Workspace basics

Important notice for Mixamo customers. 
We’re retiring features and services on this site, learn how this affects you. Visit http://blogs.adobe.com/adobecare/2017/05/23/download-assets-from-mixamo/.

With Fuse CC, you can easily assemble your own human characters using a wide selection of body parts, hair choices, clothing items, and clothing textures, such as leather, cotton, metal, and plastic.

The Fuse workspace is easy to use. Each user interface component provides specific controls over the 3D character being created; the Mode bar provides different setups to focus on a specific task in the process of creating the final character; the canvas is a large 3D area where you can view and interact with your 3D character; the Editor panel is a contextual panel with detailed controls that vary depending on the mode selected in the Mode bar.

The canvas is the large 3D area in the Fuse workspace where you can view and interact with your 3D character.

Zoom option

While creating your character, you can use the following character zooming shortcuts in the Canvas area:

• Hold shift+drag up to zoom in and shift+drag down to zoom out.
• If you use a mouse with a scrolling wheel, scroll up to zoom in and scroll down to zoom out.

Main toolbar

The Main toolbar provides you quick access to some of the common file functions, character shading options, preset creation, and character upload options.

File functions

New Model Creates a new Fuse file with a blank canvas.

Open Opens a dialog box to locate and open an existing Fuse file.

Save Opens a dialog box to save the existing Fuse file.

Undo Reverses the latest action.

Redo Reapplies the latest undone action.

Character shading options

Character shading options allow you to view your model in different ways on the Canvas. You can also access these options from the View menu.

Wireframe Renders only the edges of the model, making the body mesh transparent.

Shaded Renders the lit surface of the mesh. This is the default shading method.

Shaded + Wireframe Renders the lit surface with the wireframe overlay.

Create Preset option

The Create Preset option saves the current settings of any item (body parts, clothing, or hair) within the Fuse libraries as a new item by creating a preset. For example, you can customize an existing pair of blue pants for your character to have a black texture and add it in the clothing library using the Preset option.

Character upload options

Save to Mixamo Uploads your character to Mixamo’s web-based animation service. You can then save the character and animations in various file formats for use in external applications.

Save to CC Libraries Saves your character to a Creative Cloud Library. You can access the saved character from within Photoshop CC and use it in images, designs, prototypes, and more.

Edit toolbar

The Edit toolbar provides various camera view and interaction tools. These tools allow you to view and rotate your character in 3D space (x, y, z axes), and focus on the details and specific parts of your character's body.

Camera view options

Interaction tools

Select and Move

Enables the Select and Move tool. This tool lets you manipulate both the camera view and the character at the same time. You can use the following keyboard interactions when you select this tool:

• Rotate Click + drag on the canvas to rotate the camera around the character. 
• Translate/Pan Hold Ctrl + click + drag to pan the camera across the character. 
• Modify body parts Click + drag on the character to select and modify the shape of the body part. This interaction works only on the body and not on the clothing or hair.
• Zoom Hold shift+drag up to zoom in and shift+drag down to zoom out.
  If you use a mouse with a scrolling wheel, scroll up to zoom in and scroll down to zoom out.
• Select body, clothing, or hair Click any item to select it. The blue highlighted area denotes the selected item.
• Delete Click any item to select it. Press Delete or Backspace key to delete the selected item.

Geo tool

Mode bar

Each mode in the Mode Bar provides you a different user interface setup that focuses on a specific task in the process of creating the final character. When you switch modes, the interaction with the character in the Canvas area changes. The information and controls available in the Editor panel on the right change as well.

Assemble mode

In Assemble mode, the Editor panel on the right displays the library of body parts required for fusing your character: Head, Arm, Torso, and Leg. The Fuse library consists of a preloaded collection of scanned realistic characters, stylized characters, and cartoon characters.

Clicking a body part in the Editor panel adds that part to the canvas and automatically fuses it with any other body parts already on the canvas. As you build your character, the Editor panel automatically opens to suggest the body parts that you can use to complete your character.

You can use all the options available on the Edit toolbar and the Main toolbar as you build your character in Assemble mode.

Customize mode

In Customize mode, the Editor panel displays various slider controls to edit and customize specific regions of the character’s body. These slider controls are organized into broad sets for editing different body parts, such as Arms, Face, Head, Legs, Teeth, and Torso. Each body part set is further organized into subsets for controlling different areas of a particular body part. For example, for a character’s Head, multiple slider controls are available for editing Brows, Cheeks, Chin, Ears, Eyes, Head Overall, Jaw, Mouth, Nose, and Skull.

When you hover your cursor over different areas of the character’s body, blue highlights appear on the mesh. These blue highlights represent the customizable regions. Clicking any of these highlighted areas makes the corresponding slider controls visible under Active Region in the Editor panel. You can manipulate Active Region by either using the slider controls or by mouse movements.

Clothing mode

You can use Clothing mode to dress the character using assets from the clothing library.

In this mode, the Editor panel displays a library of clothing assets categorized Tops, Bottoms, Shoes, Hair, Hats, Eyewear, Beards, Gloves, Masks, and Mustaches. You can select any clothing asset from the library to add it to the canvas; the selected clothing is automatically wrapped around the character’s body.

Texture mode

Texture mode allows you to customize the appearance of your model’s body, hair, and clothing. In this mode, the Editor panel displays various texture parameters to manipulate the object that is currently selected.
To change the texture options for the body, hair, or clothing, select the object that you want to customize. The options for the selected object then appear in the Editor panel.

Body texture

When you select the body of your model in Texture mode, the Editor panel provides texture parameter controls to customize various attributes of the body. These body texture parameters are categorized under Skin, Makeup, Sun Effects, Teeth, Detail, Roughness, Eyes, Facial Hair, and Metalness categories.

Hair texture

When you select your model’s hair mesh on the canvas in Texture mode, the Editor panel provides parameters to customize various attributes of the hair. These hair texture parameters are categorized under Basic parameters, Color, Streaks, and Extras.

You adjust attributes of your model’s hair, such as base color, streaks and its color, roughness, and sharpness.

The parameters under the Extras category in the Editor panel are functional if your model’s hair has extra accessories like hair bands and bows. You can also adjust the hue, saturation, lightness, and visibility of these extra objects.

Clothing texture

When you select any clothing asset in Texture mode, the Editor panel updates to display several lists of parameters that can be used to customize clothing. There are both global parameters, which can affect both the entire model and specific regions, and region parameters, which can only affect their region.

Every clothing asset is assigned up to eight regions, each with its own unique substance and settings while the entire clothing asset also has a global substance.

For example (see figure below), the selected shoes have a different substance and unique parameters available for the regions - sole, laces, main fabric, and lace ends.

When you select any clothing region in the Editor panel, the substance tray at the bottom of the canvas becomes active. The substance tray displays a library of material substances that you can choose for the selected clothing region. When you choose a substance, the region area in the Editor panel automatically expands to display the texture parameters for customizing that specific substance. Each substance has a unique set of texture parameters; you can use the same substance in different regions with different texture settings.

Copy and Paste texture settings

You can quickly make matching areas across multiple clothing regions or assets using the Copy and Paste feature available in the Editor panel. For example, copying the texture settings from the pants to the top to have a matching set.

Copy Copies the current substance and its settings from your active region.

Paste Pastes the copied substance and its settings into your active region.

Rename a clothing region

In the Editor panel, use the Rename option to set a new name for the selected clothing region.

Note: Renaming is only for the Presets and does not save on the default item. 

Customize user interface

Change the position of the Main toolbar and the Edit toolbar

You can customize the positions of the Main toolbar and the Edit toolbar by clicking their drag handles and moving them. You can dock these toolbars:

• Horizontally at the top of the workspace
• Vertically on the left side of the workspace 

Adjust the relative widths of Canvas and the Editor panel

You can adjust the relative widths of the Editor panel and Canvas by clicking the left edge of the Editor panel and dragging it. For example, you can collapse the Editor panel to show a single column of body parts to save room and have a larger Canvas area.

Workspace preferences

You set workspace preferences in the App Options and Launch Options panels of the Preferences dialog box.

1. From the main menu, choose Edit > Preferences.
2. In the App Options panel, specify the following options:
   
   Modest Mode Enables or disables the ‘modest’ mode or ‘safe for work’ mode. If this mode is enabled, a modesty mask covers the private parts of the model’s body.
   
   Hide Occluded Polygons Removes body mesh polygons that protrude through clothing due to the differences in the geometry between the clothing and the body.

Allow 2048x2048 Clothing Textures Allows the selection of 2048x2048 texture resolution for the clothing substance in Texture mode.

Maximum Adjustment Shape Value Specifies a value for strength of customization (ranging from 1 to 999). This value controls the range of values that can be assigned to customization parameters when customizing a character’s body in Customize mode.

    3. In the Launch Options panel, specify the following option:

Show Getting Started Popup Displays the Welcome screen on startup.