3D View Display Options
The Display Options panel collects the per‑project settings that control how the 3D model view is drawn — the background and overlays, lighting and shadows, the procedural sky, full‑screen effects, navigation feel, cameras and annotations, VR, and 3D‑tile streaming.
These are view‑wide options: they apply to the whole scene, not to one selected object. (Per‑object appearance — a single mesh, point cloud or polyline — is edited from that object's own entry in the project tree.)
Open it by making a 3D model view the active window — its settings appear in the Properties pane. Settings are arranged into collapsible groups (and sub‑groups); expand a group to see its options, and hover any row for a tooltip. Every change applies to the live view immediately.
A number of effects — ray‑traced shadows and ambient occlusion, the time‑of‑day sun, bloom, eye‑dome lighting, curvature / slope shading, and annotation‑asset opacity — are part of the Vulkan renderer. Switch the renderer in Project Properties → Use Vulkan Renderer. Ray‑traced features additionally need a ray‑tracing‑capable GPU; rows that need one are greyed out otherwise.
Scene & Environment
The view background and general on‑screen overlays.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Background Colour | Solid background colour of the 3D view. Used when the procedural sky (Sky & Atmosphere) is off. |
| Show Performance HUD | Overlay an on‑screen heads‑up display of frame rate (FPS) and CPU/GPU timing. Diagnostic; leave off for normal use. |
| Show Scene Bounding Box | Draw a wireframe box around the combined extent of all visible scene data. Good for judging overall model size and position. (Distinct from the Bounding Box group at the foot of the panel, which shows the editable min/max coordinates.) |
| Point Antialiasing | Render point‑cloud points as smooth round dots instead of hard squares. Softer look; minor cost on dense clouds. |
| Line Antialiasing | Smooth the edges of polylines and wireframe lines to reduce jaggedness. |
| North Arrow Style | On‑screen orientation indicator: North Arrow (compass needle), ArtificialHorizon (aircraft‑style attitude disc) or Shuttle (3D orientation cube). |
| Rotation Glyph Scale | On‑screen size of the rotation‑centre widget shown while orbiting. Cosmetic only. |
Base Plane
A reference ground plane drawn under the scene for scale and orientation.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Z Mode | Vertical placement of the plane: ModelFloor (base of the model bounding box), ProjectDatum (the project's Z datum, e.g. sea level) or Custom (the fixed height in Custom Z). |
| Custom Z | Fixed world height (project Z units) for the plane when Z Mode = Custom. Ignored in the other modes. |
| Major / Minor Lines | Draw a thicker, brighter line every tenth minor line so scale is easier to read. |
| Distance Fade | Fade the plane's grid lines out with distance so they don't clutter the far field. |
| Show World Axes | Draw the world X axis (red) and Y axis (green) through the origin on the plane. |
| Fade Distance | Radius (world units) over which lines fade when Distance Fade is on. 0 = choose automatically from scene size. |
Map Grid
A georeferenced grid drawn at the project's map limits.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| X Contour Interval | Spacing between grid lines along the X (easting) axis, in project ground units. |
| Y Contour Interval | Spacing between grid lines along the Y (northing) axis, in project ground units. |
| X Grid Colour | Colour of the grid lines running along the X (easting) axis. |
| Y Grid Colour | Colour of the grid lines running along the Y (northing) axis. |
Lighting & Shadows
The main directional light, an optional camera headlight, and shadows.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Show Light Indicator | Draw a small marker showing the main light's position/direction. |
| Show Lighting & Pointer Viz | Visualise the light direction and the laser/pointer ray as on‑screen guides. Diagnostic aid. |
| Light Azimuth | Compass bearing of the main light, degrees (0–360; 0 = North, 90 = East). Ignored while Time‑of‑Day Sun is enabled. |
| Light Elevation | Height of the light above the horizon, degrees (0 = horizon, 90 = overhead). Ignored while Time‑of‑Day Sun is enabled. |
| Use Headlight | Attach the light to the camera so the scene is always lit from the viewer's position (like a head torch), instead of from the fixed Azimuth/Elevation. |
| Headlight Brightness | Intensity of the camera headlight, 0–100. Only used when Use Headlight is on. |
| Enable Shadows | Cast real‑time sun shadows from meshes and models. Shadows are ray‑traced on the GPU — this needs the Vulkan view on a ray‑tracing‑capable GPU (no effect otherwise). There is a performance cost while enabled. |
There is no separate "ray‑traced shadows" option. The legacy shadow‑map technique was removed, so Enable Shadows is ray‑traced shadows on a capable GPU. On a GPU without ray‑tracing support the toggle simply has no visible effect.
Time of Day Sun
Drive the sun automatically from a clock instead of the manual Azimuth/Elevation. While enabled this overrides the manual light direction. (Vulkan view.)
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Enable Time‑of‑Day Sun | Drive the sun from a time‑of‑day clock (overrides the manual Light Azimuth/Elevation). |
| Time (hours 0–24) | Time of day in hours. Scrub to move the sun; noon = overhead. |
| Animate Sun | Sweep the time forward continuously (sunrise to sunset) on the render timer. |
| Animation Speed (h/s) | Simulated hours advanced per real second while animating (1.0 = a 24 h day in 24 s). |
| Use Solar Position (date + location) | Use the real sun position computed from the date and geographic location instead of a procedural sweep. Timezone is estimated from longitude and ignores daylight saving. |
| Use Project Location | Derive latitude/longitude from the project coordinate system. Off = use the manual values below. |
| Year / Month / Day | Date used for the real solar position (when Use Solar Position is on). |
| Latitude (deg) | Manual latitude (+N / −S), used when Use Project Location is off. |
| Longitude (deg) | Manual longitude (+E / −W), used when Use Project Location is off. |
Ambient Occlusion (RTX)
Hardware ray‑traced ambient occlusion. (Vulkan view, ray‑tracing‑capable GPU only — greyed out otherwise.)
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Enable Ambient Occlusion | Darken crevices, contacts and concave areas with short hardware‑traced rays for added depth. Independent of shadows. |
| AO Radius | How far (world units) a surface looks for nearby geometry. Larger = broader, softer shading. |
| AO Intensity | Strength of the AO darkening (0 = off, 1 = full). |
Sky & Atmosphere
A computed sky that replaces the flat background colour.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Show Procedural Sky | Replace the flat Background Colour with a computed sky (atmosphere + sun + clouds, or a starfield). |
| Sky Mode | Earth Atmosphere (blue sky with sun, scattering and optional clouds) or Planetary Space (black sky with stars and the Milky Way). |
| Sun Intensity | Overall brightness of the sun and sky in Earth Atmosphere mode. Low = dawn/dusk, high = bright midday. |
| Turbidity (Haze) | Amount of atmospheric haze / aerosol scattering in Earth Atmosphere mode. Higher = hazier, warmer sky and softer sun. |
Procedural Clouds
Animated clouds for the Earth Atmosphere sky.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Enable Clouds | Draw animated procedural clouds. |
| Coverage | Fraction of sky covered (0 = clear, 1 = fully overcast). |
| Density | Cloud opacity / thickness (0 = wispy and transparent, 1 = solid). |
| Pattern Scale (m) | Size of the cloud pattern in metres (≈1000–10000). Larger = broader cloud shapes. |
| Wind Speed (m/s) | How fast clouds drift (≈0–20 m/s). |
| Wind Direction | Compass bearing the clouds drift toward (0–360; 0 = North, 90 = East). |
| Altitude | Apparent height of the cloud layer (0 = near the horizon, 1 = overhead/zenith). |
Planetary Space
Star field for the Planetary Space sky.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Star Density | How many stars fill the sky (0 = none, 1 = densely packed). |
| Star Brightness | Brightness multiplier applied to the stars. |
| Star Seed | Random seed for the star pattern. Change it for a different but repeatable layout. |
| Milky Way Band | Add a faint galactic band across the sky. |
| Exposure | Overall brightness / exposure of the space sky. |
| Background Level | Black level of the empty sky between stars (0 = pure black). |
Post-Processing Effects
Full‑screen effects applied after the scene is drawn. Each effect is a sub‑group. (Vulkan view.)
Bloom (Glow)
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Enable Bloom | Add a soft glow that bleeds out from the brightest parts of the image. Cosmetic. |
| Intensity | How strongly the glow is blended over the image. |
| Threshold | Brightness (luminance, 0–1) a pixel must exceed before it glows. Higher = only the brightest highlights bloom. |
Eye-Dome Lighting
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Enable Eye‑Dome Lighting | Darken depth edges so point‑cloud and mesh structure reads clearly without per‑vertex shading. Especially useful for un‑coloured point clouds. |
| Strength | How dark the edge shading is. Higher = stronger, higher‑contrast outlines. |
Structural Shading
Attribute‑free shading that reveals geological structure on bare geometry — works even on tiled models with no per‑vertex attributes.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Enable Curvature Shading | Shade by curvature from scene depth: concave creases darken, convex ridges brighten, making folds and faults stand out. Overrides Eye‑Dome Lighting while on. |
| Curvature Strength | Intensity of the curvature shading. Higher = more pronounced relief. |
| Show Slope / Aspect (Dip) | Colour surfaces by orientation: hue = dip‑direction (compass aspect), saturation = dip angle (flat = pale, vertical = vivid). Works on SLPK/tiled models. Overrides texture/attribute/lit colour while on. |
Orthographic Grid Overlay
An adaptive measurement grid, drawn only in orthographic (non‑perspective) projection.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Enable Grid Overlay | Draw the adaptive grid while in orthographic view. Spacing adjusts automatically with zoom. No effect in perspective view. |
| Opacity | Opacity of the grid lines, 0.0 (invisible) – 1.0 (solid). |
| Detail Levels | Number of nested grid scales drawn at once (3–6). More levels show finer subdivisions as you zoom in. |
| Line Width | Thickness of the grid lines in pixels (0.5–5.0). |
Geometry & LOD
Scene‑wide geometry display.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Vertical Scale | Vertical exaggeration of the whole scene (1.0 = true scale, 2.0 = heights doubled). Emphasises subtle topography but distorts true geometry. |
| Camera Zoom % | Camera field‑of‑view / zoom as a percentage (0–200). Lower zooms in (narrower FOV), higher zooms out. |
| Full‑Resolution Tiles While Interpreting | Force tiled models to their highest detail while interpreting on them, instead of the usual view‑dependent LOD. More accurate picking; uses more memory and can slow very large models. |
| Geobody & Zone Infill | Render solid filled volumes for geobodies and zones instead of just their boundary surfaces. |
Navigation & Interaction
How the mouse drives the camera, plus interpretation feedback.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Mouse Profile | Mouse button / orbit‑pan‑zoom mapping preset: VRGS Current, VRGS Expert (enables camera roll), Pix4D, Blender, CloudCompare or Metashape. |
| Show Segmentation Points | Show the 3D marker labels placed by the image‑segmentation (SAM) tools. |
Auto Spin
Flick‑to‑spin momentum after a rotate drag.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Enable Auto Spin | After a mouse‑drag rotate, keep spinning with momentum and gradually slow to a stop. |
| Decay Rate | How quickly spin momentum bleeds off. Higher = stops sooner. |
| Stop Threshold | Minimum angular velocity below which the spin is treated as stopped. |
| Flick Sensitivity | Multiplier from mouse flick speed to spin speed. Higher = a small flick spins faster. |
Interpretation Line
Appearance of the line drawn while interpreting.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Auto Translate | Automatically pan the camera to follow the most recent interpretation segment as you draw. |
| Auto Scale Width | Automatically match the drawn width to local point spacing so the line stays visible at any scale. |
| Line Colour | Colour of the interpretation line. |
| Line Width | Base drawn width in world units (used when Auto Scale Width is off). |
Cameras & Annotations
Viewpoint glyphs, annotation‑asset opacity, and the text labels (billboards).
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Show Viewpoint Cameras | Show camera/viewpoint glyphs for the other panes when in split or multi‑view mode. |
| Viewpoint Glyph Size | On‑screen size of those glyphs, in world units. |
| Annotation Asset Opacity | See‑through level for annotation assets (scale bars, waypoints, sample markers): 0 = invisible, 1 = fully opaque. Interactive gizmos stay opaque. (Vulkan view.) |
Billboards (Text Labels)
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Fixed Screen Size | Keep label text a constant size on screen (pixels) regardless of zoom. Off = sized in world metres and shrinks with distance. |
| Text Size | Size of label text: world metres when Fixed Screen Size is off, screen pixels when it is on. |
| Solid Background | Draw an opaque panel behind label text for readability. Off = transparent (text only). |
| Background Colour | Fill colour of the label background panel (used when Solid Background is on). |
| Text Colour | Colour of the label text. |
VR / XR
Settings for viewing and moving through the scene in a VR headset. (Requires the Vulkan renderer.)
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Mirror VR to Screen | Duplicate the headset view onto the desktop window so onlookers can follow along. Small performance cost. |
| Hand Controller Model | 3D model drawn for the controllers — match your headset: Oculus Touch or HTC Vive. |
| Menu Colour Scheme | Colour theme for the in‑VR menus and dialogs: Default, Earthy Warm, Mineral Cool or Terra Cotta. |
| Movement Speed | Base free‑fly locomotion speed (typical 0.001–0.1). |
| Rotation Speed | Yaw / turn speed when turning in VR (typical 0.1–5.0). |
| Speed Boost Multiplier | Extra speed factor while the controller's speed‑boost grip is held (typical 1.0–10.0). |
Laser Pointer
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Falloff Exponent | How sharply the laser‑pointer highlight fades from its centre. Higher = tighter, more focused spot. |
| Cutoff | Intensity threshold below which the highlight is clipped to nothing. |
Cesium 3D Tiles
Streaming controls for Cesium 3D Tiles datasets, grouped by intent. These trade image quality against bandwidth, memory and responsiveness.
Quality
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Quality (Screen‑Space Error) | Maximum on‑screen error, in pixels, before a tile refines to higher detail (2–32). Lower = sharper but loads more tiles and uses more memory/bandwidth; higher = coarser but lighter. |
Streaming & Preload
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Max Concurrent Downloads | Maximum tiles downloading at once (10–100). Higher fills detail faster but can saturate a slow connection. |
| Loading Descendant Limit | How many levels of higher‑detail child tiles may load at once (1–100). Lower shows something for the current view first; higher loads deeper detail sooner. |
| Preload Ancestors | Keep lower‑detail parent tiles ready so zooming out stays smooth. |
| Preload Siblings | Preload tiles next to the current view so panning stays smooth. |
| Prevent Holes | Always keep a low‑resolution tile visible while its high‑resolution replacement loads, so no gaps appear (may look blurry briefly). |
| Fog Culling | Skip refining distant, fogged tiles to higher detail so nearby tiles load first. |
Memory & Performance
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Max Cache (MB) | Memory budget for cached tiles (128–2048 MB). Larger avoids re‑downloading recently seen tiles, at the cost of RAM. |
| Frame Budget (ms) | Maximum time per frame spent preparing newly downloaded tiles on the main thread (0 = unlimited, otherwise 1–20 ms). Lower keeps the view responsive while tiles stream; higher loads them in faster. |
For the sharpest result on a fast machine and connection, lower Quality (Screen‑Space Error) and raise Max Cache and Max Concurrent Downloads. For the smoothest experience on a slow link, raise the Screen‑Space Error and enable the Preload / Prevent Holes options.
Projection / MPCDI
Advanced multi‑projector frustum calibration for powerwalls and immersive projection rigs. Leave MPCDI off for a standard desktop view.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Use MPCDI Frustum | Override the normal camera with an MPCDI multi‑projector frustum calibration. |
Direction
Projector orientation, in degrees.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Pitch | Tilt up/down. |
| Roll | Rotation about the view axis. |
| Yaw | Turn left/right. |
Frustum Half-Angles
Half‑angle from the view axis to each edge of the projector frustum, in degrees.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Left | To the left edge of the frustum. |
| Right | To the right edge of the frustum. |
| Upper | To the top edge of the frustum. |
| Lower | To the bottom edge of the frustum. |
Bounding Box
At the foot of the panel, the Bounding Box group shows the scene's extents as editable min/max coordinates (X, Y, Z). Unlike Show Scene Bounding Box (a display toggle in Scene & Environment), these are the underlying numeric limits of the map area.