Change the orientation of surfaces

Orient surfaces so they face toward or away from the camera.

This may be necessary before using tools that depend on surface orientation such as Ambient Occlusion, Offset and Parting Line.

Reversing the orientation of a surface does not affect the U or V parametric directions, and preserves construction history.

Change the orientation of many surfaces

This workflow lets you do the bulk of your orientation work by automatically changing the orientation of any number of surfaces at once, and shading the results (blue or yellow) for immediate feedback.

1. Choose Surface Edit > Orientation > Set Surface Orientation.

   All surfaces in the scene are shaded in blue and yellow.

   

   Surfaces facing toward the camera are shaded in blue; surfaces facing away from the camera are shaded in yellow.

2. To change the orientation of a surface:
   • click the surface with the to orient it toward the camera.
   • click the surface with the (or + ) to orient it away from the camera.
     Note:

     You can click anywhere on the surface (not only the wireframe).

   The color of the surface changes immediately.

3. If there are several surfaces to change, draw a pick-box around them (using the appropriate mouse button as described above).
   

   After orienting all the surfaces to face toward the camera, all the surfaces in the scene should be blue.

Reverse the orientation of a single surface

Reversing the orientation of a single surface at a time, without any shading of your model, is useful for fine alterations.

1. Choose Surface Edit > Orientation > Reverse Surface Orientation.
2. Click a surface for which you want to reverse the orientation.

   An arrow appears to show which way the surface is facing.

   • A light blue arrow means that the surface is facing you.
   • A yellow arrow means that the surface is facing away from you.
3. Do any of the following:
   • Click Reverse Active to reverse the orientation of the last surface you clicked.
   • Click Reverse All to reverse the orientation of all selected surfaces.

   The direction of the U and V parameters is not affected. Construction history is preserved.