MX

Bevel Type & Size
The bevel type determines the profile of the extruded side of your 3D shape and of its edges and
corners. By default it's set to rounded which gives a flat side with rounded corners. The bevel type
dropdown list contains a large selection of different bevel types you can choose from. You can adjust the
size of the bevel using the slider to the right of the bevel type list. To the right of the bevel size slider is a
numeric field showing the current bevel size and you can enter exact bevel sizes into this field.
An alternative shortcut to adjust the bevel size is to drag on the side of the 3D object holding "Ctrl" (while
in the Extrude Tool
).
Lights
Lights on/off
You can adjust the lighting of your shape in 3D space by turning on the lights. There are 3 lights, each of
which can be given their own color and position in 3D space around the 3D shape.
In this example the face color
of the shape is set to white. But
you can see that it appears
green because there is a green
light shining almost directly onto
the front face of the shape.
By adjusting the colors of the
face and extrude and the
positions and colors of the
three lights, you can enhance
the realism of the 3D objects in
your design.
Behind the object is a beige / orange colored light and another that is a purple color. Both lights cause
reflections down the side, and changing the color, or direction of the lights behind will change the
reflected highlights.
To move a light around the 3D object, simply drag on the light arrow. If you happen to drop a light so
that it is behind the 3D object and therefore isn't selectable, you can retrieve it by using the left slider on
the Extrude InfoBar. Select one of the light angles from the dropdown list to the left of the slider (e.g.
"Light 2 Angle 1") and then adjust the slider. The light moves around the 3D object in your design. The
various "light angle" options in this dropdown list allow you to move any of the lights in any direction in
3D space to achieve the positions you want. However for most purposes you can achieve good results
most easily by dragging the light arrows directly on the page.
To change the colors of the lights, you can simply drag colors from the color bar and drop them directly
onto the light arrows. To edit a light color with the color editor, double click on the light arrow you want
to change and the color editor opens with that light color selected. You can now edit the light's color.
With the color editor open, as you click on the different light arrows, extrude face and extrude sides, the
color selected in the color editor dropdown list changes to match your selection, so you can quickly
select the different colors on your extrude to modify them.
Gloss / Matt
Use this toggle button to make the surface of a 3D object more or less
reflective. With the gloss option on lights placed at the correct position
behind the object will "bounce off" the sides to good effect.
Page 949