Three dimensional modeling and animation system

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as its appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. A three dimensional (3D) modeling system for generating a 3D representation of a modeled object on a display device of a computer system. The modeled object is represented by an initial definition of an object and a set of modifiers. Each modifier modifies some portion of the definition of an object that may result in a change in appearance of the object when rendered. The modifiers are ordered so that the first modifier modifies some portion of the initial definition of the object and produces a modified definition. The next modifier modifies the results of the previous modifier. The results of the last modifier are then used in rendering processes to generate the 3D representation. Each modifier is associated with a three dimensional representation so that the user can more easily visualize the effect of the modifier.