Scene Settings

When modeling in Valence 3D, the Modeler view displays a grid and axis to help you orient yourself in space and stay grounded. There are various scene settings that can be turned on and off to customize the modeling experience to suite your needs. These settings are grouped under SCENE in the Settings sheet.

Settings Sheet

Valence 3D Settings Sheet View

Show Axis

By default, Valence 3D is set to show the right (x-axis), up (y-axis) and forward (z-axis) axes. These axes are represented by thin colored lines that meet at the origin. The x-axis is red. The y-axis is green. The z-axis is blue.

Perspective Modeler View (Axes & Grid)

Valence 3D Modeler Perspective View

Show Grid

By default, Valence 3D is set to show the Grid. The Grid is composed of lines equally spaced 1 unit apart. The major grid lines are less transparent (more opaque) that the subgrid lines. The number of subgrid lines are configurable by the Grid Interval stepper in the SCENE settings. You can hide the grid by setting the Show Grid toggle to OFF.

Orthographic Modeler View (Axes & Grid)

Valence 3D Modeler Orthographic View

Grid Divisions

The Grid Division setting determines the spacing between each subgrid line (which are more transparent than the major grid lines). To calculate the spacing between each subgrid line, the formula is as follows: 1.0 / Grid Divisions. So if you have 4 grid divisions, which is the default, then the space between each subgrid line is 1.0 / 4.0 or 0.25. To increase or decrease the number of subgrid divisions, use the + or - buttons to the right of the Grid Divisions label.

Show Tool Measurements

Whenever you use a tool to move, rotate, scale, extrude, etc, by default Valence 3D will show a visual helper that displays how far you have translated, rotated, scaled, extruded, etc. For example when rotating an object, you'll see a visual helper (shown in cyan below) that shows how much you have rotated. Each tool has a slightly different visual helper that shows its measurement. You can turn off these visual helpers by setting the Show Tool Measurements toggle to OFF.

Rotate Tool Measurement (Visual Helper)

Valence 3D Modeler Rotate Measurement