Viewing Objects

You use the Camera menu to adjust both global preferences for N-Geometry and camera specific preferences (such as film format and lens focal length):

Figure 5.1 Camera menu

Modes

• (CLICK-L) or (CLICK-M) on Camera>Modes to display the menu in Figure 5.2. The submenu consists of commonly used Preferences that you can toggle on and off. For that reason, there is overlap between the Modes menu items and the Preferences menu described previously.

Figure 5.2 The Modes submenu

You can customize this menu; (CTRL-*) on Camera>Modes to add or remove items from the menu using the pop-up shown in Figure 5.3.

If you (CLICK-L) on Yes to add an item to the menu, or No to remove it, then (CLICK-L) on the Set New Mode Items box to update the menu.

• (CLICK-R) to display a variation of the menu, as shown in Figure 5.4. This menu lets you turn on and off several preferences at once, without having to redisplay the menu each time.

Figure 5.4 The modes menu for turning multiple preferences on and off

Elements on the mode menu are described in Table 5.1:

Table 5.1 Selecting modes for N-Geometry

Mode	Description
Use Accelerator	Uses accelerated display routines, if available.
Ortho Display	Toggle display between orthographic and perspective display of objects.
Auto Ranging	Enables auto ranging mode, which automatically adjusts the hither and yon clipping planes based on the previous frame. When auto ranging mode is turned off, the hither and yon planes are fixed (constant). See a description of Auto Hither/Yon on page 7-10 for more information.
Visible Axes	Specifies whether global x, y, and z axes are displayed in the N-Geometry window.
Labeled Axes	Specifies whether the axis labels (x, y, and z) are displayed at the ends of the global axes.
Serial Numbers	Displays the serial number of the highlighted element in the upper-left corner of the view window.
Visible Attachments	Displays scaling centers and rotation axes, if any, in the view window.
Sticky Standin Bodies	Displays boxes for selected objects at all times. If this is off, stand-in bodies are used only when moving the camera.
Numeric Input Default	Brings up a menu that allows you to type in explicit values when you (SHIFT-L) with an element selected.
Attribute-Edit Default	By default, the body modify menu is displayed when you (SHIFT-L) on an element. If you set this to Yes, the Attributes Editor menu is displayed by default when you (SHIFT-L) on the element.

Views

You can save, create, delete, name, and restore views. For example, you might want to capture a view while editing a complicated object in order to be able to switch quickly between views you have selected on opposite sides of the object.

• (CLICK-L) selects a previously saved view.

The view that appears when the camera window is first created is called the initial camera view, and is included by default on the list of saved views that appears when you (CLICK-L) on Views.

Figure 5.5 The Initial Camera View is included by default on the list of saved views

Note. It's a good idea to leave the initial camera view alone, so that you can always reorient yourself to the global axes.

• (CLICK-M) saves the current view. Views are saved in the directory specified in Utilities>Preferences>Pathnames>Default View.
• (CLICK-R) displays the pop-up menu shown in Figure 5.6. You can use this menu to select, rename, or delete a saved view.

Figure 5.6 A pop-up menu lets you select, rename, or delete a saved view

• File saves a view to a specified pathname.
• Create lets you create and name a view stored in memory.
• Select lets you choose from one of the views you have previously created.
• Rename lets you rename a previously saved view.
• Delete lets you delete a previously saved view.

You can also use the following hot keys to quickly align the camera with the various axes:

Table 5.2 Camera hot keys

Hot Key	Action
X	Align camera along +X
Y	Align camera along +Y
Z	Align camera along +Z
(CTRL-X)	Align camera along -X
(CTRL-Y)	Align camera along -Y
(CTRL-Z)	Align camera along -Z

Align

When fixed-aim is in effect, the camera swings around the aimpoint to align itself to the axis and so changes its position while remaining aimed at the fixed aimpoint. When fixed-aim is turned off, the camera does not move but simply pans or tilts in place to get the new orientation. Since reorienting the camera changes the aimpoint, objects in the old view might disappear after the realignment.

• (CLICK-L) points the camera along the z axis, from the front.
• (CTRL-L) points the camera along the z axis, from the back.
• (CLICK-M) points the camera along the x axis, from the right.
• (CTRL-M) points the camera along the x axis, from the left.
• (CLICK-R) points the camera along the y axis, from the top.
• (CTRL-R) points the camera along the y axis, from the bottom.

Aim

• (CLICK-L) to display a menu that lists several options for aiming the camera. All objects currently in the scene are listed at the bottom of the menu.


• Select Element aims the camera at that element:
  
  
  • (CLICK-L) points the camera at the center of a selected vertex, keeping the current camera location constant.

    
    

  • (CLICK-M) selects an edge for the camera aimpoint.

    
    

  • (CLICK-R) selects a face for the camera aimpoint.

  
  
• Orient to Element lets you align the camera with the normal of an element:
  
  
  • (CLICK-L) points the camera directly at a vertex, that is, along the element's normal, changing the camera position and orientation.

    
    

  • (CLICK-M) orients the camera to an edge.

    
    

  • (CLICK-R) orients the camera to a face.

  
  
• Cursor lets you choose a location for the camera aim using the cursor.

  
  

• Global Center aims the camera at the global origin (0,0,0).

  
  

• Existing objects are displayed at the bottom of the menu. If you select one of these objects, the camera is aimed at the center of that object.
  
  
  • (CLICK-L) to select an entire top-level object.

    
    

  • (CLICK-R) to display a menu of the object's inferiors from which to select an aimpoint.

Level

Overlays

• (CLICK-L) to display rectangles that outline TV safe areas. (See Figure 5.7.) Objects that fall outside the dotted rectangles might be lost when the frame is broadcast to a TV screen. Titles or other essential information should be kept within the smaller rectangle, which represents a "worst-case" cutoff. The size of the rectangles can vary. Rectangles are smaller when the aspect ratio is considered a film format to account for film-to-tape transfer losses.

Figure 5.7 TV-safe areas overlay

• (CLICK-M) to display a 12-field chart. The field chart (24 x 24) is useful in animation when movement of objects must be plotted.

Figure 5.8 Field chart overlay

When you're done, you can (CLICK-L) on an open area of the N-Geometry window to get rid of the overlays.

Copyright © 1996, Nichimen Graphics Corporation. All rights reserved.