Viewport Overlays¶
Reference
- Mode:
All Modes
- Header:
Clicking the icon toggles all overlays in the 3D Viewport.
Note
Cameras outline & passepartout are not considered Viewport overlays.
The drop-down button displays a popover with more detailed settings, which are described below.
Depending on the current object interaction mode, there may be a second button with yet more settings, which are also described here.
General¶
The following options are always present, independent of the current mode. Some of the overlays can be customized in the Viewport Preferences.
Guides¶
- Grid
Show grid in orthographic side view.
- Floor
Show the ground plane in perspective view.
- Axes
Show the X, Y and/or Z axis lines.
- Scale
The distance between lines in the grid/floor.
- Subdivisions
The number of subdivisions between grid lines.
- Text Info
Show various bits of information in the top left corner of the viewport.
View Perspective – Name of the View Perspective, such as “Top Orthographic” or “User Perspective.”
Playback Frame Rate (FPS) – Displays the Frames Per Second at which the animation is playing. By default, Blender goes through every single frame, which may result in an FPS that’s lower than intended (and the animation playing slower than realtime); the FPS turns red in this case. You can change this behavior in the Playback popover of the Timeline.
Object Info – Shows the current frame in parentheses, followed by the names of the selected Collection and the active object. When applicable, also shows the selected Shape Key and (in angle brackets) the Marker on the current frame. If the object has a keyframe on the current frame, the Object Info is displayed in yellow.
Grid Resolution – When the view is aligned to a world axis (see Viewpoint), the Text Info additionally shows the smallest distance between two parallel grid lines.
- Statistics
Show information about the amount of objects and geometry. Note that the counters depend on the current selection. For example, selecting a mesh gives info on the number of vertices, edges, and faces, while selecting a light shows the number of lights in the scene.
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.
- Camera Guides
Show Camera guides (Safe Areas & Composition Guides), only available in camera view.
- HDRI Preview
Show two spheres, one glossy and one diffuse, to preview the HDRI that’s being used for world lighting. While HDRIs can be used in both the Material Preview and Rendered shading modes, the HDRI Preview overlay is only available in the former.
- 3D Cursor
Show the 3D Cursor.
- Annotations
Show annotations.
Objects¶
- Extras
Show objects that don’t have geometry (such as empties, cameras and lights).
- Light Colors
Shades the outline of light objects to the color the light produces.
- Relationship Lines
Show dashed lines indicating parent or constraint relationships.
- Outline Selected
Show an outline around selected objects.
- Bones
Show Bones.
- Motion Paths
Show the motion path overlay.
- Origin
Show the origins of the selected objects.
- Origin (All)
Show the origins of all objects.
- Bone Wireframe Opacity
The maximum opacity used for bones drawn in the Wireframe shading mode (or in Solid shading mode with X-Ray active). This is helpful when it is necessary to reduce clutter and focus on the mesh rather than bones.
Geometry¶
- Wireframe
Display mesh edges. Similar to Wireframe Shading, but displays edges on top of existing shading. The value slider adjusts which edges to display: lower values hide edges on surfaces that are almost flat, while a value of 1 shows all edges.
- Opacity
The opacity of the displayed edges, from 0 (invisible) to 1 (fully opaque).
- Fade Inactive Geometry
In modes other than Object Mode, fade out objects that you’re not working on. The slider controls how much they’re faded out.
- Face Orientation
Show faces whose normal is pointing towards the camera in blue, and faces whose normal is pointing away from the camera in red. This lets you quickly check for faces that are oriented incorrectly: the outside surface of an object should typically be all blue.
Viewer Node¶
Visualizes Attributes connected to the Viewer Node.
- Viewer Node
Visualize the value of the attribute connected to the Viewer Node as a grayscale color.
- Color Opacity
Opacity of the attribute that is currently visualized.
- Attribute Text
Show attribute values as text in viewport.
Motion Tracking¶
Show the motion tracking overlay.
- Camera Path
Show the reconstructed camera path.
- Marker Names
Show the names for reconstructed track objects.
- Tracks
Change the display of the reconstructed tracks: plain axes, arrows and so on.
- Size
Change the display size of the reconstructed tracks.
Mesh Edit Mode Overlays¶
The following options are available when in Mesh Edit Mode.
- Faces
Highlight selected faces. Affects all selection modes.
- Center
Show face center points in solid shading modes. (They’re always shown in wireframe shading mode.)
Only affects face selection 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.
Shading¶
- Retopology
This overlay is useful when you have a sculpted mesh with the desired shape and want to recreate it with better topology. It makes the edited mesh see-through (so that you can see the sculpted mesh underneath it) and optionally renders it in front of nearby geometry (so that you can see it underneath the sculpted mesh).
- Offset
Distance to “move the edited mesh towards the camera.” Use this to display the mesh in front of other objects that would normally occlude it.
- Vertex Groups Weights
Visualize the weights of the active vertex group, much like in Weight Paint mode.
- Zero Weights
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:
Vertices are shown in black if they have no weight in the active vertex group.
- All:
Vertices are shown in black if they have no weight in any vertex group.
Mesh Analysis¶
Show the Mesh Analysis overlay.
Measurement¶
Show numerical measures of the selected elements. 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 the Transform Space in the Sidebar. Use Global if you want the object’s scale to be applied to the measurements.
See also
The Measure tool for measuring arbitrary distances and angles.
Normals¶
Display vertex normals
Display face normals at vertices (split normals)
Display face normals
- Size
The size to show the selected normals.
- Constant Screen Size Normals
Keep the size of normals constant in relation to the zoom level.
Developer¶
These overlays are only available if Developer Extras is enabled in the Interface Preferences.
- Indices
Display the indices of selected vertices, edges, and faces.
Freestyle¶
These settings apply to the Freestyle line art renderer.
- Edge Marks
Display Freestyle edge marks.
- Face Marks
Display Freestyle face marks.
Sculpt Mode Overlays¶
Vertex Paint Overlays¶
- Stencil Mask Opacity
Does nothing. (Stencil masks are only available for texture painting.)
- Show Wire
Display mesh edges in white (unlike the Wireframe overlay which shows them in black).
Weight Paint Overlays¶
- Opacity
The opacity of the overlay.
- Zero Weights
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:
Vertices are shown in black if they have no weight in the active vertex group.
- All:
Vertices are shown in black if they have no weight in any vertex group.
- Show Weight Contours
Show contour lines formed by points with the same interpolated weight.
This visualizes weight variations too small to be seen from colors and can be useful for judging the smoothness and consistency of gradients, e.g. when using smoothing tools and brushes.
- Show Wire
Display mesh edges in white (unlike the Wireframe overlay which shows them in black).
Texture Paint Overlays¶
- Stencil Mask Opacity
Opacity of the stencil mask overlay.
Pose Mode Overlays¶
- Fade Geometry
Show the bones on top and face other geometry to the back. The opacity can be controlled with the slider. Only available in Pose Mode.
Grease Pencil¶
These overlays are available when a Grease Pencil object is selected.
- Onion Skin
Show ghosts of the keyframes before and after the current frame. If Multiframe is enabled, ghosts of the selected keyframes are shown instead. See Onion Skinning.
- Fade Inactive 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 Inactive Objects
Cover all of the 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 Edit, Sculpt, Weight Paint, or Vertex Paint Modes Shift-Q
Shows a line between points on top of other geometry when editing strokes.
- Only in Multiframe Shift-Alt-Q
When Multiframe is enabled and keyframes other than the current frame are selected, strokes on those keyframes are displayed as just their edit lines – the strokes themselves are hidden. Note that this does not affect Onion Skinning.
- Stroke Direction Edit
Toggle the display of the selected strokes’ start points (green) and end points (red) to visualize their direction.
- Material Name Edit
Show material name next to the selected strokes.
Vertex Paint
- Vertex Paint Opacity Vertex Paint
The opacity of the vertex color overlay in Vertex Paint Mode and Draw Mode. Note that in Draw Mode, vertex paint is only visible in the Material Preview and Rendered shading modes by default. To see it in Solid mode, you either need to use Vertex Paint Mode, or set the Color shading setting to Attribute.
Canvas¶
Display a grid over the Grease Pencil drawing plane.
- Canvas Grid Opacity
The opacity of the grid.
- Canvas X-Ray
Objects are drawn behind the canvas grid.
- Subdivisions
The number of subdivisions between grid lines.
- Grid Color
The color of the grid lines.
- Scale X/Y
The horizontal/vertical size of the grid.
- Offset X/Y
The amount to shift the grid up/down and left/right.