Vectary - Documentation
Vectary - Documentation
Control Bar

Control Bar

Control bar

A set of fast-usability controls at the bottom center of the canvas area

Here you will learn about these tools:

image

  • Fit view
  • Display options
  • Gizmo & Pivot
  • Snap
  • Download

And also about that thing in the bottom left corner:

image

Fit View

A

Feature for focusing the camera on an object or geometric element (in edit mode).

Select the object, then press A, the camera is now focused on the object and rotating around it.

If you click on an empty area of the canvas and press A, the camera will fit all the objects that are in the scene and rotate at the center point between them.

Display options

Z

By default in object mode, objects are displayed with their materials and textures, to see it’s mesh, you need to change the display style.

In edit mode, you see the mesh of the object, but you can also switch the style and see the materials without having to change the mode.

💡
Change the style for specific objects or for all objects at once. Select an object and press Z to change the display style for that object only. Click in an empty area of the canvas and press Z to change the style for all objects.

Lightmap preview

This option is needed to see how the object will look with a baked Lightmap. Without wasting time on multiple bakings, you can quickly check how the object will look with different lights.

This variant does not use real-time rendering, but rendering based on path tracing. Accordingly, it is more resource-intensive, takes some time, and contains noise.

image

Textured display option

This is the default display option that shows all objects with materials assigned to them. It also displays shadows, reflections, and lighting - provided that these options are turned on.

image

Shaded display option

This mode allows you to see objects shaded and filled with a single gradient color.  You can see the scene composition and object placement clearly. The wire meshes of objects can also be seen — this can be useful to identify complex objects and optimizing them for performance. This is also the display used in Edit Mode.

image

Wired display option

This mode displays transparent wireframe mesh outlines of objects. This allows you to get a good ‘X-ray’ overview of the scene, and optimize performance by clearly seeing which objects have the most complex meshes, which will have a cumulative effect on performance if there are too many.

💡
This style also makes it easier to work with the mesh in edit mode. You don't have to constantly rotate the camera around the object, because in this style you see through it.

image

Bounding box display option

This display option is good for navigating and changing complex scenes. It allows you to see the space the object occupies, but there is no detailed mesh.

image

Gizmo & Pivot point

Gizmo is your virtual hand that helps you move, rotate and scale objects on the scene.

image

The three-pronged entity which appears whenever an object or modifier is selected is called the Gizmo. This will be your best friend on your Vectary Studio journey - it allows for quick repositioning and resizing of objects, modifiers, and more. Its center point is also the axis of rotation for selected objects.

Gizmo

The Gizmo can be switched to advanced mode so that there are additional control elements:

image

Gizmo can be in two states: Global and Local, switching is done with the hotkey W. The axes of the global gizmo coincide with the axes of the scene, and the axes of the local gizmo are directed relative to the object/geometric element.

image

Tips and tricks

  • Hold Shift and pull one cube to scale the object not proportionally, but only in the chosen direction.
  • Hold Right mouse button on the arc to change the direction of the axes.
  • Hold Shift and pull the arc, then the object will rotate in 15° increments.
  • Hold Right mouse button and pull the arrow to move Gizmo.
  • Left-click on Gizmo handler to enter the exact value to change the object's rotation, position and scale.
  • Right-click on the Gizmo handler to enter the exact value to change the pivot point position and rotation of the Gizmo independent of the object.

Pivot point

The center point of the Gizmo is called the Pivot point.

The object rotates, moves, and 👉 transforms with relative to this point. The position of this point can be changed.

By holding Pivot with:

  • left mouse button you can move the object or geometric element.
  • right mouse button you can move the Pivot point to any location on the scene. Or activate the Edit Origin mode to move the pivot point with the left mouse button:
    • image
  • double-click returns the pivot point back to the object.

👉
Note that the Snap settings apply to the Pivot point (if enabled).

🔥 How to quickly change the pivot point position (top, middle, bottom)

  • Hold down the right mouse button on the pivot point and move it slightly
  • This will cause a box to appear with dots at the top, middle, and bottom
  • Drag and drop a pivot point on any of them to get a new position

Snap

Snap (or magnetization) helps to be more precise in the positioning and adjustment of objects as well as geometric elements (vertices, lines, faces).

  1. Clicking the magnet icon (or S key) turns this feature on/off.

image

  1. In the pop up list you can choose which snapping will work.

For Design mode

image

For Edit mode

image

  • View — to disable automatic switching to orthogonal view when approaching such view

  • Grid — snapping to the grid

  • End — snapping to vertices (points) of the object geometry.

👉
This also works with geometric elements in Edit mode (especially useful for connecting vertices)

  • Angle — set the desired angle, thereby setting the Gizmo rotation step
    • 👉
    This also works with geometric elements in Edit mode (especially useful for setting the exact angle for lines and faces)

  • Face — snapping to the surface (faces)

💡
Object will be placed on the surface in the direction of the Z axis (blue Gizmo arrow), so change the axis direction by holding down the right mouse button to set its correct direction.

Used only in Edit mode:

  • Middle — snap to the midpoint between two vertices
  • Near — snap to line
  • Division — you can set a number of divisions you want to snap Middle, Near, Division:

Download

This option immediately downloads a rendered image of the current view 4k .png.

image

💡
To change the aspect ratio for the downloaded image, go to the camera settings and turn on the Custom aspect ratio feature

Orientation Axis and Quants

In the bottom left hand corner of the screen you will find an area containing an X Y Z orientation axis, a view type name and Project Quants.

💡
Clicking on the Axes will set the view to Orthogonal

Hotkey: TAB to cycle between orthogonal views: front, top, right, left, back, bottom.

👉
In this view, you always see the grid in the background of the object.

image

Hovering over an Axis will indicate the view that will be set if clicked with the left mouse button:

💡
It's easy to remember by the colors: X Y Z = R G B

Project Quants

These are three icons followed by a number.

image

58824 — number of vertices

19608 — number of triangles

25 — number of objects

The number of triangles (polygons) affects the loading speed of the scene.

Read more about the recommended number of polygons here.

InstagramYouTubeDiscordXLinkedIn

Vectary Studio