# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/3D View Windows

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3D View ![](Blender2693DViewIcon.png "Blender2693DViewIcon.png") windows
are used to visualize 3D scenes. You'll do a lot of work in these
windows, so you will need to learn your way around.

In this module, you\'ll learn:

-   to recognize 10 things commonly seen in viewports
-   to tell which mode Blender is in
-   how to change viewport options and viewpoints
-   how to position the 3D cursor

You\'ll also learn the fundamentals of:

-   visibility layers

## The Viewport and its Contents

Aside from its header, the remainder of a 3D View window is its
. You use viewports any time
you need an up-to-date view of the scene you\'re working on.

Viewports are busy places. Go on a scavenger hunt and see what you can
find in a simple viewport.

1.  Launch Blender.
2.  Just so we\'re all looking at the same scene, load the factory
    settings using *File → Defaults -\> Load Factory Settings*.
3.  Confirm the "Load Factory Settings" popup with
     (or
    ).
4.  If the NumLock indicator on your keyboard is unlit, press
     so that numpad hotkeys will
    work properly.

(If you\'re unsure what  means, please
review the Keystroke, Button, and Menu Notation
module.)

You should see something like this:

### A Virtual Scavenger Hunt

Look at the default scene and find the following eight items:

In the Center

1\.
![](Blender-2.5_cube_object_mode.PNG "Blender-2.5_cube_object_mode.PNG"){width="60"}
a solid gray cube with orange edges.

:\* This is the , your
first Blender object!

2\.
![](Blender_3D_Manipulator_screenshot.png "Blender_3D_Manipulator_screenshot.png"){width="60"}
Three arrows, one red, one green and one blue, their tails joined to a
white circle

:\* This is not an object (part of your model/scene), but part of
Blender's user interface for manipulating objects. It is the
, also known as the
.

:\* The arrows represent the directions of the ,
 and  axes of the
currently chosen
 coordinate
system. Initially this is the
.

:\* The circle represents the center of the selected object (the cube).

:\* If you don\'t know what the \"global coordinate system\" is, please
review the module on Coordinate Spaces in
Blender.


-   It\'s possible that a tool is active. Press
     to cancel any tool action.
-   Another possibility is that the manipulator has been disabled:
    -   Toggle it on or off with
        .

3\. ![](Blender_2.49b_cursor.png "Blender_2.49b_cursor.png") A
red-and-white striped circle with black cross-hairs

:\* This is not an object. It is the **3D Cursor**, which indicates
where newly-created objects will appear in the scene.

:\*The cursor is similar to the insertion point in a text editor, which
indicates where new text will be inserted in a document.

In the Lower Left Corner

4\.
![](Blender_3D_mini_axis_screenshot.png "Blender_3D_mini_axis_screenshot.png")

:\* This is not an object. It is the **mini axis**, and its orientation
matches that of the global coordinate system, with the usual
conventions: red for X, green for Y and blue for Z. Think of it as a
little compass, reminding you which way is left/right, front/back and
up/down. 5. The notation \"(1) Cube\"

:   This is not an object. It is
    , indicating that:
    -   You\'re viewing the first frame of an animation.

    :   and

    -   The current or most recently selected object is named \"Cube\".

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In the Upper Left Corner

6\. The notation "User Persp"

:   This is not an object. This tells you which mode the viewport is in.
    The first word will change if you select one of the *perfect* views
    or the camera view (see below), otherwise it just says "User", and
    the second word is "Persp" or "Ortho" to indicate whether this is a
    perspective or orthographic view.

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To the Right of Center

7\. ![](Blender_2.49b_lamp_icon.png "Blender_2.49b_lamp_icon.png") A
black round thing that resembles a sun symbol

:   

    :   This represents a **lamp**, a light source for the scene. (It is
        an object.)

8\.
![](Blender_2.49b_camera_icon.png "Blender_2.49b_camera_icon.png"){width="50"}
A pyramidal wireframe item

:   

    :   This represents a **camera**, a viewpoint that can be used for
        rendering. (It too, is an object.) The camera is looking at the
        base of the pyramid. The solid triangle attached to one side of
        the base is to remind you which way is up in the image that the
        camera takes.
    :   On a small display, the camera might initially lie outside of
        the viewport and thus be invisible. In that case,
         to zoom out until it becomes
        visible.

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Throughout

9\. A dark gray background, divided into squares by lighter lines. This
is the , which you can (but
don't have to) use as a ground plane for positioning your models.

:   

    :   Each grid square is one **blender unit** (or **BU**) on a side.
        A BU can be whatever you wish, e.g. an inch, a centimeter, a
        mile, or a cubit. Blender lets you choose your scene scale in
        the Scene tab of the Properties Panel.

10\. Three mutually perpendicular coloured lines associated with the
grid floor: the red and green ones lying horizontally in the floor and
the blue one running vertically. These are the global coordinate axes
for orienting your scene. Red is the X-axis, green the Y-axis, and blue
the Z-axis.

-   In Blender 2.67a, you can\'t see the blue line for Z-axis here, but
    you **can** see it in Front or Side view.

## Modes

Blender has many **modes**, i.e. settings that affect its behavior, and
this is especially true of the 3D View window.

Sometimes it\'s not obvious which mode is active. This leads to **mode
errors** where Blender will do something you didn\'t expect because you
thought it was in one mode and it was actually in another.

The function performed by a hotkey or mouse button can depend on:

-   what mode the user interface is in,
-   whether the keyboard is in NumLock mode,
-   which window is active,
-   the mode the active window is in,
-   which item or items are selected,
-   whether you\'ve initiated a hotkey sequence.

It helps to recognize the common modes and how to get out of them.

### Object Mode vs. Edit Mode

The 3D View windows are normally in Object Mode. In this mode:

-   -   The mouse pointer is the default arrow normally used on other
        programs.

    -           is used to select objects in the scene.

    -   In versions 2.8 and above Use 
        to select objects in the scene

If there are objects in the scene, you can get into five other modes:

-   Edit Mode: used to edit the shapes of objects
    -   The mouse pointer is a thin inverse-video cross.

    -           is used to select vertices, faces or edges of the current
        object.

    -   Press  to enter/exit this mode.
-   Sculpt Mode/Vertex Paint/Texture Paint/Weight Paint
    -   The mouse pointer is now a thin, orange (white in Texture Paint)
        circle.

These modes are also indicated by a menu in the 3D View header. You can
use this menu to change modes.

![](Blender-2.5_mode_menu.png "Blender-2.5_mode_menu.png")

These modes are a setting shared by all 3D View windows. In other words,
when you change the mode in one window, any other 3D View windows change
mode also.

## Viewport Options

### Solid vs. Wireframe

By default, the 3D View window draws objects using the Solid drawtype,
in which surfaces are opaque. To toggle between Solid and Wireframe
drawtype (edges only, no faces) for a particular viewport:

1.  Activate the 3D View window

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1.  Press .

Alternatively, you can choose these and other drawtypes from the
\"Viewport shading\" menu in the 3D View window header.

### Orthographic vs. Perspective

By default, viewports draw orthographic views. To toggle a viewport
between orthographic and perspective views:

1.  Activate the 3D View window.
2.  Press .

(If you\'re unsure what the difference is, please review
 and
.)

Note this perspective versus orthographic setting for the 3D viewport is
completely separate from the similar setting in the camera properties.
The former takes effect while you're working on the model, the latter
when you render.

So why have a separate setting for the 3D view? Because certain aspects
of modelling are easier in one view than another. If the final render
will be using perspective, then showing perspective in the 3D view
naturally gives you a better idea of how the final render will look. But
perspective foreshortening can sometimes make it hard to ensure the
model has the proper shape, which is why there is the option to switch
to orthographic view.

\... you should activate the View Name option. This is enabled by
default and causes the name of the current view (\"User Persp\", for
instance) to appear in the upper left corner of every viewport. If there
is no text, then you can enable it by:

1.  Accessing the User Preferences window.
2.  Click on the *Interface* tab.
3.  Enable *View Name*.

## Changing Your Viewpoint, Part One

Each viewport has a **viewpoint**, which takes into account:

-   the location of the viewer in the 3D scene (There doesn\'t need to
    be an object at that location.)
-   the direction the viewer is looking
-   the magnification (or zoom factor) used

Changing your viewpoint allows you to navigate your way through a 3D
scene.

We\'ll start with three very basic techniques:

-   Zooming
-   Orbiting/View Rotation
-   Perfect Views.

Additional techniques will be covered later in this module.

### Zooming

Blender offers several ways to zoom in and out:

-   Use 
-   Click and drag vertically with
    .
-   Use  and
     to zoom in and out in small
    increments.

Note the following limitations of Blender\'s zoom feature:

-   If the viewport is in orthographic mode, Blender zooms as if looking
    through a telescope. You can increase the magnification, but the
    viewpoint\'s location doesn\'t change. For this reason, you cannot
    zoom into or through objects in orthographic mode.
-   If the viewport is in perspective mode, Blender zooms to the center
    of the viewport. The viewpoint can pass through objects, but can\'t
    pass beyond this point, no matter what you do. Zooming only gets
    slower and slower and slower. If the center of the viewport is
    somewhere you don\'t expect, zooming may appear to be broken.

### Orbiting and View Rotation

Let\'s fly around the default cube, viewing it from different angles. In
this way you\'ll see that it really is a cube, centered on the origin,
half above the X-Y plane and half below it.

1.  Activate the 3D View window by placing the mouse pointer inside it.
2.  Now you can:
    -   Click and drag with  to orbit
        freely around the center of the view.
    -   Use  to rotate the
        viewpoint vertically around the center of the view.
    -   Use  and
         to rotate the viewpoint
        vertically around the center of the view in 15-degree
        increments.
    -   Use  to rotate the
        viewpoint around the Z axis.
    -   Use  and
         to rotate the viewpoint around
        the Z axis in 15-degree increments.

If this is all very confusing for you, don\'t worry! You\'ll learn as
you get more experience.

When you are finished flying around the cube, you can restore the
original view by reloading the factory settings with *File → Load
Factory Settings*.

You may have pressed number keys above the letters instead of the ones
on the numpad. If you do, the default cube will vanish. This is because
the scene consists of multiple layers. The default cube is in layer 1,
and you\'ve told Blender to switch to the layer of the number you just
pressed. The selected object (the cube in this case) remains in layer 1,
which is no longer visible. For instance,
 tells Blender to switch to layer 2. To
switch to layer 1 again, press . You
can view the different layers by clicking on the little squares on the
layer map: ![](Blender-2.5_layers.png "Blender-2.5_layers.png")


The Shift + Alt + Scroll and Ctrl + Alt + Scroll do not work for me with
factory settings in Blender 2.92.0

### Perfect Views

It\'s often useful to get a **perfect view** of a scene, i.e. to view it
along one of the main axes, with the other two main axes oriented
up-down and left-right.

+----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
| Hotkey         | View           | Axis Pointing  | Axis Pointing  |
|                |                | Right          | Up             |
+================+================+================+================+
| `              | \"top\"        | `              | `              |
| ``{=mediawiki} |                | ``{=mediawiki} | ``{=mediawiki} |
| {{B3D          |                | {{Red|+X}}     | {{Green|+Y}}   |
| :N2P/Do|Num7}} |                | ```            | ```            |
| ```            |                |                |                |
+----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
| `              | \"bottom\"     | `              | `              |
| ``{=mediawiki} |                | ``{=mediawiki} | ``{=mediawiki} |
| {{B3D:N2P/     |                | {{Red|+X}}     | {{Green|-Y}}   |
| Do|Ctrl|Num7}} |                | ```            | ```            |
| ```            |                |                |                |
+----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
| `              | \"front\"      | `              | `              |
| ``{=mediawiki} |                | ``{=mediawiki} | ``{=mediawiki} |
| {{B3D          |                | {{Red|+X}}     | {{Blue|+Z}}    |
| :N2P/Do|Num1}} |                | ```            | ```            |
| ```            |                |                |                |
+----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
| `              | \"rear\"       | `              | `              |
| ``{=mediawiki} |                | ``{=mediawiki} | ``{=mediawiki} |
| {{B3D:N2P/     |                | {{Red|-X}}     | {{Blue|+Z}}    |
| Do|Ctrl|Num1}} |                | ```            | ```            |
| ```            |                |                |                |
+----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
| `              | \"right side\" | `              | `              |
| ``{=mediawiki} |                | ``{=mediawiki} | ``{=mediawiki} |
| {{B3D          |                | {{Green|+Y}}   | {{Blue|+Z}}    |
| :N2P/Do|Num3}} |                | ```            | ```            |
| ```            |                |                |                |
+----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
| `              | \"left side\"  | `              | `              |
| ``{=mediawiki} |                | ``{=mediawiki} | ``{=mediawiki} |
| {{B3D:N2P/     |                | {{Green|-Y}}   | {{Blue|+Z}}    |
| Do|Ctrl|Num3}} |                | ```            | ```            |
| ```            |                |                |                |
+----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+

: Perfect View Hotkeys

The following screenshot shows all three perfect views plus camera
perspective for the Suzanne primitive:

![](Blender-2.5_perfect_view_quad.png "Blender-2.5_perfect_view_quad.png"){width="600"}

This layout is used so often, it has a keyboard shortcut:
().

## Positioning the 3D Cursor

Positioning the 3D cursor is a very basic operation, yet one that many
beginners find challenging. It touches on an issue common to all 3D
graphics software: \"How do you specify points in a 3D scene when we can
only see two dimensions at a time?\"

### Basic Technique

1.  Go into either Object Mode or Edit Mode.
2.  Move the mouse pointer to the desired position (in any viewport).
3.  Click .

### Two Challenges

**Challenge #1.** Using only tools presented thus far, try positioning
the 3D cursor on the virtual camera.

Try it!

When you\'re done, check your work by orbiting the camera.

Perhaps you thought you were done when you clicked on the camera. But
the moment you changed your viewpoint, you probably found that the 3D
cursor was actually behind (or in front of) the camera.

Hints:

-   Try positioning the cursor in two different perfect views.
-   Use orthographic, not perspective, view.

**Challenge #2.** Using only tools presented thus far, try repositioning
the 3D cursor at the origin (that is, at the center of the cube).

As before, check your work by orbiting the cube. Don\'t spend too much
time on this.

\"I found that I would select the cube when left clicking on it in
object mode, if the **\"Use 3d transform manipulator\"** button was
enabled. To toggle this off, you click on the **gray pointing hand** in
the 3d panel header, or (Ctrl Space).\"

\"When you want the cursor back into the cube, just select the camera
with **RMB**, put the cursor into the cube following the steps above,
and re-select the cube with **RMB**.\"

\"I\'ve discovered it helps a lot if you are in Object Mode and not in
Edit Mode. I wrote the following before discovering this: *The problem
with this exercise, for me, is that left clicking on the cube selects
the cube instead of moving the 3d cursor. If I click on the cube outside
of its central white circle I can get the cursor to move there, but only
to outside of this white circle, and even then this only works
sometimes.*\"

\"I failed at this until I had zoomed in close enough to the cube. When
I was too far zoomed out I kept selecting the cube rather than creating
an edit point.\"

\"I had the same problem and found it was because the cube was selected.
I made sure I was in object mode, right clicked on the camera to select
the camera instead of the cube, and I could then position the edit point
in the cube. However, doing this messed up the next part of the tutorial
because you cannot switch into edit mode with the camera selected!
Perhaps the suggestion of trying to put the 3D cursor in the cube should
be dropped as it raises too many questions at this stage.\"

\"You can deselect all by pressing the AKEY or the select button in the
3D View.\"

\"Use wireframe mode works better to get the cursor in.\"

\"To get it back in the cube: 1) Make sure you\'re in object mode. 2)
Select the cube. 3) Object \> Snap \> Cursor to selection (cursor refers
to the 3D cursor here) so it puts it right in the middle of the cube.\"

\"I think it\'s an essential point to note that *in order to place the
cursor inside the cube, the cube must NOT be selected*. AKEY was
probably the best way to deselect the object.\"

\"If I remember correctly, undo history gets cleared when you switch
between object and edit mode.\"

\"I wasted a lot of time here. *Thank you* to the reader who suggested
(on the 3D view header) Object \> Snap \> Cursor to selection. It was
the only thing that worked to get the cursor visible again and placed
where clicked.\"

\"I missed the point of the exercise first time around. You can\'t set a
3D point on a 2D screen without technique. Orthographic views are
crucial. I am just learning, but take that, at least, away from it.\"

\"Positioning the 3D cursor in othographic views always made it snap to
the cube surface, making it impossible to center precisely. Fix this by
disabling \"Cursor Depth\" on the \"interface\" tab under \"User
Preferences\".

\"The phrase *check your work by orbiting the camera* needs additional
clarification, such as a referenced section or the precise commands to
use.\"

### More Ways to Position the Cursor

![](Blender-2.5_snap_menu.png "Blender-2.5_snap_menu.png"){width="500"}

Here\'s an easy way to position the cursor at the center of an object:

1.  Make sure Blender is in Object Mode, with the object selected.
2.  Move the mouse pointer to any 3D View window.
3.  Snap the cursor to the selected object using either:
    -           → *Cursor to Selected*

    :   or

    -   *Object → Snap → Cursor to Selected*

Here\'s 2 easy ways to relocate the cursor to the scene\'s origin (0, 0,
0):

1.  Move the mouse pointer to any 3D View window.
2.  Press  to reset the cursor to
    the origin.
    -   Note that this also changes the view location, meaning that when
        you zoom in, you won\'t zoom in to the scene origin.
3.  A better way is to click *Object → Snap → Cursor to Center*
    -   You can also do this by  →
        *Cursor to Center*.

## Changing Your Viewpoint, Part Two

Now you\'ll learn some additional techniques for obtaining the view you
want:

-   Panning
-   Centering
-   Jumping to the camera\'s viewpoint
-   Zooming in on a selected area

### Panning

When you orbited the cube, the viewpoint\'s position and direction both
changed at the same time. You also can shift the viewpoint up-down or
left-right *without* changing its direction. (This is similar to the
side-scrolling effect in the classic Mario and Sonic video games.)

This is called *panning "wikilink")*, and it\'s an
important skill to master. Try it now:

1.  Activate a 3D View window by placing the mouse pointer inside it.
2.  Now you can:
    -   Use  to pan up and
        down.
    -   Use  and
         to pan up and down in
        small increments.
    -   Use  to pan left and
        right.
    -   Use  and
         to pan left and right in
        small increments.
    -   Click and drag with  or
         to pan freely in the
        viewplane.\

\
You will likely find this to be a distraction in some cases. To move the
viewpoint position back to the center, snap the cursor to the center,
then click *View → Align View → Center View to Cursor*. You could also
snap the cursor to the center then press
.\
In versions ≥2.74 you can also use 
to center the view to the cursor.

### Centering

When you zoom or rotate the view, you always zoom or rotate around the
center of the view.

To make sure everything in your scene is visible:

1.  Press .

To center the view on an arbitrary point:

1.  Move the 3D cursor to the point of interest.
2.  Verify the cursor position from a second viewpoint.
3.  Press
    +
    to center the view.

To center the view on an object in the scene:

1.  Make sure Blender is in Object Mode.
2.  Zoom out until the object is in the viewport.
3.  If any objects are selected, use  (or
    *Select → Select/Deselect All*) to deselect them.
4.  Select the object of interest by clicking
     on it.
5.  Press  to center the view.

### Jumping to the Camera\'s Viewpoint

To see the scene as the virtual camera sees it, press
. Afterwards, you can rotate, pan, and
zoom normally, but the virtual camera will not follow. To go back to
your previous view, press  again. (In
the latest versions of Blender, the virtual camera can be made to follow
all the changes made in viewpoint while in camera view by checking the
option \"Lock Camera to View\" on the Transform panel. Hit
 on your keyboard to bring up the
transform panel. To disable this option uncheck \"Lock Camera to
View.\")

### Zooming into a Selected Area

Suppose you want to get an extreme closeup of a particular area. Because
there\'s no center mark on the viewport, you might have to pan and zoom
several times to get the desired view.

The shortcut for zooming to an area is:

1.  Activate a 3D view window that contains the area of interest.
2.  Press . A crosshair appears in
    the viewport.
3.  Click and drag with  to draw a
    rectangle around the area of interest.
4.  When you release , the viewport will
    zoom in on the area you selected.

## View Navigation

You can also change your viewpoint in the 3D view by "walking" or
"flying" through it. To activate this, press
. By default in Blender 2.70, this
puts you in "walk" mode. Earlier versions only offered "fly" mode. (In
Blender 2.70 and later, you can choose which one you prefer in User
Preferences, under the Input tab.)

In both modes, helpful prompts appear in the header of the 3D view
window to remind you of the key functions while the mode is in effect.
When you have reached the position and orientation you want, press
 or 
or  to end the navigation mode and
stay there, or  or
 to abandon the navigation mode and be
teleported immediately back to your original position and orientation.
(In 2.77+, pressing  will teleport you
to where the cross hairs point towards.)

### Walk Mode

In this mode, you move the mouse to turn your view up/down/left/right,
and , ,
 and  or the
corresponding arrow keys to move forward, left, back or right, and
 and  to
move up or down respectively. Hold a movement key down to keep moving.
Movement stops as soon as you release it. Pressing
 will "teleport" you close to whatever
objects lie within the crosshairs at the centre of the view.

You can also use  to turn on gravity.
Make sure there is a floor or other object under you to land on! With
gravity on, you can no longer use the vertical movement keys, but you
can use  to make jumps. Press
 again to turn gravity off.

### Fly Mode

In this older mode, moving the mouse to change the view works the same
as in Walk mode, but the above direction keys
(, ,
, ,
,  and the
arrows) apply "thrust" in the respective directions, so you keep moving
after releasing the key. Press the key repeatedly to increase your speed
in that direction, or press the key for the *opposite* thrust direction
to reduce your speed. You can roll the mouse wheel up to apply forward
thrust, or roll it down to apply backward thrust.

Your current velocity vector automatically changes direction with you
when you turn. Thus, you can apply a single burst of sideways thrust
while facing an object, then, without applying any additional thrust,
keep turning to face the object, and you will go right around it.

## Visibility Layers

Every object in the scene is assigned to one or more of 20
.

Visibility layers have many uses:

-   You can put scenery, characters, particles, and lamps in different
    layers, to help organize your scene.
-   By changing which layers are visible, you can simplify your view of
    the scene and work with only one or two layers at a time.
-   When rendering, only visible layers are included. You can use this
    to render your scene layer by layer, checking each layer separately.
-   You can configure lamps to illuminate only objects in the same
    layer.

!Left: Viewing layer 1 only.\
Right: Viewing all 20
layers.
In Object Mode, you can tell which layers are visible by looking at the
twenty small boxes located in the 3D View header between the Transform
Orientation menu and the \"Lock\" button. The top row of boxes
represents layers 1 through 10, with 1 being the leftmost and 10 being
the rightmost. Similarly, the bottom row of boxes represents layers 11
through 20.

### Hotkeys

-   To view just one of layers 1 - 9, press
     ..
    .
-   To view just layer 10, press .
-   To view just one of layers 11 - 19, press
     ..
    
-   To view just layer 20, press .
-   To toggle the visibility of one of layers 1 - 9 without affecting
    the visibility of the other layers, press
     ..
    .
-   To toggle the visibility of layer 10 without affecting the
    visibility of the other layers, press
    .
-   To toggle the visibility of one of layers 11 .. 19 without affecting
    the visibility of the other layers, press
     ..
    .
-   To toggle the visibility of layer 20 without affecting the
    visibility of the other layers, press
    .
-   To make all layers visible at once, press
    . Press 
    again to return to your previous layer visibility setting.

On the AZERTY keyboard layout, the standard number keys are the
&é\"\'(-è_çà keys. Do not use  unless
you want to toggle visibility as explained below.


Holding down  while selecting a layer
(by keyboard or mouse) will, instead of making only that layer visible,
toggle the visibility. In this way, you can select combinations or to
hide particular layers.

The key to press to select all layers at once differs by keyboard
layout. It is:

-       (the key under Esc) on UK keyboards,

-       US,

-       German, Swedish, Finnish and Hungarian,

-       Swiss German,

-       Danish,

-       AZERTY,

-       Norwegian,

-       Spanish,

-       Portuguese,

-       Brazilian Portuguese,

-       Italian, and

-       Russian.

After pressing the aforementioned key, holding down
 while pressing it again will restore
the visibility settings you had *before* you made all layers visible.

When only one layer is selected, new objects are automatically assigned
to that layer. When two or more layers are visible, new objects are
assigned to the most recently visible layer.

## Count Your Polys

If you want to count the polygons in your scene, the data is available
in the Info Header.

As you can see in the above image, this scene has 507 vertices and 500
faces (polygons). 
