Object types

Each type in the ADD OBJECT menu has settings of its own. They appear in the INSPECTOR, on the right of the window, when one object of that type is selected with a click in the viewport or on its row in OBJECTS. With two or more objects selected, the INSPECTOR shows ALIGN & DISTRIBUTE in place of settings, as Organize a scene describes.

The defaults in the tables are those of an object added from the menu. A slider changes with a drag or a click on its track, and clicking its readout lets you type a number. A typed number outside the range is set to the nearest end of it, and a slider of whole numbers rounds it. The settings of an object are saved with the scene. To add objects, see Add objects.

#What each type supports

A boolean works only on closed solids. It also refuses an object whose array is turned on, and one that a SHATTER or BURST deformer has broken open. How Orbit builds objects gives the reasons, and Combine and cut objects with booleans the steps. Lights take no material, deformers, arrays or booleans.

#Sections shared by most types

From top to bottom, the INSPECTOR of an object shows the name field, the sections of its type, ORGANIC, SHADING, TRANSFORM, MATERIAL, DEFORMERS and ARRAY. Each section appears only for the types in the table above that use it.

#Name and MAKE EDITABLE (TAB)

The name field at the top starts with the type and a number, such as Sphere 1 or Möbius 2. A new name takes effect with each keystroke and can be up to 30 characters long. Spaces at either end are dropped, and an empty field leaves the old name in place.

MAKE EDITABLE (TAB), below the name, turns the object into an editable mesh and starts poly edit, as Tab does. The button appears only for the types marked Yes in its column. Once the object is a mesh, the button reads ENTER POLY EDIT (TAB) or EXIT POLY EDIT (TAB), and outside poly edit the sections of the type are dimmed under the MESH IS EDITED banner, described with its RESET TO PARAMETRIC button in Mesh editing tools. How Orbit builds objects explains the conversion.

#ORGANIC

On an editable mesh that was smoothed before the conversion, the line A SMOOTHING PASS IS BAKED INTO THE EDITED MESH. ENABLING ADDS ANOTHER. appears under the switch.

#SHADING

ORGANIC rounds the shape across its creases, so a crease set here does not survive smoothing. See How Orbit builds objects.

#TRANSFORM

Values stop at 100,000 either way. The padlock at the right of the header locks the object, with the tooltip Lock (⌘L), and dims these fields. For WATER the section holds a single HEIGHT slider, from −100 to 100 m. Move, rotate and scale objects covers the gizmo and the other ways to place an object.

#MATERIAL

The section shows a preview sphere and the name of the preset the object's material matches, or Custom when it matches none. A click opens the MATERIAL BROWSER. New objects wear Chrome, apart from TERRAIN, which gets Landscape, and WATER, which gets Water. An EMITTER has no MATERIAL section. See Apply and edit materials and Material settings and presets.

#DEFORMERS and ARRAY

DEFORMERS holds ADD DEFORMER and the stack of deformers on the object, and its header counts the ones switched on, such as 2 ACTIVE. ARRAY repeats the object in a pattern once ENABLE ARRAY is on. WATER and EMITTER have neither section, because they have no mesh for a deformer or an array to act on. The settings are listed in Deformers and Array settings.

#SPHERE, TORUS, BOX, CYLINDER and CONE

The basic solids share one section, GEOMETRY, which sets how many faces make up the surface. Their size comes from SCALE in TRANSFORM. At a scale of 1, a sphere is 2 m across and a box 2 m on each side. A cylinder is 2 m tall and 1.6 m across, and a cone 2 m tall and 2 m across its base. The ring of a torus has a radius of 1 m, measured to the middle of its tube.

#PLATONIC

A regular solid whose faces are all the same shape. It has a GEOMETRY section and no SIDES or SEGMENTS, because each solid has a fixed number of faces.

#SPLINE TUBE

A tube swept along a curved path, the spine. A new tube follows an S curve through three points with a round cross-section. It has four sections, CROSS-SECTION, SPINE, PARAMETERS and RESOLUTION. Shape a lathe, extrusion or tube with curves covers the curve editor and the spine.

A spine needs at least two points. With fewer, the tube has no surface and the amber line Spline Tube needs at least 2 spine points. appears.

#EXTRUDE

An outline pushed straight out into a solid. A new extrusion is a star with five points, 1 m deep. Its sections are PROFILE, PARAMETERS and CAPS & BEVEL.

The bevel moves each point of the outline toward its center, so on an outline with deep inward corners the bevel can fold through itself. An outline needs at least three points, or the amber line Extrude profile needs at least 3 points. appears in place of a shape.

#LATHE

An outline spun around an upright axis, the way a vase is turned on a wheel. A new lathe is a vase with a closed base and an open rim, set in PROFILE and PARAMETERS. The CURVE EDITOR for a lathe shows the axis and can trace a photo, as Shape a lathe, extrusion or tube with curves shows.

A point of the outline that sits on the axis closes the surface there, like the base of the new vase. An end away from the axis is left as an open rim. A lathe can take part in a boolean only with SWEEP at 360°. An outline that starts and ends on the axis is then closed as it is. Any other outline needs one of the settings in this table.

An outline needs at least two points, or the amber line Lathe profile needs at least 2 points. appears.

#HELIX

A wire coiled like a spring around an upright axis. Its height is PITCH times TURNS. Its settings are in PARAMETERS and RESOLUTION.

#MÖBIUS

A strip joined into a loop with a twist. With one half twist it has only one side and one edge. PARAMETERS and RESOLUTION hold its settings.

A new Möbius strip starts at 64 SEGMENTS, above the range of its slider. A drag or a typed value sets it between 1 and 32, and the strip becomes coarser. ⌘Z brings back 64.

#TORUS KNOT

A tube that winds around a ring and through its hole until it meets itself, set in KNOT, PARAMETERS and RESOLUTION.

As with MÖBIUS, the default SEGMENTS is above the range of the slider. Moving the slider sets it to 32 or lower, and ⌘Z brings back 96.

#METABALLS

Blobs that merge into one smooth surface where they come near each other. A new object has three blobs. Below PARAMETERS comes BLOBS, whose header gives the number of blobs, such as BLOBS · 3.

The position and size of each blob are set in the viewport while the object is selected. A drag moves a blob, scrolling over it changes its radius between 0.05 and 2 m, and a drag across empty space adds a blob. Keyboard shortcuts and mouse gestures lists these gestures.

#TERRAIN

A square of land built from a noise recipe and a random seed. A new terrain is a mountain range 20 m on each side, with its pivot at its base. The sections are TERRAIN, HEIGHTFIELD, NOISE, TERRAIN SHADING and EDITOR.

Changing the recipe, the resolution or a NOISE slider, or clicking REROLL, rebuilds the land and discards any sculpting done in the terrain editor. TERRAIN SHADING colors the ground by height. Terrain settings, brushes and filters lists its settings, the DRAINAGE sliders and the terrain editor, and Build a terrain puts them to use.

#WATER

A flat water surface that reaches the horizon in every direction. It has no size or rotation, so TRANSFORM holds a single HEIGHT slider. The sections are WATER, RIPPLES and EDITOR. The defaults below are those of a new water surface, most of them set by the Water material it wears. Another material or a wave style from EDIT WATER… changes some of them.

While the material's transparency is 0, the settings in WATER are dimmed with the line Refraction is off at TRANSPARENCY 0. Raise it to use these. The ripple sliders are dimmed while BUMP ENABLED is off. Add water and choose its waves covers wave styles, wind and refraction.

#TEXT

A word in solid letters, set on one line, centered on the object and facing the starting view of the camera. A new text object reads Orbit in Helvetica. Its one section is TEXT.

The EDIT TEXT sheet repeats the text field as STRING, with SIZE, DEPTH and a FONT list that shows each font in its own typeface. Fonts made of color pictures, such as emoji, produce no letters. See Make 3D text.

#SADDLE

A curved sheet that rises on two opposite sides and dips on the other two. It is built from two sets of straight lines, and the viewport can draw those lines over the surface. Its settings fall under SHAPE, RESOLUTION and DISPLAY.

#HYPERBOLOID

A shape like a cooling tower, pinched at the waist and flared at both ends. It is built from straight lines that lean around the axis. The sections are SHAPE, SHEETS, RESOLUTION and DISPLAY.

#PARABOLOID

A round dish. With no straight lines to draw, it has only SHAPE and RESOLUTION and no DISPLAY section.

SADDLE, HYPERBOLOID and PARABOLOID are open sheets, and none of them has a setting that closes it.

#GROWTH

A plant grown from the branching rules of a species and a random seed. A new plant is a tree about 2 m tall with its own seed. Its settings are in GROWTH and GLOW MOTES.

GLOW MOTES adds small glowing points to the plant.

A plant is made of separate branches that overlap, so it is not one closed solid. For the species and for forests, see Grow plants. The motes have their own guide, Add fireflies and glowing motes.

#EMITTER

A source of glowing motes with no surface of its own, so a render shows only the motes. POSITION, ROTATION and SCALE in TRANSFORM move, turn and stretch the area they start from. Apart from TRANSFORM, the INSPECTOR has one section, EMITTER, and no MATERIAL, DEFORMERS, ARRAY, ORGANIC or SHADING.

See Add fireflies and glowing motes.

#LIGHT

LIGHT adds a point light 6 m up and 4 m from the center of the scene, on the side where the camera starts. Its POINT AT starts on the selected object, or with nothing selected on the middle of the objects in the scene, so a switch to a spot or area light already aims there. The INSPECTOR of a light shows its name, a caption such as LIGHT · POINT, and the sections TYPE, APPEARANCE and POSITION, followed by SPOT or AREA for those kinds and then ATTENUATION.

A light has no rotation or scale. On a spot or area light, the rotate gizmo swings POINT AT around the light. Changes to a light's settings, apart from its name, add no undo step of their own, as What undo covers explains. Presets that replace every light, and the fade curves in detail, are in Light a scene.

#PEN / LOFT

PEN / LOFT turns on the pen, and LOFT turns the strokes into an object. One stroke becomes a SPLINE TUBE 0.12 m in radius, with the settings of any tube. Two or more strokes become a loft, a thin surface stretched from each stroke to the next, named Loft 1 and so on. Its one section is LOFT.

Below the slider, a line such as 3 STROKES · MAKE EDITABLE TO RESHAPE gives the number of strokes. To change the shape of a loft, make it editable or draw it again. See Draw shapes with the pen.