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  1. Principles.
    1. Managing the view(s).
    2. Selecting objects.
    3. Moving the view point.

Principles

The main window as it is shown on the picture consists of 7 major parts: the menu bar, the tool boxes, the tools, the drawing information area, the drawing area, the object list and the help and progress bars. Some parts can be modified by the user , for example it is possible to divide the drawing area into few editor windows (up to 4).
the Menu Bar containes:

The tool boxes are located on the top-left side. This menu containes the buttons that allow the user to switch from one tool box to another one..... Each tool box is dedicated to a primitive componenent. An object is composed of vertices, edges, faces. A scene is made of objects, lights and a camera. So, there is a tool box for working on vertices and edges, one for working on faces, one for creating and positioning objects, one for modify objects, one for managing lights, and one for placing the camera. A last special tool box is dedicated to object animation.
The user can acces to tool tips by pressing the right mouse button on one button of the tool bars.
The help bar is located on the bottom, it containes the progress status that is used for a long operations. The bottom left area is dedicated to the possible tools and states of the selected tool box. This area changes according to the current tool box.
The big black area on the right is the drawing part.
 
On the bottom of the drawing area, the world coordinates is drawn. ppModeler uses a left hand coordinate system. That means, when the x axis (associated to the thumb) points to the right, the y axis to the top, the z axis points into the screen. 
The white star is a light, the white arrow is the camera. The box is the camera origin. The arrow shows to the camera direction. The camera is set so that the y axis is vertical from the camera point of view. 

Managing the view(s)

configuration of the last view and
information area.
configuration of the view, with the 'o' shortkey.
Draw mode :
  • wire, all :  all the edges of objects are visible. If the tool (work on the vertices) is selected, all vertices are surrounded by a small boxes  (usefull to find vertices). If the drawing mode is set to iso view, the bounding sphere is drawn.
    A sphere in wire, all mode.
  • wire, visible : all the edges that belongs to visible faces are drawn, and the faces are not filled.
    A sphere in wire, visible mode.
  • wire, hidden : only visible edges of objects are drawn. The selected objects are in white, the unselected in blue. The zoom factor is ignored if the drawing mode is not iso view.
    A sphere in wire, hidden mode.
  • flat shadded : flat shadded faces are drawn.
    A sphere in flat shadded mode.
  • textured : draw the objects with all the material properties.
    A sphere in textured mode.
  • Iso view : if set, the drawing mode is iso view, otherwise, it is perspective. The difference between the two modes is explain in the following picture :

    In perspective view, the size on screen of the object is related to the distance between the view point and the object. Far object are small, near object are big. This is more or less a model of a normal camera. But, it is usefull to view the object with a size not related to its distance from the view point. That the purpose of the iso view. Most of the time, when modeling object, the iso view is selected.

    Light at user : if set, when the drawing mode is flat or textured, the scene is lighted by one virtual light placed at the viewer position. Otherwise, the scene is lighted by the scene defined lights. 

    Zoom : Set the zoom mode. This parameter is not active in flat and texture draw mode. It is not active either in wire hiden mode, with perspective view turn on.

     Blue texte : Information depending on the current action.

     

    Selecting objects

    Objects can be selected by placing the tool in the selecting mode or using the object list. A selected object is displayed in yellow, an unselected one in blue. A left click on a name unselect all the object and select the pointed name object. A left click while the "Shift" key is pressed toggle the selection of the corresponding object. A right click changes the object visibility. A green circle on the right of the object name is for visible objects, a red one for unvisible objects. The "A" key selects all the objects. The "N" key unselects all the objects. This key are active if the mouse pointer is on the object list.

    In animation mode, the object list displays the skeleton, showing the name of each bone.

    Each object have a selection handle in its center (light blue square). The selected objects have a selection handle (purple square), placed in the barycenter of the selected objects, and an action handle. The selection handle is used to move the objects and the action handle is used to rotate and scale the selected objects.

    Moving the view point

    Moving the view point is done with the keyboard. The view which has the keyboard focus is drawn with red axes, the other with blue axes.
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