Shading Viewport Label Menu: Nitrous Viewports

Command entry:Click or right-click the Shading label in the upper-left corner of a viewport. The text of this label shows the current shading style; for example, “[ Wireframe ]” or “[ Realistic ]”.

This Shading viewport label menu lets you choose how objects are displayed in the Nitrous viewport.

NoteYou can customize this menu. In the Menus tab of the Customize User Interface dialog, choose Viewport Menu Label Bar from the menu list on the right. This menu is named “Shading Viewport Label Menu.”

Interface

[shading styles]: Lets you choose from among the most commonly used shading styles. Shading styles are described in the topic, Visual Style & Appearance Panel.

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Stylized: Shows a submenu that lets you choose one of the non-photorealistic styles.

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Lighting and Shadows: Displays a submenu with options for lighting and shadow previews in viewports.
Materials: Displays a submenu with options for material display.

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Viewport Background: Displays a submenu with options for displaying a background in the viewport.

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Configure: Displays the Visual Style & Appearance panel of the Viewport Configuration dialog. This lets you change the visual style and set other options.

Lighting and Shadows submenu

Viewport lighting affects viewports only: It has no effect on how the scene is rendered.

Options on this menu are disabled when Shaded is the active style.

Illuminate with Scene Lights

When chosen, the viewport uses lighting from light objects in the scene.

Illuminate with Default Lights

(The default.) When chosen, the viewport uses lighting from the default lights.

Ctrl+L toggles between using scene lights and default lights.

Scene Lights Control

Displays a submenu for managing lights in the scene:

Auto Display Selected LightsWhen on, light from selected lights is automatically displayed in shaded viewports. Default=off.
Lock Selected LightsLocks the selected lights.
Unlock Selected LightsUnlocks the selected lights.
To "lock" a light means that the light will stay on until it is unlocked, whether or not the light casts shadows. When a light is locked, choosing Auto Display Selected Lights does not turn it off.

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The choices that follow are toggles.

Shadows: When on, the viewport previews shadows. See Previewing Shadows and Other Lighting in Viewports.
Ambient Occlusion: When on, the viewport previews ambient occlusion.

Materials submenu

These options are the same as those on the Views menu Show Materials in Viewport As_submenu

Enable Transparency: When on, transparent materials are displayed as transparent. Default=on.

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The remaining options choose whether to uses Shaded (Phong) or Realistic materials, and whether or not to display maps.

Viewport Background submenu

Show Background: Toggles the display of any viewport background image or animation.

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Viewport Background: Opens the Viewport Background dialog, which lets you choose a background image for the viewport.

Keyboard shortcut: Alt+B
Update Background Image: Reloads the background image or animation. This option can be useful if you have edited the file in an application outside of 3ds Max.

This option is disabled if no background image has been assigned.
Reset Background Transform: When Lock Zoom/Pan is turned on in the Viewport Background dialog, choosing this option undoes zooming and panning you might have applied to the background, and restores its original position. This option affects the background only: it doesn’t undo the actual viewport POV changes.

This option is disabled if no background image has been assigned.

Non-Photorealistic Styles
In Autodesk 3ds Max 2012, you can choose among visual styles.

Topics in this section