3D settings for 3D shapes

OpenOffice.org 2.x Draw Guide

Chapter 7: Working with 3D Objects

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• Creating 3D objects
• Creating 3D bodies
• Producing 3D shapes
• Editing 3D objects
• 3D settings for 3D bodies
• Dialog page - Geometry
• Dialog page - Shading
• Dialog page - Illumination
• Dialog page - Textures
• Dialog page - Material
• 3D settings for 3D shapes
• Combining objects in 3D scenes
• Examples for your own experiments

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The appearance of the shape object is changed using the 3D Settings toolbar. The concept is totally different from that presented above for objects in 3D scenes. The dialog 3D Effects described above should not be used for shape objects and will in fact not give the correct formatting results when used on a shape object.

In case you use it in error, you can remove the incorrect formatting with Format > Default Formatting.

With the appropriate button of the toolbar you can adjust the extrusion depth and perspective, lighting and material properties as well as the extrusion color. There are tear off bars, which you open by clicking on the small black triangle. The purpose of the individual functions are described by the tool tip. As opposed to the 3D Effects dialog used with 3D scenes, you do not need to “assign” the result of any of the functions to the object – every action is immediately applied and you can see its effect on the object in the main Draw window.

The program sometimes seems to generate the wrong formatting with shape objects. The exact cause is not known, but you can undo the action with Format > Default Formatting. One reason can be that you have used a function from the 3D Effect dialog on a 3D shape. (See also Issue 67732.)

Here are some examples of formatting of 3D shapes:

	Depth left: 0.3cm (user defined) right: 1cm (selection)
	Direction The examples show “columns” at right angles to the drawing surface. left: 5 cm depth, Parallel projection middle: 10 cm depth, Perspective right: Infinity, Perspective
	Illumination The light color cannot be changed, the brightness can be changed only in 3 levels, and some effects may not be totally correctly rendered. left: from left under, dim middle: from left under, bright right: from right under, normal
	Surface Only 4 built-in variations are possible. At present only Wireframe and Matt are correctly rendered. left: Wireframeright: Matt You can also choose a gradient, hatching or bitmap for the surface; these are only applied to the extruded surface – the sides remain in the color of the object.
	3D Color Here you can choose the color of the sides of the extruded surface. The symbol shows the color of the most recently chosen shape object.