6.4 Extended Control Window

Clicking on the [+] button in the lower right corner of the default Viewer window expands to reveal an extended panel of control buttons as shown in Figure 6.3. Note that [+] changes to [-]. Clicking on the [-] button hides the extended control panel. The following sections describe the control options available in the extended control window.

Figure 6.3: The lower portion of extended Viewer window in SCIRun

 

6.4.1 Rendering Controls

The left part of the extended Viewer window contains global rendering settings. Objects can override global settings. See Object Selection and Settings for making object specific settings.

The rendering options are:

Lighting

Toggles whether or not the Viewer applies lighting to the display. Objects without lighting have a constant color.

Fog

Draws objects with variable intensity based on their distance from the user, also known as ``depth cueing''. Close objects appear brighter while more remote objects fade gradually into the background as a function of distance from the front.

BBox

Toggles whether the Viewer draws the selected objects in full detail, or as a simple bounding box.

Use Clip

Applies up to six clipping planes to the display. To control the clipping plane locations, use the ``Edit -> Clipping Planes'' menu at the top of the Viewer window.

Back Cull

Displays only the forward facing facets of any surface objects in the display.

Display List

Cache the list of objects to be displayed. This option accelerates rendering when the content of the display does not change.

Wire

Show only the wire mesh of objects.

Flat

Draw each facet with a constant color.

Gouraud

Linearly interpolate color across facets.

The right column of the extended Viewer window contains controls for displaying the axes and creating stereoscopic rendering.

6.4.2 Object Selection and Settings

The middle panel of the extended Viewer window lists objects displayed in the Viewer window. Each list entry consists of the following items (from left to right):

• Selection button. An object is selected when the selection button is depressed. The Viewer window only displays selected objects.
• An object's name.
• A Options... pop-up menu. The Options... menu controls object specific rendering settings. If item Use Global Controls is set then object specific settings are ignored and global rendering settings are used. Rendering settings are discussed in Rendering Controls.

6.4.3 Miscellaneous Settings

The right part of the of the extended Viewer window contains the following settings:

Show Axes

Toggles the display of coordinate axes centered at coordinate (0, 0, 0).

Orientation

Toggles the display of orientation axes. Orientation axes are displayed in the upper right corner of the Viewer window.

Ortho View

Toggles between perspective and orthographic views.

Stereo

Toggles stereo view on and off. Stereo view requires hardware LCD glasses synchronized with the display, so visibility in each eye coincides with the display of the appropriate view.

Fusion Scale

Controls left and right eye image separation for stereo viewing. Allows the user to establish a separation that is suited to facial anatomy and distance from the screen.