Viewer preferences

You can set the following preferences in the Viewer category of the Preferences window.

3D Manipulators

Use the 3D Manipulators preference settings to activate, disable, and change the appearance of the 3D Manipulators shown when objects are selected in the Viewer window.

Manipulator Size

Enter a value in this field to make the 3D manipulator handles/arrow appear larger or smaller in the Viewer window.

Hide

Disables the display of the 3D manipulators. The default option is disabled so that the 3D manipulators are shown.

Rotation Snap Angle

Specifies an increment for the Snap Angle button to use when activated. To set a rotation increment, double-click the Rotation Snap Angle field and enter a value. See Setting a rotation increment. For information on using the Angle Snap button, see Snap Rotation.

Additive Rotation Snap Mode

Select Absolute to snap the rotation angle snap at exact increments, so, if you had set 10 in the Rotation Snap Angle field, the rotation would proceed incrementally 20, 30, 40, 50 degrees and so on. Select Relative to have the increments start relative to the position of the object. So, for example, if your object was at 12 degrees to begin with, and you specified a 10 degree angle, the rotation would be 22, 32, 42, 52, and so on.

Cursor

Turn on Show Cursor In Full Screen to have the mouse pointer appear in full screen mode when activated and hide disabled.

Grid

Use the Grid preferences to customize the grid displayed in the Viewer window.

For color settings, enter RGB color values, or click this icon to access the Color window to select colors.

Color

Sets the color of the grid lines. The main grid lines display a shade lighter to act as a guide.

Center Color

Sets the color of the center line on the grid.

Offset

Lets you move the grid center from its default position. Only two components of this offset are used for each grid, for example, you can offset an “XZ” grid along the X and the Z axes, but not along the Y axis.

Size

Lets you set the size of the grids. For example, an XZ grid uses the X and Z coordinates of “Size” as its width and height.

Spacing

Lets you set the distance between the grid lines. There is only one value necessary as the spacing is consistent for all dimensions.

Restore Defaults

Restores the Grid preferences to the default settings.

Schematic View

Turn on Auto Arrange <On> by Default to have nodes automatically arranged in the Schematic View (see Display scene hierarchies using Schematic view). The setting is disabled by default.

Selection Options

Double Click in Empty Area to Deselect

Turn this on if you want to deselect all selected objects by double-clicking in an empty area of the Viewer window.

Drag in Empty Area to Deselect

Turn this on if you want to deselect all selected objects by dragging in an empty area of the Viewer window.

Viewer Toolbar

The Viewer Toolbar preferences let you modify the toolbar position and set Transform reference modes.

Store Reference Mode By Transform Mode

Turn this option on if you want to set a Reference Mode (Local/Global/Additive) specific to each Transformation type. For example, you can set your Translations to be in Local mode, where your Rotations are set to Global. This way, when you switch back to Translating an object, the mode returns to Local automatically. This preference is off by default.

Toolbar Location

Select either Left or Right from the Toolbar Location menu to choose which side of the Viewer window the Viewer toolbar appears.

HUD

The HUD (head-up display) preference settings let you change the color of commonly used visual feedback in the MotionBuilder user interface.

Font Color

Lets you change the color of the software operational statistics in the top-left corner of the Viewer window.

Selection Color

Lets you change the color of the selected item visual feedback.

Trajectories

Lets you set the number of frames of an animation that display as vertices in trajectory curves in the Viewer window. See Viewing the trajectory of an object.

Show All Frames

Each frame in the animation displays as a vertices on a trajectory curve.

Number of frames to show

Specify the frames in the animation you want displayed as a vertices on a trajectory curve.