INTRODUCTION TO GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE
1- Tabs
This software splits the design of a project in "Tabs" (pages). Every tab lets you insert data regarding current design phase.
2- Viewport
Viewport shows the 2D or 3D section of current project.
You can use mouse wheel to zoom.
To pan view, keep right mouse button pressed and move mouse.
3- Commands
Every tab has commands specific to current project phase.
In the sample shown, current tab is relative to the lines insertion, therefore a series of commands for lines manipulation are shown.
4- Progress bar
When software is performing an operation, this bar will inform you about its progress. In some cases (for example, during simulation) operations can be stopped clicking "Stop" button.
5- Keyboard button
When selected particular operations (for example, creates lines), will activate this button, which will allow you to manually enter the required values. This feature is activated by pressing the appropriate button or the enter key.
6- Keyboard commands
There are various keyboard command that are extremely useful to interact with the software:
ctrl:
combined with right mouse button, rotates 3D views;
add nodes during selection.
del:
remove selected lines and vertices.
esc:
exits from current operation.
alt:
remove nodes during selection.
shift:
add/remove nodes during selection;
force X/Y/diagonal direction when working with lines;
combined with right mouse button, rotates 3D views.
space:
disable snap.
return:
open window described in section 5.
X:
force X direction when working with lines.
Y:
force Y direction when working with lines.
Q, A:
combined with left mouse button, rotate 3D views.
W:
combiend with left mouse button, pan views.