Display Settings Panel

Use

You use the Display Settings panel to modify certain render mode settings in real-time, as you work. These settings can be saved within themes, enabling you to apply them to scenes quickly, without needing to modify the individual settings more than once. Your selections are applied to the scene immediately. For example, you can select the material color overrides for the Shaded Illustration render mode and save them to a theme.

You can resize, move, float, dock, and close the panel similar to the functionality in most Windows applications. The options displayed on the panel differ depending on the selected render mode. It also includes a toolbar that can be used to select, save, and delete themes.

The panel offers the following features:

Field	Functional Description
Theme	Used to select the theme you want to apply to the scene
Delete	Used to delete the current theme
Save As	Opens the Saves As window and is used to save the current settings as a theme
Render Mode	Used to select a render mode in which to display the scene. For more information, see Render Modes.
Lights	Used to select the lighting to apply to the scene. For more information, see Lighting Modes.
Use Existing Lights	Uses all lights from the current file
Calculate Specular Lights	Calculates specular lights
Use Default Material	Displays the default material on all objects. This is helpful when reviewing files that have very light or dark materials.
Use Existing Smoothing	Displays the existing smoothing information from the current file. Smoothing Angle: Determines the degree of the smoothing angle
Show Back-Facing Geometry	Displays any back-facing geometry
Show Transparency	Displays and hides transparency in those materials that are transparent
Use Textures	Displays textures on objects in Solid render mode. The textures are displayed in the most realistic and detailed representation for the scene.
Outline Color	Used to set the color for the outline
Object Color	Used to set the top or bottom background color, whichever has the highest luminance (the color that is closest to white), as the object color
Outline Width	Determines the width of the outline
Outline Angle	Determines the angle of the outline
Vertices Color	Used to select a color for the vertices
Material Override	Used to modify the existing material properties. Ambient: Used to select the transparency and color to apply to the ambient color Diffuse: Used to select the transparency and color to apply to the diffuse color. Specular: Used to select the transparency and color to apply to the specular color Emission: Used to select the transparency and color to apply to the emissive color
Background Top	Used to set the color of the upper half of the viewport background gradient
Background Bottom	Used to set the color of the lower half of the viewport background gradient

Activities

Displaying the Panel

To show the Display Settings panel, do one of the following:

Choose Window Panels Display Settings from the menu bar.
Open the Customize Layout window, select the Display Settings checkbox in the Panels tab page, and then choose OK.

Hiding the Panel

To hide the Display Settings panel, do one of the following:

Choose Window Panels Display Settings from the menu bar.
Open the Customize Layout window, clear the Display Settings checkbox in the Panels tab page, and then choose OK.

Saving Display Settings as a Theme

To save display settings as a theme do the following:

Open the Display Settings panel.
Select the render mode you require in the Render Mode field. The options for that render type are displayed.
Enter a name for the theme in the File Name field and choose Save.
Choose Save As on the Display Settings toolbar.
Establish the settings for the render type as required.

The display settings for that theme are applied in the viewport.

Selecting a Theme

To select a theme, open the Display Settings panel and select the theme you require in the Theme field.

Deleting a Theme

To delete a theme, open the Display Settings panel, select the theme you want to delete in the Theme field and choose Delete on the Display Settings toolbar. The theme is deleted.