Wings 3D/User Manual/User Interface/The Icon Bar
2.4 The Toolbar
There are three sets of Icons above the workspace as illustrated here.
The two on the left determine what Display Mode your model is in. They are, from left to right, Wire-shaded on/off, and Perspective on/off. These are used to toggle on and off these features as you work. Perspective off, also called Orthogonal view, is useful for lining an object up to a reference image plane.
The next four icons display what Edit/Selection Mode you are in. They are Vertex, Edge, Face and Body. The red highlighting gives you a quick visual key as to just what elements are affected in each mode and the white outline box indicate which mode you are currently in. In the above illustration we are in Face selection mode. Your Edit Mode will be important when it comes to using any of the modeling tools, since most tools are presented in context sensitive menus within the Workspace. The context of those menus is determined by the current Edit Mode.
The last two are Ground Plane and Reference Axes. These icons are used to quickly toggle on or off these features as needed.