Reference Manual
BODYPAINT 3D
Programming Team Tilo Kühn, Thomas Kunert, Richard Kurz, Christian Losch, Philip Losch, David O’Reilly.
Plugins Sven Behne, Wilfried Behne, Michael Breitzke, Kiril Dinev, Per-Anders Edwards,
David Farmer, Jamie Halmick, Reinhard Hintzenstern, Jan Eric Hoffmann,
Eduardo Olivares, Nina Ivanova, Markus Jakubietz, Eric Sommerlade, Hendrik Stef fen,
Jens Uhlig, Michael Welter, Thomas Zeier.
Writers Oliver Becker, Dirk Beichert, Michael Giebel, Jörn Gollob, David Link,
Janine Pauke, Harald Schneider, Luke Stacy, Jeff Walker.
Layout Heike Bauer, Oliver Becker, Harald Egel, Luke Stacy, Jeff Walker.
Translation Harald Egel, David Link, Matthew O’Neill, Luke Stacy.
Cover Graphic Heike Bauer, Onur Pekdemir.
Copyright © 1989-2003 by MAXON Computer GmbH, Max-Planck-Str. 20, 61381 Friedrichsdorf, Germany. All
rights reserved.
This manual and the accompanying software are copyright protected. No part of this document may be translated,
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for
any purpose, without the express written permission of MAXON Computer.
Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of the program and this manual, MAXON Computer
assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the
use of the program or from the information contained in this manual.
This manual, as well as the software described in it, is furnished under license and may be used or copied only in
accordance with the terms of such license. The content of this manual is furnished for informational use only, is
subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by MAXON Computer. MAXON
Computer assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this book.
MAXON Computer, the MAXON logo, BodyPaint 3D, CINEMA 4D, Hyper NURBS, and C.O.F.F.E.E. are trademarks
of MAXON Computer GmbH or MAXON Computer Inc. Acrobat, the Acrobat logo, PostScript, Acrobat Reader,
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Ltd. All other brand and product names mentioned in this manual are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
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MAXON Computer End User License Agreement
NOTICE TO USER
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(“YOU” OR THE “USER”) AND MAXON COMPUTER GMBH ( THE “LICENSOR”), A COMPANY UNDER GERMAN
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We will also be pleased to provide you with the address of your nearest supplier.
Contents
1 Getting to Know BodyPaint 3D .........................................................................3
Starting BodyPaint 3D ........................................................................................................................... 3
Quitting BodyPaint 3D........................................................................................................................... 3
Mouse techniques ................................................................................................................................. 3
Graphics Tablet ..................................................................................................................................... 4
Hotkeys 1 to 7 ....................................................................................................................................... 4
The User Interface ................................................................................................................................. 5
2 Views and Viewports ....................................................................................... 13
Edit Menu ............................................................................................................................................14
Undo View, Redo View....................................................................................................................14
Frame ..............................................................................................................................................14
Use As Render View ........................................................................................................................14
Redraw............................................................................................................................................15
Congure ........................................................................................................................................15
Cameras Menu .....................................................................................................................................18
Scene Cameras ................................................................................................................................18
Link Active Object ...........................................................................................................................18
Editor Camera .................................................................................................................................18
Projections ......................................................................................................................................18
Display Menu ...................................................................................................................................... 20
Level of Detail................................................................................................................................. 20
Default Light .................................................................................................................................. 20
Shading modes .............................................................................................................................. 21
Use Shading Property ..................................................................................................................... 22
Disable Backface Culling................................................................................................................. 22
Disable Textures ............................................................................................................................. 24
View Menu.......................................................................................................................................... 25
Toggle Active View......................................................................................................................... 25
Views ............................................................................................................................................. 25
Texture View ....................................................................................................................................... 26
View Menu..................................................................................................................................... 27
UV Mesh Menu .............................................................................................................................. 28
Textures Menu ............................................................................................................................... 28
Locking the Texture View ............................................................................................................... 28
3 Conguration................................................................................................... 31
Conguration dialogs .......................................................................................................................... 31
Conguration managers...................................................................................................................... 32
Other settings ..................................................................................................................................... 32
Graphical User Interface ...................................................................................................................... 33
Windows........................................................................................................................................ 33
Tabs ............................................................................................................................................... 35
Icon Palettes................................................................................................................................... 36
The Command Manager................................................................................................................. 40
The Menu Manager ........................................................................................................................ 42
The Pin’s Menu ............................................................................................................................... 44
Preferences..........................................................................................................46
Common ............................................................................................................................................. 46
Macintosh (Mac OS only) ............................................................................................................... 48
Interface.............................................................................................................................................. 49
Colors............................................................................................................................................. 50
Viewport ..............................................................................................................................................51
Colors............................................................................................................................................. 53
OpenGL Shading ............................................................................................................................ 54
Software Shading................................................................................................................................ 57
BodyPaint ............................................................................................................................................ 58
Bitmap Filter................................................................................................................................... 60
Document ........................................................................................................................................... 62
Import/ Export ..................................................................................................................................... 64
3D Studio R4 Import /Export ........................................................................................................... 64
Biovision BVH Import ..................................................................................................................... 64
CINEMA 4D XML Export ................................................................................................................. 64
DEM Import ................................................................................................................................... 65
DXF Export ..................................................................................................................................... 65
DXF Import..................................................................................................................................... 66
Direct3D Export ............................................................................................................................. 67
Illustrator Import ............................................................................................................................ 68
LightWave Import .......................................................................................................................... 69
Monzoom Import........................................................................................................................... 70
QuickDraw 3D Export ..................................................................................................................... 70
QuickDraw 3D Impor t .................................................................................................................... 71
STL Import / Export ........................................................................................................................ 71
VRML 1 Import............................................................................................................................... 73
VRML 2 Export ................................................................................................................................74
VRML 2 Import............................................................................................................................... 75
Wavefront Import / Expor t ............................................................................................................. 76
Texture Paths....................................................................................................................................... 77
Units ................................................................................................................................................... 77
4 Workow.......................................................................................................... 87
New work ow enhancements ............................................................................................................. 88
General .......................................................................................................................................... 88
Asynchronous access to parameters ............................................................................................... 88
Selection rays ................................................................................................................................. 89
Smartpointer .................................................................................................................................. 89
Multiple selection........................................................................................................................... 89
Further enhancements ................................................................................................................... 90
Working with Layouts ......................................................................................................................... 91
Window > Layout sub -menu ......................................................................................................... 91
The Browser ........................................................................................................................................ 92
File Menu ....................................................................................................................................... 93
Edit Menu ...................................................................................................................................... 94
Function Menu ............................................................................................................................... 95
Initialization Files................................................................................................................................. 96
5 First Steps.........................................................................................................99
The Paint Setup Wizard ....................................................................................................................... 99
Quickstart ...................................................................................................................................... 99
General .......................................................................................................................................... 99
Step 1........................................................................................................................................... 100
Step 2............................................................................................................................................101
Step 3........................................................................................................................................... 103
Tweaking the UV Mesh...................................................................................................................... 106
Texturing Made Easy ......................................................................................................................... 108
6 Color............................................................................................................... 111
The Color manager ............................................................................................................................. 111
Channels .......................................................................................................................................112
Blending Mode..............................................................................................................................114
Color .............................................................................................................................................115
Wallpaper......................................................................................................................................120
File Menu ......................................................................................................................................121
Edit Menu .....................................................................................................................................121
The Color Presets................................................................................................................................122
File Menu ......................................................................................................................................123
Edit Menu .....................................................................................................................................123
Group............................................................................................................................................124
View..............................................................................................................................................124
7 Brushes ........................................................................................................... 129
Brush Settings ....................................................................................................................................129
Generic Brush Type........................................................................................................................131
Bitmap Brush Type........................................................................................................................ 140
Filter ..............................................................................................................................................141
The Brush Presets ..........................................................................................................................142
File Menu ......................................................................................................................................143
Edit Menu .................................................................................................................................... 144
Group Menu ................................................................................................................................ 144
View menu................................................................................................................................... 144
Brush Groups ................................................................................................................................145
Creating a Multibrush .................................................................................................................. 146
8 File Menu........................................................................................................ 151
New ...................................................................................................................................................151
Open ..................................................................................................................................................152
Merge ................................................................................................................................................152
Revert To Saved ..................................................................................................................................152
Close ..................................................................................................................................................153
Close All .............................................................................................................................................153
Save ...................................................................................................................................................153
Save As...............................................................................................................................................153
Save All ............................................................................................................................................. 154
Save Project ....................................................................................................................................... 154
New Texture .......................................................................................................................................155
Open Texture......................................................................................................................................157
Revert Texture To Saved......................................................................................................................157
Close Texture, Close All Textures .........................................................................................................157
Save Texture, Save Texture As .............................................................................................................158
Save Texture As Copy .........................................................................................................................158
Save All Textures.................................................................................................................................159
Send Scene Back ................................................................................................................................159
Export ................................................................................................................................................159
Recent Files ....................................................................................................................................... 160
Quit................................................................................................................................................... 160
9 Edit Menu....................................................................................................... 163
Undo, Undo View.............................................................................................................................. 164
Redo, Redo View ............................................................................................................................... 164
Undo (Texture) .................................................................................................................................. 164
The clipboard .....................................................................................................................................165
10 Image Menu ................................................................................................. 171
Image Menu Commands ....................................................................................................................173
Texture Size ...................................................................................................................................173
Canvas Size.................................................................................................................................... 174
Crop Texture..................................................................................................................................175
Rotate Texture ............................................................................................................................... 176
Flip Texture Horizontal/ Vertical .....................................................................................................177
Convert To Grayscale .....................................................................................................................177
Convert To RGB .............................................................................................................................178
Bitmap Properties..........................................................................................................................178
11 Layer Menu ................................................................................................... 183
The Layer Manager.............................................................................................................................187
View..............................................................................................................................................187
Functions ......................................................................................................................................187
12 Select Menu.................................................................................................. 191
Common Active Tool manager selection options................................................................................191
Select All, Deselect All, Inver t All ........................................................................................................192
Select Circle........................................................................................................................................193
Select Rectangle................................................................................................................................ 194
Select Polylines, Select Freehand ........................................................................................................195
Magic Wand.......................................................................................................................................195
Select Color Range ............................................................................................................................ 196
Feather...............................................................................................................................................197
Grow Selection, Shrink Selection ........................................................................................................197
Selection From Layer ..........................................................................................................................197
Selection From Layer (Add) ................................................................................................................197
Selection From Layer (Sub) ................................................................................................................ 198
Create Mask From Selection .............................................................................................................. 198
Hide Selection ................................................................................................................................... 198
Edit Selection Mask ........................................................................................................................... 198
13 Filter Menu ...................................................................................................203
Photoshop Filters............................................................................................................................... 206
14 Select Polygon Menu ...................................................................................209
Invert All ............................................................................................................................................211
Select Connected ...............................................................................................................................211
Grow Selection................................................................................................................................... 211
Shrink Selection..................................................................................................................................212
Convert Selection ............................................................................................................................... 212
Hide Selected .....................................................................................................................................213
Hide Unselected .................................................................................................................................213
Unhide All ..........................................................................................................................................213
Set Selection ......................................................................................................................................214
15 UV Edit Menu ............................................................................................... 219
What is a UV mesh? .......................................................................................................................... 220
Troubleshooting: UV mesh display .................................................................................................... 221
The UV Manager .................................................................................................................................... 222
Mapping ........................................................................................................................................... 223
Optimal (Cubic) ............................................................................................................................ 223
Optimal (Angle)............................................................................................................................ 225
Realign ......................................................................................................................................... 225
Relax UV............................................................................................................................................ 226
Projection .......................................................................................................................................... 227
Transform .......................................................................................................................................... 229
UV Commands .................................................................................................................................. 230
Store UV....................................................................................................................................... 230
Restore UV ................................................................................................................................... 230
Remap.......................................................................................................................................... 230
Realign, Relax UV, Optimal Mapping ............................................................................................ 231
Fit Canvas To UV........................................................................................................................... 231
UV Terrace.................................................................................................................................... 232
Copy UV Points, Paste UV Points .................................................................................................. 233
Clear UV ....................................................................................................................................... 233
UV Sequence Up, UV Sequence Down ......................................................................................... 234
Flip Sequence ............................................................................................................................... 234
MAX UV....................................................................................................................................... 235
Fit UV To Canvas........................................................................................................................... 235
Mirror U, Mirror V ........................................................................................................................ 236
Transform..................................................................................................................................... 236
Start Interactive Mapping............................................................................................................. 236
Stop Interactive Mapping ............................................................................................................. 237
16 Tools Menu ................................................................................................... 241
Paint Tools..........................................................................................................................................241
3D Painting Mode .........................................................................................................................241
Move Layer....................................................................................................................................241
Magnify ........................................................................................................................................241
Eyedropper................................................................................................................................... 242
Brush............................................................................................................................................ 242
Clone ........................................................................................................................................... 243
Eraser ........................................................................................................................................... 244
Smear........................................................................................................................................... 244
Dodge .......................................................................................................................................... 244
Burn ............................................................................................................................................. 245
Sponge......................................................................................................................................... 245
Fill Bitmap .................................................................................................................................... 246
Gradient....................................................................................................................................... 246
Transform Bitmap......................................................................................................................... 250
Draw Line ......................................................................................................................................251
Draw Text ..................................................................................................................................... 252
Draw Polygon Shape .................................................................................................................... 254
Brush Shortcuts............................................................................................................................ 256
UV Tools............................................................................................................................................ 257
UV Points ..................................................................................................................................... 257
UV Polygons................................................................................................................................. 257
Selection Tools ............................................................................................................................. 257
Editing UV polygons..................................................................................................................... 259
Move.............................................................................................................................................261
Scale ............................................................................................................................................ 263
Non-Uniform Scale ...................................................................................................................... 263
Rotate .......................................................................................................................................... 264
Magnet ........................................................................................................................................ 264
C4D Tools .......................................................................................................................................... 266
Move............................................................................................................................................ 266
Scale ............................................................................................................................................ 268
Rotate .......................................................................................................................................... 270
Move, Scale and Rotate with mouse and keyboard........................................................................271
Magnify ....................................................................................................................................... 273
Selection tools.............................................................................................................................. 273
Camera ........................................................................................................................................ 275
Object ...........................................................................................................................................276
Points ........................................................................................................................................... 277
Edges ........................................................................................................................................... 277
Polygons ...................................................................................................................................... 277
Object Axis................................................................................................................................... 278
Model .......................................................................................................................................... 278
Texture ......................................................................................................................................... 280
Texture A xis.................................................................................................................................. 281
UV Points, UV Polygons................................................................................................................ 281
The Axes ...................................................................................................................................... 282
Coordinate System ....................................................................................................................... 282
Use Generators, Use Deformers.................................................................................................... 283
Objects.............................................................................................................................................. 283
Structure ........................................................................................................................................... 284
Make Editable .............................................................................................................................. 284
Align Normals .............................................................................................................................. 284
Reverse Normals........................................................................................................................... 286
Optimize ...................................................................................................................................... 286
Triangulate ................................................................................................................................... 287
Untriangulate ............................................................................................................................... 287
Paint Setup Wizard ............................................................................................................................ 287
Projection Painting ............................................................................................................................ 288
The advantages of projection painting ......................................................................................... 288
How projection painting works .................................................................................................... 289
Using projection painting............................................................................................................. 290
Apply Projection ........................................................................................................................... 290
Discard Projection ........................................................................................................................ 290
Toggle Fore -/Background .................................................................................................................. 291
17 Plugins Menu................................................................................................295
Execute Last Plugin............................................................................................................................ 295
SpaceMouse (Windows only) ............................................................................................................ 295
18 Rendering .....................................................................................................299
Raybrush Mode ................................................................................................................................. 299
Raybrush Render View....................................................................................................................... 300
Raybrush Render Active Objects ........................................................................................................ 300
Raybrush Render Region.................................................................................................................... 301
Render Active Objects ....................................................................................................................... 301
Render Region ................................................................................................................................... 301
Render To Picture Viewer................................................................................................................... 302
Render Settings ................................................................................................................................. 302
New Render Settings ......................................................................................................................... 302
Delete Render Settings ...................................................................................................................... 303
Render Settings ................................................................................................................................. 304
General ........................................................................................................................................ 304
Output ......................................................................................................................................... 307
Save ............................................................................................................................................. 309
Radiosity, Caustics .........................................................................................................................317
Effects ...........................................................................................................................................318
Options ........................................................................................................................................ 325
Multi-Pass .................................................................................................................................... 329
QuickTime VR ............................................................................................................................... 334
19 Window Menu.............................................................................................. 337
Layout ............................................................................................................................................... 337
New Icon Palette .......................................................................................................................... 337
New Group Window .................................................................................................................... 337
Load Toolbar ................................................................................................................................ 337
Edit Palettes ................................................................................................................................. 337
Load Layout ................................................................................................................................. 337
Reset Layout ................................................................................................................................. 338
Save As Startup Layout ................................................................................................................. 338
Save Layout As ............................................................................................................................. 338
Command Manager ..................................................................................................................... 338
Menu Manager ............................................................................................................................ 339
Default L ayouts ............................................................................................................................ 339
Default Menus.............................................................................................................................. 339
CINEMA 4D ....................................................................................................................................... 340
Picture Viewer .............................................................................................................................. 340
Coordinate Manager .................................................................................................................... 340
Structure Manager ....................................................................................................................... 341
Console ........................................................................................................................................ 341
Global Status Bar.......................................................................................................................... 341
New View Panel ................................................................................................................................ 341
New Texture View ............................................................................................................................. 341
Layer Manager .................................................................................................................................. 342
Attribute Manager ............................................................................................................................ 342
Color Settings.................................................................................................................................... 343
Brush Presets..................................................................................................................................... 343
Color Presets .....................................................................................................................................344
Object Manager ................................................................................................................................344
Material Manager .............................................................................................................................. 345
Browser............................................................................................................................................. 345
Other Scene Windows ....................................................................................................................... 346
20 Help Menu .................................................................................................... 349
MAXON Online ................................................................................................................................. 349
Help (BodyPaint 3D) .......................................................................................................................... 349
Personalize ........................................................................................................................................ 349
Info ................................................................................................................................................... 349
21 Object Manager ...........................................................................................353
Drag-and -drop ............................................................................................................................ 354
Mouse techniques ........................................................................................................................ 355
File Menu .......................................................................................................................................... 356
New Tag....................................................................................................................................... 356
New Expression ............................................................................................................................ 364
Restore Selection.......................................................................................................................... 364
Load Object ................................................................................................................................. 365
Save Object As ............................................................................................................................. 365
Display Tags.................................................................................................................................. 365
Close ............................................................................................................................................ 365
Edit Menu ......................................................................................................................................... 366
Undo............................................................................................................................................ 366
Redo ............................................................................................................................................ 366
Cut ............................................................................................................................................... 366
Copy............................................................................................................................................. 366
Paste ............................................................................................................................................ 366
Delete .......................................................................................................................................... 366
Select All, Deselect All.................................................................................................................. 366
Select Children ............................................................................................................................. 366
Objects Menu.................................................................................................................................... 367
Object Display .............................................................................................................................. 367
Edit Object ................................................................................................................................... 368
Rename Object............................................................................................................................. 368
Group Objects.............................................................................................................................. 368
Expand Object Group ........................................................................................................................ 368
Make Editable .............................................................................................................................. 368
Connect ....................................................................................................................................... 368
Select Children ............................................................................................................................. 368
Object Information....................................................................................................................... 369
Scene Information ........................................................................................................................ 369
Search First Active Object............................................................................................................. 369
Fold All......................................................................................................................................... 369
Unfold All ..................................................................................................................................... 370
Tags Menu .........................................................................................................................................371
Edit Tag .........................................................................................................................................371
Copy Tag To Children.....................................................................................................................371
Select Identical Child Tags .............................................................................................................371
Texture Menu .................................................................................................................................... 372
Generate UVW Coordinates ......................................................................................................... 372
Assign UVW Coordinates ............................................................................................................. 372
Fit To Object, Fit To Image, Fit To Region...................................................................................... 373
Adapt To Object Axis, Adapt To World Axis, Adapt To View ..........................................................374
Mirror Horizontally, Mirror Vertically .............................................................................................374
22 Objects ........................................................................................................377
Attribute manager settings .......................................................................................................... 377
Null Object ........................................................................................................................................ 379
HyperNURBS ..................................................................................................................................... 381
Weighting HyperNURBS models ................................................................................................... 383
Interactive weighting.................................................................................................................... 383
Symmetr y Object............................................................................................................................... 385
Cube ................................................................................................................................................. 386
Cylinder ............................................................................................................................................. 388
Sphere ............................................................................................................................................... 392
Plane ................................................................................................................................................. 394
Cone ................................................................................................................................................. 396
Cameras ............................................................................................................................................ 400
Lighting ............................................................................................................................................. 405
Turbo Squid .......................................................................................................................................443
23 Material Manager ........................................................................................447
Painting Modes ................................................................................................................................. 449
Layer Manager (compact) mode................................................................................................... 449
Layer Manager (expanded/compact) mode .................................................................................. 452
File Menu .......................................................................................................................................... 454
New Material................................................................................................................................ 454
bhodiNUT Volume........................................................................................................................ 454
Shader.......................................................................................................................................... 454
Load Materials.............................................................................................................................. 454
Save Materials As, Save All Materials As ....................................................................................... 454
Close ............................................................................................................................................ 454
Edit Menu ......................................................................................................................................... 455
Undo, Redo .................................................................................................................................. 455
Cut ............................................................................................................................................... 455
Copy............................................................................................................................................. 455
Paste ............................................................................................................................................ 455
Delete .......................................................................................................................................... 455
Select All, Deselect All.................................................................................................................. 455
Display Modes .............................................................................................................................. 456
Icon Size....................................................................................................................................... 458
Function Menu .................................................................................................................................. 459
Edit .............................................................................................................................................. 459
Apply ........................................................................................................................................... 459
Rename ........................................................................................................................................ 459
Select Materials Of Active Objects................................................................................................ 459
Find First Active Material .............................................................................................................. 459
Select Texture Tags/Objects .......................................................................................................... 460
Render Materials, Render All Materials ......................................................................................... 460
Sort Materials ............................................................................................................................... 460
Material Groups ........................................................................................................................... 460
New Material Group ..................................................................................................................... 461
Remove Material Group................................................................................................................ 461
Remove Unused Materials ............................................................................................................ 461
Remove Duplicate Materials ......................................................................................................... 461
Texture Menu .................................................................................................................................... 462
Texture Channels .......................................................................................................................... 462
Load Textures, Unload Textures .................................................................................................... 462
The Material Editor ............................................................................................................................ 463
Color .............................................................................................................................................471
Diffusion ...................................................................................................................................... 472
Luminance.................................................................................................................................... 473
Transparency .................................................................................................................................474
Reection ..................................................................................................................................... 478
Environment................................................................................................................................. 481
Fog............................................................................................................................................... 483
Bump ........................................................................................................................................... 485
Alpha ........................................................................................................................................... 487
Specular ....................................................................................................................................... 490
Specular Color .............................................................................................................................. 492
Glow ............................................................................................................................................ 493
Displacement ............................................................................................................................... 495
Illumination.................................................................................................................................. 497
The Shaders....................................................................................................................................... 499
Channel shaders........................................................................................................................... 499
Material shaders............................................................................................................................ 516
The bhodiNUT Shaders ....................................................................................................................... 519
Texture Mapping ............................................................................................................................... 655
24 Attribute Manager .......................................................................................669
Editing parameters ............................................................................................................................ 670
Navigating the Attribute manager ..................................................................................................... 670
The Attribute manager’s context menu ............................................................................................. 672
User Inter face ............................................................................................................................... 672
Copy, Paste................................................................................................................................... 673
Paste Identical .............................................................................................................................. 673
Select All, Deselect All.................................................................................................................. 673
Edit Entry, Remove Entry .............................................................................................................. 673
Load Data, Save Data ................................................................................................................... 673
Multiple selection ...............................................................................................................................674
The Attribute manager’s menu...........................................................................................................674
Mode ............................................................................................................................................674
Edit .............................................................................................................................................. 676
User Data ..................................................................................................................................... 676
25 Picture Viewer .............................................................................................. 679
File Menu ..........................................................................................................................................680
Open ............................................................................................................................................ 680
Save Picture As............................................................................................................................. 680
Stop Rendering ........................................................................................................................... 681
Close ........................................................................................................................................... 681
Edit Menu ........................................................................................................................................ 681
Copy............................................................................................................................................. 681
Channels Menu ................................................................................................................................. 681
Multi-Layer Display....................................................................................................................... 681
Image........................................................................................................................................... 681
Alpha .......................................................................................................................................... 682
Components Menu ................................................................................................................................ 683
Red, Green, Blue ......................................................................................................................... 683
Grayscale ..................................................................................................................................... 683
View Menu........................................................................................................................................ 683
Fit To Size .................................................................................................................................... 683
Zoom Factors ............................................................................................................................... 683
Zoom In, Zoom Out ..................................................................................................................... 683
Show Renderline .......................................................................................................................... 683
26 Structure Manager .......................................................................................687
Navigating the Structure manager..................................................................................................... 688
File Menu .......................................................................................................................................... 689
New Line ...................................................................................................................................... 689
Import ASCII Data ........................................................................................................................ 689
Export ASCII Data......................................................................................................................... 690
Close ............................................................................................................................................ 690
Edit Menu ......................................................................................................................................... 691
Undo, Redo .................................................................................................................................. 691
Select All, Deselect All, Inver t All .................................................................................................. 691
Select Area................................................................................................................................... 691
View Menu........................................................................................................................................ 691
Jump Last Selection, Jump Nex t Selection .................................................................................... 691
Jump Page Up, Jump Page Down ................................................................................................. 691
Jump Home, Jump End................................................................................................................. 692
Mode Menu ...................................................................................................................................... 693
Points ........................................................................................................................................... 693
Polygons ...................................................................................................................................... 693
UVW ............................................................................................................................................ 693
27 Coordinate Manager ....................................................................................697
Appendix........................................................................................................... 701
Programming plugins ........................................................................................................................ 703
The COFFEE programming language ................................................................................................ 703
The API .............................................................................................................................................. 703
COFFEE support................................................................................................................................. 704
File Formats ....................................................................................................................................... 704
Image Formats ............................................................................................................................. 704
Animation Formats....................................................................................................................... 707
3D Formats .................................................................................................................................. 707
Support .............................................................................................................................................712
Index.................................................................................................................. 717
1 Getting to Know BodyPaint 3D
GETTING TO KNOW BODYPAINT 3D • 3
1 Getting to Know BodyPaint 3D
Starting BodyPaint 3D
To start BodyPaint 3D, do one of the following:
- Double-click on the program’s icon.
- Double-click on a scene le.
- Use the Start menu (Windows).
Alternatively, drag-and-drop one or more BodyPaint 3D les from Explorer (Windows) or
Finder (Mac OS) onto the BodyPaint 3D application icon or directly into the program.
Template.c4d
If the BodyPaint 3D root folder contains a scene named “Template.c4d”, this is loaded
during startup and all the settings dened there become effective.
Quitting BodyPaint 3D
File > Quit quits the program. If there are unsaved changes, a dialog will appear to give
you the opportunity to save them. Clicking on Cancel in this dialog returns you to the
program.
To save the layout automatically each time you quit the program, open the Preferences
and on the Common page enable the Save Layout At Program End option.
Mouse techniques
BodyPaint 3D gives you these extra mouse features:
- To simulate the right mouse button on the Macintosh, hold down the Command key.
Alternatively, use a two -button mouse with the appropriate driver.
- If you want to drag an object onto a window displayed as a tab but the window is
concealed, drag and hold the object over the window’s tab. After a short delay, the
window will be activated and you can drop the object on the target.
- If you are using a wheel mouse, you can rotate the wheel to scroll sliders (such as a
material’s color and brightness sliders). You can also use the wheel to increment and
decrement numbers in numerical text boxes.
4 • CHAPTER 1
GETTING TO KNOW BODYPAINT 3D • 5
Graphics Tablet
BodyPaint 3D supports all graphics tablets which conform to the WinTab standard, such
as the Wacom range. The pen pressure, pen tilt, pen direction and pen nger wheel are
all supported. For details on how to link these input methods to your brush settings, see
“Effectors” on page 136.
Hotkeys 1 to 7
To use a hotkey, hold down the key and drag the mouse. The default hotkeys for the view
panel are:
Result Action
Move camera left/right/up/down 1 + drag
Move camera forwards/backwards 2 + drag
Zoom camera (focal length) 2 + right-drag (Windows) or 2 + Cmd- drag (Mac)
Rotate camera (X and Y axes) 3 + drag
Rotate camera (Z-axis) 3 + right-drag (Windows) or 3 + Cmd- drag (Mac)
Move selected objects 4 + drag
Scale selected objects (animation) 5 + drag
Rotate selected objects 6 + drag
Scale selected objects (modeling) 7 + drag
GETTING TO KNOW BODYPAINT 3D • 5
The User Interface
BodyPaint 3D’s user interface offers many advanced features that you won't nd in the
Windows or Mac OS GUI:
- You can dock all windows into the main window.
- When you move a docked window, the surrounding windows are resized to make
space.
- You can display windows as tabs to conserve display space.
1
2
5 6 7
1. Toolbar, 2. 3D view, 3. Local menu, 4. Texture view, 5. Material manager, 6. Objec t manager,
7. Attribute manager, 8. Tabs.
3
4
8
BodyPaint 3D’s GUI is freely congurable. You can create your own toolbars and edit the
menus. You can also create and save your own layouts such as a layout for editing UVs.
The quickest way to switch layouts is to click the icon at the top of the left toolbar and
choose the desired layout from the list that appears. You can also add your own layouts
to the list.
6 • CHAPTER 1
GETTING TO KNOW BODYPAINT 3D • 7
To switch to dif ferent layout, click the top
icon in the left toolbar and choose the desired
layout from the list that appears.
The “BP UV Edit.l4d” layout.
GETTING TO KNOW BODYPAINT 3D • 7
A Quick Tour
In these pages you’ll nd details on the various parts of the program which appear when
you start BodyPaint 3D for the rst time. If you want to know more about a particular
part of the program, look it up in the relevant chapter of this manual.
Managers
Managers are the main program elements in BodyPaint 3D. Each manager has its own
window and runs alongside the other managers. This means that each manager can
operate independently, so that it is multi-threaded. This makes it possible — among
other things — to render a picture in the Picture manager while you are working in the
3D view. The managers are able to operate independently but also update each other
when relevant. For example, if you paint brushstrokes in the 3D view they will appear
automatically in the Texture view as well.
Windows
Each manager has its own window. You can position the windows freely or dock them
into BodyPaint 3D’s main window. In the default layout, most managers are docked.
If you change the size of a docked window, the neighboring windows will be resized
automatically to make space or avoid a gap.
To undock a window, click its pin icon and select Undock from the menu that appears.
To dock a window, drag-and-drop its pin icon onto the main window. A black line will
indicate the insertion position. To resize a window, rst move the mouse pointer over the
window’s border; the pointer will change into a double arrow to indicate the direction
(vertical or horizontal) in which you can drag the border. Drag the window as required.
The neighboring windows will adapt to the change.
Menu bars
Each manager has a local menu bar. Menu bars have the following features:
- Submenus.
- Commands that cannot be chosen are grayed out.
- Enabled options are indicated by a check mark.
- All shortcuts, including your own, are shown to the right of the menu option.
8 • CHAPTER 1
GETTING TO KNOW BODYPAINT 3D • 9
If there isn’t enough space to display the entire menu bar, you’ll see a black triangle
appear. Click the triangle to reveal the remaining menu entries as a drop-down list.
Icon palettes
The default layout includes several icon palettes (aka “toolbars”) containing the most
popular commands as icons. In the bottom right corner of some of these icons you’ll
notice a small black triangle, which indicates a folded group of commands. To show the
group of commands, click and hold the left mouse button on the icon. Note that the icon
shown before unfolding the group is the most recently used command (provided Lock
Icon is disabled on the folded group’s context menu).
Tabs
You can display windows and icon palettes as tabs. For example, the Object manager,
Structure manager and Browser are displayed as tabs in the default layout. This saves
display space and helps you to reach a manager or icon palette quickly. If there is not
enough display space to show all of the tabs, you’ll see a torn tab appear. To scroll the
tabs, click the left or right arrow icon in the top right of the window or drag a tab left or
right.
GETTING TO KNOW BODYPAINT 3D • 9
For more information, see “Tabs” on page 35. For details on a particular manager, please
refer to the chapter for that manager.
Context menus
To open a context menu, right- click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS).
Input boxes
Input boxes with two arrowheads (one pointing up, the other pointing down) offer the
following features:
- Click an arrowhead to increment or decrement the value by one.
- Drag an arrowhead to increase or decrease the value rapidly.
- Rotate the mouse wheel in a numerical text box to increase or decrease the value.
In addition, you can enter mathematical operators into numerical text boxes. See the
Appendix.
View panel
The View panel is a collection of up to four viewports and is the heart of the program.
This is where you can paint and render your 3D models.
Texture view
Here you can view and paint your textures in two dimensions. In addition, the Texture
view enables you to view and edit UV mesh.
Material manager
The Material manager contains all the materials in your scene. If you double - click a
material icon, the Material Editor will open; here you can edit the material. To assign a
material to an object, drag the material’s thumbnail from the Material manager and drop
it onto the object.
10 • CHAPTER 1
Color manager
Here you can choose the foreground and background colors that are used by the paint
tools and commands.
Active Tool manager
This is where you’ll nd settings for the active tool. For example, if you select the brush
tool, the manager gives you access to the brush settings.
Object manager
This manager lists each object that is present in the scene. Here you can group objects
together and select objects that you want to edit (most of BodyPaint 3D’s commands and
tools affect the selected objects only). To select an object, click its name or icon in the
Object manager. The name will turn red to indicate that the object is selected.
In the Object manager you can also add tags to the objects to assign them additional
properties such as Phong shading.
Attribute manager
The Attribute manager lets you edit the properties of the selected elements (objects,
materials, tags, etc.).
2 Views and Viewports
VIEWS AND VIEWPORTS • 13
2 Views and Viewports
You can open as many view panels (aka views) as you like. Each view panel has its own
display settings. A view panel can display up to four viewports (views of a scene) and
each of these viewports also has its own display settings.
VIEWS AND VIEWPORTS • 13
Viewport icons
There are four icons in the top right corner of each viewport. The right-most icon toggles
the active view (see “Toggle Active View” on page 24). The remaining icons move, zoom
or rotate the camera (drag an icon to see its effect).
14 • CHAPTER 2
VIEWS AND VIEWPORTS • 15
Edit Menu
Undo View, Redo View
Each viewport has its own Undo View/Redo View commands (the Undo/Redo commands
on the main window have no effect on editor cameras, i.e. those in viewports).
The short-cuts for Undo View and Redo View are Ctrl+Shift+Z and Ctrl+Shift+Y
respectively.
Frame
Frame Selected Elements
The camera will move so that the selected elements (e.g. objects, polygons) ll the
viewport and are centered.
Frame Active Objects
The camera will move so that the active objects ll the viewport and are centered.
Frame Scene Without Camera/Light
The camera will move so that all objects apart from lights and cameras ll the active
viewport and are centered.
Frame Scene
The camera will move so that all objects including lights and cameras ll the active
viewport and are centered.
Frame Default
This command resets the view’s camera to the default values, as if you had just started
BodyPaint 3D.
Use As Render View
If this option is enabled, the viewport’s active camera will be used when you render to
the Picture Viewer.
VIEWS AND VIEWPORTS • 15
Redraw
This command redraws the scene. Usually, BodyPaint 3D updates viewports
automatically. Sometimes this is not possible, such as when you have used several CPUintensive commands in quick succession or aborted an action.
Congure
If you choose Edit > Congure from the viewport’s menu, the Congure Viewport dialog
will open.
Active Object
Display
Display sets the display mode (e.g. Gouraud shading, Wireframe) for the active object,
although see “Use Shading Property” below.
Use Shading Property
If this option is enabled, the active object will use the display mode dened in its Display
tag (if it has one) instead of the setting dened here in the Congure Viewport dialog.
Show Normals
If you enable this option, surface normals will appear when you select polygons. These
are small auxiliary lines which are perpendicular to the polygons. The direction of a
normal represents the direction in which its polygon points.
16 • CHAPTER 2
VIEWS AND VIEWPORTS • 17
For example, backface culling checks the direction of each normal to determine whether
its polygon should be drawn — if the normal points away from the camera, the surface is
not drawn (the surface is assumed to point away from the camera, just like its normal).
X-Ray Effect
To switch on X-ray mode, enable this option. If the active object is a polygon object, it
will become semi-transparent and you’ll be able to see all of its points and edges.
Show Animation Path
Enable this option to see the active object’s animation path in the viewport as a yellow
curve. Edit the animation path as you would a spline, i.e. drag curve points to new
positions and edit their tangents.
Inactive Object
Display
Display sets the display mode (e.g. Gouraud shading, wireframe) for the inactive objects
in the scene.
Use Shading Property
If this option is enabled, the inactive objects will use the display mode dened in their
display tags (if present) instead of the general display mode.
View Settings
Projection
You can use this setting to change the projection type (e.g. to Perspective, Bird,
Dimetric).
Disable Textures
To switch off the display of textures in the viewport, enable this option.
Disable Backface Culling
You can enable this option to switch off backface culling.
Backface culling merely hides an object’s concealed points and edges. If you disable
backface culling in wireframe mode, you’ll still be able to see objects that are behind
other objects.
VIEWS AND VIEWPORTS • 17
Show Safe Frames
Rende r Safe
Action Safe
Safe frames are areas which will be in full view when played back on the target medium.
To display safe frames, enable this option and in the preferences, on the Viewport page,
enable the desired safe frames (Render Safe, Action Safe, Title Safe).
Background
Show Picture, Horizontal/Vertical Offset, Horizontal /Vertical Size
Use background pictures as a modeling aid to help you “trace” (naturally, you are unlikely
to do much modeling in BodyPaint 3D and therefore this feature is generally of little use).
The picture will not be rendered. If you want a background picture to be rendered, use a
Background object instead.
Show Picture allows you to use a picture as background in a planar view. Click the Path
button and use the dialog that opens to load the picture. Next, enable the Show Picture
option. You can reposition and scale the picture using the Offset and Size settings. You
can use a different picture in each planar view.
18 • CHAPTER 2
VIEWS AND VIEWPORTS • 19
Cameras Menu
Each viewport has its own independent camera, called the editor camera. The editor
camera is active by default, but you can create and activate your own cameras. Unlike the
editor camera, your own cameras are shown as objects in the Object manager.
Scene Cameras
To activate your own camera, choose it from this list. For more details on creating and
using your own cameras, see “Cameras” on page 400.
Link Active Object
Choose this command to view the scene from the origin of the active object. Your view
will point in the direction of the object’s Z-axis. This command can be useful, among
other things, for checking which objects a light source can see. Keep in mind that in
some display modes your view may be blocked by the active object’s surfaces.
Editor Camera
This command activates the editor camera.
Projections
Here you choose the projection mode for the camera. You can choose from over a dozen
modes. An example of each projection mode is shown in the following pictures.
The camera’s position may change when you change the mode. To avoid this, select the
desired view (e.g. View 3) from the View menu.
Perspective: The default projection
mode for the viewport. It shows
you the scene as though looking
through a conventional camera.
Parallel: The vanishing point is
innitely distant. All lines are
parallel.
Left: The YZ view. Right: The Z Y view. Front: The XY view.
Back: The YX view. Top: The XZ view. Bottom: The ZX view.
VIEWS AND VIEWPORTS • 19
Militar y: X:Y:Z = 1:1:1. Frog: X:Y:Z = 1:2:1. Bird: X:Y:Z = 1:0.5:1.
Gentleman: X:Y:Z = 1:1:0.5. This is
a popular choice for architec ture.
Isometric. A popular choice for
technical subjects (e.g. machinery).
The X:Y:Z format is 1:1:1.
Dimetric. Similar to Isometric, but
with an X:Y:Z format of 1:1:0.5.
20 • CHAPTER 2
VIEWS AND VIEWPORTS • 21
Display Menu
This contains display-related options such as the shading mode.
To switch on realtime antialiasing, enable Antialiased Lines in the preferences on the
OpenGL Shading page.
Level of Detail
Choose from Low, Medium or High. The setting affects the amount of detail shown on
each object for the selected display type – the lower the detail, the faster the display.
Use Render LOD For Editor Rendering
Enable this option if you want rendering in the viewport to be as detailed as rendering to
the Picture Viewer. For example, suppose you’re using a HyperNURBS model and you’ve
set its Subdivision Editor value to 2 and Subdivision Renderer value to 5. If you render
in the viewport with the option enabled, the Subdivision Renderer value will be used
instead of the Subdivision Editor value.
Default Light
This command opens the Default Light manager. Using this manager, you can quickly
light the selected objects from any angle without having to create light source objects.
Each view has its own default light which is saved with the scene.
To use the manager, rst select the objects that you want to be illuminated (select them
in the view panel or in the Object manager). Next, in the Default Light manager click
and hold down the mouse button on the sphere and drag to change the direction of the
default light. BodyPaint 3D will switch on Quick Shading automatically and the selected
objects will be illuminated using the default light.
To reset the default light to its original angle, in the Default Light manager right click
(Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) on the sphere. To switch off the default light and
use your scene’s lights instead, choose Display > Gouraud Shading.
VIEWS AND VIEWPORTS • 21
The default light will also be used if you render and there are no lights in your scene.
However, note that the default light used for rendering is different to the one used for
viewport shading.
This is because the default light for viewport shading is made up of two light sources
that are opposite each other (this helps reveal the shape and structure of the objects
while you are modeling) whereas the default light for rendering is a single light source
(this helps to ensure fast rendering — a single light is rendered faster than two).
Shading modes
Gouraud Shading
The highest quality display mode for viewports. All objects are shaded with
smoothing and light sources are taken into account. The redraw rate is
affected most by processor speed and graphics card speed — the faster your
CPU and graphics display card, the faster scenes will redraw. If the display
update becomes too slow, try reducing the size of the viewport.
Quick Shading
This is almost identical to Gouraud Shading. The difference is that the auto
light is used instead of the scene’s lights to calculate the shading. You’ll nd
the auto light option on the Options page of the render settings. This can
lead to a faster redraw rate since only a single light source (the auto light)
needs to be evaluated.
Wireframe
Objects are shown as lines. The display is much faster than with Gouraud
and Quick Shading. Wireframe is suitable for complex scenes, especially with
Backface Culling switched on (see “Disable Backface Culling” on page 22).
Isoparms
This mode displays isoparm lines for objects that use them (e.g. NURBS
objects). Other objects, such as polygon objects, will be displayed in
wireframe. The isoparm display mode is very fast and particularly suited to
complex scenes.
22 • CHAPTER 2
VIEWS AND VIEWPORTS • 23
Shaded Box
This mode displays each object as a shaded box. Each box has the same
dimensions as the object it represents. This is a fast display mode that is
suited to large scenes.
Box
This mode displays each object as a wireframe box. Each wireframe box has
the same dimensions as the object it represents. Box is the second fastest
display mode available, making it useful for extremely demanding scenes.
Skeleton
This is the fastest display mode of all. It is only suitable for hierarchical
structures. Each object origin is shown as a small dot and the dots are
connected according to the hierarchy.
Use Shading Property
If this option is enabled, objects use the display mode dened in their Display tags (if
present). Objects without a Display tag continue to use the viewport’s shading mode.
Disable Backface Culling
Use this option to switch backface culling on and off. This can speed up the display and it
also makes the scene easier to understand and edit. With backface culling, all concealed
surfaces are hidden. A backface is a surface which points away from the camera.
BodyPaint 3D is able to work out which direction a polygon points in by checking the direction
of its surface normal. If the surface normal points towards the camera, the surface is a front
face. If the surface normal points away from the camera, the surface is a backface and is not
drawn when Backface culling is enabled. Figure 1 demonstrates the backface principle.
VIEWS AND VIEWPORTS • 23
Figure 1. Figure 2.
By convention, the normals should point outwards from their surfaces, as in Figure 1 above. Objects with
inwardly -pointing normals may show display errors. To remedy, reverse the normals, as illustrated in
Figure 2 (see “Reverse Normals” on page 286).
The following picture shows how backface culling hides concealed surfaces (backfaces).
The object on the left does not use backface culling, the object on the right does.
24 • CHAPTER 2
VIEWS AND VIEWPORTS • 25
Disable Textures
Controls whether textures are shown in the viewport. You can switch textures on or off
for individual objects using Display tags.
Use Textures enabled in the Display tag (Attribute manager).
X-Ray
X-ray mode off. X-ray mode on.
To activate the X-ray effect, enable this option. If the active object is a polygon object, it
will become semi-transparent and you’ll be able to see its concealed points and edges.
VIEWS AND VIEWPORTS • 25
View Menu
Each view panel can have up to four viewports. Each of these viewports may have its
own camera, projection type and display mode.
Viewport arrangement
You can choose a single -view mode or all-views mode. Choose from:
Single View 3 Views Left Split 4 Views Left Split
2 Views Stacked 3 Views Right Split 4 Views Right Split
2 Views Side By Side 4 Views 4 Views Stacked
3 Views Top Split 4 Views Top Split 4 Views Side by Side
3 Views Bottom Split 4 Views Bottom Split
Each viewport may have its own camera, projection type and display mode.
These settings are saved automatically when you save the document.
Toggle Active View
This option toggles between the single-view mode and the all-views mode. When you
want to toggle from all-views to a single view, choose the Toggle Active View command
from the viewport that you want to use in single-view mode.
Views
Here you can switch between the single -views and the all-view mode. You can change
each view’s projection type via its Cameras menu. The default projections are:
View 1 F1 perspective
View 2 F2 top
View 3 F3 right
View 4 F4 front
All Views F5 all views
26 • CHAPTER 2
VIEWS AND VIEWPORTS • 27
Texture View
In contrast to the 3D view, the Texture view enables you to view and paint textures in
two dimensions. Sometimes you’ll nd it easier to paint an effect in the Texture view
instead of in the 3D view. For example, suppose you want to paint a ring of owers
around the neck of a vase. In the 3D view, you would have to keep rotating around the
vase as you paint. But in the 2D view, you could paint the entire band without having to
stop to navigate to a new position.
To display a texture in the Texture view, do one of the following:
- Create a new texture or load an existing texture from the Texture view’s File menu.
- Click the desired objects, tags, materials, layers in the Object manager or Material
manager.
You can paint on the texture as soon as it appears in the window. Note that you paint
exclusively to the active layers of the active channels — each active layer is indicated by
a red frame in the Material manager; each active channel is indicated by a colored pencil
icon. Only one channel can be displayed at a time in the Texture view. When using a
multibrush, keep in mind that you are painting to channels that are not displayed as well
as the channel that is displayed.
The Texture view also lets you edit UVs thanks to its powerful integrated UV editor. See
“UV Tools” on page 257.
View Menu
Fit To Screen
Zooms the texture and UV polygons to ll the Texture view.
Zoom 100%
The texture is displayed at its actual size.
Zoom In, Zoom Out
VIEWS AND VIEWPORTS • 27
Zooms in or out on the texture by 25%.
Set Zoom
Here you can enter the zoom factor manually as a percentage (100% represents the
texture’s actual size), or you can click the triangle right of the box to open a menu of
various zoom factors.
Close
Closes the Texture view.
28 • CHAPTER 2
UV Mesh Menu
Show UV Mesh
To display the UV mesh while you are using the paint tools, enable this option. The UV
mesh is displayed automatically when the UV Polygons tool or UV Points tool is selected.
Objects, Texture Tags, UV Tags
These menus give you a quick way to choose which UV mesh is shown. You can choose
to display the UV mesh for any object, Texture tag or UV tag which belongs to the active
material.
Textures Menu
Empty Canvas
This command removes the active texture from the Texture view and replaces it with a
neutral gray background. This makes it easier to see your UV mesh.
To display the active texture again, double-click the texture in the Material manager. The
Empty Canvas option will be disabled automatically.
Textures List
Here you’ll nd a list of all textures currently in RAM. Choose a texture from this list to
display it in the Texture view (the texture will be activated automatically in the Material
manager).
Locking the Texture View
You can open multiple Texture views. To lock a Texture view to display the same texture
no matter which object is selected, click the lock icon in the top right corner of the
Texture view.
3 Conguration
CONFIGURATION • 31
3 Conguration
BodyPaint 3D has hundreds of commands and a freely customizable GUI. This means
that there are many settings also. To keep BodyPaint 3D easy to use, we have placed the
settings in various places where they make the most sense. This chapter shows you where
to nd these settings and how to use them. Some of the settings are described in other
chapters. Where this is the case, you’ll see a reference to the relevant page.
Conguration dialogs
Preferences
These settings control the general behavior of BodyPaint 3D. For example, you can
change the background color for viewports. To access the preferences, choose
Edit > Preferences from the main menu. See page 46 onwards for a full description of
the preferences.
Viewport settings
Here you control aspects of viewport display such as the shading modes for active and
inactive objects. Each viewport has its own settings. To access the viewport settings, in
the viewport choose Edit > Congure. The viewport settings are saved when you save
the scene. See “Congure” on page 15 for a full account of the viewport settings.
CONFIGURATION • 31
Render settings
These settings dene how the active scene will be rendered. For example, you
can set the save path and output resolution. To access the render settings, choose
Render > Render Settings from the main menu. The render settings are saved when you
save the scene. See “Render Settings” on page 304.
Import / Export settings
These settings affect le import and export. For example, 3ds les can be scaled up by a
factor of ten on import. To access the import/export settings, choose Edit > Preferences
from the main menu. See page 64 onwards for descriptions of the import/export
settings.
Browser settings
These settings give you control over the thumbnails which are displayed in the Browser,
such as their size and which le formats shown. To access the browser settings, choose
Edit > Preferences from the Browser’s menu. The browser settings are saved when you
save the scene. See “Preferences” on page 94.
32 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 33
To prevent the Browser from loading the settings, disable the Load Manager Settings
option on the Document page of the preferences.
Conguration managers
Command manager
Use this manager to create or edit palettes and to create or edit short-cuts. To access
the Command manager, choose Window > Layout > Command Manager from the main
menu. The Command manager settings are saved when you quit BodyPaint 3D. See “The
Command Manager” on page 40.
Short-cuts are saved automatically when you quit BodyPaint 3D.
Menu manager
Here you can create your own menu structure for each manager. To access the Menu
manager, choose Window > Layout > Menu Manager from the main menu. The Menu
manager’s settings are saved when you quit BodyPaint 3D. You can also save the settings
by clicking the Save All Changes button in the Menu manager. See “The Menu Manager”
on page 42.
Other settings
There are many settings in addition to those mentioned above; for example, there are
settings which enable you to choose the size of the thumbnails displayed in the Material
manager.
CONFIGURATION • 33
Graphical User Interface
This section shows you how to congure BodyPaint 3D’s GUI. Among other things, you
can tab windows, create your own icon palettes and change the menu structure.
Windows
Arranging
You can load a previously saved layout or revert to the default layout at any time. See
“Working with Layouts” on page 91.
To change the position of a window, drag the window’s pin icon to the new position. A
dark line appears while you drag to indicate the new location.
Resizing
Before moving the window’s edge. After moving the window’s edge.
To change the width or height of a window, rst move the mouse pointer to a window
border; the mouse pointer changes to a double arrow to indicate the direction (vertical or
horizontal) in which you can drag the border. Drag the border to resize. The neighboring
windows are resized automatically to make room.
34 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 35
Undocking
You can insert a window or a icon palette into an undocked window to form a new GUI
group. This is especially useful if you are using more than one monitor.
To undock a window, click its pin icon and choose Undock from the menu that appears.
The window becomes freestanding and oats above the main window.
Choose Undock. Undocked window.
Undocked windows are fully functional. The advantage of docked windows is automatic
justication when you resize a window.
Docking
New windows are undocked by default. To dock a window, drag its pin icon to the
docking position. A dark line appears while you drag to indicate exactly where the
window will be inserted.
To test docking, rst add a new view panel (main menu: Window > New View Panel). Drag
the new view panel’s pin to the desired insertion position, such as between the Object
manager and Attribute manager (wait for the dark line to appear before you release the
mouse).
New view, still undocked. The new view after docking.
To remove a window, click the window’s pin, choose Undock, click the pin once more and
this time choose Close.
Naming
The Rename command on the pin’s menu enables you to name a window or icon palette.
An icon palette’s name is only shown if the palette is displayed as a tab.
CONFIGURATION • 35
Tabs
When you drop a pin onto another pin, both become tabs, even if the target was not a
tab.
You can display a window or icon palette as a tab. To create the tab, click the pin icon
and select Make Tab. To move a tab from one group to another, drag the tab’s pin onto
a tab or pin in the target group. The mouse pointer changes to a hand to indicate when
insertion is possible.
Insertion is possible when the
pointer changes to a hand.
If you drop the tab onto a pin, it is inserted after the tab that owns the pin. If you drop
the tab on to a tab, it is inserted before the tab that owns the pin provided that you
released the hand icon on the left half of the tab; otherwise, it will be inserted after the
tab. Keep in mind that you can use the icon palettes as tabs as well.
Icon palettes makes great tabs too.
Converting tabs to windows
To convert a window displayed as a tab to a freestanding window, drag the tab’s pin
slightly to the left and release the mouse button.
The Object manager is in the process of being
undocked.
The undocked Object manager.
36 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 37
Icon Palettes
An undocked palette is a window in its own right. For example, it can contain several icon
palettes and windows. This is especially useful if you are using more than one monitor.
Icon palettes, also known as toolbars, may contain any command that can be selected
from a menu. Commands in palettes can be shown as icons, text, or as icons and text.
Icon palettes help you reach important commands quickly. You can edit the existing
palettes and you can create new palettes as well as dock them into the layout.
To access commands for saving, loading and changing the appearance of icon palettes ,
right-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) on the icon palette.
Creating a new icon palette
New icon palette, still empty.
To create a new (empty) icon palette, do one of the following:
- Choose Window > Layout > New Icon Palette (main window).
- Click the pin of any window (near the window’s top-left corner) and choose New Icon
Palette from the pin’s menu.
CONFIGURATION • 37
- Right-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) on an existing icon palette to open
the icon palette’s context menu and choose New Icon Palette.
You can only add commands when the Edit Palettes option is enabled. You can add
commands to the palette in two ways: drag commands from an existing palette into the
new palette or drag commands from the Command manager into the new palette. Once
Edit Palettes is enabled, drag the rst command onto the Empty Palette box of the new
palette. When you drag further commands onto the palette, a dark line appears to show
where the command will be inserted.
Add a command to the new palette. From left to right: icons only, text only, icons and text.
Changing the sequence
To move a command to a different location in the palette, drag the command to the new
position (a dark line indicates the insertion position).
Icons or text?
Enable the Icons option to shown the commands as icons; enable the Text option to show
the commands as text; enable both options to show text and icons for the commands.
Enable the Vertical option to show text below each icon instead of to the right (provided
Icons and Text are enabled).
Saving an icon palette
Save Toolbar As saves an individual palette. The le extension “.l4d” is added automatically.
To save the entire layout instead including the toolbar, choose Save Layout As or
Save As Startup Layout from the Window > Layout menu. To save the layout and custom
palettes automatically when you quit BodyPaint 3D, enable Save Layout At Program End in
the preferences (Common page).
38 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 39
Loading an icon palette
Use the Load Toolbar command to load a previously saved icon palette. The toolbar
appears as a freestanding window which you can integrate into the layout as desired.
Vertical or horizontal?
Choose Transpose to toggle between vertical and horizontal alignment of commands.
Rows and columns
The values you select for Rows/Columns denes the number of rows or columns used for
a palette. If Transpose is set to Vertical, this setting refers to the number of columns. If
Transpose is set to Horizontal, this setting refers to the number of rows.
Think of this as the number of lines. For example, if you have 20 icons, setting this value
to 2 will create two lines with 10 icons in each line. A value of 3 would create three lines,
this time with seven icons in the rst two lines and six in the third line.
Icon size
Choose the size of icons from the Icon Size sub-menu: Small (16x16 pixels), Medium
(24x24 pixels) or Large (32x32 pixels).
Small
16 x 16 pixels.
Medium
24 x 24 pixels.
Large
32 x 32 pixels.
The original icon sizes are dened in the icon resource le (“Resource/icons/c4d_
icons.res”). The original sizes usually correspond to Large icons.
Creating folded command groups
You can group commands to form a folded palette. To do this, ensure that the Edit
Palettes option is enabled, then position the mouse pointer over a command and rightclick (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) to open the context menu. From this menu,
choose Fold Palette. Now only one command is visible. This is called the visible command.
The small arrow near the bottom right corner of the icon indicates that it contains other
commands.
CONFIGURATION • 39
Next, disable the Edit Palettes option. Click and hold down the mouse button on the
visible command. The folded palette appears. Either release the mouse button and select
the desired command or position the mouse pointer over the desired command before
you release the mouse button. Note that the visible command is also a hidden command.
If Lock Icon is disabled on the context menu, the visible command is the most recently
selected command. For example, if the visible command is Cube and you select the
hidden Cone command, the Cone command becomes the visible command. The order of
the commands in the folded palette corresponds to their order before they were folded.
Therefore usually you’ll want to arrange the commands before you fold them.
You can drag a visible command onto another palette. This enables you to use several
folded command groups within the same palette. To create a palette with several folded
command groups, rstly create two empty icon palettes. Use the rst palette to create a
folded command group, then drag the folded commands (i.e. the visible command) onto
the second palette. Next, create the second folded group in the rst palette and drag it
onto the second palette, and so on. Once you’re done, close the redundant palette.
You can also use text-only display with folded palettes.
Unfolding command groups
You can unfold a folded group of commands into a palette of individual commands.
Right-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) on the visible command to open its
context menu. From this menu, choose the Unfold command. You can only choose this
command when the Edit Palettes option is enabled.
The lock icon
If the Lock Icon option on the context menu is disabled, the visible command for a folded
group of commands is always the most recently selected command. For example, if the
visible command is Cube and you select the hidden Cone command, the Cone command
becomes the visible command. If this option is enabled, the current visible icon will be
locked, meaning that no matter which tools you then use from the folded palette the
visible command remains the same. This command can be selected only when the Edit
Palettes option is enabled.
Deleting commands from palettes
To delete a command from a palette, position the mouse pointer on the command and
right-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) to open the context menu. From
this menu, choose Delete Command. This command can be selected only when the Edit
Palettes option is enabled.
Editing a palette
Commands can only be added when the Edit Palettes option is enabled. Position the
mouse pointer on a command and right-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS).
Choose Edit Palettes to enable or disable the option.
40 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 41
The Command Manager
The Command manager lists all the commands available in BodyPaint 3D. Use this
manager to drag commands in order to create your own icon palettes or submenus (see
“The Menu Manager” on page 43). You can also use the Command manager to dene
short-cuts.
Inserting commands into palettes
First, enable the Edit Palettes option. Next, drag-and-drop commands onto the palette.
A dark line indicates where a command will be inserted. You can also drag separators
onto palettes to visually separate commands into logical groups. Separator 1 is a line,
Separator 2 is a space. Again, a dark line indicates the insertion point.
Use the drop-down list right of the pin to choose which command category is displayed
in the list. Each category refers to a particular menu or manager. Note that some
commands do not have icons.
Assigning short-cuts
Do not assign short-cuts that are already used by OS commands.
You can assign a short-cut (for example, press Ctrl+B to open the Render Settings dialog)
to any command. Use the Command manager to allocate the short- cuts. You can also use
the Command manager to dene a second short-cut for the same command. This can
be useful when two keys are logical alternatives for a particular command. For example,
the delete and backspace keys are both short-cuts for the Delete command. The second
short-cut is also useful for standard commands that have different short-cuts under
Windows and Mac OS.
Some keys are reserved and you cannot assign them as short-cuts (e.g. left arrow).
CONFIGURATION • 41
To create a short-cut
- In the Command manager, click a command in the list to choose it.
- Click in the Assign text box and press the desired short- cut.
- Click the green check mark right of the text box. The short-cut appears in the Current
box. To remove the short-cut, click the red cross icon.
Valid short-cuts are a single key, a combination of a key and Ctrl, Alt or Shift, or a
combination of these.
The short-cuts are saved in the “c4d_shortcuts.res” le, which is stored in the “prefs”
folder.
BodyPaint 3D’s built-in hotkeys are extremely useful. For example, if you hold down the
“1” key you can move the camera no matter which tool is active. These hotkeys come at
a price — you cannot use them as short- cuts, even if you combine them with Ctrl/Alt /
Shift. If a short-cut has already been assigned, the command which uses the short-cut is
displayed below the text boxes. You should remove the short-cut before reassigning it.
To remove the short-cut, select the command which it is already assigned to and click the
red cross.
42 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 43
The Menu Manager
Use the Menu manager to edit submenus and drop -down lists. You can also add new
submenus. The Menu manager and the Command manager enable you to configure
BodyPaint 3D’s interface freely to the way you like to work.
The menus
BodyPaint 3D has dozens of menus. Use the drop-down list at the top of the manager to
choose which menu is shown in the list. Submenus are prexed with Submenu. To open
or close a submenu, double-click it.
Inserting commands
The Command manager lists all of BodyPaint 3D’s commands. You can drag-and-drop
commands from the Command manager into the Menu manager. The mouse pointer will
change form to indicate the insertion mode.
CONFIGURATION • 43
Copy, Paste, Delete/Cut
Use these commands to copy, paste or delete the selected command.
Rename
Use this command to rename a submenu that you have created.
Move Up, Move Down, New Submenu
Use these commands to move the selected menu entry one position up or down the list
and insert a new submenu above the selected entry. You can add commands or further
submenus.
Apply, Save All Changes, Revert To Saved, Revert To Original
Apply applies the changes. Save saves all menu changes. Revert To Saved discards all
settings and reverts to the most recently saved menu structure. Revert To Original
reactivates the standard menu settings, which are permanently stored in the program
(the factory settings).
44 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 45
The Pin’s Menu
Each manager has a pin icon near its top left corner. Earlier in this chapter we explained
how the pin is used to combine and arrange managers (see “Graphical User Interface” on
page 33). The pin also has a menu, the commands of which are described below.
Undock
Removes the current manager from the main window. The manager becomes a
freestanding window which oats above the main window.
Undock a tab to convert a manager to a oating window.
Rename
Use this command to rename a window or a tab. When renaming an icon palette, keep in
mind that the name will only appear if the icon palette is displayed as a tab.
Make Tab
Converts the window or manager to a tab.
New Icon Palette
Creates an empty icon palette. Use the Command manager to add commands to the
palette.
CONFIGURATION • 45
New Group Window
A group window is a window which may contain multiple GUI elements such as a
mutliple managers, view panels and toolbars. The command creates an empty group
window into which you can dock elements.
Close
Closes the manager. To open the manager again, choose its name from the main Window
menu.
46 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 47
Preferences
To reset BodyPaint 3D to its factory settings, quit BodyPaint 3D and delete all les in
BodyPaint 3D’s “prefs” folder. Warning: if you also delete the “.b3d” les from the “prefs”
folder, you’ll lose your custom presets for colors, brushes and gradients.
In the preferences you can change the editor’s appearance and change the way in which
commands operate. To open the preferences dialog, choose Edit > Preferences.
Common
Language
Chose a language for BodyPaint 3D’s interface from the installed language sets. After
quitting and re-launching BodyPaint 3D all messages, menus and dialogs will change to
the new language.
Scheme
Choose an installed schemes from this drop-down list.
Adapt Thread Priority
If this option is enabled, your computer system will assign a low priority (i.e. less
processor time) to BodyPaint 3D when you render to the Picture viewer. Enable the
option if you have other processor-intensive programs running at the same time as
BodyPaint 3D, such as if you are watching a movie while your picture is being rendered...
CONFIGURATION • 47
Use QuickTime
QuickTime may crash if you use damaged image les; this is not due to BodyPaint 3D and
hence we offer the option to disable QuickTime.
If you enable this option BodyPaint 3D uses QuickTime provided it is installed on your
computer system. Additional le formats will then be available to you. If the option is
disabled, the Browser will scan faster because it has less le formats to check.
Graphic Tablet, Use Hi-Res Coordinates
If you experience problems when using a graphics tablet with BodyPaint 3D, enable the
Graphics Tablet option. If you still experience problems and you’re using the latest driver
for the tablet, disable Use Hi- Res Coordinates to use the tablet in mouse mode. Although
you’ll lose some of the tablet’s resolution, you should barely notice the difference.
Save Layout At Program End
Always save a new layout using a unique name, even if you intend for it to be your normal
layout. To save the layout, choose Window > Layout > Save Layout As.
If this option is enabled, the current layout will be saved when you quit BodyPaint 3D and
restored when you restart the program.
Realtime Spinner
Disable this option to switch off realtime refresh in the viewport while you change the
values of parameters in the Attribute manager. In other words, if you disable this option
the viewport will only be refreshed once you’ve released or mouse button or stopped
dragging a slider. This helps to prevent the viewport from slowing down when you are
working with complex scenes.
Realtime Manager Update (During Animation)
This function has an effect only if you are using the BodyPaint 3D module with
CINEMA 4D. Please refer to the Conguration chapter in your CINEMA 4D reference
manual for details.
Center Point Editing Axis
If you select points, edges or polygons when this option is enabled, a temporary axis
system appears in the center of the selection.
Recalculate Scene On Rewind
This function has an effect only if you are using the BodyPaint 3D module with
CINEMA 4D. Please see the Conguration chapter in your CINEMA 4D reference manual.
48 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 49
Reverse Orbit
This option reverses the camera’s rotation when you navigate using the mouse such as
when you drag with the ‘3’ key held down. This useful if you commonly use another 3D
application such as 3ds max or Maya where the camera rotates in the opposite direction
to BodyPaint 3D’s camera.
Render Threads
Use this drop-down list to manually set the number of render threads (the number of
render lines in the viewport or Picture Viewer). On single-processor systems, there is
little point in using several threads because this may reduce render performance and the
threads may be assigned different portions of render time (unequal distribution in the
viewport).
Choose from Optimal (BodyPaint 3D chooses the number of threads), 1 (switches off
multithreading on multi-processor systems), 2, 4 or 8.
Attribute Manager Limit
Here you can dene the maximum number of elements (objects, keys, etc.) whose
properties are displayed in the Attribute manager.
For example, if you set the value to 15 and select 35 materials, the Attribute manager
will give you access to the rst 15 materials only. Any changes you make in the Attribute
manager will affect these rst 15 materials only.
Macintosh (Mac OS only)
Exchange CTRL <–> COMMAND-key
BodyPaint 3D uses the Ctrl (Control) key as the default modier key. The Command key is
used for simulating the right mouse button (Command-click). If you want it the other way
round, enable this option.
Deny Power Cycle
Switches off your Mac’s power cycle.
CONFIGURATION • 49
Interface
This tab lets you adjust the look-and-feel of BodyPaint 3D’s user interface.
Dialogs
Use Style to control the order of the OK and Cancel buttons within dialogs. Windows
uses OK on the left and Cancel on the right, while the reverse is true under Mac OS.
Choose whichever you feel comfortable with on your platform. Use Alignment to choose
the alignment of the OK and Cancel buttons: left-aligned, centered or right-aligned.
Help Text
If the Help Text In Statusbar option is enabled, hover the mouse pointer over an icon
to display a description for the icon in the status bar at the bottom of the screen. If the
Bubble Help option is enabled, help information appears next to the mouse pointer when
you hover the mouse pointer over an icon.
Menus
Here you can choose whether, in addition to the normal command descriptions for menu
items, BodyPaint 3D displays icons (Show Icons enabled) and/or keyboard short-cuts
(Show Short-cuts option enabled).
Look & Feel
In this part of the dialog you can modify the look-and-feel of the program’s interface.
50 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 51
Fonts
The font changes will be effective only after you quit and restart BodyPaint 3D.
Here you can choose which font is used for BodyPaint 3D’s menus, dialogs, and so on.
Choose the desired font from the drop-down list and click the F button. In the dialog
that opens, choose the font and its size. Clicking the R button reverts to your active
system font.
Delays
If you are a Windows user you may have noticed that windows and menus open much
faster in BodyPaint 3D than on your desktop. You can use the options under Delays to
simulate this delayed reaction for various actions within BodyPaint 3D. Choose the action
from the drop -down list. Set the delay for this action in the text box to the right.
Colors
Using the settings on this page, you can change the color of nearly all GUI elements in
BodyPaint 3D.
Live Refresh
The colors are changed in realtime. If this slows down your computer system, disable the
option and the color will be changed after you’ve released the mouse button.
RGB
Denes the color of the GUI element using RGB sliders.
Bitmap
Enables you to load a 2D image as a background for the interface.
CONFIGURATION • 51
Reference
Choose Reference to open a list of presets for the GUI elements. In the list, click a preset’s
name to enable its settings.
Viewport
Options
BodyPaint 3D shades (i.e. draws) the objects in the viewport using one of two modes:
Software Shading or OpenGL Shading. In Software Shading mode, BodyPaint 3D uses its
own optimized viewport shading engine. In OpenGL mode, your graphics card’s OpenGL
feature accelerates viewport shading (provided that your card supports OpenGL).
Which of the two modes is the fastest depends entirely on your hardware setup — use
a complex scene and test both modes. You’ll nd options for these two modes on the
Software Shading and OpenGL Shading pages.
View
Refresh Active View Only (Modeling / Animation)
This function has an effect only if you are using the BodyPaint 3D module with
CINEMA 4D. Please refer to the Conguration chapter in your CINEMA 4D reference
manual for details.
3D Grid
Controls whether the viewport grid is drawn in 3D (option enabled) or as a 2D grid
behind the objects (option disabled).
52 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 53
Use Draw Cache
Enable this option to speed up viewport shading. Keep in mind that the RAM required
will rise slightly when you enable this option.
Redraw Limit
This process enables you to work smoothly in the viewports. With some complex scenes,
you may be unable to move objects smoothly in the viewports with full shading due to
hardware limitations such as processor speed. To help resolve this issue, BodyPaint 3D
estimates how long it will take to refresh the viewports. If the estimated time exceeds
the redraw limit specied here, a faster display mode will be used automatically. For
example, Quick Shading will be reduced to Wireframe. Or if the wireframe mode is still
too slow, Box will be used instead.
The default value is 600 milliseconds. To prevent a less detailed display mode from being
used, set Redraw Limit to a very high value such as 10,000 milliseconds.
Editor : Pixel
These values specify the ratio of a pixel’s on-screen width to its on-screen height. The
pixel ratio for most monitors is 1:1. However, some display media use a pixel ratio other
than 1:1. This will lead to distortion unless the pixel ratio is adjusted accordingly. For
example, circles will appear to be ellipses. To calculate the pixel ratio manually, expand
the editor window to ll the entire screen. Select the side view and create a cube.
Measure the width and height of the cube with a ruler and enter these values into the
corresponding boxes.
Render Safe
You can set this option separately for each viewport using the viewport settings, which
apply to the active viewport only. (See “Congure” on page 15.)
If this option is enabled, the boundaries of the lm format are shown in the viewport.
Action Safe
You can set this option separately for each viewport using the viewport settings, which
apply to the active viewport only. (See “Congure” on page 15.)
If this option is enabled, a frame appears in the 3D view to mark out the region in which
it is safe for action to take place so that it will be in full view when played back on the
target medium (monitor, TV screen, movie theatre screen). To adjust the size of the
frame, enter a new percentage value into the box to the right. The percentage is based
on the lm format selected in the render settings.
If you’re a frequent moviegoer, you may have noticed that the screen’s curtains are pulled
closer or further apart depending on the movie’s format. Even with TV screens, part of
the picture may be lost. Use Action Safe to ensure the viewer sees all that matters.
CONFIGURATION • 53
Title Safe
You can set this option separately for each viewport using the viewport settings, which
apply to the active viewport only. (See “Congure” on page 15.)
If this option is enabled, a frame is shown in the 3D view. To change the size of the
frame, enter a new percentage value into the box to the right. The percentage is based
on the lm format selected in the render settings. Title Safe marks out a region in which
it is safe to place opening credits, nal credits and other text, where there will be a
minimum of distortion when the movie is played back on the target medium.
Many television sets have a dome-shaped picture-tube whose curvature increases
towards the edges. Pictures displayed on these sets tend to distort at the edges. Avoid
placing text such as lm titles in these areas.
Semi-Transparent A xes
If this option is enabled, the axes of objects are semi-transparent. Enter the transparency
strength into the box to the right. If the option is disabled, the axes are opaque.
Scale Axes
If this option is enabled, when you scale an object its axes as seen in the viewport are
scaled also. However, large or small axes make it difcult to perform quick actions (move,
scale, rotate) by dragging a particular axis. If this option is disabled, the object axes retain their
size when the object is scaled.
Colors
Use this page to dene the viewport colors. Choose which element whose color you want
to adjust from the list and use the sliders or system color dialog to change its color.
54 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 55
To reset the colors to the default settings, delete the “CINEMA 4D.prf” le (or
“CINEMA 4D” le if extensions are not displayed) from BodyPaint 3D’s “prefs”
folder. When you next start BodyPaint 3D, the default colors will be used and a new
“CINEMA 4D.prf” le will be created automatically.
OpenGL Shading
Refresh
Smart Window Refresh
The Smart Window Refresh function is not supported by all OpenGL cards. If display
errors appear with the option enabled, your card does not support Smart Window
Refresh.
When enabled, this option accelerates window refresh under OpenGL if, for example, you
move an undocked manager over the viewports. If the option is disabled, OpenGL must
refresh the entire screen each time.
Smart Live Selection
The Smart Live Selection function is not supported by all OpenGL cards. If display errors
appear with the option enabled, your card does not support Smart Live Selection.
If this option is enabled, live selection under OpenGL is accelerated — the selected
polygons or points are redrawn instead of the entire screen.
CONFIGURATION • 55
Textures
Use Textures
You can work more smoothly in the viewports if you disable this option.
This option denes whether textures are displayed when the Gouraud Shading mode is
activated. This setting is applied globally, i.e. it affects all viewports. You can dene this
option separately for each viewport using the viewport settings (see “Congure” on page
15), which apply to the active viewport only.
Texture Interpolation
Texture Interpolation set to Nearest (top right) and Linear (bottom right).
Texture Interpolation controls which method is used to interpolate textures when you
zoom objects in the viewport: Nearest or Linear. Nearest uses the color of the nearest
pixel in the texture, causing hard transitions in the zoomed texture. Linear uses linear
gradients (i.e. linear interpolation) to create smooth or blurry transitions in the zoomed
texture.
Extensions
These settings enable you to optimize OpenGL for BodyPaint 3D. The best settings
depend on your system’s hardware and drivers. Try each option for optimum
performance.
Allow Dual Planes, Use OpenGL ARB extension For Dual Planes
Enable Allow Dual Planes for faster refresh when moving objects. BodyPaint 3D will
refresh the relevant parts of the image only, speeding up shading. Some graphics cards
do not support this feature.
The Use OpenGL ARB Extension for Dual Planes option switches to an alternative method
for displaying dual planes. Depending on the hardware, this method may provide faster
viewport refresh. Some drivers do not support this feature, in which case this option will
be grayed out.
56 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 57
Use Line Polygons
Enable this option for faster wireframe display. It affects wireframe display only.
Use OGL Points For Handles
Enable this option for faster display of object points (the points that are displayed when
you select the Points tool). Some graphics cards do not support this feature.
Open GL Hardware Lighting
You can test the performance of your graphics card using CINEBENCH 2003, the free
benchmarking tool based on CINEMA 4D. Check out cinebench.com.
If this option is enabled, OpenGL will light your scene instead of the software shading.
This usually speeds up the viewport display. OpenGL lighting supports the following:
Environment Object
- Environment color.
- Fog (3D view only).
Light
- Light types: Omni, Spot, Distance, Parallel.
- Color and brightness.
- The No Diffuse and No Specular options.
Materials
- Luminance.
- Specular, incl. Width and Height.
- Specular Color.
- Texture in the Color channel with Specular.
Restrictions:
- Some light parameters are not supported.
- Only the rst eight light sources are used.
Antialiased Lines
If this option is enabled, lines are smoothed (antialiased) by the OpenGL implementation
provided the mode is supported by your graphics card.
CONFIGURATION • 57
Software Shading
Textures
Use Textures
You can work more smoothly in the viewports if you disable this option.
This option denes whether textures are displayed when the Gouraud Shading mode
is activated. This setting is applied globally, i.e. it affects all viewports. You can dene
this option separately for each viewport using the viewport settings, which apply to the
active viewport only (see “Congure” on page 15).
Perspective Correction
If this option and Use Textures are both enabled, all material previews are corrected for
perspective in the viewports.
58 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 59
BodyPaint
Default Texture Format
In contrast to previous versions of BodyPaint 3D, the default format is now “TIFF.”
Denes the default format used when you create a new texture. You can change the
texture format at any time using the Save As command.
Undo Buffer For Textures
Max Memory Usage
Denes the maximum amount of RAM reserved by BodyPaint 3D for undoing changes to
texture bitmaps.
At Least
Denes the minimum number of changes stored in RAM that can be undone regardless
of how much RAM is required. This parameter has a higher priority than Max Memory
Usage.
Brush
Show Brush Shape While Mouse Move, Show Brush Shape While Painting
To view BodyPaint 3D’s brush cursor while you move the mouse or paint, enable these
options.
CONFIGURATION • 59
3D View Texture Interpolation
Shading
If this option is enabled, the texture will be interpolated in shading/raybrush mode.
Projection Painting
Pixel Border Around UV Polygon
When you are using projaaection painting, a pixel border is created for the projection
each time you paint over the edge of a UV polygon. This setting denes the width of the
pixel border in pixels.
A pixel border is created to bridge the gap between the UV polygons.
The pixel borders — marked in the illustration above — help to prevent seams on the
textured object when you render. In previous versions of BodyPaint 3D, these seams were
mostly caused by gaps between the UV polygons.
60 • CHAPTER 3
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Tile U, Tile V
When you apply paint to an edge of the texture, sometimes the projected paint may spill
over the edge and also appear on the opposite side of the texture. This mostly happens
when you are using a high Pixel Border va;ue and when there are UV polygons at the
edges of the textures. To prevent the paint from seeping over the edge onto the other
side, disable the appropriate option.
Project On Invisible Parts
If this option is enabled, you can also paint onto invisible parts of the object such as the
reverse side of a cube.
Border On Same Object
This option helps to prevent seams at the edges of UV polygons when you are using
projection painting. It works by projecting the texture not only onto the visible parts of
the object, but also onto the border areas, i.e. the parts which are just out of view.
Bitmap Filter
Here you can dene default settings for the lters (see Chapter 13, Filter Menu).
Preview Width, Preview Height
The width and height of the preview which appears when you use a lter.
Show Source Preview
Select this option to show a preview, as well as the original, in the lter dialogs.
Live Action
If this option is enabled, the lter is applied in real-time when you move the area in the
preview window. Changes made using the sliders are also applied in realtime. Disable the
option if you want to speed up the preview.
CONFIGURATION • 61
Wrap Texture
Enable this option if you want the texture to be tiled. Suppose you want to apply a blur
lter to your texture with a blur radius of 20 pixels. What should the lter do at the edges
of the texture? Usually, the edge pixel is repeated multiple times in the blur calculation
to make up the numbers. This tends to create unwanted seams if the texture is tiled.
However, when the Wrap Texture option is enabled, the lter borrows pixels from the
other side of the texture to prevent seams.
Document Preview
This option shows a preview of the lter in the view panel and Texture view. The preview
may take a few moments to appear.
Use Photoshop Filters, Plugin Folders
BodyPaint 3D enables you to use Photoshop lters provided Photoshop is installed on
your computer system. Here, choose folder which contains the Photoshop plugins folder
(also, the path will be located automatically when you start BodyPaint 3D for the rst
time).
Some Photoshop plugins may not work due to issues with the Photoshop SDK, depending
on which version of Photoshop is installed. In general, most third-party Photoshop lters
are compatible.
If you set a path directly to the third-party lters, only the ones which work will be listed
on the Filters menu.
If you don’t want to use Photoshop lters, disable the Use Photoshop Filters option. The
drop-down list enables you to choose which path is used if more than one version of
Photoshop is installed. Use the Add and Remove buttons to add or remove paths.
62 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 63
Document
Save RTTM Textures
If you have enabled realtime texture mapping (i.e. the Disable Textures option in the
Congure Viewport dialog is off), small temporary textures will be created so that you can
see the textures in the viewports. These RTTM textures take a noticeable time to create and
they must be calculated each time you load the scene. To speed up the loading process,
enable Save RTTM Textures. The RTTM textures will then be saved within the scene le.
Save Particles
This function has an effect only if you are using the BodyPaint 3D module with
CINEMA 4D. Please refer to the Conguration chapter in your CINEMA 4D reference
manual for details.
Create New Objects In View Center
By default, BodyPaint 3D creates all new objects at the origin of the world coordinate
system. However, If the origin is off-screen, a newly created object may be out of sight.
If this option is enabled, new objects are created in the center of the active view instead,
i.e. always within view.
Generate Backup Copies
This command saves backup copies of the scene only; it does not backup your textures.
When you save a scene with a lename which already exists in the destination folder, the
original scene will be overwritten by default. If this option is enabled, BodyPaint 3D will
rename the original le before creating the new le.
Backup Copies
This setting denes the maximum number of backup copies which can be saved for a
scene (provided Generate Backup Copies is enabled).
Undo Depth
Determines the maximum number of changes you can undo in a row. (See “The undo
buffer” on page 163.)
Recent File List
Controls the maximum number of les shown on the File menu’s Recent Files list.
CONFIGURATION • 63
64 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 65
Import/Export
Some of the import/export lter options are for animation only. These functions only have
an effect you are using the BodyPaint 3D module with CINEMA 4D.
3D Studio R4 Import/Export
Scale
This option is for import and export.
Determines whether and by how much 3ds les are scaled when loaded or saved.
Adapt Textures
This option is for import only. Only the name is changed. You still need to convert the
image.
3D Studio does not support as many graphics le formats for textures etc. as
BodyPaint 3D. Its main format is TIFF. If you enable this option, all texture lename
extensions are changed to the one specied in the Sufx box (for example “frame.jpg”
becomes “frame.tif”).
Biovision BVH Import
This imort lter is only of use if you are using the BodyPaint 3D module with CINEMA 4D.
Please refer to the Conguration chapter in your CINEMA 4D reference manual for details.
CINEMA 4D XML Export
XML is a standardized language for le exchange. This export is targeted mainly at plugin developers, to help them better integrate their extensions into the le. For details on
this format, visit www.xml.org.
DEM Import
DEM les are often used for landscapes.
Factor
Determines whether and by how much DEM les are scaled when imported.
DXF Export
CONFIGURATION • 65
Scale
Determines whether and by how much DXF les are scaled when saved.
Export Type
The DXF standard offers several options for saving an object. Here you can choose the
type into which the object is converted when being saved. The choices are Polyline, Solid
and 3DFace.
66 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 67
DXF Import
BodyPaint 3D can work with DXF les of all versions. It can correctly interpret the
following elements: SOLID, 3DFACE, LINE, POLYLINE, CIRCLE, ARC, POINT and TRACE. All
three-dimensional data is read in accurately. All documented POLYLINE combinations as
well as height and elevation data are supported. The same is true of element coordinate
systems, layer names and various line thicknesses.
Scale
Determines whether and by how much DXF les are scaled when loaded.
Circle Subdivision
Determines the number of polygon segments used for subdividing circle segments.
Connect
DXF les often consist of many small elements. During loading, BodyPaint 3D attempts to
combine elements of the same color (By Color), layer (By Layer) or not at all (No).
Frozen Layers
Enable this option if you want to convert frozen layers when loading. Many CAD
programs offer the option to freeze (i.e. hide) temporary or unused layers.
2D Elements
Species whether two-dimensional DXF elements should be converted.
Align Normals
BodyPaint 3D assumes all surfaces of an object are uniformly aligned. This is not
necessarily the case with DXF les. If adjacent surfaces are differently aligned, their
normal vectors point in different directions. During rendering, this can result in unwated
color banding. BodyPaint 3D uses this option to realign adjacent surfaces.
CONFIGURATION • 67
Triangulate Polygons
DXF les may contain three-dimensional polygons. BodyPaint 3D can triangulate
these if this option is enabled. This means that the inscribed surface is generated as a
3D object. This is useful in most cases and therefore is the default setting. Unless the
option is disabled, polygon lines are converted, which is useful for further processing in
BodyPaint 3D.
Direct3D Export
DirectX can only process graphics measuring 2n pixels (textures need to be 2x2, 4x4, 8x8,
16x16, 32x32, 64x64, 128x128, 256x256 and so on).
Scale
Determines whether and by how much Direct3D les are scaled when saved.
Format
Direct3D is a text format. To facilitate manual editing of the le, this option formats the
whole le automatically. This increases the le size.
Save Templates
When enabled, the template header is written to the le.
Export Textures
When enabled, all texture information is saved for all objects. This includes creating UV
coordinates for each object.
68 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 69
Adapt Textures
Only the name is changed. You still need to convert the image.
DirectX uses mainly the PPM (portable pixel map) graphics format, but also BMP
(Windows bitmap). BodyPaint 3D does not recognize the former, which means that
textures need to be converted. This can easily be done using most image editors. But
what about adapting the names?
If you enable this option, all texture lename extensions of scene materials are
automatically changed when exported. For example, “image.jpg” becomes “image.ppm”.
This means you do not need to check whether a change of name is required for each
material and attribute.
Save Normals
If this option is enabled, normal vectors are created for all surfaces Otherwise Direct3D
will calculate the normals.
Generate Mesh
Direct3D works with two types of model: Frame and Mesh. Frames, as with
BodyPaint 3D, consist of objects arranged in a hierarchical structure. Objects remain
encapsulated. In a mesh, on the other hand, all objects are on the same level..
Illustrator Import
If you want a 2D vector graphic (e.g. a company logo) to become three - dimensional,
then import it in the Illustrator format. Also vector graphics from other programs, such
as Macromedia Freehand or CorelDraw, can be imported if saved in Illustrator format.
Scale
Determines whether and by how much Illustrator les are scaled when loaded.
Connect Splines
If this option is enabled, shapes are imported as a single, connected Spline object.
Group Splines
Imports each line as a separate Spline object.
CONFIGURATION • 69
LightWave Import
When opening a LightWave le, not only the object geometry is imported but also the
rest of the scene including the camera’s focal length (especially useful when used with
3D camera tracking software such as MatchMover or 3D -Equalizer), texture maps and
bones information. Additionally, UV coordinates and weight maps of LightWave are
imported.
Scale
Determines whether and by how much LightWave les are scaled when loaded. The
default value is 10 (LightWave uses a smaller construction scale than BodyPaint 3D).
Textures
If enabled, LightWave object’s texture information is also loaded.
Lights
LightWave object’s light source information is also loaded when this option is enabled.
Split Selections
LightWave supports double sided polygons. When opening such an object BodyPaint 3D
creates double polygons, which may lead to rendering artifacts. If you have such objects
in your LightWave scene, enable this option. Two grouped objects are created, one of
which may be deleted if no longer required.
70 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 71
Monzoom Import
This import lter enables you to load objects, materials, textures, light sources and
the cameras of a Monzoom/Reections scene. Scale determines whether and by how
much Monzoom les are scaled when loaded. The earliest versions of Reections are
not supported. In these cases load the le into a more recent version of Reections or
Monzoom and save it out as a new le.
In Reections/Monzoom, Phong shading can be assigned to individual polygons. For
this reason you can choose when the imported objects are given a Phong shading tag:
always, never, when most of the polygons are smoothed or when at least some of the
polygons are smoothed. In most cases, Majority Of Faces is the best setting.
QuickDraw 3D Export
Scale
Determines whether and by how much QuickDraw 3D les are scaled when saved.
Save Textures
If this option is enabled, all objects are saved with their textures (including UV
coordinates if present). If this option is disabled, objects are saved with basic color
information only (i.e. without textures).
Maximum Size
You can use any size of texture provided your system has sufcient memory. However,
avoid large textures since they add to the loading time. This option restricts the size of
QuickDraw 3D les. Textures are scaled to the specied value in pixels.
CONFIGURATION • 71
QuickDraw 3D Import
Scale
Determines whether and by how much QuickDraw 3D les are scaled when loaded.
NURBS Subdivision
Species whether and to what extent QuickDraw 3D NURBS are triangulated during
loading.
Sphere Subdivision
Species whether and to what extent QuickDraw 3D spheres are triangulated during
loading.
Cone/Cylinder Subdivision
Species whether and to what extent QuickDraw 3D cones and cylinders are triangulated
during loading.
STL Import / Export
The STL format is mostly used in the eld of rapid prototyping to design moulds. The
geometry is described as triangles.
Scale
Determines whether and by how much STL les are scaled when imported or exported.
72 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 73
VRML 1 Export
Scale
Determines whether and by how much VRML 1 les are scaled when saved.
Format
VRML is a text format. To facilitate manual editing of the le, this option carries out
automatic formatting on the entire text le during export.
Backface Culling
This option enables an attribute on all exported objects which switches off drawing of
the non-visible sides of all objects in the web browser. This gives a much faster display.
Textures
This menu species the action BodyPaint 3D is to take when exporting textures. None
ignores the textures and saves only color information. Referenced means objects are saved
with the paths to the textures. With File saves all textures directly in the VRML le (called
inline textures). Any UV coordinates are also saved.
Maximum Size
BodyPaint 3D allows you to use any size of texture — provided of course you have plenty
of memory. However, when viewing a scene it can be irritating to wait for large textures
to load. This option enables you to limit the size of VRML les. The material images are
scaled to the specied value (in pixels); the proportions remain intact.
CONFIGURATION • 73
VRML 1 Import
Scale
Determines whether and by how much VRML 1 les are scaled when loaded.
Optimize Hierarchy
If Optimize Hierarchy is enabled, the scene structure is optimized once the VRML1 le
has been loaded. Superuous dummy objects are removed and the object hierarchy is
optimized. This creates a clearer overview, helping you to work more quickly.
Import Normals
Some NURBS modeling applications tend to export mesh which is prone to shading
errors. You can combat this problem by enabling this option and by enabling vertex
normals in your modeling appliaction (vertex normals are normals for points).
Depending on the number of surfaces, a point may have several normals. BodyPaint 3D
is able to use these normals to produce high quality shading despite the sub-optimized
mesh. The vertex normals are stored in a Normal tag, which appears in the Object
manager and looks as follows:
Keep in mind that if you edit the points of such an imported object, the Normal tag
will no longer work properly, which may lead to shading anomalies. Moving, scaling or
rotating the object is ne, however. If you delete the Normal tag, the standard shading
will be used instead.
74 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 75
VRML 2 Export
Scale
This is for specifying whether and to what degree VRML 2 les are scaled when saved.
Format Text
VRML is a text format. To facilitate manual editing of the le, this option carries out
automatic formatting on the entire text le during export.
Backface Culling
This option enables an attribute on all exported objects which switches off drawing of
the non-visible sides of all objects in the web browser. This gives a much faster display.
Save Animation, Keys/Second
These feature only have an effect if you are using the BodyPaint 3D module with
CINEMA 4D. Please see your CINEMA 4D reference manual for details.
Textures
This drop-down list species the action BodyPaint 3D takes when exporting textures.
None ignores the textures and saves only color information. Referenced means objects
are saved with the paths to the textures. With File saves all textures directly in the VRML
le (called inline textures). UV coordinates are also saved if present.
Maximum Size
VRML 2 provides two options for making textures available to their objects. The rst
option is identical to the one used in BodyPaint 3D — a reference to the texture le is
saved along with the VRML scene. If you want to go with this option, specify the value 0.
The second option integrates the graphics data directly into the VRML 2 le.
CONFIGURATION • 75
Since the texture is written uncompressed, in text format, a texture of 1000x1000 pixels
quickly reaches a le size of 4MB. To avoid such large les, specify a value (larger than
0) to limit the size of textures. The materials are then scaled to this value (in pixels). The
proportions remain intact. For example, if you have a texture of 800x600 pixels and
you set a maximum value of 100, the texture is proportionally scaled down to a size of
100x75 pixels before it is saved.
VRML 2 Import
Scale
This species whether and to what extent VRML 2 les are scaled when loaded.
Optimize Hierarchy
If Optimize Hierarchy is enabled, the hierarchy is optimized once the VRML 2 le has been
loaded. Superuous dummy objects are removed and the object hierarchy is optimized.
This creates a clearer overview, helping you to work more quickly.
Optimize Structure
Enable this option to optimize the scene’s structure during import.
Import Normals
Some NURBS modeling applications tend to export mesh that is prone to shading errors.
You can combat this problem by enabling this option and by enabling vertex normals in
your modeling appliaction (vertex normals are normals for points).
Depending on the number of surfaces, a point may have several normals. BodyPaint 3D
is able to use these normals to produce high quality shading despite the sub-optimized
mesh. The vertex normals are stored in a Normal tag, which appears in the Object
manager and looks as follows:
76 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 77
Keep in mind that if you edit the points of such an imported object, the Normal tag
will no longer work properly, which may lead to shading anomalies. Moving, scaling or
rotating the object is ne, however. If you delete the Normal tag, the standard shading
will be used instead.
Wavefront Import / Export
Factor
This species whether and to what extent Wavefront les are scaled during import and
export.
Import Normals (import only)
Some NURBS modeling applications tend to export mesh that is prone to shading errors.
You can combat this problem by enabling this option and by enabling vertex normals in
your modeling appliaction (vertex normals are normals for points).
Depending on the number of surfaces, a point may have several normals. BodyPaint 3D
is able to use these normals to produce high quality shading despite the sub-optimized
mesh. The vertex normals are stored in a Normal tag, which appears in the Object
manager and looks as follows:
Keep in mind that if you edit the points of such an imported object, the Normal tag
will no longer work properly, which may lead to shading anomalies. Moving, scaling or
rotating the object is ne, however. If you delete the Normal tag, the standard shading
will be used instead.
CONFIGURATION • 77
Texture Paths
BodyPaint 3D searches for texture les in the following locations: in the same folder as
the scene; in the scene’s “Tex” folder, in BodyPaint 3D’s “Tex” folder and in the Texture
Paths specied on this page. If a texture is in any of these folders, add the texture’s folder
to this dialog.
You can specify up to ten paths. Each path is searched recursively, i.e. sub-folders are also
searched. Type the path name directly into a text box. Alternatively, click a Path button,
guide the system dialog that opens to the texture’s folder and click Open (Windows) or
Choose (Mac OS). If a texture still cannot be found after all the texture paths have been
serached, BodyPaint 3D will report a texture error.
Units
Display Units
Values are displayed together with their unit of measurement by default. If this option is
disabled, the unit of measurement is not be displayed.
78 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 79
Use HPB System
You may nd this option useful if you are an experienced animator. If this option is
disabled, the active object rotates about its local axes or the world axes when you use
the mouse.
If, on the other hand, you enable this option, the active object rotates about the HPB
angles when you use the mouse. In other words, you rotate the object using the heading,
pitch and bank of the object’s parent system. Only experienced animators should use this
option, since it requires a great deal of abstract thought.
Basic Units
Here you determine the basic unit of measurement in BodyPaint 3D. Choose from pixels,
kilometers, metres, centimeters, millimeters, micrometers, nanometers, miles, yards, feet
and inches.
For example, if you select Centimeter as the basic units, position values will be stated in
cm. Note that if you change units the numerical values will not be converted. However,
you can enter values in different units. For example, if the basic units are cm and you
type “5 km” into a dialog, the value will be converted to 500,000 cm.
If you set the basic units to Pixel, the unit of measurement will not be specied. It is then
up to you to decide how to interpret the values. You can use the following abbreviations
for units when entering values:
Abbreviation Units
no units
pixels
specied
km kilometers
m meters
cm centimeters
mm millimeters
um micrometers
nm nanometers
mi miles
yd yards
ft feet
in inches
CONFIGURATION • 79
Animation Units
This feature only has an effect if you are using BodyPaint 3D as a module with
CINEMA 4D. Please see your CINEMA 4D reference manual for details.
Color Chooser
Color System C4D, Color System BP
There are many places in BodyPaint 3D where you can choose a color. Use Color System
C4D and Color System BP to specify which type of color chooser appears in parts of the
program related directly to normal functions or directly to painting respectively. You can
select from the following types of color chooser (after selecting a type of color chooser,
you’ll see its preview appear at the bottom of the dialog).
RGB Only RGB Colored
.
HSV Only HSV Colored
Color Box Color Table
RGB Range, Hue Range, Sat/ Val Range
You can use these three range menus to dene the units and range of the RGB and HSV
color systems. Choose from:
• 0 - 255
• 0% - 100%
• 0 - 65535
• 0° - 360° (“H” only - Hue)
80 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 81
Quick Storage / Mixing Panel
1. Quick Storage, 2. Mixing Panel.
Quick Storage
Enable this option to display a row of color swatches. These are useful for storing and
reselecting colors that you will need to select frequently.
To save the active color to the quick storage row, do one of the following:
- Drag and drop the active color preview onto a swatch in the quick storage row.
- Ctrl-click on a swatch in the quick storage row.
Mixing Panel
If this option is enabled, a mixing panel with be displayed. This mixes together four base
colors to produce a range of colors. Click on the panel to choose the color at that point.
A large swatch is displayed in each corner of the mixing range for the four base colors. To
choose a new base color, do one of the following:
- Click on a base color swatch. This replaces the color in the swatch with the active color.
- Drag and drop the active color preview onto a base swatch. Again, this replaces the
color in the swatch with the active color.
- Drag and drop a color from the quick storage row onto a base color swatch.
Other color chooser functions
To choose a color:
- Click on a color range.
- Drag the color sliders.
- Enter color values into the text boxes.
The HSV sliders, RGB sliders and text boxes react to each other in realtime.
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