Bounding Box

What is a Blender Bounding Box?

A Bounding Box is defined as the smallest rectangular box the object can fit in. All internal angles are 90 degrees. To display the object’s bounding box, select the object and click the Object Properties tab Object Properties Tab of the Properties Editor panel. Expand Viewport Display and click the checkbox Bounds :

Click the checkbox to make the Bounding Box visible
Bounding box
When the object is selected, the Bounding box is shown as a Yellow box.

Blender always draws bounding boxes with respect to the orthogonal axes – i.e., the top of the box is parallel to the X and Y axes; one side is parallel to Y and Z axes while the other side of the rectangular box is parallel with the X and Z axes. This is irrespective of the orientation of the object. If the X, Y and Z sides are all aligned with the axes, the the bounding box will coincide with the outermost edges. An object is seldom so regular, though, so the box will often extend out on just one side. When the object is rotated, however, it’s a whole different story:

Bounding Box Perspective View
Bounding boxes of identical objects in different orientations in Perspective View

In perspective view, the Bounding Box looks deceptive, but in an Orthogonal view, the Bounding Box is much more useful:

Bounding Box Ortho View
Bounding Boxes of the same objects in Ortho View
Bounding Box Note:

If an object is rotated, the rotation must be applied Ctrl KeyA Key before the Bounding Box is displayed accurately.

  • The Bounding Box visually confirms what sides of the object are aligned with the global axes. Like a cross-check.
  • It also gives us the ability to scale the object’s X, Y and Z components when it is not parallel to the axes, and that object must nevertheless fit into a specific volume.

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