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822 Chapter 22: Customizing the User Interface
Inter face
Viewport Parameters group
Use Dual Pl anes—Uses the front/back plane system
when redrawing the viewport. The selected object
is manipulated in the front plane and is redrawn,
whileotherobjectsremainonthebackplaneand
are not redrawn. This default setting provides the
fastest redraws under normal circumstances. If
your assigned display driver doesn’t support dual
planes, this option is not available.
Turn off this sett ing to improve redraw speed if you
are rotating the whole scene or moving a camera
through the scene (usually situations in which the
whole v iewport needs to b e redrawn anyway).
Show Vertices As Dots—When on, the software
displays vertices in mesh and patch objects as
small, solid-color squares, whose size you can set
w ith the Size parameter. When off, the vertex
display is a tick m ark.
Size—Lets you specify the vertex size displayed in
the viewports. Range=2 to 7. Default=2.
Handle Size—Lets you specify the d isplay size
for handles attached to patch vertices and spline
ver t ices. Range=2 to 7. Default=3.
DrawLinksasLinesDisplays the hierarchical links
(page 3–951) b etween parent and child objects as
plain lines, rather than shapes when Display panel
> Link Display rollout > Display Link is turned
on.Show L inks is enabled i n the Object Properties
dialog.
Backface Cull on Object CreationDetermines
whether to display faces w ith norm als (page 3–980)
pointing away from view. When turned on, you
seethroughthewireframetothebackfaces.This
option applies to wireframe viewport displays
only. In most cases, youll want this item turned
on. However , if youre modeling with NURBS
surfaces, which consist of single-sided planes, it’s
easier to view them from al l ang les when backface
culling is turned off.
T his control affects only the created objects,
and you c an reverse the effect on e ach object by
changing the Backface Cull setting in the Object
Properties dialog for that object.You might turn
off Backface Cull On Object Creation before
creating your NURBS, and then turn it on again
when your finished.
You can globally change the display of backface
culling in the vie wports by turning on Force
2-Sided (page 3–853) on the Rendering Method
panel of the View por t Configurat ion dialog.
Attenuate Li ghts—Turns the display of attenuation
effects (page 3–912) on or off from start to end in
the interactive viewport renderer. When turned
off, attenuated lights behave as though there was
no attenuation. Default=off.
Mask V iewport to Safe RegionBy default, the
viewport area outside the outermost safe frame
displays the contents of the viewport . When this
box is turned on, that area is left blank.
Update B ack ground While Playing—Turns on t he
updating of bitmaps in the viewport background
when you play an animation. You need this
capabilitytocheckyouractionagainsta2D