Graphics Viewing Controls

The view in the Main Graphics Window can be adjusted using:

• Mouse/keyboard navigation controls
• Viewer orientation controls
• Scene rotation controls.

If the mouse/keyboard controls are used, users may choose to hide the viewer control widgets to provide for more space in the Main Window. To show/hide the Viewer Control widgets, see Setting Preferences.

Note that the viewing position can also be set by selecting the exact placement of the viewing location (select Set | Viewing Position).

Mouse/Keyboard Navigation Controls:

3-D navigation in the Main Window can be performed using mouse-controlled Zooming, Rotating, and Translating. Controls used to set the mode for response to mouse behavior are located on the right side of the Main Window.

When using the Normal Mouse Pointer:

• Double-clicking on an element in the Main Window selects the target component for editing.
• Single-clicking on an element in the Main Window results in showing key points of the target component, and highlighting that target component in the Target Components List.
• Rotation of the view can be performed by holding down the mouse wheel (or mouse middle button) and moving the mouse (this has the same effect as using Rotation mode; see green arrow below).

Note that to Zoom, Rotate, and Translate, the left mouse button must be pressed while moving the mouse.

The viewer controls are:

• Normal mouse pointer
  • Double-click on a surface to edit that target component
• Zoom:
  • Move mouse up to zoom in
  • Move mouse down to zoom out
    • Hold Shift key to zoom 10x faster; hold Ctrl key (Command key on Mac) to zoom 10x slower.
• Rotation (rotations can also be controlled using sliders in the lower left corner of the main window)
  • Right-click: resets rotation parameters to zero.
• Translation
  • Right-click: resets translation parameters to zero.
• Adjust viewer (eye) angles (see below)
• Rotate about an axis or surface element normal (see below)
  • Right-click: clears list of rotations built up using this toolbutton
• Orbit about a picked surface element or target component (see below)
  • Right-click: clears list of rotations built up using this toolbutton
• Render surface elements as wire frame
• Render surface elements using front fill.
• Render surface elements filling front and back sides
• Select surface element for writing out frequency- and time-dependent incident radiation to a file
• Display results for picked surface properties.
•  Display picked surface element node positions.
• Display target component key point positions.
• Measure distance between two points (available when viewing in Orthographic Projection only)
  • To measure a distance, select the button and position the mouse at a starting point and click. A line appears and follows the cursor until the mouse is clicked again. The distance is shown in a box located in the upper right portion of the Main Window.
• Measure angle using three points (available when viewing in Orthographic Projection only)
  • To measure an angle, select the button and click the mouse at two points to provide a reference line. The reference line is then shown, as is a second line extending to the cursor. The angle is shown in a box located in the upper right portion of the Main Window.
• Add text.
• Add arrow.

 

Viewer Orientation Controls

To change angles related to the Viewer orientation, click on the ( ) button on the right side of the Main Window. This displays the widget shown below.

• On the left side of the widget, the viewer's eyes can be rotated up, down, left, and right. The amount of rotation is given by the position of the blue dot, which is controlled by dragging with the mouse.
• On the right side of the widget, the rotation of the view along the optical axis (which is defined by the vector from the Viewer to the Scene) can be adjusted. When clicking on the () icon, the rotation angle can be precisely specified in the edit box that is displayed.
• The small buttons located in the upper left and upper right corners of the widget are used to reset the rotation angles to zero.

The Viewer and Scene positions can be specified in the Set Viewing Position Dialog. Rotating the eyes up, down, left, and right can by useful when viewing elements that are close to the Viewer (e.g., when viewing the inside of a target component).

Rotation About Axes and Surface Element Normals

To rotate about a Target Component (or Target Chamber) axis, a Diagnostic Port line of sight, or a surface element normal, click on the ( ) button on the right side of the Main Window.

To rotate about the normal vector of a surface element, select Surface Element. Then pick a surface element in the Main Graphics Frame, and then rotate about the surface element using the dial.

To rotate about an axis of either the Target Chamber or one of the Target Components, select Target Component, and choose the axis to rotate about (x, y, or z). Then rotate about the axis using the dial.

To rotate about a line of sight (LOS) that extends from a Diagnostic Port to target chamber center (TCC), select Diagnostic Port. Then select which Diagnostic Port by clicking on the () button. Then rotate the dial. The selected LOS will be displayed as a red line.

Using this approach, each rotation that is performed is tracked in a list such that the rotations are performed sequentially. Because of this, this approach to rotating about axes is more intuitive than using the Scene Rotation Controls (see below) in the lower left panel of the Main Window. It is therefore recommended that users utilize this newer approach and hide the rotation widgets on the lower left panel (using the Show Viewing (Motion) Controls check box in the User Interface tab of Preferences).

The list of rotations built up using this approach can be cleared by right-clicking on the tool button ().

Orbit Rotation Controls

To rotate about a fixed point (a Surface Element orTarget Component picked with the mouse), click on the Orbit tool button () on the right side of the main window.

• After clicking the tool button, the cursor changes () and the user picks either a surface element or an object in the grid. To select an Target Component (as opposed to a Surface Element), press the Shift button while picking.
• The orbiting cursor () then appears, and the view is rotated about the centroid of the picked surface or object using the mouse. Axes showing the locatation of the orbiting position are shown while in Orbiting mode.
• The parameters associated with changing the view are stored so that Memorized Views are supported.

The list of rotations built up using this approach can be cleared by right-clicking on the tool button ().

Scene Rotation Controls

The scene can also be rotated about the x, y, or z axes -- of the target chamber coordinate system or coordinate system of any target component -- by moving the rotation sliders. Alternatively, exact rotation angles can be entered into the boxes directly to the left of the slider. Angles are in units of degrees.

To reset the rotation angles for all axes to zero, press the button located just above the rotation sliders.

The zoom slider is used to zoom in or out. The button on the right of the zoom slider resets the zoom factor.

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