Transformations with the Az-El Panel

Viewer gives us another more precise way to transform (scale, and rotate) an object: through the Az-El panel.

Transform the object with the Azimuth and Elevation Panel 

a.  Click on Az-El on the Viewer's main menu.

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b.  A panel pops up below the viewer with two sliders and an array of buttons. This panel allows you to instantly select a view from any azimuth and elevation. For a given (positive) elevation, selecting different azimuth buttons is equivalent to choosing a different compass heading and flying there in a helicopter to view the objects. The azimuth buttons are the direction from which you view your objects. (i.e. 180 degrees views the objects from the south). An elevation of 90 degrees corresponds to a view from directly overhead, 0 degrees is a view from the horizontal plane (side view) and -90 degrees is a view from the bottom.

c.  Use the Azimuth and Elevation Panel to obtain a specific view by setting the scale slider and elevation slider to desired settings and click once on the desired azimuth button. If you choose a scale of 1.1, an elevation of 45 degrees and an azimuth of 195 degrees you should get something like this:

 

d.  To obtain a sequence of views try clicking on all the buttons in sequence (quickly, without waiting for the viewer to redraw). All of your mouse actions are queued creating a "script" for a series of views. These views are equivalent to flying around your objects at a constant radius and elevation. While you're at it, try toggling the spin toggles on the Az_El panel (either '<' or '>. These will activate sequential views around the compass whose separation matches the specified type-in 'steps' value (the default here is 10 degrees).

After the next two topics we will adjust the line width for external edges. This will remove the broken looking lines in this figure which are caused by Z-Buffer ambiguities.

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