3D Impressions Help - Format Context Ribbon

The Format Context Ribbon is shown when you select either a scene objects or light object.  For light objects, those actions not suitable are not shown.

Styles

Foreground

This option allows you to quickly place the object into the Foreground Layer.

Background

This option allows you to quickly place the object into the Background Layer.

Child

This option removes the object from typical view but allows it to be referenced by other objects for such things as Text Overlay backgrounds.

Visible

This option can be useful when creating and testing your scene as this allows you to quickly hide the selected object.

More

There are a number of additional styles that can affect the appearance of the object.  Some of these style choices are common and are also available as their own property, such as which whether it is visible or which layer it is drawn on.  This feature gives you access to all these styles.  For a complete list of descriptions see 'Object Styles'.

Arrange

Here you can quickly position the selected object to a number of evenly spaced locations.

X, Y & Z Arrange

These values determine the target location of the object is 3D space.  The values are based on percentages of the screen size, such that:

• 0% is at the extreme left of the screen.
• 100% is at the extreme right of the screen.

• 0% is at the bottom of the screen.
• 100% is at the top of the screen.

• 0% is normal distance, where objects scaled to 100% of the screen fill the display exactly.
• -100% is the closest to the viewer; a lower value is behind them.
• +10000% is the furthest from the viewer.

Scale

Scale By

This shows and allows change of what the selected object is scaled in relation to.  For more information, see its entry under 'General Properties' topic.

Scale Buttons

These 6 buttons re-scale the selected object in steps of 5%, as follows:

	These buttons grow or shrink the selected object's width.
	These buttons grow or shrink the selected object's height.
	These buttons grow or shrink the selected object's depth.

X, Y & Z Scale

These properties determine the target width, height and depth of the object.  The values are based on percentages and relative to the selected 'Scale By' property.  Scaling is also performed before any object orientation.

Orientation

These 6 buttons change the selected object's orientation in jumps of 1/32th of a circle, (12.5 degrees) as follows:

	These buttons rotate the selected object counter-clockwise or clockwise about the z-axis.
	These buttons rotate the selected object counter-clockwise or clockwise about the x-axis.
	These buttons rotate the selected object counter-clockwise or clockwise about the y-axis.

X, Y & Z Orientation

These values determine how the object's shape is rotated from its usual position.  Positive values mean a clockwise rotation about that axis, (as imagined as looking at the object in the positive direction of that axis).  E.g. An upward pointing arrow object with Orientation Z ° of +90 would now point to the right.

Mesh

Edit Text

Only available for 3D Text Meshes, this property allows you to edit its text and font.

Var (Variable)

This property is only shown for those mesh types where an aspect of its shape can be customized.  For information on how this affects the object's mesh, see the description for the mesh type at 'Object Meshes'.

Qty (Quantity)

This value allows you to replicate the same object many times.  Typically this is used when some other property has a random value; otherwise you'll be wasting processing power having multiple copies of the same object drawn identically.

Advanced

Conditional Logic

This feature allows you to specify date and time ranges for when an object is to be present during playback.  This allows you to create more engaging designs where certain objects only appear for specific events or seasons.

For more information, see the 'Object Conditional Logic' topic.