Understanding the view ports in the Finite Element IDE (CHARGE, HEAT, DGTD, FEEM)

The 3D modeler in Finite Element IDE has received some major upgrades since the 2017a release.  The most important of which is a brand new geometry kernel that will improve the solver’s ability to handle complex 3D geometries significantly.  The new geometry kernel also comes with an improved view port that will allow the users to visualize their structure with better accuracy and control at each step of the design process.  The aim of this page is to introduce this new view port and highlight its different features.

The default view port consists of a single window that provides a 3D graphical representation of the simulation. Depending on the current mouse mode the mouse pointer will either have the shape of an arrow (select), a hand (pan), a magnifying glass (zoom), or a pair of rotating arrows (orbit).  You can toggle between these options with the mouse mode toolbar.  When objects are selected, structures are filled with a solid pink color and the edges of simulation objects become thicker (also, the object will be highlighted in the Object tree).  It is possible to copy and paste selected objects between different CAD windows using the standard Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V shortcut keys.  

Layout

• The “default” layout consists of a single window that provides a 3D view of the design
• The 3D view can be rotated and can easily snap to different side views at the click of a button.  
• The “default” layout offers different modes that will allow the users to select different simulation objects, pan or orbit the objects, or zoom in and out using mouse operations.  
• An easy access toolbar as well as hot-keys are available for switching between the different modes.

Navigating in the 3D View

Navigation Cube

The navigation cube at the bottom-right corner of the view port can be used to navigate in the 3D view.

• You can click and hold the left mouse button on the navigation cube and then drag the mouse to orbit the 3D geometry.
• You can also click on a face of the navigation cube to automatically rotate the 3D geometry and snap it to the corresponding side-view.
• Once the geometry snaps to a side view, you can click on the face of the navigation cube to rotate the geometry on that plane by 90-degrees (clock-wise).
• You can click on an edge of the navigation cube to rotate the 3D geometry and snap it to an edge view (45-degree angle with both planes).
• You can click on a corner of the navigation cube to rotate the 3D geometry and snap it to the corresponding corner view.

• Buttons located under the navigation cube allow you to select a plane (XY, XZ or YZ), get back to the perspective view or lock the current view.

Axis Triad

The axis triad orbits with the 3D geometry and shows the orientation of the three Cartesian axes (x, y, z).

Mouse modes

There are several modes for different mouse actions in the “default” layout.  You can choose a mode from the view toolbar located on top of the view port as shown below.

Orbit (Default)

The “default” layout opens up in the orbit mode when a new or blank project of opened by default.  The orbit mode allows you to orbit the 3D geometry by moving the mouse while clicking and holding the left mouse button.

Secondary Actions

• Pan: Pan the 3D geometry by moving the mouse while clicking and holding the right mouse button.
• Zoom: The scroll wheel on the mouse can be used to zoom in and out of the 3D view.
• Reset Orientation: Double right click of the mouse button will reset the view to the default orientation.

Select

The select mode is the only mode that allows you to select a geometry or simulation object using the left mouse button. Click on a geometry to select it or click on the edge of a simulation object (doping object or solver region) to select it. Once a geometry is selected, its color changes to a solid pink. Once a simulation object is selected, its edges become thicker.

Secondary Actions

• Pan: Pan the 3D view by moving the mouse while clicking and holding the right mouse button along with the "Ctrl" button on the keyboard.
• Orbit: Orbit the 3D geometry by moving the mouse while clicking and holding the right mouse button along with the "Shift" button on the keyboard.
• Zoom: The scroll wheel on the mouse can be used to zoom in and out of the 3D view.
• Reset Orientation: Double right click of the mouse button will reset the view to the default orientation.

Pan

The pan mode allows you to pan the 3D view by moving the mouse while clicking and holding the left mouse button.

Secondary Actions

• Orbit: Orbit the 3D geometry by moving the mouse while clicking and holding the right mouse button.
• Zoom: The scroll wheel on the mouse can be used to zoom in and out of the 3D view.
• Reset Orientation: Double right click of the mouse button will reset the view to the default orientation.

Zoom

The zoom mode offers multiple zoom options.

• Zoom in: Zoom into the 3D view by using the left mouse click.  
• Zoom out: Zoom out of the 3D view by using the right mouse click.
• Zoom Select: Left click on the mouse and drag it to create a box.  Once the box covers the desired area release the mouse button to zoom into that area.
• On top of these options you can also use the scroll wheel on the mouse to zoom in and out of the 3D view.

Secondary Actions

• Reset Orientation: Double right click of the mouse button will reset the view to the default orientation.

Ruler

Once the ruler mode is selected, a distance measurement can be made by pressing the left mouse button and then dragging the mouse. A non-permanent triangle is drawn between the locations where the mouse button was pressed (A) and released (B).  The distances are given in the lower left-hand corner of the CAD window (see the image below). The dx and dy fields correspond to the horizontal and vertical distance between A and B, and the AB field corresponds to the length of the hypotenuse.

Secondary actions:

• Zoom: The scroll wheel on the mouse can be used to zoom in and out of the 3D view.
• Reset Orientation: Double right click of the mouse button will reset the view to the default orientation.
• Pan: Pan the 3D view by moving the mouse while clicking and holding the right mouse button.

Offset

The offset mode allows you to stretch and offset a structure by clicking and dragging one of the available markers on the stretchable faces. The operations are applied to certain types of faces of primitive objects:

• rectangle (all faces)
• triangle/polygon (top and bottom faces only)
• circle/ring (top/bottom faces, cylindrical face will offset the outer radius)
• sphere (offset radius)
• pyramid (all faces but path for stretch is aligned to axis)
• 2D rectangle (all edges)

Secondary actions:

• Orbit: Orbit the 3D geometry by moving the mouse while clicking and holding the right mouse button.
• Zoom: The scroll wheel on the mouse can be used to zoom in and out of the 3D view.
• Reset Orientation: Double right click of the mouse button will reset the view to the default orientation.
• Pan: Pan the 3D view by moving the mouse while clicking and holding the left mouse button along with the "shift" button on the keyboard.

Move

The move mode allows you to move the selected object using the mouse, while clicking and holding the left button. When holding the "shift" key of the keyboard, the move will be forced along one of the axis.

Secondary actions:

• Zoom: The scroll wheel on the mouse can be used to zoom in and out of the 3D view.
• Reset Orientation: Double right click of the mouse button will reset the view to the default orientation.Pan: Pan the 3D view by moving the mouse while clicking and holding the right mouse button.

The above mouse operations are summarized in the table below:

Zoom Extent

The zoom extent button on the mouse mode toolbar can be used to zoom in on any selected object(s). In case of structure or layout groups, the zoomed view will contain all the objects inside the group. Since the solvers in Finite Element IDE act as container groups for the simulation objects, zoom extent on the solver region zooms in/out to fit all the simulation objects and the simulation region within the view port.

Solver Object Always on Top

By default, the "solver object always on top" option of the mouse mode toolbar is enabled. This allows the simulation (solver) objects to be seen even through opaque geometries. This option allows viewing the simulation objects even if they lie inside a geometry. Disabling this option will only show a simulation object or part of it if it is outside the geometry (or if the geometry is transparent).

View modes: Hidden line/Shaded/Wireframe

There are three different view modes to render the geometrical structure:

Aspect Ratio

The aspect ratio of the default view port can be changed from the "View" tab under the Viewport section by pressing the "Aspect Ratio" button.  If the aspect ratio is changed from the default 1:1:1 setting then the aspect ratio is viewed at the top-right corner of the view port.