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Get Started
New to Inspire Studio? Learn the basics here.
Browse and Organize
Browse and organize the objects, layers, lights, materials, and drawings in your scene using the Model Browser.
Color-Code Objects
You can control the color, shininess, reflectivity, and transparency of individual objects in your scene to color-code the objects in your scene. With the exception of color, these properties do not appear when the scene is rendered.

Welcome
What's New
Discover new features and enhancements.
Get Started
New to Inspire Studio? Learn the basics here.
- Altair Inspire Studio Overview
  Learn about Inspire Studio, the workspace, and the system requirements.
- File Import and Export
  Learn how to import geometry and export results.
- Select and Edit
  Review techniques for selecting and editing objects.
- Construction History
  The software saves versions of your objects as you create them, enabling you to return to an earlier stage of an object, and modify or reuse the object from that stage.
- Adjust the View
  Change the view in the modeling window using the mouse or view controls.
- Take a Snapshot
  Capture an image of a model. The background is white by default, but you can make it colored or transparent. Arrows on curves are automatically turned off.
- Move and Snap
  Translate, rotate, and scale objects using the Move tool. These tasks can be accomplished with greater precision by using grids and snaps.
- Browse and Organize
  Browse and organize the objects, layers, lights, materials, and drawings in your scene using the Model Browser.
  - Find
    Find objects in the scene that contain the search string you enter. .
  - Search and Filter
    Search objects and automatically filter the results to only display the objects that contain the search string. You can also filter by object type.
  - Reorder Objects
    Change the order of objects in the Model Browser.
  - Show or Hide
    Show or hide an object or all source objects. You can also show only the broken objects.
  - Scroll to a Selected Object
    Scroll to a selected object so that you can see it in Model Browser.
  - Display and Modify an Object's Properties
    Show or hide extra columns to display and modify an object's properties in the Geometries Browser.
  - Color-Code Objects
    You can control the color, shininess, reflectivity, and transparency of individual objects in your scene to color-code the objects in your scene. With the exception of color, these properties do not appear when the scene is rendered.
  - Group Objects
    You can group objects to organize objects in a hierarchy or make it easier to select sets of objects that you can translate, rotate, or scale all at once.
  - Layer Objects
    You can use layers to show and hide collections of objects to reduce visual clutter.
  - Organize Materials
    In the Material Library, the Materials tab is handy for organizing materials as you work. It is here that you'll find a list of all the materials in your scene.
  - Organize Lights
    In the Model Browser, the Lights tab is handy for turning on and off lights as you work. It is here that you'll find a list of all the lights in your scene.
  - Organize Drawings
    In the Model Browser, the Drawing tab is handy for modifying the properties of existing sheets.
- Help and User Assistance
  Learn about the forms of help and user assistance available from the product.
- Units and Measurement
  Change the default units and measure geometry features.
- Tool Belts
  Inspire Studio has four different tool belts to help you quickly access the tools you need for 3D modeling, sketching, creating PolyNURBS, and rendering. You can use the tool belts with the default configuration of tools or you can customize the tool belts by adding and removing tools as required.
- Preferences
  Modify the workspace display, default keyboard shortcuts, and other settings.
Tutorials
Start using Inspire Studio with our interactive tutorials.
Sketching
Create and edit a 2D sketch curve. A sketch curve is any "wire" entity such as a line, rectangle, circle, or arc.
Curves
Create and edit 3D curves by extending, rebuilding, intersecting, splitting, and projecting the shapes.
Surfaces
Create and edit 3D surfaces and solids by creating primitives or editing existing curves and surfaces.
PolyNURBS
Create polygonal surfaces that can easily be converted into NURBS surfaces.
Modify
Create new objects by manipulating and modifying source objects.
Direct
Quickly modify objects that are not a part of Construction History.
Deform
Deform one or more objects with respect to an axis.
Analysis
Analyze curves and surfaces, import simulation data, or access the Design Table and Variable Manager.
Dimensions
Dimension a line, edge, bounding box, angle, and radius/diameter in order to create objects which must fit predefined dimensions.
Drawing
Create detailed 2D drawings of the selected parts of a complex 3D model from multiple perspectives.
Rendering
Adjust the materials, environment, and properties of objects in the scene to create a photorealistic image.
Animation
In Inspire Studio you can animate an object or group and the camera. There are two methods of animation: key frame animation and path animation.
Die Design
Create a draw die in Inspire Studio that you can export to Inspire Form to perform a stamping simulation.
Custom Plug-ins and Scripts
You can use C++ and Python to add custom operations and file formats.
Keyboard Shortcuts and Mouse Controls
Learn keyboard shortcuts and mouse controls for common operations.
SpaceMouse Support
Inspire Studio supports 3Dconnexion's SpaceMouse.

Color-Code Objects

You can control the color, shininess, reflectivity, and transparency of individual objects in your scene to color-code the objects in your scene. With the exception of color, these properties do not appear when the scene is rendered.

Select one or more objects.
In the Model Browser, right-click one of the selected objects, and then select Color on the context menu.
To assign a color to the objects, clear the By Layer check box, and then select a Color.

Note: To return to the default color that is assigned to curves and surfaces in the Preferences, click Default Color.
Adjust the Shininess, Reflectivity, and Transparency of the objects.
Right-click and mouse through the check mark to exit, or double-right-click.