Blade3D provides a number of menu options through the toolbars at the top of the application. These toolbars correspond to the functional categories represented by the toolbar tabs discussed in the Overview section. Here is a description of each category, the groups within the category and their buttons.


Scene Toolbar

When you first start Blade3D the Scene category toolbar is selected by default. This toolbar contains buttons for inserting objects into your scene and modification of global scene options.


Insert NullNull:



The Null object is a placeholder object which can be used to group objects together in the scene.

Geometric PrimitivesPrimitives:



The Geometric Primitives controls are used to insert geometric objects into your scene.

To insert a primitive, click on the button for that primitive, and you will see the object appear in the scene editor. The Geometric Primitives in Blade3D are, from left to right: Null, Sphere, Cone, Cylinder, Cube, Torus, Disc, and Grid.


ModelsModels:

Import Model	The icon with the arrow is for importing a model into Blade3D. This is used when a model has been created and exported from a modeling package.
Insert Model	The icon with the plus-sign is for adding a previously imported model into your scene.
Current Model	The drop-down list is to select which model will be added when the Add Model button is selected. This drop-down is populated with all previously imported models. You can quickly add multiple instances of the model to the scene this way by selecting the model and clicking the insert button multiple times.

VisibilityVisibility:



The visibility options dictate which objects or properties are rendered in the scene editor.

Floor	Show the floor grid in the scene
Lights	Enables lights
Camera	Shows cameras
Selection	shows or hides the 'selected object' box
Normals	shows the normals for the selection
Tangents	shows the tangents for the selection
Wireframe	shows the scene in wireframe mode
Depth Pass	turns on and off the depth pass
Render Targets	shows or hides the render targets in an overlay in the scene view

HistoryHistory:



The History button allows for ....

ColorColor:



The Color button allows you to define the background color of your scene. This is particularly helpful during the polishing process to ensure that your asset layout is seamless.

Insert Point:



The Insert Point options define where an object or model will be created or inserted into your scene.
Bounds
Bounds:



The Bounds options define ....

Axis Aligned
Object Aligned
Spherical

Environment Toolbar


The Environment toolbar allows for standardized environmental effects to be applied to your scene.

Elements:



From left to right, the Elements that can be applied to a scene are:

Add Terrain	Adds standard terrain to the scene
Add Skybox	Adds skybox to the scene
Add Atmosphere	Adds atmosphere to the scene
Add Water	Adds water to the scene
Add Ocean	Adds ocean to the scene
Add Clouds	Adds clouds to the scene

Foliage:




The Foliage buttons are for adding shrubs and bushes to your terrain.


Rain:



The Rain buttons are for adding and removing a Rain effect from your scene.





Spatial Toolbar: Part 1





Mode:



The Mode toggles for Scale, Translate, and Rotate will each activate a distinct visual control used for adjusting the selected object's spatial properties.

Scaling, Rotating, and Translation:



These IDE controls are used to adjust a selected object's spatial properties through direct input. Each of these fields can also be adjusted by holding down left-click while the mouse is hovering over the field and moving the mouse. The icons to the right of each field set are the Reset buttons for the selected object, which will return that property set of the selected object to its default value.


Size and Spacing:



The Size and Spacing controls are for working with a group or set of objects.

The top row controls from left to right:

Make Same Size X
Make Same Size Y
Make Same Size Z

The bottom row controls from left to right:

Space Evenly X
Space Evenly Y
Space Evenly Z


Alignment:




The Alignment controls are for working with a group or set of objects.

The top row controls from left to right:

Align X
Align Y
Align Z

The bottom row controls from left to right:

Align Rotation X
Align Rotation Y
Align Rotation Z

Spatial Toolbar: Part 2



The Tools and Settings sections of the Spatial Toolbar are more controls for working with scene items.

From left to right, the controls in the Tools section of the Spatial Toolbar are:

Focus on Object	moves camera to object
Bring to Camera	brings object to camera
Align to Camera	aligns the object to the camera
Drop to Ground	drops the object to the floor
Drop Object	drops the object to the nearest plane with collision
Drop on Terrain	drops the object to the terrain level
Make Upright	re-aligns the object's spatial transform
Look at Object	rotates the camera view to focus on the object
Turn to Face	rotates the object to the camera
Stack on Object	allows objects to be stacked
Line Up	selected objects will be placed in a line
Apply Random SRT	random SRT will be applied to selected objects
Gather Around	selected objects will be grouped
Select Similar Objects	all similar objects will be selected

The Settings options are as follows:

Is Selectable: Dictates whether an object will be selectable via the mouse in the main scene editor.
Casts Shadows: Determines whether the object will cast shadows if a shadow generating lightsource is applied.
Receives Shadows: Determines whether the object will have shadows rendered on its surface.


Materials Toolbar



The Materials Toolbar is used to preview and set the material properties on an object.

To use the Materials menu select an object in the scene or the Object Browser. Drop down the menu to see the options. As you hover over the options, you will see a preview of the material for the object in the scene editor. Select a material by clicking on the option or click away from the menu to cancel selection. The same applies to other items in this group. You can preview and select a Diffuse Texture, Specular or Normal Map for the object's material through these options.


Color:




From left to right, the Color controls are:

Ambient Material Color
Diffuse Material Color
Specular Material Color

Properties:



From left to right, the Properties controls are:

Material
Diffuse Texture
Specular Map
Normal Map

Import Texture:



From left to right, the Import Texture controls are:

Import Plain Texture
Import Animated Texture
Import Cubemap
Import Cubemap from Parts
Import Volume Texture
Import Volume Texture from Parts

Visibility:



The Visibility control toggle determines wireframe visibility for selected objects.


Palette:



The palette control allows for textures to be saved temporarily to the toolbar in the Palette section for easy and efficient reuse.



Lighting Toolbar





The Lighting Toolbar enables the creation and insertion of light sources into your scene and adjusting the properties of those lights.


Color:



The Color control allows you to set the color for a selected light object.

Add:



From left to right, the Add Controls are:

Insert Directional Light
Insert Point Light
Insert Spot Light

Shadows:



The Shadows options are:

Shadow Source
Enabled	enables the viewing of shadows in a scene

Settings:




The settings sliders allow an easy way to preview and set lighting properties through the acceptable ranges for these properties.

Settings:

Intensity
Falloff
Max Range
Cone Falloff
Inner Cone Angle
Outer Cone Angle

Shadows Toolbar





The Shadows toolbar is used to manipulate the shadows cast by objects in your scene.

Settings:



The Settings options allow you to toggle specific Shadow properties.

Enable
ESM For Point
Bilinear Filter
Screen Blur
Attenuate
Alpha Shadows

Quality:



The Quality controls allow for the manipulation of the quality of shadows.

Resolution
Split Count

Softness:



The Softness controls allow for the editing of the ESMScale and Blur Scale properties through sliders, and the selection of the Soft Method through a dropdown selection.

ESM Scale
Blur Scale
Soft Method

Misc:



The Misc control allow for the editing of the Split Weight and Opacity properties through sliders.

Split Weight
Opacity

Camera Toolbar



The Camera Toolbar is used to preview and select the current camera for the scene . As you hover over the options you can see that the scene editor displays the scene from the selected camera's view point.

Add:



The Add control is used to add a camera to the scene.

View:



The View control is used to....

The View control buttons are, from left to right:

Perspective
Front
Right
Top

Select:



The Select control is used to....

Control:



The Control sliders allow you to set the properties for the selected camera.

Linear Speed
Linear Damping
Orbit Speed
Angular Speed
Angular Damping
Overall Damping

Shader:



The Shader control allows you to....



Particles Toolbar Part 1:


Simulate:



The simulate toggles are:

Simulation
Spawn

Particle System:



The Particle System controls are for the creation and insertion of standard particle effects into your scene. These particles can then be modified and saved as necessary from these default templates.

The standard, default particle effect controls are:

Insert Fire

Insert Smoke

Insert Explosions

Insert Missile

Insert Vortex

End and Start Color:




The End Color and Start Color controls are used to set the beginning and endpoints of the selected particle effects color transitions.


Alpha:



The Alpha slider controls are used to specify the endpoints for the alpha range for the selected particle effect.


Spawn:




The Spawn Rate slider control is used to specify the rate at which new particles will spawn for the selected particle effect.


Particles Toolbar Part 2:




Scale:



The Scale slider controls allow for the manipulation of the Size and Color of the selected particle effect along the range of acceptable values.


Speed:



The Speed slider controls are:

Velocity Scale
Simulation Speed

Lifetime:



The Lifetime slider controls are used to specify the Min and Max Age of the selected particle effect.

Rotation:



The Rotation slider control is used to set the Spin Scale of the selected particle effect....


Rendering:



The Rendering control contains the Blend Mode dropdown control, which is used to define a specific blend mode for the selected particle effect.


Animation Toolbar


Splines Toolbar

Splines Colors:



The Colors control selectors are used to specify Line Color, Curve Color, and Knot Color, from left to right. This is used for visual differentiation during the design and development process.



Physics Toolbar



The Physics toolbar provides functions that allow for specific physics properties to be applied to selected scene objects.


Dynamics:



The Dynamics control toggle applies or removes the 'Has Rigid Body' property to the selected scene item.


Collision:



The Collision controls apply specific collision types to selected scene items.

From left to right, the Collision controls are:

Toggle Box Collision	enables cubic collision around the object
Toggle Sphere Collision	enables spherical collision
Toggle Mesh Collision	enables collision at the mesh level
Toggle Capsule Collision	....
Toggle Terrain Collision	enables collision with the terrain for the selected object

Car:



The Car control....

Options:



The Options control toggles are used to modify and debug assorted physics properties.

Debug Physics
Pause Physics
Physics In Editor
Immovable
Allow Response
Gravity Enabled

Gravity and Relative Gravity:



The Gravity and Relative Gravity field controls are used to edit specific and relative gravity along the X,Y, or Z axes.

Settings:



The Settings slider controls are used to modify the Physics Time Scale property and the Body Mass property from their minimum to maximum ranges.




Project Toolbar



The Project Toolbar Deployment controls are used to Save, Build, and Deploy your project to the appropriate platform, as selected by using the Selected Platform dropdown control.



Help Toolbar



The Help toolbar is used to view the Marketplace Download Dialog, Navigate through the Help, Login and Logout of Blade3D, and Submit Bugs.