---
title: Status Bar & Messages
order: 10
---

The status bar during a drag, the value labels by the cursor, the status line in the corner of the view, and the messages Chisel reports.

## Status bar

During a Chisel drag, the status bar at the bottom of the window lists the keys the drag answers to, left to right:

![the status bar while drawing a base in Block mode](../assets/status-bar-block.webp)

| Entry | Key | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| **Confirm** (or the phase's own word) | Left mouse | Keep the value. Block mode says **Extrude** while drawing the base and **Apply** in the rounding phase |
| **Cancel** | Right mouse (and `Esc`) | Put the value back (a profile picked during a rounding or blend drag stays) |
| **Precision** | `Shift` | Ten times finer while held |
| **Snap** | `Ctrl` | Snap to round steps while held (not on whole-number drags) |
| Extras | | The drag's own keys, below |

The extras by drag:

| Drag | Extras |
|---|---|
| Rounding, blend, bevel, a corner's rounding (`B`, `Ctrl + B`, pie and menu values, arcs) | **1 Round**, **2 Sharp**, **3 Soft**, **4 Tight**, **5 Chamfer**, **S Smooth (chamfer)** (on Chamfer; **S Radius** to go back) |
| [Block mode](block-mode.md), base and height | **B Bevel / Rounding**, **Ctrl+B Blend**, **X / Y Symmetry**, **Z Symmetry**, **Q Reveal** |
| Block mode, rounding phase | The five profiles, **S Smooth (chamfer)**, **B Bevel / Rounding**, **Ctrl+B Blend** |
| [Bisect](active-tool.md#bisect-mode), Line | **F Flip** |
| Bisect, Polyline | **Space Accept**, **Bksp Undo Point**, **F Flip** (the left mouse reads **Add Point**) |
| A Rail's **Sides** | **One Side** (wheel), **More** (`Up`), **Fewer** (`Down`); no Snap |

![the status bar during a rounding drag](../assets/status-bar-rounding.webp)

Some drags write their keys as one line of text instead:

| Drag | Status bar |
|---|---|
| [Edit](edit-mode.md): a box over points | *Box Select Points: Select*, *Add To Selection* (`Shift`) or *Take From Selection* (`Ctrl`), *Release: Confirm*, *RMB/Esc: Cancel* |
| Edit: `G` | *Move Points*, *X / Y / Z: Lock Global Axis* (while locked: *Global X Locked*, *X: Unlock*), *Shift: Precision*, *LMB/Enter: Confirm*, *RMB/Esc: Cancel* |
| Edit: `S` | *Scale Points Radius*, *Shift: Precision*, *LMB/Enter: Confirm*, *RMB/Esc: Cancel* |
| A Bisect plane | *Bisect Plane Move*, *RMB/Esc: Cancel* |
| A Lattice point | *Lattice Point*, *RMB/Esc: Cancel* |

## Values next to the cursor

Every Chisel drag shows the value it changes in two small dark labels by the cursor, its name and its number, with a guide line from the shape to the cursor (colours: [Preferences ▸ Theme](../preferences.md#modal--arc-colours)).

![a rounding drag on a Box: the guide line and the labels Rounding and 0.286](../assets/drag-value-labels.webp)

The 3D View's header (when it shows) carries the same value as one line:

- the value's name, its profile in brackets where it has one, and the number: *Rounding [Round]: 0.286*, *Blend [Soft]: 0.080*, *Carve Offset: 0.150*;
- Block mode: *Size: 2.000 × 1.000*, *Radius: 0.500*, *Height: 1.000*, and in the view, labels with their values: *X: 2.198*, *Y: 1.700*, *R*, *Z*;
- *(Snap 0.1)*, *(Snap 0.01)* or *(Precision)* added while `Ctrl`, `Ctrl + Shift` or `Shift` is held.

## The view's status line

With the view's text overlay on, the 3D View's top left corner carries Chisel's status under the view name:

| Line | Meaning |
|---|---|
| **Chisel: compiling shaders…** | The graphics card is compiling Chisel's shaders: on the first frames after an install, an update or a driver change, and briefly when a scene needs one that is not compiled yet. Compiled shaders are saved for the next session |
| **Chisel: 2/4** | The view is still refining after you stopped moving the view or a shape; when both numbers match (*4/4*), it is at full quality |
| **Chisel: cached mesh navigation** | While you orbit, the view shows a quick mesh of the scene, see [Performance](../render-engine/performance.md#camera-navigation) |
| **Chisel: 1 object shown as placeholder (GPU memory) — see object panel** | A [Mesh shape](../primitives/mesh.md#when-a-grid-does-not-fit) could not fit in GPU memory and is drawn as a box |

The [Tape tree](tape-tree.md) sits below these lines.

## Messages

Chisel reports in the status bar when something cannot be done. The most common:

| Message | When |
|---|---|
| *Chisel Difference needs at least one selected Chisel SDF object — select a target, or switch the tool's operation to Add.* | A Create or Block drag with a cutting operation and no Chisel shape selected |
| *Chisel Bisect needs at least one selected Chisel SDF object — select the objects to cut first.* | A Bisect drag with no Chisel shape selected |
| *No object found under cursor, using default plane at (0,0,0)* | `Space` in Block mode over nothing at all |
| *Custom plane disabled* | `Space` in Block mode while Align was Custom |
| *Select target shape(s) with an active Chisel host* | A pie join with nothing to join |
| *No Chisel shapes selected to swap* | `Shift` + click in the pie with no Chisel shape selected |
| *Tube is added, not swapped: use Add > Chisel > Tube* (or another path shape, Text) | `Shift` + click on a path shape or Text in the pie or the right-click **Primitives**: these cannot replace a standard shape |
| *No matching modifiers to cycle* | `'` or `;` with the host selected instead of its cutter or target |
| *… is inside …: that would make a loop* | A [Tape tree](tape-tree.md#moving-rows) drop that would put a shape inside itself |
| *… already has a Smooth* | A Tape tree drop of a second Smooth into one stack |

## Notices

Opening a file from Chisel 4.x with Curve, Curve Tube or Curve Revolve shapes converts them to Outline, Tube and Lathe and shows a notice listing what happened: the shapes to *"Have a look at:"* and those *"Not updated, so not shown:"*. See [From Curve: Curve shapes from 4.x files](../primitives/paths/from-curve.md#curve-shapes-from-4x-files).

## Warnings elsewhere

| Where | Warning |
|---|---|
| The pie's South-East wedge | *"Shaders not compiled, first run may take longer"*; on OpenGL also *"OpenGL backend, Vulkan is much faster"* |
| *Render Properties ▸ Quality* | *"Brick memory full — N cells stay coarse"*, see [Quality](../render-engine/quality.md#brick-memory-full) |
| The SDF panel of a Mesh shape | *"SDF is stale — mesh edited"* and *"Shown as placeholder"*, see [Mesh](../primitives/mesh.md) |
| The SDF panel of an old curve shape | *"Old Curve Tube: not shown"* (or Curve, Curve Revolve), see [Properties Panels](panels.md#old-curve-shapes) |
| A Lattice modifier | *"This cage folds…"*, see [Lattice](../modifiers/lattice.md#folding) |
| Add-on preferences, Blender 5.x on OpenGL | *"Blender is on the OpenGL backend — Chisel requires Vulkan"*, see [Preferences](../preferences.md#info) |