Viewport Overlays¶
Using the Viewport Overlays pop-over settings for the overlays can be configured. There is a switch to turn off all overlays for the 3D Viewport.
The options that are visible in the pop-over depend on the mode that the 3D Viewport is in.
Object Mode¶
The next options are always present, independent the current mode.
Guides¶
- Grid
Show grid in orthographic side view.
- Floor
Show the ground plane.
- Axis
Show the X and/or Y and/or Z axis line.
- Scale
The distance between lines in the grid/floor.
- Subdivision
The number of subdivisions between grid lines.
- Text Info
Shows information such as the View Perspective, playback FPS, current frame number, and the name of the active Collection and Object.
- Statistics
Show information about the amount of objects and geometry.
- Objects
Number of the selected objects and the total count.
- Geometry
Displays information about the current scene depending on the mode and object type. This can be the number of vertices, faces, triangles, or bones.
- HDRI Preview
Show two spheres, one glossy and one diffuse, to preview HDRIs used in Material Preview and Rendered shading modes.
- 3D Cursor
Show the 3D Cursor overlay.
- Annotations
Show the annotation overlay.
Objects¶
- Extra
Show details of objects including empty wires, cameras and other visual guides.
- Relationship Lines
Show dashed lines indicating parents or constraint relationships.
- Outline Selected
Show an outline highlight around selected objects.
- Bones
Show Bones. Disable to only show their motion path.
- Motion Paths
Show the motion path overlay.
- Origin
Show the object origin of the active object.
- Origin (All)
Show the object origin of all objects.
Geometry¶
- Wireframe
Displays the mesh’s face edges, similar to Wireframe Shading but displays edges on top of existing shading. The value slider adjusts which edges to display by only showing wires on prominent edges. Lower values hide edges with angles close to 180 degrees while a value of 1 shows all wires.
- Opacity
The transparency of the displayed edges; a value of 1 is fully opaque, a value of 0 is fully transparent.
- Fade Inactive Geometry
Fade inactive geometry using the viewport background color. The value slider controls the factor of the objects are blended with the background.
- Face Orientation
Show the face orientation overlay. In the face orientation overlay all faces where the face normal points towards the camera are colored blue. All faces where the face normal points away from the camera are colored red. With this overlay, it is easy to detect the orientation of the face normals.
Motion Tracking¶
Show the motion tracking overlay.
- Camera Path
Show the reconstruction camera path.
- Marker Names
Show the names for reconstructed track objects.
- Tracks
Change the display of the reconstructed tracks.
Plain Axes
Arrows
Single Arrow
Circle
Cube
Sphere
Cone
- Size
Change the display size of the reconstructed tracks.
Mesh Edit Mode¶
The next options are available when in Edit Mesh Mode.
- Edges
Highlighted selected and partially selected edges.
Only affects vertex and face select mode (as edges are always highlighted in edge select mode).
- Faces
Highlight faces using a face overlay that applies to both selected and unselected faces.
Affects all selection modes.
- Center
Show face center points in solid shading modes.
Only affects face select mode.
- Creases
Display edges marked with a crease for the Subdivision Surface Modifier.
- Sharp
Display sharp edges, used with the Edge Split modifier.
- Bevel
Display weights created for the Bevel Modifier.
- Seams
Display the UV unwrapping seams.
- Edge Marks and Face Marks
Used by Freestyle.
Shading¶
- Hidden Wire
Show only front-facing wireframes. This is useful for a retopology workflow.
Tip
Optimally this could be combined with the X-Ray display setting.
- Vertex Groups Weights
Display weights in Edit Mode.
- Zero Weights
To display unreferenced and zero weighted areas in black. This helps to identify areas with very low weights that have been painted onto.
- None
Vertices are displayed in the usual way.
- Active
Show in black vertices with no weights in the active group.
- All
The vertex is shown in black if it has zero weight in all groups.
Measurement¶
Numerical measures of the selected elements on screen as part of the text info overlay. The Units can be set in the Scene properties.
- Edge Length
Show the length of selected edges.
- Edge Angle
Show the angle of selected edges between two faces.
- Face Area
Show the area of selected faces.
- Face Angle
Show the angle of selected face corners.
Tip
Geometry connected to the selection is shown while transforming, allowing you to move a vertex and see the connected edge lengths for example.
Note
These values respect Global/Local.
Use Global if you want the Object’s scale to be applied to the measurements.
Normals¶
Display vertex normals
Display face normals at vertices (split normals)
Display face normals
- Size
The size to show the selected normals.
Developer¶
- Indices
Display the indices of selected vertices, edges and faces.
Freestyle¶
- Edge Marks
Display Freestyle edge marks, used with the Freestyle renderer.
- Face Marks
Display Freestyle face marks, used with the Freestyle renderer.
Sculpt Mode¶
Vertex Paint¶
- Stencil Mask Opacity
Opacity of the stencil mask overlay in Vertex Paint Mode.
- Show Wire
Use wireframe display in paint modes.
Weight Paint¶
- Opacity
The opacity of the overlay.
- Zero Weights
To display unreferenced and zero weighted areas in black. This helps to identify areas with very low weights that have been painted onto.
- None
Vertices are displayed in the usual way.
- Active
Show in black vertices with no weights in the active group.
- All
The vertex is shown in black if it has zero weight in all groups.
- Show Weight Contours
Show contour lines formed by points with the same interpolated weight.
- Show Wire
Use wireframe display in paint modes.
Texture Paint¶
- Stencil Mask Opacity
The opacity of the stencil mask overlay in Texture Paint Mode.
Pose Mode¶
- Fade Geometry
Show the bones on top and face other geometry to the back. The opacity can be controlled with the slider.
Grease Pencil¶
- Onion Skin
Show ghosts of the keyframes before and after the current frame.
- Canvas
Display a grid over Grease Pencil drawing plane. The opacity of the grid can be controlled with the slider. When using the Canvas X-Ray option objects are drawn behind the canvas grid.
- Fade Layers
Decrease the opacity of all the layers in the object other than the active one. The opacity factor can be controlled with the slider.
- Fade Objects
Cover all viewport except the active Grease Pencil object with a full color layer to improve visibility while drawing over complex scenes.
- Fade Grease Pencil Objects
Include or exclude Grease Pencil objects.
- Edit Lines
Show edit lines when editing strokes.
- Only in Multiframe
Show edit lines only when using multiframe edition.
- Stroke Direction
Toggles the display of the strokes start point (green) and end point (red) to visualize the line direction.
- Material Name
Show material name next to the linked stroke.
- Vertex Opacity
Opacity for edit vertices (points).
- Vertex Paint Opacity
The opacity of the overlay.
- Handles
When Curve Editing is active, this option controls how curves are displayed in the 3D Viewport.
- None
No handles are displayed only the control points.
- Selected
Only handles for selected control points are displayed.
- All
All the handles are displayed.