You can see a realistic display of objects with their materials by clicking Options on the Tools menu and changing your Acceleration type. Use Direct3D under Windows 95, or OpenGL under Windows NT, with the Texture Map option.
To cycle among multiple project windows, press CTRL+F6 repeatedly.
If you want to see a thumbnail image of each resource by pausing the mouse pointer over the resource, Open the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Resource Thumbnails option to select it.
If you cannot see the camera in any of the Top, Side, or Front views, click the Zoom button on the Manipulation toolbar, and then click the Smart Zoom tool.
To use a bitmap file as a background, drag the file directly from the Windows Explorer and drop it on View in the Scene Explorer.
To drop a material or animation on a target object that is surrounded by other objects, drop the resource on the object's name in the Scene Explorer.
On the 3D Text Wizard, some of the animations (such as Fly In) animate the text as a single object. Other animations, such as Fly In (Letter), animate each letter of the text separately.
If you have created a 3D text object with letters as separate objects, you can still animate them together. Just apply the animation to the parent text object.
You can stack several animations on an object. Just add a parent for each animation that you want to add.
If you rotate multiple selected objects, each object rotates around its own axis. If you group them and then rotate their parent object, all the objects rotate around the axis of the parent.
You can select Wireframe as the default preview setting by clicking Options on the tools menu.
To quickly open a project that you have used recently, select it from the list at the bottom of the File menu.
After you have saved a scene, you can save changes to it quickly during a session by using the Save command on the File menu, or by pressing CTRL+S.
You can close all open projects by quitting Simply 3D. You are prompted to save any unsaved changes.
Objects moved in the Camera view are moved within the camera's coordinate system. If you want to move within the world coordinate system, drag in the Top, Side, or Front view.
Before saving any scene in an animation file-format, save it as a Simply 3D (S3D) file. If you encounter a problem while saving the animation file, you can recover the scene.
You can open any Simply 3D project by double-clicking it in the Windows Explorer.
When giving similar names to several items in the Scene Explorer, copy the common portion of the names to the Clipboard. You can then paste the common portion into each new name instead of typing it.
To stop rendering a scene, you can either press the ESC key or click the Stop Rendering button on the Standard toolbar.
To add a catalog object as a child of another object, drop the new object on its parent object in the Scene Explorer.
If you manipulate the camera frequently, add a floor shape to serve as a visual reference. You can remove the floor before final rendering.
You can group multiple objects under a parent object and then manipulate them all by selecting the parent.
You can locate objects that are outside the viewing area by selecting Four Up view, clicking the Zoom button on the Manipulation toolbar, and then clicking the Smart Zoom tool.
For descriptions of the items displayed on a dialog box, click the Help button on the dialog box.
You can copy a material from one Simply 3D project to another by copying and pasting.
You can replace a material's image map with a bitmap file's image. Drag the file directly from the Windows Explorer and drop it on the material in the Scene Explorer.
For fine control of a material's shininess, click Properties on the shortcut menu, and then drag the sliders for Material Shininess and Highlight Size.
To adjust the zoom automatically as you move the camera and objects in the scene, use the Autozoom tool on the Manipulation toolbar.
To quickly restore the camera to its original position and lens angle, select the camera, and then click the Reset button on the Manipulation toolbar.
The Background does not receive shadows. If you want the objects in your scene to cast shadows on a flat surface, add a wall or floor to receive the shadows.
Object and animation-path scaling are always along the item's X, Y, and Z axes--regardless of the item's current orientation, the camera's viewing angle, and the view in which you drag.
Dragging the camera in the Camera view is a special case that moves both the camera and its aiming point.
In solid shaded preview, selected objects in the project window are not highlighted. However, their names are highlighted in the Scene Explorer.
To copy, move, scale, rotate, or animate all of the objects in a group, select their parent object--not the individual objects.
The mapping options for an object affect all materials applied to the object.
