Stacking Overrides — Per-Child Property Overrides
Fine-tune every child shape in a composition — switch mode, adjust offset, soften edges, and reorder — without detaching anything.
Stacking Overrides — Tuning a Child Within a CompositionStacking Overrides are per-child settings found in the Stacking Overrides section of the Inspector when a child shape is selected. Three override categories are available:
| Override | What it controls | |----------|------------------| | Material Override | Assigns a different material to this child's faces, independent of the parent and any sibling overrides | | Height Offset | Raises or lowers the child's vertical position within the parent composition | | Page Visibility | Controls which drawing pages this child shape appears on, independent of the parent's visibility settings |
Each override is toggled on and off independently. When an override is off, the child inherits the default behavior from the parent composition. When an override is on, the child's individual setting takes precedence.
Opening Stacking Overrides in the Inspector
Select a child shape in the 3D view (a shape that is part of a stack — its parent is shown with a dashed blue outline when selected).
In the Inspector sidebar, scroll down to the Stacking Overrides section. The section shows three rows, each with an enable/disable toggle on the left and the override settings on the right.
Overrides that are off show their toggle in the off state and their controls grayed out. Overrides that are on show the toggle active and their controls enabled for editing.
If you do not see the Stacking Overrides section, ensure the selected shape is a child in a composition (i.e., it was stacked onto a parent using the Build or Dig operation). Top-level shapes that have no parent do not show this section.
Material Override — applying a different material to a child face
Enable the Material Override toggle. Material slot controls appear, one for each face of the child shape:
- Top Face — the material on the child's upper surface
- Side Face — the material on the child's vertical sides
- Bottom Face — the underside (visible only in Cut compositions)
Click any face slot to open the material browser and select a material. The child immediately renders with the overridden material on that face, independent of the parent's material.
When to use Material Override:
- A step tread uses a different paving material to the step riser
- An inset decorative strip (in Attach mode) uses a contrasting stone or tile
- A sunken seating pit (Cut mode) exposes a different floor material inside the void
Disabling the Material Override toggle removes all per-face overrides and reverts the child to inheriting from the parent composition's material settings.
Use Material Override on the top face only, leaving side faces to inherit from the parent. This is the most common setup for step treads — the nosing tread material differs from the vertical riser face, but both use the parent's structural material for unexposed sides.
Height Offset — fine-tuning vertical position
Enable the Height Offset toggle. A numeric slider and input field appear.
The height offset adjusts the child's vertical position relative to where the composition would normally place it:
- Positive offset — raises the child above its default stacking position (the parent's top face)
- Negative offset — lowers the child into the parent volume
The default placement without an offset is flush with the parent's top face (Add mode) or flush with the cut depth (Cut mode). The offset is applied on top of this default.
Common uses for Height Offset:
- Slightly raising a coping stone above the wall top to create a visual drip edge
- Partially recessing a decorative panel into a wall face using a negative offset
- Creating a flush-mount detail where the child's top face needs to align exactly with an adjacent surface level
A small positive height offset (e.g., 10–20 mm) on a coping or cap detail creates a subtle raised edge that reads clearly in 3D views and rendered presentations, without the need to modify the parent shape.
Page Visibility — showing and hiding per drawing page
Enable the Page Visibility toggle. A list of the project's drawing pages appears, each with a visibility checkbox.
Uncheck a page to hide the child shape on that page only. The child remains visible on all other pages.
When to use Page Visibility:
- A construction detail (e.g., a steel post detail element) should appear on the construction page but not on the client presentation page
- A proposed extension element is shown on a future-phase page but hidden on the existing-works page
- A section cut marker appears on the plan pages but not on the 3D perspective render page
Page Visibility for a child shape is independent of the parent's page visibility — the parent can be visible on all pages while the child is hidden on selected pages.
Page visibility overrides are particularly useful in multi-phase garden projects where different pages represent different construction phases. Individual child elements (such as phase-2 planting beds) can be hidden on phase-1 pages without duplicating shapes.
Order — resolving multiple children on the same parent
When several children share the same parent, Order controls the sequence in which they are resolved against the parent. Earlier-order children are applied first; later-order children stack on top of (or cut through) the cumulative result.
Use the order arrows in the Composition section to move the selected child up or down in the resolve sequence. Order matters most when:
- A Cut child should remove material after another child has been added
- An Add child should sit on top of an already-modified parent surface
- Two children overlap and only one should be visible in the overlap area
Order only matters between siblings sharing the same parent. Children of different parents do not interact.
Enabled — temporarily switching a child off
The Enabled toggle switches the child's contribution to the composition off without detaching it. The child remains in the stack and keeps all its settings; it simply does not render until you switch it back on.
This is useful for:
- Comparing design options — disable a child to see how the parent looks without it
- Hiding sketch-stage elements while presenting a refined view
- Debugging compositions where multiple children combine to a confusing result
When the toggle is off, the child still appears (greyed out) in the Hierarchy panel, so it remains easy to find and re-enable later.
A blend radius larger than the child's smallest dimension will cause the child to fade out entirely. Keep the blend radius smaller than half the narrowest part of the child's footprint.
Order — resolving multiple children on the same parent
When several children share the same parent, Order controls the sequence in which each child is applied to the cumulative result. Use the up and down arrows next to the child entry in the Composition section to change its position in the sequence. Earlier-order children are applied first; later children stack on top of (or cut through) what the earlier children produced. Order matters most when a Cut child needs to remove material that an Add child introduced, or when two overlapping Add children should have a specific front-to-back visual relationship.
Order only affects siblings that share the same parent. Children of different parents do not interact through the order field.
Enabled toggle — compare designs without detaching
The eye icon next to each child entry toggles that child's contribution on and off without removing it from the stack. When disabled, the child keeps all its settings and remains visible in the Hierarchy panel in a greyed-out state, ready to be re-enabled. Use this to quickly compare design options side-by-side, hide work-in-progress elements during a client presentation, or isolate a single child when debugging a complex multi-child composition. To permanently remove the child from the stack, click Detach in the Composition section.
All Composition overrides — operation, surface mode, height rule, surface offset, blend radius, order, and enabled state — are stored per child and are fully non-destructive. You can change them at any time. To permanently break the parent relationship and return the child to an independent shape, click Detach in the Composition section.
Clicking Detach removes the child from the stack permanently. The child shape is kept in the scene as a standalone object, but its Composition settings are discarded. This action can be undone with Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on Mac) as long as you have not closed the project.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Add and Attach?
Add merges the child volume into the parent, building up a unified 3D solid where the two overlap. The result reads as a single contiguous object. Attach places the child on the parent surface without merging — the child sits on top as a separate visual element, which is useful for furniture, planters, or decorative objects that should remain distinct from the surface they rest on.
When should I use Wrap vs. Follow Height as the surface mode?
Use Wrap when the child should follow the exact contour of the parent surface, such as a paving inlay on a curved terrace or a mulch bed on a sloped lawn. Use Follow Height when the child must stay level regardless of what the parent does beneath it, such as a raised planter box, a step tread, or any rigid horizontal element.
Do Composition settings copy when I duplicate a child shape?
Yes. Duplicating a child shape copies all its Composition settings — operation, surface mode, height rule, surface offset, blend radius, order, and enabled state — to the new copy. Both copies are then independent; changing one does not affect the other.
Can I apply a surface offset that pushes the child completely below the parent's base?
The offset field accepts any value, but pushing the child below the parent's base may produce unexpected geometry — the child can disappear or render through the ground plane. Keep offsets within the height range of the parent for predictable results.
My blend radius is set but the edge still looks hard — why?
Blend radius only produces a visible soft transition when the child's footprint has enough area to accommodate the fade. If the blend radius is larger than half the narrowest dimension of the child's footprint, the child may fade out almost entirely. Try reducing the blend radius to a value smaller than half the child's narrowest dimension, or increase the child's footprint.