The Properties View displays the properties that reside within a property group that is selected in the Property Groups View. These properties can be filtered by entering term(s) into the Filter Field. Generally speaking, manipulating a property typically causes something about an object in the scene to change and/or controls how the object is ultimately displayed or rendered.

The Properties View in the Draw Settings pane is very similar to the properties_view in the Parameters (WIP) pane in the way that the properties are displayed and decorated. One of the more significant differences between the two, however, is the type of settings that the properties control. In the Draw Settings pane the properties presented deal specifically with the settings that pertain to how items in the scene are drawn.

This area of the view provides options for filtering properties based on a specific term, or set of terms; clearing any terms that may have been entered; and accessing and managing saved filters.

The Filter Menu Button provides consistent and convenient access to a menu populated with actions that pertain specifically to the text entered into the Filter Field. Clicking the button causes the Filter Menu to display.

The Filter Menu provides access to installed and/or user-created filters, along with the actions that provide access to saving and/or managing custom filters.

Clicking a Filter in the Filter Menu replaces the contents of the Filter Field with the text of that filter.

Clicking the Save Filter… action, near the bottom of the Filter Menu, causes a “Save Filter” dialog to be displayed.

The Save Filter dialog provides options for defining the Menu Path, as well as the Filter Name. The selector at the end of the Menu Path field is populated by any existing menu paths. Selecting a path from the list will replace the contents of the Menu Path field with the chosen value. The Filter Name field provides the ability to name the filter—the value of which must not contain characters that are not permitted, by the operating system, within file names. Once a valid Filter Name has been entered, the Accept button becomes enabled. Clicking the Accept button causes the dialog to disappear and the word or phrase entered into the Filter Field to be saved as an option in the Filter Menu for future use.

The Manage Filters… action is used to launch an OS file browser window and opens to the folder that user-created filters are stored in. Which folder is opened depends on the type of items represented by the associated view.

The structure of the folders and files that reside within this folder directly correspond to the menus and filters displayed in the Filter Menu. Each page and/or pane uses a different set of filters, depending on the type of item represented by the associated view. These filter sets are stored in folders that exist parallel to the opened folder. As changes are made to the structure and/or contents of these folders, the same changes are automatically reflected in the Filter Menu the next time it is shown.

Entering a term(s) into the Filter Field reduces the list of items to display. For instance, inserting the word “opacity” into the field causes a search for properties with the term “opacity” associated with them and then displays only those items in the Properties View.

The Clear Filter button clears any terms entered into the Filter Field. Note that this option only appears when text has been entered into the Filter Field.