Getting started
Studio Navigation
Design process
Sharing and embedding
Canvas
This is your infinite-sized 3D-canvas on which you interact with the objects.
The basic scene settings are in the panel on the right when you have not highlighted anything: Background, Environment, Ground Plane.
When you select an object, the scene settings disappear and the settings for the object appear. To return to the scene settings, press Esc or click on an empty area of the canvas.
You also see the Grid on canvas, and you'll learn about that in this article as well.
Various effects can be applied to the scene, you can read about it here:
Learn more about the scene workflow here:
Background
The background of the canvas has limitless possibilities. Watch the video to find out about different background options and how to customize them.
- Transparent - If you need a transparent background on your .png or embed.
- Environment - Shows the HDRi map, but not the map itself, only its light and dark zones.
- Solid - A solid color. Note that there is also a dropper to select the color directly from the scene.
- Linear - A linear gradient. Change the direction and add new colors by clicking on the line. To remove the color, simply connect one point to another.
- Radial - A radial gradient. Same as a linear gradient, only in a circle.
- Texture - Upload your own image as a background. Insert a link to the image from the web. In the Transform tab, change the Fit, as well as the Resolution of the image.
Note: Some background options have additional Adjust and Transform tabs. The Adjust tab allows you to change the color properties, and the Transform tab allows you to change the position, resolution, etc.
Environment
Environment = Global illumination
The image below is an example of an HDRi-map. Below you see just a png cover, but such a map should be in .hdr format. The HDRi map is usually intended to be imported into a 3D program to shape the Environment.
On the image, there are areas with lights that will provide the global illumination of the scene. Of course, the lighting can be adjusted, turned off or other local light sources can be used.
Note that Environment and Background are not the same thing. A Background refers to the space. The Environment refers to the global illumination, that works with any other selected background.
Vectary has its own Environments library. There are two kinds of Environments: studio and outdoor. When you change an environment, you won't see the image of the Environment itself in the background (even if you select Environment in the Background settings). You will only see the light and dark areas of the Environment.
Different environments can make a big difference to your scene. We encourage you to explore the environment and their settings. If you need additional maps to the ones available in the Vectary library, you can always import them as .hdr files.
Each Environment has the following adjustments for you to fine-tune as needed:
- Intensity - By changing the intensity you can dim the light or make it barely noticeable. You can set an intensity value greater than 100, just enter the desired value. Or turn it off by setting it to 0.
- Rotation - The angle at which the light falls on the object is quite important. Rotating the surroundings can reveal new results.
- Hue - Change the shade of the light to create different moods.
- Saturation - If the effect of the environment is too colorful or intense for your scene, a negative saturation value will correct this. Do the opposite if the color is not strong enough.
- Shadow - Adjust the intensity of the shadows.
- Blurriness - The HDRi map is visible in the reflective surfaces. With this setting you can blur that reflection.
Camera
Cameras are needed not only to save the view you like, but also for various settings, among them such important options as View Limits, Depth of field and Orthographic view.
By default, the scene is viewed through the “default camera”. It's not really a camera, because we don't have any settings for it.
Camera is added here:
When you add a camera to a scene, it does not automatically switch to its view. That is, you just set the camera in the right place, but don't look out of it yet. To enter it, click the button in the left or right bar.
You can control the camera target with Gizmo.
Tip: Try to get in the habit of locking your camera, because it's easy to forget that you're looking at a scene from a camera whose view you chose.
Camera parameters:
- Perspective and Orthographic
You can switch between projections. In the Orthographic projection, all objects and the distance between them will always look the same, no matter from which perspective we look and how far apart the objects are.
In the Perspective projection we see the scene as in real life, for example, the size of the object decreases as it gets farther away from us. But we can change the angle of view with Field of view. This is useful in some situations, read about it below.
- Field of view
You can change the extent of the scene you are observing. This parameter will help to change the perception of the volume of space and the size of the object. For example, being inside an ordinary cube, you can create the feeling of a huge hall. Or a toy rocket can become a giant spaceship.
- Depth of field
Add realism to your scene with focus. You can select an area that will be in focus, and anything outside of it will be blurred.
Focus offset — select an object to indicate what should be in focus. the rest will be blurred.
Intensity — blur intensity.
- View Limits
You can limit the control of your scene to the viewers. This includes camera rotation, zoom and panning. If you set all values to 0, the scene will be completely still. You can see the result in the Preview mode.
Ground Plane
This is used for setting a shadow without having a defined floor.
To see a shadow in Vectary, you need some kind of surface on which you can see it.
The Ground Plane feature allows you to get a shadow under an object without having to add a floor. Turn it on to customize it: change the color, size and the opacity. Sometimes, it is necessary to have a shadow, especially if it is a stand-alone object.
The shadow from global illumination can be small, so add a light source and don't forget to activate the shadow option in the properties
Grid
The grid is made up of a series of intersecting lines in the canvas.
The main purpose of the grid — it allows you to navigate in space and understand how objects are located in relation to each other. If your scene is fine without a grid, you can disable it in two ways:
Right clickon an empty space → Hide Grid- Menu → Settings → Grid
The grid units are those selected in the menu: mm or inch.
Tip: By pressing the TAB key, the view will change to orthogonal with the grid in the background.
