Layout

This is the main scene editing mode in Scotty3D, and does not contain tasks for the student to implement. This mode allows you to load full scenes from disk, create or load new objects, export your scene (S3D format), and edit transformations that place each object into your scene.

Managing Scene Data

There are three ways to manage your scene data.

• New Scene : clears the current scene completely. This action is NOT undo-able.
• Open Scene : clears the current scene (!) and replaces it with objects loaded from a file on disk.
• Save Scene (As) : saves all resources, instances, and references into a .s3d file.

There are two ways to add objects to your existing scene:

• Append Objects: loads objects from a file, adding them to the current scene.
• Create Object: creates a new resource object or an instance object from a choice of various object types.

Once you know your scene is linked to a .s3d file, you can save any changes you make by using the Save Scene (or ctrl + s) option. You may undo any actions since opening the scene even after saving it.

Scotty3D currently only supports loading and exporting scenes of .s3d format.

Resources and Instances

Scotty3D makes an important distinction between instance objects and resource objects.

An instance object is a combination of references to resource objects that have been put together to create an entity that lives inside a scene. Since an instance objects consists of various references, these objects can have their references altered while keeping the rest of the properties constant.

Resource objects created are not present immediately inside Scene Graph, but rather under the list of all objects in Resources tab. These objects contain basic configuration information that can be used as basic building blocks for creating an instance object in a scene.

Managing Objects

Left clicking on your instance object under Scene Graph will select it. Various information about that object will appear at the bottom of Menu, beneath the Resources list.

The Object tab contains basic information about the object such as its name, visibility, or rendering style if applicable.

Under Transform tab, you may directly edit the values of the object’s position, rotation (X->Y->Z Euler angles), and scale. Note that clicking and dragging on the values will smoothly scale them, and Control/Command/Double-clicking on the value will let you edit it as text.

You can also edit the transformation using the Move, Rotate, and Scale tools. One of these options is always active. This determines the transformation widgets that appear at the origin of the object model.

• Move: click and drag on the red (X), green (Y), or blue (Z) arrow to move the object along the X/Y/Z axis. Click and drag on the red (YZ), green (XZ), or blue (XY) squares to move the object in the YZ/XZ/XY plane.
• Rotate: click and drag on the red (X), green (Y), or blue (Z) loop to rotate the object about the X/Y/Z axis. Note that these rotations are applied relative to the current pose, so they do not necessarily correspond to smooth transformations of the X/Y/Z Euler angles.
• Scale: click and drag on the red (X), green (Y), or blue(Z) block to scale the object about the X/Y/Z axis. Again note that this scale is applied relative to the current pose.

You may remove the object from the scene by pressing Delete or hitting the Delete key.

Depending on the type of the instance object, other tabs may appear as well, such as Mesh, Shape, Material, Light, and so on. These tabs are additional information needed to define the entity for the functionalities used by Scotty3D. Changing the property values of the references inside an instance object will also apply the same changes to the referenced resource object.

If you have selected an object with a Mesh tab, you may swap to Model mode by pressing Edit under Mesh tab. Note that if this mesh is non-manifold, this option will not appear.

Also, note that the default Mesh is an empty mesh. You must select one of the default mesh types at click Replace to substitute the empty mesh with a visible, solid mesh.

Key Bindings