Navigation

 
This tab deals with the following categories of options:

Selection
 

Preselect in geometry view

Activates preselection highlighting. As you point to objects, different parts of the objects are highlighted in the geometry area, and the object name is highlighted in the specification tree.
However, note that deactivating this option impacts all commands using prehighlight, especially the Other Selection... command that does not work anymore.

By default, this option is activated.

Preselection navigator after ... second(s)

Sets the amount of time, in seconds, which elapses before the preselection navigator appears after pointing at an object. Refer to Selecting Using the Preselection Navigator for more information about how to use the preselection navigator.

By default, this option is cleared.

Preselection navigator always started by arrow keys

Displays the preselection navigator when a keyboard arrow is pressed, whatever the keyboard focus.

This means that you can start the preselection navigator even if the mouse cursor is over a graphic window and the keyboard focus is on another window.

By default, this option is cleared.
 

Highlight faces and edges

Controls the way faces and edges are prehighlighted and highlighted.

How elements are prehighlighted and highlighted:

  • is determined by whether you are in Design mode (editing an element in the context of an assembly) or in Visualization mode
  • and varies according to the current visualization mode: Shading with Edges, Shading, Wireframe (NHR), Dynamic hidden line removal (HRD). Note that some minor differences in the way elements are highlighted are noticeable using the HRD mode.

The default prehighlight and highlight colors are different, and can be customized using the Visualization tab. By default, faces and edges are highlighted. Depending on the element type, elements may or may not be displayed using the Z-buffer.

The following examples use the shading mode.

When you are editing an object, a selected face is highlighted like this:
 
  ... and a selected edge is highlighted like this:
 
  If you select the Pad or the Part Body in the specification tree, the whole object is highlighted like this:
 
  If you are in Visualization mode in an assembly, the whole object is highlighted.

By default, this option is cleared.

Display manipulation bounding box

When clicking an object, displays a bounding box around the selected object if it uses manipulators:
Objects using manipulators can be manipulated by the 3D compass. For more information about manipulating objects using the 3D compass, refer to Manipulating Objects Using the Mouse and Compass.

By default, this option is cleared.

Limit display of manipulators to ... element(s)

Sets a limit on the number of elements selected in multi-selection mode (using the selection trap) on which manipulators can be displayed.

In case you select more elements than the limit (for example, by pressing Ctrl to extend the selection), no element can be manipulated.

This option also optimizes the selection when large amounts of elements are involved. The consequence is that the selection becomes faster but also less accurate. Therefore, when the limit is exceeded, some selected elements may not be highlighted and the manipulators may not be displayed and this, even if the number of selected elements is reduced afterwards.

This option is activated when working in a 2D context (objects with handles such as texts and arrows, for instance) or 3D context. 

The following scenario takes the Drafting application as an example:
1. Enter a value in the Limit display of manipulators box, 10 for instance then click OK to validate.

    Note: Setting a high number (greater than 500) has an impact on the contextual menu displayed when right-clicking a selected element: in that case, the contextual menu is not displayed
    anymore. To be able to  display the contextual menu, set the limit to a higher number.
    If the number of selected elements is not higher than 500, the contextual menu is always displayed even though the limit has been set to a lower value.

2. In the geometry area, select six elements either using the selection trap or by pressing Ctrl.

As you can see below, manipulators are displayed on the selected elements to let you modify them:
If you set the limit to 5 instead of  10, no manipulator is displayed since the number of selected elements (i.e. six) exceeds the limit:
 

Display immersive list for the preselection navigator

Displays the list of all the elements you can preselect when using the preselection navigator.
If you do not want to display the immersive list, deactivate the option.

By default, this option is activated.

Display auxiliary viewer for preselection navigator

Activates an auxiliary viewer displaying the preselected object when using the preselection navigator. This viewer enables you to perform viewing operations with the mouse such as zoom, rotate or pan.

By default, this option is cleared.

Prehighlight faces for preselection navigator

Activates the highlight of the faces you preselect using the preselection navigator.

By default, this option is cleared.

Display immersive viewer for preselection navigator

Activates the display of the immersive viewer when using the preselection navigator.

By default, this option is selected.

 

Navigation
 

Gravitational effects during navigation

Fixes the X, Y or Z axis during navigation. While turning in Fly mode, this creates the impression that the user viewpoint tilts or banks with respect to the fixed axis, as in a real plane.

By default, this option is cleared.

Follow ground at altitude (in mm)

First, select the Gravitational effects during navigation check box to be able to activate this option.
When flying and walking, this gravitational effect makes you automatically fall if you do not reach the specified altitute (in millimeters). This allows you to follow the ground relief, such as stairs.

An altitude set to "0" means that the eye level is set at ground level, whereas an altitude higher than "0" will set the eye level above ground level.

Note that the Follow ground at altitude check box is automatically cleared when it is not relevant, i.e. when no ground is detected.

By default, this option is cleared.

Animation during viewpoint modification

Set this option if you want viewpoint changes in certain contexts to be animated. To see an example of the effect of this option, click the option, then select a plane and click Sketch . The selected plane is slowly rotated until parallel to the screen just like during an animation. If you do not select this check box, the selected plane is set parallel to the screen immediately (without the animation effect).

Note: the visualization time of the product impacts the number of animation steps. The longer the duration, the less steps. In case the visualization takes too much time, there is no viewpoint animation at all.

By default, this option is activated.

Disable the rotation sphere display

Hides the rotation sphere usually displayed when rotating an object. The result is as follows:

Rotation sphere activated (default mode) Rotation sphere deactivated
  By default, this option is cleared.

Fly/walk
 

Collision detection enabled

Select this check box to activate the following two options:
 

Point/scene collision

When flying and walking, detects if you collide with an object, so that you bounce off the object instead of going through it. This is the default option.

By default, this option is activated.

Sphere/scene collision

Works the same way as Point/scene collision but this time, the user is modelized as a sphere whose radius can be defined by entering a value (in millimeters) in the box to the right. When flying and walking, the option detects if the sphere collides with an object, so that you bounce off the object. As no object can break through the sphere, this provides a more "immersive" experience.

Note that this detection collision mode works with complex geometry since it is based on visualization triangles.
Note also that, when used in combination with Follow ground at altitude, this option can provide video game Quake-like navigation effects.

However, bear in mind that there is a price to pay in performance when using large models.

By default, this option is cleared.

Mouse Sensitivity

Sets the mouse sensitivity when flying and walking: if you set a low value, pointing the cursor produces only slow, minor changes in direction; if you set a high value, pointing the cursor produces rapid, significant changes in direction.

Start Speed

When you begin to fly, this option lets you choose between two options:

  • Automatic: you begin to fly at the default speed, i.e. the speed at which you first approach the object depends on the initial distance from the object and is calculated automatically
    By default, this option is activated.
  • Custom: you can define by yourself the speed at which you first approach the object using the slider.
    By default, this option is cleared.
 

Mouse Speed
 
  Sets the time interval (from 0 to 100 milliseconds) during which mouse movements are not taken into account for prehighlight purposes: the higher the speed, the fewer elements are prehighlighted.
 

Angle value for keyboard rotations
 
  Sets the value of the angle applied when rotating objects using the keyboard (such as pressing Shift and the up arrow to rotate the object about the X axis). For more information on how to perform rotations using the keyboard, refer to Activating Viewing Tools.
  The default angle value used for keyboard rotations is 9 degrees. This means that until now, if you wanted to perform a rotation of 180 degrees for instance, you had to press 20 times the corresponding keyboard shortcut.

From V5R17 onwards, you have the ability to choose the angle value to be applied when performing rotation operations. This lets you perform smaller or greater rotations by pressing a key combination only once. This also facilitates the navigation in the model by minimizing the number of interactions.
To set the angle value, click the up or down arrow until you reach the desired value or enter your value directly in the box. Available values range from 0 degrees (no rotation) to 360 degrees (full rotation about one axis).

Below are two examples with Ctrl + Shift + right arrow keyboard shortcut enabling you to rotate about the Y axis:
 
Example 1 Example 2
Starting position Starting position
Ctrl + Shift + right arrow used once with default value (9 degrees) Ctrl + Shift + right arrow used once with rotation angle set to 90
  By default, the angle value is set to 9 degrees.