# Viewport overlays

Viewport overlays render two-dimensional graphics or text on top of the three-dimensional scene. OVITO provides different overlay types (see table below), which you can add to a viewport. Viewport overlays are managed on the Overlays tab of OVITO's command panel as indicated in the screenshot on the right.

Note that overlays added to a viewport will only be visible within OVITO if the Preview Mode is enabled for that viewport. OVITO activates this mode automatically whenever you add a new overlay to a viewport.

The following types of overlays are available:

Overlay type | Description
--- | ---
Coordinate tripod | Renders an axes tripod to indicate the view orientation.
Color legend | Shows a color legend for a Color coding modifier.
Python script | Calls your own Python script function to draw arbitrary graphics on top of the rendered image.
Text label | Renders a user-defined text, which can contain dynamically computed values.