The Control Panel is located to the right of the Main Visualization Window and contains a number of commonly used buttons that are discussed in turn here.
Camera Group Clicking on the Reset Camera button returns to the default camera position. The default camera view is normally looking down at the data at about 45 degrees; however, this can be changed in the General Preferences if an alternate view is desired. If the data objects are lost from view in the 3D scene simply click this button to return to the default viewpoint.
Zoom to object (Z-key) button will move the camera so that you are viewing the currently active data object.
Follow an object button will toggle the camera mode so that the camera moves with the Active Pick Point Object.
Mode Group The next set of buttons on this panel are the mode toggles. The three options presented here control the effects of the three mouse buttons when used in the Main Visualization Window. The five possible modes include:
Explore
Select, and
Polygon Select, and
Area Select, and
Measure
The default mode is Explore and optimizes the mouse buttons functionality to aid in quickly and effectively navigating around the 3D visualized world.
The Select mode is used for explicit geo-picking and is often used to support special actions for the various loaded data objects. The actual actions depend on the data type loaded and are described in detail in the chapter on data object types. Usually when a surface is geo-picked, a cross appears at the pick point and the coordinates of the point will appear in the Geo-Referencing Info Bar.
The Polygon Select mode is used to draw polygon structures or lines by picking points on the visualized data. These polygons are used in conjunction with tools like the Surface Query Tool and can also be saved into other data objects for representing things like track lines, polygonal areas of interest, features on data, etc.
The Measure mode is used to measure distances. In this mode left clicking the mouse down in the scene sets the starting point. Then drag the mouse to the ending point of interest and let the left mouse button up. In the status bar one will see the 2D (xy) distance, the line-of-sight distance from the start to end, and surface (3D terrain following distance).
To aid in moving quickly between the picking modes with minimum mouse movements, change of modes can be achieved by pressing the following shortcut keys:
Space Bar – Explore
S – Select
P – Polygon Select
A - Area Select
M - Measure Tool
Edit Group
Translate: This control is used to translate the current object in the X, Y, or Z direction. These translations will directly modify the georeferencing bounds for the object.
Rotate: The rotate control is used to rotate the current object around the current rotation point.
Scale: The overall scale of any object can be adjusted using the Scale control. The scale can be adjusted in one dimension at a time, or by selecting the center of the control, all dimensions at the same time.
Change Rotation Point: To modify the point which the rotate control is centered on, the Change Rotation Point control is used.
Display Group
The Color Map button will show or hide the currently loaded color map in the Main Visualization Window. See the Controls > Color Map Display menu for details on how to load a color map for display. If no color map is currently loaded, toggling this option on has no effect.
The Bounding Coords button will show or hide the Root Node's bounding box and associated coordinate labels. Note that coordinate labels only appear after data has been loaded.
The Widgets button will show or hide the interaction widgets in the Main Visualization Window. The shortcut key 'H' can also be used to accomplish the same task
The Object Selection button is used to toggle the selection widgets that are displayed for the currently selected object. The button is on by default.
Pipeline Group
These options only appear when a pipeline is selected from the SD object list under the Scene. The options will appear in the main Fledermaus toolbar along the right hand edge below the Transform tool button.
The Add Pipeline Control Point button lets one add new points to the pipeline. Each time a location on a surface is picked a new pipe control point will be added. New points always added are always added to the end of the currently selected pipeline segment. As you add more points a pipeline will be built up.
The Move Pipeline Control Point button is the control point editing mode. Selecting this options allows the user to click and drag on existing control points (normally a greenish yellow highlight on the pipeline). Note that you have to click and drag fairly close to the control point to move it.
The Delete Pipeline Control Point button allows the user to remove control points. After selecting this mode clicking on a control point will remove it.
The No Pipe Interaction button is a no-edit mode which is the default and simply means that clicking and dragging near control points will not change the pipeline in away way.
Using Polygon Select Mode
To add a line, change to the Polygon Select mode and then pick the required points on the surface. To save the line, select Data > Add 3D Lines, and then press the Add Polygon Selection button in the 3D Line attribute panel.
Picking new points and pressing the Add Polygon Selection button again will add another line. To create a closed polygon, double click on the last point entered.
Once the required lines are loaded they can be saved using the Save Object function under the File menu. The lines can also be exported as an ASCII XYZ file by pressing the Export XYZ button on the 3D Lines attribute panel and entering the desired file name.
The polygon selection can also be used with the Geo-Picking Tab.
