Reference pictures

Reference is a menu on the fig editor’s menu bar, between Fig and Look. It places pictures around the fig, faded over it, to build against: a side view, a front view, a back view, or a floor plan.

The menu

Reference

OnOff

☑Side

☑Front

☐Back

☐Floor plan

Fade

ShowBehind the figThrough it

Move

↔ Side − +

↕ Up − +

⤢ Front − +

Size − +

Turn ⟲ ⟳

• An On | Off switch at the top turns the whole reference on or off. Off hides every view and keeps every picture. Turn it on with no reference yet and one is made with Side and Front on.
• Under a rule, the four views: Side, Front, Back, and Floor plan, each with a box that gets checked when the view shows. Tap the box or the word to turn the view on or off. To the left of each word are two small buttons in a column: a picture button, Use a picture, and a paint button, Draw it. A view with a photo on it shows a ruler button after the word, Line up: tap the top, then the feet; drag and size it. Any filled view shows an ✕, Clear this view. A tap on a picture or paint button turns the view on and closes the menu. The ruler closes the menu and opens its card. The boxes, the switch and the ✕ keep the menu open.
• Under a second rule, Fade: a slider from faint to solid. It fades all the pictures at once.
• Show: Behind the fig or Through it. Behind the fig hides the part of a picture the fig covers. Through it draws the pictures over the fig, at the Fade strength. A view then shows from its back as well as its front.
• Under a third rule, Move, Size and Turn step the whole reference. The last section of this page covers them.

The views

Side and Front are the far walls to trace against. Back is the near wall, behind the camera. Floor plan is on the ground, to build on top of. Every view is a square the height of the fig.

Fill a view

• Use a picture opens the photo picker: the camera, your camera roll, a pattern sheet, and so on. Select a photo, frame or warp it, then tap Use this photo. On a filled view, Use a picture reopens the warp where you left it.
• Draw it opens a drawing card with the Paint tools. Other filled views show through as a guide: select one under Mask to, or None. Done keeps the drawing. ✕ Never mind discards it.
• The ruler button opens the line up card for that view. Tap the top of the figure in the picture, then the feet; every view is then the same height. Drag the picture to slide it, and press − Smaller or + Bigger to zoom it. The slide and the zoom change this one view, so you can match it to the others. ↺ Undo line up removes the line up, the slide and the zoom. ✓ Done closes the card. The button shows once a photo is in the view.
• ✕ clears that one view.

Move the reference

The last rows of the Reference menu move the whole reference. They keep the menu open, so you can press more than once.

• Move: a − and a + each for Side, Up, and Front. A press moves the reference one block.
• Size: − and + change its height by two blocks. It stops at two blocks tall.
• Turn: ⟲ and ⟳ turn it 90 degrees.

Reference pictures never block taps. They do not show in Showtime, thumbnails, or exports. They save with the fig, so the reference is there the next time the fig opens.

A fig saved with an older reference opens as before; its views show in the same four rows. An older All around reference came with a left wall. It stays on the fig but has no row in the menu.