3D Navigation within 3D windows

The imagery displayed in three dimensional rendering views can be controlled in various ways:

• With the mouse
• By keyboard shortcuts
• With 3D control panel (within Results3D window)

In addition immersive stereo display rendering in various technologies can be requested.

3D Navigation with the mouse

Graphics shown within 3D windows (Elements 3D, Results 3D) can be manoeuvred in virtual 3D space (rotation, translation or scaling) with the mouse easily. The level of display detail will be reduced during the motion if required.

Remark: When the mouse pointer is located above some special objects within the view these objects can be specifically controlled directly in different manner then described here (e.g. position of the movable colour bar, moveable probe point X,Y,Z, moveable orientation marker).

Place the mouse pointer over graphics view of the window:
Left mouse key, drag: Press and hold the left mouse button, move the mouse pointer.	A dragging action (holding down the left mouse button, then moving the mouse) rotates the view in 3D space. The view behaves as if it were attached to a virtual trackball whose centre is at the centre of the view window. The mouse cursor is attached to the part of the trackball that protrudes above the surface of the window. Similarly the view follows a virtual joystick held with the mouse while joystick behaviour is activated instead. You can switch between trackball- and joystick behaviour with keyboard controls.
Ctrl + mouse wheel turn Hold the Ctrl key and turn the mouse wheel or: Ctrl + left mouse button, drag: Hold the Ctrl key and press and hold the left mouse button, move the mouse pointer.	The 3D view is rotated around the axis in the geometrical centre of the view and perpendicular to the screen surface (rotation around the block axis, also called "Rolling"). You will need this function to flip the view "upside down" for example.
Shift + left mouse button, drag: Hold the Shift key and press and hold the left mouse button, move the mouse pointer.	The view is translated in the plane of the window following the mouse pointer (translation, scrolling, panning in the view plane).
Mouse wheel turn or: Shift + Ctrl + left mouse button, drag: Hold the Shift and the Ctrl keys and press and hold the left mouse button, move the mouse pointer. or: Right mouse button, drag: Press and hold the right mouse button, move the mouse pointer.	The view is scaled (zoom-in and zoom-out). Scaling operation is executed relative to the geometrical centre of the 3d view in virtual space
Press the Fit button	The position and scaling of the view will be adjusted in such a way, that the whole building component fits into the view.
Press the Reset button	Resets the camera (viewer) position to its default state: X/Y plane parallel to the view (window) plane. Z axis points towards the viewer (perpendicular to window plane). Y axis is oriented vertical and upwards. X axis points to the right. Scaling of the view is adjusted accordingly to fit the whole component into the view.

See also: Elements 3D, Results 3D, Evaluations and Results, 3-D Navigation (control panel), TrackBall Rotation

3D Navigation with the keyboard

Graphics shown within 3D windows (Elements 3D, Results 3D) can be manoeuvred in virtual 3D space (rotation, translation or scaling) with the keyboard. Further settings of the displayed graphics can also be controlled and adjusted with the keyboard.

Immersive stereo display rendering techniques

By default 3D renderings are provided for monocular view onto 3D objects projected onto the display (monitor) plane either with or without perspective transformations.

Binocular viewing is accomplished by providing different images to the left and right eye thus allowing for immersive depth perception. Some of the techniques require only very simple additional equipment. Others have more sophisticated technical prerequisites which must be fulfilled to use them.

STEREO3D-option: Stereoscopic, binocular display of three dimensional evaluations is is only possible with an active STERO3DVIEW-Option of the program.

Remark: Activating any binocular stereo modes will have no effect if there are no stereo modes available.

Remark: Only passive stereo view types can be copied into the clipboard or image file. Disabling of stereo mode is only required for hardware dependant stereo types.

Remark (technical): The anaglyph color saturation factor ranges from 0.0 to 1.0: 0.0 means that no color from the original object is maintained, 1.0 means all of the color is maintained. The default value is 0.65 and can be changed within application settings. Too much saturation can produce uncomfortable 3D viewing because anaglyphs also use color to encode 3D.

Remark (technical): The anaglyph color mask values are two numbers which are bits mask that control which color channels of the original stereo images are used to produce the final anaglyph image. The first value is the color mask for the left view, the second the mask for the right view. If a bit in the mask is on for a particular color for a view, that color is passed on to the final view; if it is not set, that channel for that view is ignored. The bits are arranged as r, g, and b, so r = 4, g = 2, and b = 1. By default, the first value (the left view) is set to 4, and the  second value is set to 3. That means that the red output channel comes from the left view, and the green and blue values come from the right view. This can be changed within application settings.

See also: Elements 3D, Results 3D, Evaluations and Results, 3-D Navigation (control panel), TrackBall Rotation