User interface

Main interface

After installing ERTLab Studio / ViewLab3D, insert the proper dongle key in the PC and open the application; the following “splash screen” will display Figure 5.

Figure 5 On the left, USB protection dongle; on the right starting splash screen

After a few moments, the application will open showing the main interface, which is shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6 Interface at the software opening

This is divided into 3 main areas:

• At the top left there is the tree menu (Figure 7), which allows to select the object to act on and to operate and manage an entire project. At the beginning of the work the some tools already show in the tree, but when a project will be loaded further elements will appear.

Figure 7 Tree menu at the beginning of the work

• At the bottom left of the screen (Figure 7), various tools will appear when one submenu of the tree is selected. Through these tools it is possible to manage the properties of the various graphic elements shown on the right. Therefore, the contents of this part of the screen changes depending on the selected tree menu and the license level installed.

• On the right (Figure 7) is the 3D space where the elements selected in the tree menu are shown. If no project or object is loaded, it is empty. To easily understand how to interact with the scene in the next paragraph an object has been placed into it. The creation, the insert mode, their settings and other items will be discussed later.

Interaction with 3D area

The panel of the 3D scene is interactive; it is possible to move the shown objects with the mouse. It is possible to carry out different actions by clicking in different areas of the panel, as illustrated in the following figure (Figure 8).

Figure 8 3D empty scene; each area allows a specific movement of the object, as it is suggested by the arrows

The area is divided into four main parts; each of them with a specific function:

Translation

Clicking at the centre of the scene, a little circle of light grey will appear; clicking inside this inner circle and holding the left mouse button the object on the scene will rigidly shift as one unit, as shown in Figure 9. The dashed arrow suggests the direction for dragging the mouse). To easily understand how to interact with the scene, an object (House) has been placed in it. How to create an object with the insert mode will be discussed later.

Figure 9 Diagonal shift of the object originally positioned at the centre of the scene, acting on the yellow area of the panel

This is the procedure to move an object even if it is not located at the centre of the scene, and the inner circle is not overlapping it (Figure 10).

Figure 10 horizontal shift of the object originally positioned at the top left of the scene, acting on the yellow area of the panel

Rotation

Outside the little inner circle there is another bigger one. Through it the 3D scene can be rotated horizontally, dragging the mouse to the left or to the right, or vertically, moving it upwards and downwards. It is possible to start the movement in any points within the big circle highlighted in yellow in the following . To rotate the object, hold the left mouse button and drag the mouse inside this area; when the button is released the rotation stops.

Figure 11 In A an object (House) is in the scene in a casual position; the rotation direction is suggested by the arrow. In B the house in original position; in C and D rotation of the house in anticlockwise and clockwise horizontal directions

In an example shows the horizontal rotation. Starting from a frontal point of view of the House (Figure 11 B ) and dragging to the left the mouse while holding the left button, the house rotates anticlockwise (Figure 11 C, in green). On the contrary, by dragging the mouse to the right the house will rotate clockwise (Figure 11 D, in blue). The rotation direction is suggested by the arrows in Figure 11 A.

Figure 12 In A an object (House) in the scene in a casual position; the rotation direction is suggested by the arrow. In B the house in original position; in C and D rotation of the house upwards and downwards in vertical directions

The same applies to vertical rotations (Figure 12). Starting from a generic point of view of the House (Figure 12 B) and dragging the mouse upward while holding the left button, the house rotates vertically upward (Figure 12 C, in green). On the contrary, by dragging the mouse downwards the house will rotate downwards (Figure 12 D, in blue). The rotation direction is suggested by the arrows in Figure 12 A.

Spin

The outer part of the panel rotates the object right and left, in the direction parallel to the panel, as shown in Figure 13. Starting from a frontal point of view our example house (Figure 13 B) and dragging to the left the mouse holding the left button, the house will be rotate anticlockwise (Figure 13 C, in green). On the contrary, by dragging the mouse to the right the house will be rotates clockwise (Figure 13 D, in blue). The rotation direction is suggested by the arrows in Figure 13 A.

Figure 13 In A the object in a casual position with the direction of rotation suggested by the arrow; in B house in original position, in C and D rotation of the house in anticlockwise and clockwise direction, parallel to the yellow panel

Zoom

At the right side of the panel there is a vertical band which lets you zoom in (shifting upwards) and zoom out (shifting downwards) the object in the scene. To do this, drag the mouse vertically on the band, holding the left mouse button and releasing it when the desired zoom level is reached; it is also possible to achieve the same results through the use of the mouse wheel in each point of the 3D area (Figure 14).

Figure 14 In A the object in the original position, with the direction of rotation suggested by the arrow; in B zoom out of the house, in C zoom in of the house