When you select a 3D layer, the 3D panel shows the components of the associated 3D file. The top section of the panel lists the meshes, materials, and lights in the file. The bottom section of the panel shows settings and options for the 3D component selected in the top section.

The buttons at the top of the 3D panel filter the components that appear in the top section. Click the Scene button to show all components, click Materials to see just materials, and so on.

Display the 3D panel

Filter the 3D options displayed

Show or hide a 3D mesh or light

Access settings for the 3D scene

Access settings for a mesh, material, or light

Expand or collapse materials for a mesh

View the ground plane

The ground plane is a grid that reflects the position of the ground relative to the 3D model.

• To view the ground plane, click the Toggle icon  at the bottom of the 3D panel, and select 3D Ground Plane.

Show or hide light guides

Outline the selected material or mesh in the document window

When you select materials or meshes in the panel, a colored outline appears in the document window, helping you identify the current item.

3D Scene settings

Use 3D Scene settings to change render modes, select a texture to paint on, or create cross sections. To access scene settings, click the Scene button  in the 3D panel, then select the Scene entry in the top section of the panel.

Specifies the render preset for the model. To customize options, click Edit.

Choose a setting which provides the best display quality while maintaining good performance:

Renders with OpenGL using the GPU on the video card, producing high-quality results, but lacking detailed reflections and shadows. For most systems, this option is best for editing.

Renders using the CPU on the computer motherboard, with draft-quality reflections and shadows. If your system has a powerful video card, the Interactive option may produce faster results.

Best reserved for final output, this option fully renders reflections and shadows.

When painting directly on the 3D model, use this menu to choose which texture map to paint on. See 3D painting.

Sets the color for global ambient light visible on reflective surfaces. This color interacts with the ambient color for specific materials. See 3D Materials settings.

Select to create a planar cross section that can intersect the model at an angle you choose. Allows you to slice through a model and view interior content. See View cross sections.

View cross sections

You can view a cross section of a 3D model by intersecting it with an invisible plane that slices through the model at any angle and displays content only on one side of the plane.

Apply different render modes to each cross section

You can vary the render settings for each side of a cross section to combine different views of the same 3D model, such as Wireframe with Solid.

3D Mesh settings

Each mesh in the 3D model appears on a separate line in the top section of the 3D panel. Select a mesh to access mesh settings and information in the lower section of the 3D panel.

Information includes the number of materials and textures applied to the mesh, as well as the number of vertices and faces it contains. You can also set the following mesh display options:

Controls whether the selected mesh displays shadows on its surface from other meshes.

Controls whether the selected mesh casts shadows on other mesh surfaces.

Hides the mesh, but displays any shadows on its surface.

Controls the softness of shadows cast by the selected mesh. The setting is helpful when blending 3D objects with layers below.

Show or hide a mesh

Manipulate individual meshes

Use the mesh position tools to move, rotate, or scale a selected mesh without moving the model as a whole. The position tools operate in the same way as the main 3D position tools in the Tools panel. For information on each tool, see Move, rotate, or scale a 3D model.

3D Materials settings

The top part of the 3D panel lists the materials used in the 3D file. One or multiple materials may be used to create the overall appearance of the model. If a model contains several meshes, there may be a specific material associated with each mesh. Or a model can be built from one mesh but use different materials in different areas.

For a selected material in the top section of the 3D panel, the lower section shows the particular texture maps used by that material. Some texture types, such as Diffuse and Bump, commonly rely on 2D files to supply a particular color or pattern that creates the texture. For other texture types, you may not need a separate 2D file. For example, you can directly adjust Gloss, Shine, Opacity, or Reflection by entering values.

The texture maps used by a material appear as Textures in the Layers panel, grouped by the texture map category.

The color of the material. The diffuse map can be a solid color or any 2D content. The Diffuse color swatch value sets the diffuse color if you choose to remove the diffuse texture map. You can also create a diffuse map by painting directly on the model. See 3D painting.

Increases or decreases opacity of the material (0-100%). You can use a texture map or the scrubby slider to control opacity. The grayscale values of the texture map control the opacity of the material. White values create complete opacity and black values create complete transparency.

Creates bumps in the material surface, without altering the underlying mesh. A bump map is a grayscale image in which lighter values create raised surface areas and darker values create flatter surface areas. You can create or load a bump map file, or begin painting on the model to automatically create a bump map file. See 3D painting.

The Bump field increases or reduces bumpiness. It is only active if a bump map exists. Enter a number in the field or use the scrubby slider to increase or decrease bump strength.

Like a bump map texture, a normal map increases surface detail. Unlike a bump texture map, which is based on a single-channel grayscale image, a normal map is based on a multi-channel (RGB) image. The values of each color channel represent the x, y, and z components of a normal on the model surface. A normal map can be used to smooth the surfaces of low polygon meshes.

Stores the image of the environment surrounding the 3D model. Environment maps are applied as spherical panoramas. The contents of the environment map can be seen in the reflective areas of the model.

Increases the reflection of other objects in the 3D scene, and the environment map, on the material surface.

Defines a color that doesn't rely on lighting to display. Creates the effect that the 3D object is lit from within.

Defines the amount of light from a source that reflects off the surface and back to the viewer. You can adjust glossiness by entering a value in the field or using the scrubby slider. If you create a separate glossiness map, the intensity of colors in the map controls glossiness in the material. Black areas create full glossiness, white areas remove all glossiness, and middle values reduce the size of a highlight.

Defines the dispersion of the reflected light generated by the Gloss setting. Low shininess (high dispersion) produces more apparent light, with less focus. High shininess (low dispersion) produces less apparent light and brighter, crisper highlights.

The color displayed for specular properties (for example, highlight glossiness and shininess).

Sets the color for ambient light visible on reflective surfaces. This color interacts with the Global Ambient Color for the entire scene. See 3D Scene settings.

Sets the refractive index when scene Quality is set to Ray Traced and the Refractions option is selected in the 3D > Render Settings dialog box. Refraction is the change in light direction that occurs at the intersection of two media (such as air and water) with different refractive indexes. The default value for new materials is 1.0 (the approximate value for air).

Sample and apply materials directly on objects

The 3D Material Drop tool works much like the traditional Paint Bucket tool, letting you sample and apply materials directly on 3D objects.

Select materials directly on objects

Apply, save, or load material presets

Material presets let you quickly apply groups of texture settings. The default presets provide various materials like steel, fabric, and wood.

Create a texture map

Load a texture map

You can load an existing 2D texture file for any of the nine available texture map types.

Create a bump texture map

A bump texture map filled with a neutral grayscale value provides more range when painting on the map.

The bump texture map is created and added to the texture map files listed in the Materials panel. It also appears as a texture in the Layers panel.

Open a texture map for editing

Delete a texture map

Edit texture properties

A texture map is applied to a particular surface area of the model, depending on its UV mapping parameters. You can adjust UV scale and offset if necessary to improve how the texture maps to the model.

3D Lights settings

3D lights illuminate models from different angles, adding realistic depth and shadows.

Add or delete individual lights

Adjust light properties

Position lights

Add light guides

Light guides provide spatial reference points for your adjustments. These guides reflect the type, angle, and attenuation of each light. Point lights appear as a ball, spot lights as a cone, and infinite lights as a line.

Save, replace, or add groups of lights

To store groups of lights for later use, save them as a preset. To include the preset in other projects, either add to or replace the existing lights.