The KB3D Creator Scene Editor contains everything related to managing the 3D visuals of your scene: the meshes, materials, lights, viewpoints, and more.
The scene editor consists of the following elements.
The left Explorer shows a hierarchical drill-down tree of nodes, like branches and leaves on a tree. The scene node itself is the top-most node in the explorer, and all the other scene nodes within it appear in the hierarchy below it. In the explorer you can create objects, change their relationships to each other, and delete them. Clicking a scene object in the explorer highlights the item in the 3D space and fills the properties pane with information about the item. Learn more about the scene nodes in the explorer.
The top Toolbar shows the commands currently available, given the selected node in the explorer. If a tool is active, it appears in a different color. Learn more about the scene toolbar.
A collapsible infobox shows runtime Performance Statistics information to help you understand and optimize scene performance.
The right Properties Pane gives detailed information about the selected node or nodes. Here you can see and change all the the specific properties of a node, add features to some nodes, and otherwise make adjustments.
Objects created in the scene, like this box, appear both in the 3D space of the scene and in the object list of the explorer. Objects include meshes, lights, and more. Learn more about scene objects.
The Origin is a special point in space: it’s the center of the scene where the X, Y, and Z axes meet at [0,0,0]. Use the origin as an absolute location to place objects within a scene, or align scenes to each other when you nest them.
Multicolored Gizmos appear within an object when a move, rotate, or scale tool is selected. They provide handles to click and drag to manipulate the object visually.
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The bottom Tab Bar displays lists for your information:
The Materials Tab offers a variety of materials you can “paint” onto to a mesh, to make that mesh look like metal, plastic, glass, or other real-world materials. Learn more about materials.
The History Tab shows you recent history of your work in the scene. Here you can undo or redo recent changes. Learn more about scene history.
The Imports Tab allows you to create new meshes by importing 3D geometry from a file on your computer, or from other existing scenes. Learn more about importing and exporting scenes.
The Warnings Tab suggests design elements in the scene which you can review to improve scene performance. When these optional suggestions are satisfied, the warning disappears.
Scene Nodes
Scene Nodes describe the 3D Scene and any item that can be placed within it. Nodes appear in the explorer under one of the high-level categories.
- Annotations and Dimensions — Annotations display text next to a single point within the scene.
- Global Lights — Global Lights are scene objects that cast light onto Meshes, giving them realistic reflections and shadows.
- Materials — Materials are like paints. They give meshes the color, surface, and other appearance factors of real-world materials like glass, wood, and steel.
- Mates — Mates help your user drag-and-drop meshes. Like magnets, mates help meshes align perfectly according to the connectors on the meshes and your business logic.
- Meshes — Meshes are the most common type of scene object. These are the shapes of objects your user can see.
- The Scene Node Itself — The Scene Node contains the properties for basic functionality and appearance of the empty space surrounding the scene objects, and for the behavior of the scene as a whole.
- Viewpoints — Viewpoints are invisible positions in the 3D space of the scene which define a way of looking at the scene contents. Use viewpoints to show your scene from the best angle, or guide your user along a tour through the scene.
Scene Toolbar
The Scene Toolbar appears at the top of the 3D viewport, and displays tools appropriate to your selection.