Inspector

The Inspector is a panel that contains editable node & scene properties. The Inspector is contextually aware, so it changes based on your selection.

If you have a mesh selected or if you're editing one of the mesh's components (faces, edges or vertices), then the Inspector will show various node properties (see below).

Node Inspector

Alternatively, if you have nothing selected and your active Component Selection is set to Mesh, then the Inspector will show scene properties.

Scene Inspector

Modeler Interface

If you are on iPad, toggle the Inspector by tapping the Toggle Inspector button located near the bottom right corner of the screen.

If you are on iPhone, toggle the Inspector by tapping on the Toggle Inspector button located near the bottom right corner of the screen.

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Node Inspector

When you have a node (which could be a mesh, image / photo reference, empty node, etc) selected, the Inspector will show various node properties (Node Inspector). You can use the Node Inspector to view and edit those properties. The sections below outline how to use different sections in the Node Inspector.

Toggle Node Inspector

If you double tap on a mesh (when the active Component Selection is set to Mesh), this will toggle the Inspector. So if the inspector is not showing, then it will emerge from the right edge of the screen. If the Inspector is showing and you've double tapped on a mesh, then it disappear into the right edge of the screen (see below).

Name

At the top of the Node Inspector, you'll see the name of the selected node (active component if you have multiple nodes selected) post-fixed with "Inspector". If you double tap on the name, a modal popup will show up with a text input field. You can use this input field to set the name of the node.

Transform

The TRANSFORM section of the Node Inspector is where you can view, copy, link, set and reset a node's position, rotation, and scale.

Local vs Global

When you have a complex scene hierarchy where nodes are child of other nodes. Sometimes its easier to use a node's local coordinate space verses it's global coordinate space. The segmented picker at the top of the TRANSFORM section allows you to set which coordinate space is easiest to work with given your desired outcome. Simply tap on the coordinate space you'd like to use and the values displayed in the position, rotation and scale will change to reflect the node's transform in that space.

Position

You can set a node's position using the text input fields in the POSITION section within the TRANSFORM section. Tap on the desired component value and type in a new value. You can also touch down and drag any of the component label's to change the value continuously.

Rotation

You can set a node's rotation using the text input fields in the ROTATION section within the TRANSFORM section. Tap on the desired component value and type in a new value. The rotation numbers shown are in degrees. You can also touch down and drag any of the component label's to change the value continuously.

Scale

You can set a node's scale using the text input fields in the SCALE section within the TRANSFORM section. Tap on the desired component value and type in a new value. The rotation numbers shown are in degrees. You can also touch down and drag any of the component label's to change the value continuously.

Mesh Information

When a mesh is selected, the MESH INFORMATION section reports the mesh's topology and size. The counts update live as you model, which makes this the quickest way to see what an operation actually did.

• TRIANGLES — the triangle count after the mesh is triangulated for rendering.
• FACES — the number of polygons (a quad counts once, not twice).
• EDGES — the number of edges.
• VERTICES — the number of vertices.
• SUBMESHES — the number of submeshes the mesh is divided into.
• LOCAL — the size of the mesh's bounding box in its own local space, ignoring its transform.
• WORLD — the size of the mesh's axis-aligned bounding box in world space, after its transform is applied.

Display Options

The DISPLAY OPTIONS section contains settings that affect how a mesh or image reference is rendered. Which toggles appear depends on the kind of node selected.

Shade Smooth

When you have a mesh selected, by default SHADE SMOOTH will be off. This will render the mesh such that it looks faceted. You can turn SHADE SMOOTH on and it will then render the model using vertex normals instead of face normals. The final shading rendered on screen is determined by this toggle, whether faces or edges in the mesh have been hardened and whether there is a Subdivision Modifier on the mesh. If there is a subdivision modifier on the mesh, then it will shade smooth regardless of the state of the SHADE SMOOTH toggle.

Show Back Faces

Sometimes its useful to display back faces. By default, SHOW BACK FACES is off. Turning it on will result in worst rendering performance for meshes that have a high polyon count.

Double Sided

When an image reference is selected, DISPLAY OPTIONS shows a DOUBLE SIDED toggle instead. Turn it on to make the photo visible from behind as well as in front, which saves you rotating the reference when you orbit to the other side of your model.

Color

When a dimension is selected, DISPLAY OPTIONS shows a COLOR picker that sets the color of that dimension's line and label. Give different dimensions different colors to keep a cluttered measurement overlay readable.

Material

The MATERIAL section contains various material properties that are tweakable. This section is contextually aware and changes based on the Rendering Mode selected. So if you have selected an image reference, then it will show material properties for the image reference instead of a mesh.

When you have a mesh selected and the rendering mode is set to Physically Based or Path Traced you can edit the material's physically based rendering parameters (see below).

• BASE COLOR — the material's main color.
• EMISSIVE COLOR — light the surface gives off on its own. In Path Traced mode an emissive material lights the rest of the scene.
• ROUGHNESS — how diffuse reflections are. Low is mirror-like, high is matte.
• METALLIC — how metallic the surface is. Metals tint their reflections with the base color.
• SPECULAR — the strength of specular highlights.
• CLEARCOAT — a thin glossy layer over the surface, like the lacquer on car paint.
• CLEARCOAT ROUGHNESS — how rough that clearcoat layer is.
• TRANSMISSION — how much light passes through the surface, for glass and other transparent materials.
• OCCLUSION — how much ambient light reaches the surface.
• IOR — the index of refraction, which governs how light bends through a transmissive material.

Modifiers

The MODIFIERS section contains various modifier properties that are tweakable. This section is contextually aware and changes based on the modifiers on a mesh. So if there are no modifiers on the selected mesh, then the MODIFIERS section will not appear. This section is where you'll be able to tweak modifier parameters and apply the modifier as well.

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Scene Inspector

When you have a nothing selected, the Inspector will show various scene properties (Scene Inspector). You can use the Scene Inspector to view and edit those properties. The sections below outline how to use different sections in the Scene Inspector.

Toggle Scene Inspector

If you double tap on the background (when the active Component Selection is Mesh), this will clear the selection and toggle the Scene Inspector (see below). So if the inspector is not showing, then it will emerge from the right edge of the screen. If the Inspector is showing and you've double tapped on a mesh, then it disappear into the right edge of the screen (see below).

Units

The UNITS section sets the LENGTH unit for the file you are working on — this is what "1 grid unit" means. New files start at whatever you have set as the Default File Units. Changing it here affects only the current file.

Camera

The CAMERA settings allow you to change the camera's field of view. By default the camera's field of view is 45 degrees. You can change the field of view by using the CAMERA FOV slider.

Background

The BACKGROUND settings allow you to change the background of the scene. By default the scene's background TYPE is set to Theme. The Theme setting sets the background to a solid color based on the Theme Settings.

Another option for the background type is Color. When set, you can specify the color usingthe color picker below the background type menu.

The last option for the background type is Environment. When set, the scene's background will be the built-in HDRI used to light the scene. You can specify how blurry the background is using the slider below the background type menu.

Environment

The ENVIRONMENT settings allow you to change the INTENSITY and ROTATION of the High Dynamic Range Image based lighting. By default the INTENSITY is set to 0.5 and the ROTATION is set to 0.0 degrees.

Path Tracer

The PATH TRACER section only appears when the Path Traced Rendering Mode is active.

• MAX DEPTH — how many times a light ray is allowed to bounce before the path tracer stops following it. Higher values resolve reflections, refractions and indirect light more faithfully but take longer to converge. Raise it when working with glass or mirrors; lower it for a faster preview.

Tonemapping

The TONEMAPPING section also only appears in Path Traced Rendering Mode. Tonemapping is what compresses the path tracer's high dynamic range output into something your display can show, so these controls change the look of the render without changing the scene.

• TINT — a color multiplied over the render.
• FILTER — which tonemapping curve to apply, chosen from the drop down: none, aces, filmic, lottes, reinhard, reinhard2, uchimura (the default), uncharted2 or unreal. Each rolls off highlights differently, so try a few and pick the one that suits the render.
• TONEMAP — how strongly that curve is applied.
• EXPOSURE — overall brightness, as on a camera.
• GAMMA — the gamma correction applied to the result.