Adding 3D Splines

A spline in the 3D View window is a line along which fixtures are evenly distributed: a batten, a string of lights, a glowing façade outline. A spline is drawn directly in the three-dimensional scene — along the edges of an imported model or in empty space — or a ready-made shape is used: a line, a circle, a rectangle, or a polygon. Single 3D fixtures are added to the scene the same way.

A new spline does not glow by itself: it only defines the shape and the position. Animation will appear on it once it is linked to a fixture in Mapping — see the "Making the Spline Glow" section.

All the buttons discussed here are located on the toolbar of the 3D View window; the full list of them is in the article 3D Toolbar.

Drawing a Spline

Click the Draw Spline button. The cursor in the scene will turn into a crosshair.
Left-click where the line should begin.
Each subsequent click places a new vertex. While you move the mouse, the upcoming segment stretches after the cursor and is drawn in orange.
When the line is ready, press Enter.

Things worth knowing about drawing:

There must be at least two points. If you press Enter right after the first click, the spline will not be created.
Here, Esc works the same way as Enter: it finishes the line rather than cancelling it. A failed spline is deleted with Delete or undone with Ctrl+Z.
Once finished, the program automatically switches to the Select and Move tool, and the completed spline (it will appear in the list as Spline001) remains selected. To draw the next one, click the Draw Spline button again.
A point placed in empty space lands on the horizontal floor plane. If the cursor is within a few pixels of a vertex of any scene object, the point snaps exactly onto that vertex — this is how a spline is drawn along the edges of an imported model. When the Snap to Vertices button is enabled, the caught vertex is highlighted with a light-green cross, so you can see in advance where the point will land.
It makes sense to draw freely, without snapping, in Perspective and in the Top view: there, the floor plane is visible. In the Front, Back, Left and Right views the floor is seen edge-on, so in these views you can only draw with snapping to the model's vertices.
Drawing is a regular action: it is undone with Ctrl+Z and redone with Ctrl+Shift+Z.

Splines can also arrive in the scene together with a model: when a *.fbx file is imported, lines prepared in a 3D editor are pulled in along with it. They are no different from hand-drawn ones — they are edited and linked to fixtures the same way (see Импорт моделей OBJ and Подготовка модели в 3ds max).

Ready-made Shapes

When precise geometry is needed, instead of drawing a line you use a shape. Each one is created with a single button click, appears at the center of the scene, and is immediately selected; the shape is then defined numerically in the Properties window.

Button	Object in the List	Shape Parameters	Default Values
Add Line	Line	Length	500
Add Circle	Circle	Radius, Angle	radius 50, angle 360°
Add Rectangle	Rectangle	Width, Height	100 × 200
Add Polygon	Polygon	Number of Sides, Radius	6 sides, radius 100

The circle's Angle is the arc span: 360 gives a full ring, a smaller value gives an open arc. The rectangle and the polygon are always closed.

Individual points of shapes cannot be edited: to change the shape, you change its parameters. Position, rotation, and size are set the same way as for any scene object — via the X, Y, Z fields on the toolbar and the gizmo (see 3D Navigation).

Single Fixture

The Add from Fixtures button creates a single 3D fixture at the center of the scene. Until a fixture from Mapping is linked to it, it is called No Fixture in the list and does not glow.

Single fixtures are useful where a spline would be excessive: a standalone spotlight, a point fixture, a single pixel on a façade. How the fixture looks in the scene — as a beam, a batten, or a pixel — is set in the Display Settings section of the Properties window.

Editing Spline Points

Points are edited on drawn and imported splines. Ready-made shapes have no editing mode — they only have parameters.

Select the spline.
Click the Edit Spline button. The spline's points will appear as green markers.
Click a point — it will turn red, meaning selected, and will get a move gizmo.
Drag the point along the needed gizmo axis.
Press Enter or Esc when finished: the program will return to the Select and Move tool.

In editing mode, the following are available:

Selecting Multiple Points: Shift or Ctrl with a click adds a point to the selection, Ctrl+A selects all points of the spline. Multiple selected points move together, around their common center.

Adding a Point: Double-clicking near the spline's line inserts a new point at the nearest place on the line. The shape does not change, and the new point can then be dragged aside.

Deleting a Point: Delete or Backspace removes the selected points. The same is done by the Delete item in the right-click menu on a point.

Move Snapping: A checkbox on the toolbar. If, at the moment you release the mouse button, the cursor is over another point of the spline, the points being moved align with it along the axis you were dragging. This way points are lined up with each other without eyeballing coordinates.

The +X, −X, +Y, −Y, +Z, −Z Buttons: Align all selected points along one axis: the plus-sign button pulls them to the farthest point on that axis, the minus-sign button to the nearest one. The fastest way to straighten a crooked line or bring all points to the same height.

Any point editing can be undone with Ctrl+Z.

Spline Shape and Appearance

The Properties window shows the parameters of the selected spline. In the General section, drawn and imported splines have two shape toggles:

Parameter	What It Does
Closed	Connects the last point to the first. Needed for rings, outlines, and any lines that must close up.
Smooth	Rounds the corners: instead of a polyline, the spline becomes a smooth curve. Useful for arches and waves; for strict geometry, it is unnecessary.

The Display Settings section controls how the fixtures on the spline look: Fixture Beam Type (Pixel, Linear, or Spot), the beam's Length, Angle and Depth, Pixel Width, Pixel Height and Pixel Length. It also includes:

Follow: Turns each fixture to face the direction of the line. On a curved spline, without this checkbox all beams point in one direction; with it, they fan out along the arc, like real fixtures on a curve.

Rotation X, Rotation Y, Rotation Z: An additional rotation of all the spline's fixtures relative to the line itself — for example, so the beams point down instead of outward.

Making the Spline Glow

A 3D spline glows only when it is linked to a fixture or spline in Mapping: the animation is calculated by Mapping, and 3D shows the result. Until there is a link, the Mapping column in the 3D Objects window is empty for this spline.

The link is created in one of three ways.

Transfer Splines from 3D to Mapping: The Magic 2D Button creates fixtures in Mapping based on the 3D splines and links them right away. This is the usual workflow when the scene is built before the mapping. Only drawn and imported splines and single 3D fixtures that do not yet have a link are transferred; ready-made shapes — line, circle, rectangle, polygon — are not transferred, and a fixture must be assigned to them manually. A new mapping spline gets 100 RGB-type fixtures by default, and this number is then adjusted in its properties.; Splines that have already been transferred are not created again, so the button can be clicked repeatedly as new lines appear in the scene.

Transfer Fixtures from Mapping to 3D: The reverse action is the Magic 3D Button. The fixtures will be laid out in 3D as a flat wall, repeating the arrangement in Mapping, and each will be linked to its own fixture.

Assign a Fixture Manually: In the Properties window of the selected spline, expand the Fixture section and click Select. A list of the project's fixtures will open — choose the one you need.

The Fixture section in the spline's properties:

Parameter	Purpose
Fixture Name	The name of the linked mapping fixture. Empty means there is no link.
Fixture — the Select button	Choosing a fixture from the project's fixture list.
Go to Fixture	Selects the linked fixture in the Fixtures window — a quick way to check its addresses and patching.
Left and Right — the Previous and Next buttons	Switch the link to the neighboring fixture in the project list, without opening the selection window.
Clear	Breaks the link. The spline remains in the scene but stops glowing.
Reverse	Reverses the direction: the first pixel becomes the last. Useful when the animation on the 3D spline runs the opposite way from the real object.

A few useful details:

The number of fixtures on a 3D spline is taken from the linked mapping spline — it is its Fixture Count parameter. It must be changed there; there is no such parameter in 3D.
If you select several splines in 3D at once and choose a fixture with the Select button, each subsequent spline gets the next fixture in the list. This way a row of identical battens is linked in a single pass.
The shape of the fixture in Mapping and the shape of the spline in 3D are independent: a spline can wrap around a façade while its counterpart in Mapping is a plain straight line.

For more on this link, see the article Связь 2D и 3D.

Many Identical Splines

When you need a row of identical battens, steps, or rings, you don't draw the spline again.

Duplicate: This tool makes a set of independent copies of the selected spline with a constant step. You set the Count of copies and the Offset X, Offset Y, Offset Z between them; the copies are visible in the scene immediately as you adjust the values. The Auto Trace checkbox links each subsequent copy to the next fixture in the mapping list — the row immediately gets different addresses instead of repeating the same one. The Apply button creates the copies.

Spline Cloner: Creates a single Cloner object that replicates the source spline. The number of repetitions, offset, and rotation are configured in the Properties window and can be changed at any time, while the scene list keeps a single row instead of a dozen. The button is available when exactly one spline or single fixture is selected.

Regular copying also works: Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V or Ctrl+D. But the copy remains linked to the same mapping fixture as the original and glows identically to it — each copy needs its own fixture assigned.

Frequently Asked Questions

The spline is drawn but does not glow. It has no link to Mapping. Check the Mapping column in the 3D Objects window: if it is empty, assign a fixture with the Select button or transfer the spline to Mapping with the Magic 2D Button.
There are too few or too many fixtures on the spline. Their number is set by the linked spline in Mapping — the Fixture Count parameter in its properties.
The "Edit Spline" button can't be clicked. A ready-made shape or several objects at once are selected. Point-editing mode only works for a single drawn or imported spline.
The points land in the wrong place while drawing. You are most likely drawing in a flat side or front view without snapping. Enable Snap to Vertices and aim at the model's vertices, or switch to Perspective.
The animation on the spline runs backwards. Click Reverse in the Fixture section of its properties.