3D

When editing a 3D scene, you view the scene in the 3D view. You can change the projection of the view by switching between perspective camera and orthographic camera modes. When using the perspective camera mode, components that are far from the camera appear smaller than those nearby. In the orthographic camera mode, all components appear at the same scale irrespective of their distance from the camera. Both of them are free-form camera modes that you can use to orbit around the scene.

When you import 3D scenes from files that you exported from 3D graphics tools, you also import a scene camera, light, model, and materials. If your scene did not contain them, you can add the corresponding Qt Quick 3D components from Components > > Qt Quick 3D > Qt Quick 3D.

You can use the toolbar buttons to transform 3D components and manipulate the 3D scene. Transformation refers to moving, rotating, or scaling of a component. The pivot of the component is used as the origin for transformations. You can set a local pivot offset for a component in Properties to transform the component around a point other than its local origin. A line is drawn in the 3D view from the pivot point to the center of the component to provide a visual connection between them. Especially when working with complex scenes, it may be useful to use the showing and hiding or the locking features in Navigator to avoid transforming components by mistake while editing your scene.

Toggle between local and global orientation to determine whether the gizmos affect only the local transformations of the component or whether they transform with respect to the global space.

Another helpful feature when editing 3D scenes is the edit light, which is a quick way to light the scene.

Additionally, you can toggle the visibility of the grid, selection boxes, icon gizmos, and camera frustums in the 3D scene.

There is a context menu in the 3D view. To open it, right-click in the 3D view. From the context menu you can:

• Create cameras, lights, and models.
• Open Material Editor and edit materials.
• Delete components

To refresh the contents of the 3D view, press P or select the (Reset View) button.

The following video illustrates navigating in the 3D view and using the toolbar:

Controlling the 3D View Camera

To switch to perspective camera mode, select (Toggle Perspective/Orthographic Edit Camera). To switch to orthographic camera mode, select . You can also Toggle the camera mode by using the keyboard shortcut T.

You can navigate the scene by panning, rotating, and zooming the 3D view camera:

• To pan, press Alt (or Option on macOS) and use the middle mouse button to click and drag anywhere in the rendered view to slide the view around.

  Note: It is not possible to pan using Magic Mouse.

• To orbit, press Alt and click and drag anywhere in the rendered view to rotate the view.
• To zoom, use the mouse wheel or press Alt and right-click anywhere in the rendered view to zoom the view in or out as you drag up or down.

To zoom and focus the 3D view camera on a selected component, select (Fit Selected) or press F.

The world axis helper (1) shows the direction of the world axes in the view. To point the camera at the currently selected component in the direction of an axis, click the axis. Clicking the dot at the end of the axis will point the camera at the opposite direction of the axis. If no component is selected, the camera is pointed at the world origin. This does not affect the camera zoom level.

You can use scene cameras (2) to view the View3D component from a specific angle in the 2D view while editing scenes. Different types of cameras are available in Components > Qt Quick 3D > Qt Quick 3D. For more information about using cameras in the scene, the available camera types, and their properties, see Cameras.

Using Global and Local Orientation

To switch between local and global orientation, select (Toggle Local/Global Orientation) or press Y.

In global orientation mode, transformation of a selected component is presented with respect to the global space. For example, while the move tool is selected, selecting a cube will show its move gizmo aligned with the axes of global space. Dragging on the red arrow of the gizmo moves the component in the global x direction.

In local orientation mode, the position of a selected component is shown according to local axes specific to the selected component. For example, selecting a rotated cube will show its axes rotated, and not aligned with the axes of global space. Dragging on the red arrow of the gizmo moves the component in the local x direction in relation to the component.

Using Edit Light

The edit light is an extra point light that can be used to illuminate the scene. To toggle the edit light on and off, select or (Toggle Edit Light) or press U.

For more information about the available scene light types and their properties, see Lights.

Selecting Components

To move, rotate, or scale components in the scene, you need to select them first. The selection mode buttons determine how components are selected when you click them in the 3D view:

• In the (Single Selection) mode, a single component is selected.
• In the (Group Selection) mode, the top level parent of the component is selected. This enables you to move, rotate, or scale a group of components.

To toggle the selection mode, press Q.

To multiselect, hold Ctrl and click the components you wish to select.

After selecting a component, you can apply the usual keyboard shortcuts applicable to your operating system, for example, Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V on Windows to copy-paste components.

Moving Components

You can move components in relation to their coordinate system, along the x, y, or z axis or on the top, bottom, left, and right clip planes of the the 3D view.

To move components, select or press W:

• To move components along the axes of the move gizmo, click the axis, and drag the component along the axis.
• To move components on a plane, click the plane handle and drag the component on the plane.
• To move components freely in the 3D view, click and drag the gray handle at the center of the move gizmo.

Rotating Components

To rotate components, select or press E:

• To rotate a component around its rotation gizmo, click the axis ring and drag in the direction you want to rotate the component in.
• To freely rotate the component, click and drag the inner center circle of the gizmo.

Scaling Components

You can use the scale handles to adjust the local x, y, or z scale of a component. You can adjust the scale across one, two, or three axes, depending on the handle.

To scale components, select or press R:

• To adjust the scale across one axis, click and drag the scale handle attached to the axis.
• To adjust the scale across a plane, click the plane handle and drag the component on the plane.
• To uniformly scale a component across all axes, click and drag the gray handle at the center of the component.

Snapping

With snapping turned on, the objects in the 3D view snap to certain intervals during transformation (move, rotate, scale).

You can toggle snapping in the following ways:

• Select in the 3D view toolbar.
• Hold down the Ctrl key.

With snapping turned on, you can press and hold Shift to snap objects to one tenth of the specified snap interval.

Configuring Snapping

To edit snapping settings, select in the 3D view toolbar.

In the configure dialog, you can do the following:

• Turn on and off snapping separately for the different transformations (move, rotate, scale).
• Set snap intervals.
• Toggle if the position snaps to absolute or relative values.

Aligning Views and Cameras

To align a camera to the 3D view:

1. Select a camera in the 3D or Navigator view.

   Note: If you don't have a camera selected, the most recently selected camera is aligned to the view.

2. In the 3D view, select .

This moves and rotates the camera so that the camera shows the same view as the current view in the 3D view.

To align the 3D view to a camera:

1. Select a camera in the 3D view or Navigator.

   Note: If you don't have a camera selected, the view is aligned to the most recently selected camera.

2. In the 3D view, select .

This copies the position as well as x and y rotation values from the camera and applies them to the 3D view.

Toggling Visibility

To toggle the visibility of objects in the 3D view, select in the toolbar. This opens a menu with the following options:

Changing Colors

To change the 3D view background or grid color, select in the toolbar. This opens a menu with the following options:

Particle Editor

The particle editor tools help you preview your particle systems in the 3D view. You can select one particle system to preview at a time.

To preview a particle system in the 3D view:

1. Select a particle system in the Navigator or 3D view.
2. In the 3D view, select to activate particle animation. Now you can see the particle animation in the 3D view.

You can pause the particle animation by selecting . When the animation is paused, you can use to manually seek forward or backward in the particle animation.

Summary of the 3D View Toolbar Buttons

The 3D view toolbar contains the following buttons: