D view.

Display the scene from a specific aiming node

  1. Select the node in a Browser or Node List view.
  2. Drag and drop it to the Viewport.

You can achieve same result when drag and dropping the node to an empty window.

It's also possible to display only a specific part of the 3d scene.

Display specific nodes in the Viewport
  1. Select one or multiple nodes in a Browser or Node List view.
  2. Drag and drop the selection to the Viewport. A checkbox will appear on the right side that let you toggle display of specific or all nodes.

Selection

You can perform single, multiple, all, none and hierarchy selection of Viewport nodes.

Select a single object in the Viewport
  1. Select a single object by -clicking on it.
Select multiple nodes in the Viewport
  1. Select multiple nodes by holding in the Viewport then moving. This creates a selection trap where all nodes partially or totally inside are selected when releasing the mouse button.
Select all nodes
  1. Select the Viewport by clicking inside.
  2. Select all nodes by using 'Menu bar > Select > Select All' or ' > Select > Select All' or by pressing Ctrl+A.
Select none nodes
  1. Select the Viewport by clicking inside.
  2. Select none by using 'Menu bar > Select > Select None' or ' > Select > Select None' or by pressing Ctrl+D.
Select node hierarchies
  1. Select the Viewport by clicking inside.
  2. Select node hierarchies by using 'Menu bar > Select > Select Hierarchy' or ' > Select > Select Hierarchy'. The whole hierarchy for each node in the previous selection get added to the new selection.

When you perform a hierarchical selection it selects all types and not only the node types of the view.

Selected nodes will be display in the Viewport with a white wireframe overlay for the Primitive and Procedural types and a white color for the other types.

Selection modifiers

By default when performing a new selection, the previsous selection (if there is one) is always discarded. You can use following selection modifiers for specifying how the new selection get combined with the previous one.

  • Additive
  • Subtractive
  • Inverse

The modifiers are used for both single and multiple selections.

Enable additive modifier
  1. Enable additive modifier by holding Shift+Ctrl before performing a single or multiple selection. The new selection get added to the previous selection.

The cursor will show a + to remind you that additive modifier is enabled.

Enable subtractive modifier
  1. Enable subtractive modifier by holding Ctrl before performing a single or multiple selection. The new selection get subtracted to the previous selection.

The cursor will show a - to remind you that subtractive modifier is enabled.

Enable inverse modifier
  1. Enable inverse modifier by holding Shift before performing a single or multiple selection. The nodes in the new selection get added to the previous selection only and only if they are not in the previous selection.

The cursor will show a X to remind you that inverse modifier is enabled.

It's also possible to perform directly an inverse selection.

To select using inverse modifier

  1. Select the Viewport by clicking inside.
  2. Inverse select nodes by using 'Menu bar > Select > Select Invert' or ' > Select > Select Invert'.

Buttons

  1. Frame: Frame to selection/scene
  2. Toggle Render Mode: Toggle between wireframe and filled rendering
  3. Stereo Mode: Enable/disable stereo rendering
  4. Alpha Mode: Toggle region render background between transparent, checker and black
  5. Render Selection: Render only selected nodes
  6. High Definition: Render in High/Low Definition
  7. Progressive: Enable/Disable the progressive rendering
  8. Primitives: Display primitives
  9. Lights: Display lights
  10. Cameras: Display cameras
  11. Antialiasing: Display the Viewport using multisampling, enabling spacial antialiasing, depth of field and motion blur preview
  12. Selection: Display scene graph nodes owning one or more specified tags.

Controls

Speak here on what happens when clicking around on keyboard and/or mouse.

Types

A Viewport displays document nodes of the following types:

  • Primitive
  • Procedural
  • Light
  • SystemCamera
  • Camera
  • MayaCamera
  • Target