Interface at a glance

Interface at a glance

Roll over parts of this image of the AliasStudio user interface to see a short description of what they do. Click down to be taken to a more detailed description down the page.

View windows

Display different views of your scene.

Hold + and drag the mouse buttons to change the view.
Use the items in the Layouts menu to switch the view positions and sizes, or fill the screen with a single view.
Use the items in the DisplayToggles menu to change what AliasStudio shows in the view windows and how it presents objects.

See Manage view windows

Palette window

Holds all the tools you use to manipulate objects in your scene.

Click the on the title tab of a palette to hide or show the tools inside.
-click a title tab to see a menu of the tools inside the palette.
Click a tool to select it. Double-click a tool to open its options window, if it has one.
Press and hold tools marked with a yellow arrow to show a sub-palette of additional tools.
To show or hide the palette window, choose Windows > Palette .

Go to the online help home page and click Tools & menus to see a complete list of all tools.

See Use tools and menus

Control panel

Allows fast access to modeling, visualization, and paint functions.

To show or hide the panel, choose Windows > Control panel
To switch between the modeling panel and the paint panel, choose Image > Tgl 2D Panel.
Drag tools you use often to the mini-shelf at the top of the panel, allowing you to close the main shelf window to save space.

For more information, see Control Panels.

Shelf window

Organizes your commonly used tools with individual settings.

Click a shelf's title tab to view the tools in that shelf.
Tool copies on shelves maintain their own independent options settings.
Use the Options pop-up menu in the shelf window's title bar to add a shelf.
-drag a tool or shelf tab to the trashcan icon to delete it.
To show or hide the shelf window, choose Windows > Shelves .

See Customize AliasStudio

Menus

Contain functions that affect the scene, the picked objects, or the AliasStudio program.

Click a menu title to open the menu.
Menu items with a icon have options. Click the icon to open the option window.

Go to the online help home page and click Tools & menus to see a complete list of all menu items.

See Use tools and menus

Prompt line

Displays messages and information.

Instructions for using the current tool, error messages, and information you type are displayed in the prompt line.

To review recent messages click the button to the left of the prompt line.

Layers

Organize objects into layers so you can operate on them as a group.

Use the items in the Layers menu to manage layers.
Press and hold a layer button to open a pop-up menu of functions and settings for that layer.

See Organize objects

History button

Opens the history window, allowing you to edit the history of how an object was created.

Construction history is the saved information about how an object was created, such as tool options, and other objects used.

When you change options or objects from an object's history, the object will automatically update.

The history window lets you view and edit the relationships between objects maintaining construction history.

Click the history button to open the history window.
Press and hold the history button to show a pop-up menu of construction history functions.

· For more information, search for: construction history

Snap modes

Cause tools to snap to the nearest grid point, curve, or control point.

To snap to curves, hold + , or click .
To snap to the grid, hold , or click .
To snap to control points and locators, hold , or click .
To set snapping options, click the triangular arrow to the right of the snap icons to open the option window.

See Snap to curves, points, or the grid

Window title bar icons

Perform various actions on the window and its view.

See Work with camera objects

See Magnify part of a view

See Use the smooth tumble icon to view shaded surfaces

See Hide or show specific items

See Resize view windows

See Make certain windows stay in front or behind others.

Tool

Manipulates objects in the scene.

Click a tool to select it. Double-click a tool to open its options window, if it has one.
Press the on a tool to see its name.
Choose Preferences > General Preferences to change the display of tool icons (in the Interface section).
Press and hold tools marked with a yellow arrow to show a sub-palette of additional tools.

Go to the online help home page and click Tools & menus to see a complete list of all tools.

See Use tools and menus

Marking menus

Allow very quick access to a few of your most commonly used tools.

Hold + and one of the mouse buttons to show a marking menu. Then drag out to one of the choices and release the mouse button.
Choose Preferences > Marking menus to change the tools on the marking menus. Editing marking menus is just like editing shelves.

See Customize marking menus

View panel

Lets you switch to standard or bookmarked views.

The view panel appears when you hold + in the perspective view window.

Click one of the arrows to see a side view, or click the car icons to see a top or bottom view.
Click the left-pointing filled arrow to go back to the previous view.
Click Perspective to switch between a perspective and isometric view.

See Use the view panel