App settings
SETTINGS holds Orbit's preferences for the viewport grid and background, the readouts drawn over the viewport, camera speed, the lights a new scene starts with and hover labels. It also shows the purchase status and holds the controls for the activity log. Click SETTINGS at the right end of the toolbar (only its icon shows when the window is narrow), or press ⌘K and choose OPEN SETTINGS, to open it as a sheet with DONE at the bottom. Settings… in the Orbit menu (⌘,) opens the same sections in a separate window with no DONE button; close that window with its close button or ⌘W.
A change takes effect in the viewport as soon as you make it, with the sheet still open. Orbit keeps each setting for the macOS user account and restores it at the next launch. Settings are kept apart from scenes. A saved scene does not carry them and opening a scene leaves them unchanged. ⌘Z does not reverse them either.
With SHOW TOOLTIPS on, the strip at the bottom of the sheet describes the control under the pointer, in capitals. The buttons in DIAGNOSTICS have no description there.
A slider's value can also be typed into the box at its right. A typed value outside the slider's range is set to the nearest end of the range.
Viewport
| Label | Values and default | Effect | Interactions |
|---|---|---|---|
| SHOW GRID | On or off. Default on. | Draws the reference grid on the ground. | ⌘K TOGGLE GRID switches it too. |
| DUPLICATE REPEATS OFFSET | On or off. Default on. | Sets where ⌘D puts a copy. A copy of an object lands 1.5 m along X from the original, and a copy of a light 2 m. On: once a copy is moved, the next ⌘D repeats that move, and each further ⌘D repeats it again. Off: every copy lands at that fixed distance along X. | |
| GRID COLOR | Color swatch. Default white. | Color of the grid lines. | |
| GRID OPACITY | 0.00 to 1.00. Default 0.15. | Strength of the grid lines. At 0 the grid is hidden. | |
| GRID CELL | 0.25 to 4.00 m. Default 1.00 m. | Size of one grid square. | Also the step for SNAP during gizmo drags, for ALIGN TO GRID and for drags in poly edit with ⇧ held. |
| INFINITE GRID | On or off. Default off. | Off: the grid reaches 10 m from the center of the scene in each direction along the ground. On: the grid covers the ground wherever the camera looks. | The infinite grid reaches at most 300 grid squares from the point the camera looks at, so with a small GRID CELL its edge can come into view when the camera is far out. ⌘K TOGGLE INFINITE GRID switches it too. |
| BACKGROUND | Color swatch. Default near black. | Color the viewport shows where no sky is drawn, as in the Wireframe and Flat views. | The LIVE preview, renders and exports show the scene's sky instead. |
Viewport HUD
These switches control the readouts and guides drawn over the viewport. None of them appears in a render.
| Label | Values and default | Effect | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| WORLD AXIS | On or off. Default on. | The X, Y and Z compass at the bottom right of the viewport. It turns as the camera orbits and tilts. ⌘K TOGGLE WORLD AXIS switches it too. | |
| GESTURE HINTS | On or off. Default on. | The strip at the bottom left that lists the drags and keys for the pen, sculpt mode, cage edit mode and poly edit. In a scene with no objects it lists the camera gestures. | |
| TRI COUNT | On or off. Default on. | The name and triangle count of the object selected last, or the total for the whole scene when no object is selected, at the top right of the viewport. | |
| FPS READOUT | On or off. Default off. | How many times a second the viewport redraws, beside the triangle count. It reads IDLE while nothing is redrawing. ⌘K TOGGLE FPS READOUT switches it too. | |
| RENDER FRAME | On or off. Default off. | Outlines the part of the viewport that a render will contain and dims the rest. When the frame is wider than the viewport, the view widens to fit it. | The frame's shape follows the image size in EXPORT RENDER. |
| ALL LIGHT RAYS | On or off. Default off. | Draws the direction line of every spot and area light. Off: only the selected light shows its line. | |
| SHOW NORMALS | On or off. Default off. | Draws short lines on each selected object, pointing the way its surfaces face. A face line and the vertex lines around it that point different ways mark a place where the shading disagrees with the surface, such as a face turned inside out. | |
| FACE NORMALS | On or off. Default on. | One amber line from the middle of each triangle. On a mesh of more than about 8,000 triangles, only an even sample of them gets a line, which keeps the viewport responsive. | Shown only while SHOW NORMALS is on. |
| VERTEX NORMALS | On or off. Default on. | Cyan lines at the corners, in the directions used for smooth shading. Past about 8,000 corners, an even sample is drawn. | Shown only while SHOW NORMALS is on. |
| LENGTH | 0.25 to 4.00. Default 1.00. | Scales the normal lines, which are sized to each object so they stay readable on small and large objects. | Shown only while SHOW NORMALS is on. |
| SELECTION STYLE | OUTLINE, WIREFRAME, BOUNDING BOX or OFF. Default OUTLINE. | How the Flat, Shaded and Material views mark selected objects. OUTLINE draws a colored edge around the object's silhouette, WIREFRAME draws its edges, BOUNDING BOX draws the box that encloses it, and OFF marks nothing in the viewport. The Wireframe view shows every edge whatever the style, and poly edit keeps its own markings. |
Keyboard shortcuts and mouse gestures lists what GESTURE HINTS shows. Frame the shot covers composing with RENDER FRAME.
Camera
| Label | Values and default | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| ORBIT | 0.10 to 3.00. Default 1.00. | Speed of orbiting with ⌥-drag and of tilting with ⌥⇧-drag, as a multiple of the normal speed. |
| PAN | 0.10 to 3.00. Default 1.00. | Speed of panning with the middle mouse button. |
| ZOOM | 0.10 to 3.00. Default 1.00. | Speed of zooming with the scroll wheel and with ⌥-drag using the right mouse button. |
| INVERT ORBIT X | On or off. Default off. | Reverses the direction of orbiting left and right. |
| INVERT ORBIT Y | On or off. Default off. | Reverses the direction of orbiting up and down. |
| INVERT ZOOM | On or off. Default off. | Reverses the direction of scroll zoom. Zooming by dragging with the right mouse button keeps its direction. |
Move the camera and change views covers the gestures these settings adjust.
New scene
| Label | Values and default | Effect | Interactions |
|---|---|---|---|
| LIGHTS | STANDARD or EMPTY. Default STANDARD. | STANDARD starts a scene with two point lights, Key Light and Fill Light. EMPTY starts it with no lights. | Applies to the scene Orbit starts with and to each new scene from ⌘N or NEW ▸ NEW SCENE. Examples, the SCENE WIZARD and opened scenes keep their own lights. |
Interface
| Label | Values and default | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| SHOW TOOLTIPS | On or off. Default on. | Orbit's own hover labels on the viewport chips, the controls panel and the column of object buttons, and the help strips at the bottom of SETTINGS and RENDER SETTINGS. Off hides them. Tips on menus and standard buttons come from macOS and stay. |
Purchase
PURCHASE shows whether the Mac runs the free or the full version, and holds the buttons for buying and restoring. For the steps, see Buy the full version. What the purchase changes is in The free and full versions.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| CHECKING PURCHASE… | Orbit has not yet had an answer from the App Store since it started. Renders and exports behave as in the free version, and the buttons are hidden. |
| FREE VERSION | No purchase of the full version was found for the Apple Account on this Mac. |
| FREE VERSION (REFUNDED) | Apple refunded the purchase. |
| FREE VERSION (UNVERIFIED) | The App Store has a purchase record that it could not verify. |
| FULL VERSION | The purchase is confirmed. A line below the status says that Apple handles receipts and refunds, and the buttons are hidden. |
| Label | Effect | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| BUY FULL VERSION | Opens the App Store purchase sheet. The label ends with the App Store price for the account's country or region, and has no price when Orbit has not reached the App Store; clicking then tries again. It reads BUYING… until the purchase ends. | Shown in the free version once the App Store has answered. |
| RESTORE PURCHASE | Asks the App Store for a purchase made with the same Apple Account. The App Store may first ask to sign in. It reads RESTORING… while it waits. | Shown in the free version once the App Store has answered. |
When a purchase or restore does not complete, a message appears below the buttons. Starting another purchase or restore clears it. Canceling in the App Store sheet, or when asked to sign in, leaves no message.
| The message says | Cause and next step |
|---|---|
| Orbit could not reach the App Store | Orbit could not get the product from the App Store. Check the connection and try again. |
| Orbit could not verify the purchase | The purchase went through, but the App Store could not confirm it yet. Click RESTORE PURCHASE after a moment. |
| The purchase is pending approval | Someone has to approve the purchase, as with Ask to Buy. Orbit changes to the full version by itself once it is approved. |
| Orbit could not complete the purchase, and gives the App Store's reason | The purchase failed. |
| No purchase of the full version was found for this Apple Account | RESTORE PURCHASE found nothing for the account signed in. Sign in with the account that bought it. |
| Orbit could not restore, and gives the App Store's reason | The restore failed. |
File and purchase problems says what to do about each message.
Diagnostics
Orbit keeps an activity log for tracking down bugs. The two lines of text at the top of the section say that the log stays on the Mac, is never uploaded and takes at most 10 MB, and that it can include scene and object names but no file locations or personal details. Past 10 MB, Orbit drops the oldest part of the log.
| Label | Effect |
|---|---|
| EXPORT LOGS | Opens a Save panel titled Export Orbit Diagnostics, with a name such as orbit-diagnostics-20261002-091544.txt made from the date and time. Saving writes one text file with the version of Orbit and macOS, the purchase status, up to three recent crash records and the log. If the folder does not accept the file, Orbit says so; choose another folder. |
| OPEN FOLDER | Shows the folder of log files in Finder, creating it first if Orbit has not written a log yet. Because Orbit runs in the App Sandbox, the files are in Orbit's private folder, not the one named in the text above; OPEN FOLDER goes to the right one. |
| CLEAR LOGS | Asks Delete all Orbit log files? DELETE LOGS deletes the log history, and Orbit carries on in a fresh file. CANCEL, or a click outside the dialog, keeps it. Crash records are kept, and the next export still includes them. |
Report a problem covers sending the exported file, and File types describes what it contains.
Reset
| Label | Effect | Interactions |
|---|---|---|
| RESET ALL SETTINGS | Asks Reset all settings to defaults? RESET returns every setting on the sheet to the default listed on this page. CANCEL, or a click outside the dialog, changes nothing. | Also turns off SNAP and sets the pivot chip back to MEDIAN in the controls panel. Scenes, saved files, presets, the render settings, the LIVE preview and the dock along the bottom of the window stay as they are, and so does the purchase. |
Move, rotate and scale objects describes SNAP and the MEDIAN and EACH pivot modes.
Related: What undo covers, Keyboard shortcuts and mouse gestures and Report a problem.