Render Window
The render window is where all data is displayed. It has four main
parts: the menu bar, the rendering area, a side button bar, and a bottom
bar. The menu bar gives access to options to save/restore the state of
Vizamrai and access to the help screens. The rendering area is where the
images appear. The mouse can be used to move the camera around (see screen
navigation ). The button bars give access to some basic rendering functions
(bottom) and camera views (side).
Render Window Menu Bar
File -> Open
Opens an existing Vizamrai state file. A Vizamrai state file (.vstate)
contains the state of controls (slider bar values, colors, and other options).
File -> SaveAs
Saves the current state of the Vizamrai controls to a file. Very useful
when you have the tool setup the with a view that you like and would like
to be able to get back to quickly.
File -> Exit
Exits Vizamrai.
Help -> Help Contents
Online users manual for Vizamrai. If you are reading this you probably
have found this already.
Help -> About
Gives the version number for Vizamrai, VTK, and TCL/TK. Useful when
reporting bugs back to the developers.
View Button Bar
The view button bar (left side) contains icons which can be clicked (normally
with the left mouse button) to invoke some commands to effect the camera
position. The button bar can be hidden by left clicking on the pullout
control on the right side of the panel.
Center
This resets the display by centering the objects in the display window.
You need to do this when you load in datasets that are located in a different
physical location in the domain or when you load in datasets on a different
domain. This is also accessible through the "r" keyboard shortcut.
Pan
By click-dragging (clicking the left mouse button and moving the mouse
while holding the button down) will pan the display. This can also
be done using the mouse in the render window (see screen
navigation ).
Rotate
By click-dragging (clicking the left mouse button and moving the mouse
while holding the button down) will rotate the display. This can
also be done using the mouse in the render window (see screen
navigation ).
Zoom
By click-dragging (clicking the left mouse button and moving the mouse
while holding the button down) will zoom the display. This can also
be done using the mouse in the render window (see screen
navigation ).
Preset Views
The seven little views of the teapot will move the camera to the view indicated
(top, bottom, left, front etc.). Activate by clicking with the left
mouse button.
User Defined Views
The "memory dot" buttons are used to set user defined camera positions
and enable you to quickly return to that view. Pressing the button with
the left mouse button takes you to the saved view. A right mouse click
will set the view to the view currently on the screen. This is very useful
for fine tuning a view. Once you get a view that you like, save it
to one of the user defined views before trying to "tweak it". If after
tweaking you realize that it looks much worse just pop back to the previous
view by left mouse clicking.
Render Button Bar
The render button bar (bottom of display) contains icons which can be clicked
(normally with the left mouse button) to invoke some commands to effect
the renderer, save the render image and other miscellaneous tasks.
The button bar can be hidden by left clicking on the pullout control on
the top of the panel.
Save Image
Save the current image to the file indicated in the control panel for the
current render window. This is often used when you are in full screen mode
and want to save this image since many OpenGL renderers render directly
to the screen buffer you will pick up any overlapping windows that cover
the render window. The keyboard shortcut "o" in the render window
can also be used.
Render
Forces a render of the screen. This is used most often when you have turned
off the rendering pipeline and want to force a render. This function can
also come in handy if the display the window has not refreshed correctly.
Render Pipeline
This toggles the rendering process on/off. When the render pipeline is
turned off, the user interface is active but the screen will not be updated.
This is very useful for larger datasets; you can set multiple settings
(like maybe a slice plane value and min/max on the colormap) without having
to wait for each change to redraw. With the pipeline turned on every
change will cause a screen update to provide immediate feedback.
The problem is with large datasets "immediate" feedback isn't very immediate.
You can force a render using the Render button or turn the pipeline back
on.
Wireframe/Full Render
Toggles the display between wireframe and full surface drawing. It is claimed
on some systems wireframe may be faster than shading for some images. The
"w" and "s" keys also can be used to set the drawing mode. In practice
this feature has not proven to be very useful.
Command Line Interface
Starts a command line console at which you can type TCL commands. This
is for advanced users only. Pressing the keyboard shortcut "c" will
bring also bring up the command line console.