View Controls and Settings

There are several mechanisms available for setting and controlling Dr. Frame3D's view parameters: the Camera Tool; the Pan Tool, zoom controls, and the View menu. Each is described below.

Camera Tool

The camera tool is used to interactively control and navigate the 3D view in the main modeling pane.

• To move the viewpoint, select the Camera Tool and click and drag. This has the effect of moving the viewpoint on a virtual sphere surrounding the modeling space.
• Hold down the shift key while dragging vertically to zoom in or out. (This controls the focal length of the virtual viewing camera.)
• To move the viewpoint closer to or farther from the model, drag vertically holding down the option/alt key. In combination with zooming, this will result in varying amounts of a fisheye lens effect when perspective is enabled:



Camera far from model with "telephoto" lens.	Camera close to model with wide angle lens.



• Hold down the control key while dragging to translate the view in the plane closest to the viewing plane. Hold down the control and option/alt key while dragging to translate the view in the out of plane direction.
• Hold down the control key while dragging to translate the view in the plane closest to the viewing plane. Hold down the control and option/alt key while dragging to translate the view in the out of plane direction.

The Camera Tool can be temporarily selected at any time by holding down the space bar on the keyboard. This is handy for making quick view adjustments while working with other tools.

Pan Tool

The pan tool is used to move the image in its window (also possible using the Camera Tool), or to move the location of a structure or plot within its view.

• Click and drag to translate the view in the plane closest to the viewing plane. Hold down the option/alt key while dragging to translate the view in the out of plane direction.
• To move elements within a view, hold down the shift key while clicking and dragging. Dragging from a point near the center of the structure will move the structure. Use the option/alt key (in addition to the shift key) to get out-of-plane movement.

Zoom Controls

• The zoom controls can be used to increase or decrease the magnification at which the plots and images are drawn.
• When zooming in or out, the center of any selected element will remain at a fixed spot on the screen. If no objects are selected, then the center of the structure will be used as the fixed point.

View Menu

• The View menu provides further utilities for setting and managing views.

• The Auto Zoom command will automatically fit the present structure or structures to the screen. This command does not account for labels, reactions, and the extent of plots, so some additional manual tuning may be necessary.
• To aid in controlling complexity, various portions of structural models can be hidden and shown selectively via the Hide Selected/Hide Others commands. Hidden members are depicted using their centerlines only as shown below:
• Special case Hide/Show options are available for quickly isolating particular bays or floors of a given structure. The Side/Front/Plan Cut commands can be used repeatedly to cycle through the various planes of a structural model. For example, the images below show the result of invoking the Side Elevation Cut command twice in succession:
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  First invocation of the Side Elevation Cut command isolates minimum x-plane frame	Second invocation of the Side Elevation Cut command isolates next x-plane frame, and so on.

  
  
• The Show All command undoes any hiding operations.
• Dr. Frame3D provides support for working with multiple views. This is a sufficiently rich topic that it is covered in its own section.