Seamless Navigation

Opening the Main Menu (F10 Menu)

Move the mouse to the top left corner of the 3d window or press F10

Toggle Wire Frame Mode On/Off (space bar)

Click

The shortcut key (Space bar) works if the 3d window is the selected window.

Toggle Background Colour (ctrl B)

Click

This command is useful when it is hard to see dark triangles on a black background or vice versa.

The shortcut key (Ctrl B) works if the 3d window is the selected window.

Changing the View Position

Drag on empty space in the 3d window with the left mouse button held down.

(avoid clicking on a vertex or control point)

Zooming In and Zooming Out

Mouse wheel. This works so long as the mouse pointer is not over the scene tree window.

Alternatively click

Or use the keyboard while the 3d window is selected:

press the key that has + sign on it (can be from the num pad) to zoom in
press the key that has - sign on it (can be from the num pad) to zoom out

Changing the View Orientation

Drag on empty space in the 3d window with the right mouse button held down.

To quantize (in right angle amounts) the view orientation click

Changing the View Orientation to Pre-set Orientations

Click to set the view orientations to:

Changing the View Orientation at a 45 Degree Angle Offset to the Existing View

Click

This does not set the view orientation in absolute amounts (it does not quantise the existing view), instead it sets the offset relative to the existing view. This is useful for creating a "complementary view" for the existing view which is a right angle (90 degree) offset to the existing view.

If a control point is visible from 2 view orientations, each one a "complementary view" to the other, we can tug a control point in 3 dimensions with maximum efficiency using only these 2 view orientations.

Opening the Scene Tree Window and the Control Panel

Click

Scrolling the Scene Tree Window

Use the mouse wheel while the mouse is over the over scene tree window or use the scroll bar to the right of the scene tree window.

Selecting a Part

Click on the part node in the scene tree window or select a vertex or control point that is owned by the part you wish to select.

Selecting a Control Point

Click the the Control Point. The selected control point is marked by the red dot. To prevent the mouse accidently dragging a Control Point when selecting it hold down the control key.

Centering the View Position to the Selected Control Point

Click  

Centering the View Position to the Selected Part's Pivot Point

Click  

Collapsing and Expanding Nodes in the Scene Tree Window

To collapse all the descendants of a node click to the left of it.

To expand all of the descendants of a node click again to the left of it.

Hiding and Showing Parts

Often triangles from other parts make it hard to edit the triangles in the part we want to work on. To solve this problem parts can be hidden in the 3d window by double clicking on the Part node's icon in the scene tree window. The scene tree window shows a hidden part by showing the icon as a dash as shown in the following example for the part named pelvis.

clicking on the dash will return the node back to it's visible status.

Show/Hide Patch Control Cage

When nurbs modelling, it can be extremely helpful to only show the control cages for patches that you are working on. This does not hide the geometry like when you hide a part node, only the control cage is hidden and made inactive from modelling. A Patch can be toggled from showing or hidden by double clicking on the patch's icon in the scene tree window.
You can show all NurbsPatch control cages by pressing Alt A
Hide all patch cages except the selected patch by pressing Alt S
Hide any patch cage that has one of its control points selected by pressing Alt H

Multiple Control Point Selection

Multiple control points from any number of patches can be selected by dragging with the mouse while the left shift key is held down. Once selected you can:

There is also the option of manipulating the selected control points using a control panel which can be opened by pressing Control T.

Selected control points can be un-selected the same way they are selected by holding down both the left control and shift keys.

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