Windows

About this chapter
In the Windows menu you manage the view and project window. This chapter will explain the function of the menu items.

Project
shows or brings the project window to the front. The title of the project window shows the name of the current project. The rows in the window show data about the objects. To select an object, click in the name column. Use command-click to extend the selection.

New View
will create a new view. You can have many views open at the same time showing the objects from different positions. Each view allocate much memory. If you plan to use many views you should increase the memory the program can use from the finder (see chapter getting started). The memory that each view use is strongly dependent on the maximum size the window can have and the number of colors shown. A good way to use many views is to have them small in black and white. By organising them this way you can have many views open, they do not consume much memory and the screen update is fast. See the display option section below for more information.

Display Opt
shows a dialog where display options for the view can be changed. You can set the rendering method for the view and the size of the off screen buffer. Each view has a separate setting. You change the setting of the front most view. 

 

The Render Method choices let you select between four different ways to display the objects.

• Line  draws the outline of the patches.
• Line - no back plane  does not draw the outline of patches facing backward. This is a crude hidden line removal method, but it works rather good on B/W screens. 
• Quick flat  adds color and sort the patches depending on their distance from the viewer. This method is good for most cases, but the display will be incorrect for cases where the objects interfere with each other. 
• Exact flat  will show the objects correctly, but to a price of longer screen updates. The program uses a combination of the z-buffer and scan-line methods. Enlarged PICT and scrapbook images in draw format will show as a lot of lines. This is caused by the fact that the image is made this way. If you wish to enlarge images made with exact flat, consider to use paint images.

The Off screen choices let you set the size and depth of the off screen buffer. The off screen buffer is the part of the memory that stores the information you see on the screen. Each window has its own buffer. The purpose of having off screens is to improve the performance of the program. The disadvantage is that a lot of memory is used. The memory used depend on the size of the off screen and how many colors it can store. To conserve memory you should minimise these factors. The size is given in pixels. You will see the new size when you change the values.

Light Source
shows a dialog with options for the light sources. You can have up to nine light sources active at the same time. The light sources are activated by clicking in the check boxes. Then select the same light source in the pop-up menu. The radio buttons will show the current settings for diffuse and specular light. If you have many light sources active the objects may become too light. It might then become necessary to decrease the intensity of some light sources or change the material properties of the objects. There is only one ambient light source. 

Fit to
will fit all the objects to the view.

Center in
will center all the objects in the window. The objects are not scaled.

Zoom Out •2
will zoom out twice. This is the only way to zoom out. Zooming in can be done by selecting the zoom icon in the window and drag with the mouse.

Fixed View Direction
lets you align the orientation of the view to predefined directions. Note that the objects are not moved, only the direction from which they are viewed.

Set View Direction
lets you change the view direction exactly.