3-Dimensional story windows are composed of several parts according to the chosen viewport configuration. We may call these parts as window in window. We can examine these windows in four parts:
Plan windows
View windows
Perspective windows
Axonometric perspective windows
Plan windows are the windows that every kind of data input is performed on. Every kind of 3D (wall, beam, furniture, slab, zone etc.) and 2D (line, circle, curve etc.) entities can be entered in these windows and the properties of the entered entities can be changed. The architectural mode/structural mode logic used in data inputs is described under the Story Windows topic.
The view windows located in story windows are used to view the front, back, left and right facades and the top and bottom views of the project.
Every kind of 3D objects entered in the drawing area, are displayed (if they are visible from the related direction) in the view windows at the same time. It is possible to see the objects in these windows with Wireframe, Hidden Line and Solid display techniques.
In wireframe technique, the displayed objects are seen as lines. If hidden line is chosen, the visible object surfaces are filled with the drawing colors selected in the related entity settings dialogs. In case that solid is chosen, the objects are filled with the material textures appointed to the related objects.
To change the display technique;
Right-click on the related view window.
Bring the mouse cursor on the Detail Level line in the appearing menu.
Left-click on the line of your choice (Wireframe, Hidden Line or Solid) in the appearing submenu. The related view window will pass to the chosen detail level.
Except these three techniques, the solid view settings may be set by the user by changing certain parameters. If you prefer such a setting;
Right-click on the related view window.
Bring the mouse cursor on the Detail Level line in the appearing menu.
Left-click on the Advanced line from the appearing submenu.
Do the necessary changes in the appearing Render Settings dialog and close the dialog by clicking the OK button.
There are three buttons at the upper right corner of view windows. From these three buttons;
If the one on the right (with arrow) is left-clicked, the related view window covers the whole screen. When the same button is clicked once again, the related view window returns back to its previous size and position.
If the buton in the middle is clicked, the letter N on the button is transformed to 1. If it is reclicked, it is transformed again back to N. If there is N on the button, all the stories in the project are displayed in the related view window. If there is 1 on the button, only the related story is displayed in the related view window.
The button on the left is used to display all the objects or only the selected objects in the related window. The letter A appears on this buttýon as default. When the button is left-clicked, the letter turns to S. When the letter A appears on the button, all the 3D entities entered appear in the related view window. However, if you want to see only some selected entities, select the related entities and click on the button. All the entities except the selected ones will be hidden i.e. only the selected entities will be displayed in the related view window. If there are no objects selected, nothing will be viewed.
It is not possible to send the views in view windows to printer/plotter directly. However, you can generate the vector drawings of these and take outputs. To generate the vector form of view windows;
Right-click on the related view window.
Click Generate Vector Drawing from the appearing menu. The Generate Vector Drawing dialog will appear on the screen.
Click the OK button here.
A new 2D window will be opened and the view in the view window will be generated here in vector form. You may intervene to this drawing in 2-dimensions and take its output from printer/plotter.
View windows can be transformed to another view, perspective, plan or axonometric perspective window at any time. For this purpose;
Right-click on the related view window.
Bring the mouse cursor on the Change View line in the appearing menu.
Leftclick on one of the choices in the appearing submenu. The related view window will change.
The perspective windows located in story windows are used to view the project from any point of view 3-dimensionally.
Every kind of 3D objects entered in the drawing area, are displayed (if they are visible from the related direction) in the perspective windows at the same time. It is possible to see the objects in these windows with Wireframe, Hidden Line and Solid display techniques.
In wireframe technique, the displayed objects are seen as lines. If hidden line is chosen, the visible object surfaces are filled with the drawing colors selected in the related entity settings dialogs. In case that solid is chosen, the objects are filled with the material textures appointed to the related objects.
To change the display technique;
Right-click on the related view window.
Bring the mouse cursor on the Detail Level line in the appearing menu.
Left-click on the line of your choice (Wireframe, Hidden Line or Solid) in the appearing submenu. The related perspective window will pass to the chosen detail level.
Except these three techniques, the solid view settings may be set by the user by changing certain parameters. If you prefer such a setting;
Right-click on the related view window.
Bring the mouse cursor on the Detail Level line in the appearing menu.
Left-click on the Advanced line from the appearing submenu.
Do the necessary changes in the appearing Render Settings dialog and close the dialog by clicking the OK button.
The explanations about the parameters in the Render Settings dialog are given under the topic 3D Perspective and Solid Modeling/Perspective-View Windows and Viewport Configuration in this book.
There are three buttons at the upper right corner of perspective windows. From these three buttons;
If the one on the right (with arrow) is left-clicked, the related window covers the whole screen. When the same button is clicked once again, the related window returns back to its previous size and position.
If the buton in the middle is clicked, the letter N on the button is transformed to 1. If it is reclicked, it is transformed again back to N. If there is N on the button, all the stories in the project are displayed in the related window. If there is 1 on the button, only the related story is displayed in the related window.
The button on the left is used to display all the objects or only the selected objects in the related window. The letter A appears on this buttýon as default. When the button is left-clicked, the letter turns to S. When the letter A appears on the button, all the 3D entities entered appear in the related view window. However, if you want to see only some selected entities, select the related entities and click on the button. All the entities except the selected ones will be hidden i.e. only the selected entities will be displayed in the related window. If there are no objects selected, nothing will be viewed.
It is possible to examine the model in in perspective windows from various view points. The Interactive Camera and Fly Mode commands have been developed for this purpose.
To examine the perspective view via Interactive Camera;
Right-click on the related perspective window.
Left-click Interactive Camera from the appearing menu. The mouse cursor will take the form of a hand.
Hold down the left mouse key on the perspective window and move the mouse. The perspective will rotate.
Hold down the right mouse key and move the mouse up and down. The perspective view will be zoomed in and out with the upward and downward motion of the mouse cursor respectively.
If you move the mouse cursor right and left by holding down the left key of the mouse and the Ctrl key from the keyboard simultaneously, the view will slide left and right. If you move the mouse up and down, the view will slide forward and backward.
If you move the mouse cursor up and down by holding down the right key of the mouse and the Ctrl key from the keyboard simultaneously, the view will slide up and dawn.
Double-click on the perspective window or press Esc from the keyboard to exit from the Interactive Camera mode.
To examine the perspective view via Fly Mode;
Right-click on the related perspective window.
Left-click Fly Mode from the appearing menu. The mouse cursor will disappear from the screen.
Move the mouse cursor. The perspective view will move depending on the mouse motion.
At this time, you can slide the view right and left using the right and left arrow keys and, up and down using the Page Up and Page Down keys from the keyboard respectively. You can zoom in and out the view using the up and down arrow keys.
Double-click the mouse or press Esc from the keyboard to exit the fly mode.
It is not possible to send the views in perspective windows to printer/plotter directly. However, you can generate the vector drawings of these and take outputs. To generate the vector form of perspective windows;
Right-click on the related window.
Click Generate Vector Drawing from the appearing menu. The Generate Vector Drawing dialog will appear on the screen.
Click the OK button here.
A new 2D window will be opened and the view in the perspective window will be generated here in vector form. You may intervene to this drawing in 2-dimensions and take its output from printer/plotter.
Perspective windows can be transformed to view, plan or axonometric perspective windows at any time. For this purpose;
Right-click on the related window.
Bring the mouse cursor on the Change View line in the appearing menu.
Leftclick on one of the choices in the appearing submenu. The related view window will change.
You may place several cameras on the project and exmine the perspective view of the project from these cameras.
Define camera(s) using the Draw/Camera command and right-click on any window.
Bring the mouse cursor on the Change View line in the appearing menu.
The names of the defined cameras will also be present in the appearing submenu. Left-click any of the camera lines. The perspective view of the project will be displayed in the related window from the viewpoint of the related camera.
The above explained Interactive Camera, Fly Mode and Generate Vector Drawing commands are valid for camera perspectives as well.
Perspective windows have been developed to examine the project in 3-dimensions. It is possible to generate the vector drawing of the views in these windows and take their printer/plotter outputs as well. However, it is difficult to set the sight direction and scale of the vector drawings generated from perspective windows. Axonometric Perspective Windows have been developed for this reason.
To pass to an Axonometric Perspective Window;
Right-click on any window.
Bring the mouse cursor on the Change View line in the appearing menu.
Bring the mouse cursor on the Axonometric Views line on the appearing submenu.
Click the axonometric view of your choice from the appearing submenu. The related window will pass to the chosen axonometric view mode.
Axonometric views like Southeast, Northwest, Monometric, Dimetric etc. are ready made in the program. However, the user can also define new axonometric views.or modify the existing views by changing the parameters. The procedure is as follows:
Right-click on any axonometric view window.
Left-click Configure Axonometric View from the appearing menu.
Do the necessary changes in the appearing dialog and click OK to exit.
The parameters in the dialog are:
Presets: The axonometric views defined are listed in this table. You can add or remove new views in the list.
To add a new view right-click on the table and click Add from the appearing menu. Anew line with name "Name for new axonometric view" will be created in the list. Give an appropriate name for the view and set the parameters in the dialog accordingly. If you want the newly added view to appear in the context menu check the related box in the Popup column.
To remove a view from the list, right-click on the related view and click Delete from the appearing menu.
Restore Originals: Restores the default views in the list..
Regular: If you have this button pressed, you can intervene to the sight direction (angles) of the view. Move the mouse on the coordinate preview window on the right by holding down the left mouse button. The co-ordinate system and the axonometric view in the related window will rotate. You can arrange the sight direction by entering values (degree) in the related X, Y, and Z boxes below.
Freehand: If you have this button pressed, you can intervene to the scale of the view. Move the mouse on the coordinate preview window. Left-click on one of the coordinate bars (X/Y/Z) and move the mouse. The scale of the related co-ordinate bar and the dimension of the objects in the axonometric view will change. You can arrange the scale and the sight direction by entering values in the related X, Y, and Z boxes for scale and angle below.
Scale: Enter values to scale the dimensions of the objects in the axonometric view window in X, Y and Z direction. e.g. Let us have a 4x4x4 m cube and enter 1 for X, 0.5 for Y and 2 for Z. After this, generate the vector drawing of the axonometric view and measure the dinemsions on the vector window. The X dimension will be drawn 4 meters, Y dimension 2 metres and Z dimension 8 metres.
Angle: The angle (degree) of the window with respect to X, Y and Z axes.
Reset: Restores the default scale and angle values for X, Y, Z directions.
Right hand system: Check to work with right hand system angles.
It is not possible to send the views in axonometric perspective windows to printer/plotter directly. However, you can generate the vector drawings of these and take outputs. To generate the vector form of axonometric perspective windows;
Right-click on the related window.
Click Generate Vector Drawing from the appearing menu. The Generate Vector Drawing dialog will appear on the screen.
Click the OK button here.
A new 2D window will be opened and the view in the axonometric window will be generated here in vector form. You may intervene to this drawing in 2-dimensions and take its output from printer/plotter.
Axonometric perspective windows can be transformed to view, plan or perspective windows at any time. For this purpose;
Right-click on the related window.
Bring the mouse cursor on the Change View line in the appearing menu.
Leftclick on one of the choices in the appearing submenu. The related view window will change.