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Selection methods

Document structure

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Introduction

The Navigation Cube gives visual information about the camera orientation in the current 3D View and can be used to change it. By default it is visible and resides in the upper right corner of the view.

The Navigation Cube consists of a number of parts:

• The main cube
• Six directional arrows
• The reverse view button (top right)
• The mini-cube menu (bottom right)
• X-, Y- and Z-axis indicators

All parts, except the axis indicators, can be clicked.

Usage

Main cube

The main cube has 26 faces: 6 main faces, 12 rectangular edge faces, and 8 corner faces. Clicking any of them reorients the camera so that its direction is perpendicular to the selected face.

Directional arrows

There are six directional arrows: four triangular arrowheads and two curved arrows. Clicking one of the triangular arrows rotates the 3D View around a line perpendicular to the direction of the arrow. Clicking a curved arrow rotates the 3D View around the view direction.

Reverse view button

Clicking the round button in the top right corner of the Navigation Cube rotates the 3D View 180 degrees around the vertical axis of the view.

Mini-cube menu

Clicking the small cube in the bottom right corner of the Navigation Cube brings up a menu with the following options:

• Orthographic View: switches to an orthographic view.
• Perspective View: switches to a perspective view.
• Isometric: switches to an isometric view.
• Fit All: zooms and pans the camera so that all visible objects fit inside the view.
• Fit Selection: zooms and pans the camera so that all selected objects fit inside the view. introduced in 1.0
• Align to Selection: points the camera in the view in the opposite direction of the normal of a planar face, or the opposite direction of a straight edge. introduced in 1.0
• Movable Navigation Cube: if this checkbox (introduced in 0.21) is checked the entire Navigation Cube can be moved by holding down the left mouse button anywhere on the main cube and dragging. This is intended to temporarily move the cube out of the way. The advanced parameters OffsetX and OffsetY can be used to permanently reposition the cube, see below.

Customization

Preferences

The Navigation Cube is controlled by several preferences: Edit → Preferences → Display → Navigation → Navigation Cube. See Preferences Editor.

Advanced parameters

Some advanced Navigation Cube parameters cannot be changed in the Preferences Editor. These parameters can be set manually in the Parameter Editor.

To manually set colors:

1. Start the Parameter Editor.
2. In the panel on the left browse to BaseApp → Preferences → NaviCube.
3. Right-click the panel on the right and select New unsigned item from the context menu.
4. Enter the name of one of these colors:
   • BaseColor: the base color of all elements, the default is 3806916544 (hex: e2e8efc0). This color can be also set in the Preferences Editor. introduced in 0.21
   • EmphaseColor: the color of the texts and lines, the default depends on the BaseColor. It is either black: 255 (hex: 000000ff), or white: 4294967295 (hex: ffffffff). introduced in 0.21
   • HiliteColor: the color used to highlight the faces and buttons, the default is 2867003391 (hex: aae2ffff).
5. The color value must be entered as a 32-bit unsigned integer. Translated to the hexadecimal format this integer has the form RRGGBBAA. Where AA stands for the alpha channel (a measure for the transparency), and the other three digit pairs stand for red, green and blue. To convert a hexadecimal value to an unsigned integer you can use the Python Console, enter for example int("323232ff", 16).
6. Optionally set more parameters.
7. Press the Close button.

The table below lists the other advanced Navigation Cube parameters that can be set in a similar manner. Use the information from the Type column to create a correct new item in step 3.

Selection methods

Document structure

Index