Select volume

Volume selection is possible in the 3D View (for both points data and HyperBubble data) and the BubbleView. The Get Volume at point button is also available directly within a BubbleView when it is opened in its own window.

To select a volume:

1. Select the icon shown below and then select a point in the 3D window around which to create a volume.

   

   This brings up a blue volume box as shown below. If the point selected is 6 meters or closer, a 1-meter volume cube is created which is centred on the selected point. For every additional meter over 6 meters, the size of the volume cube increases by 10%.

   

2. After the blue volume box is visible, you may resize the box by clicking and dragging any of the blue, arrow grips which appear on each side and corner of the box. While the box is being resized, only the data inside the box is shown in the 3D window.

   You can also choose to select the icon below to translate or rotate the volume. This appears at the bottom-right corner of the screen.

   

   For details, see Translating or Rotating a Volume.

3. When you are happy with the size and location of the volume box, either press Enter or right-click to accept the current selection. At this point, the dialogue shown below appears.

   

   The descriptions for each field are given below:

   • Min/Max - Use to edit the minimum and maximum corners of the volume.

   • Centred - Use to select a volume of a specified size around a particular center point.

   • Subdraw - Enter a value using the arrows. This value is calculated to offer the best compromise between resolution and display speed for 3D points. You can accept this value, or change it by manual input. If the new value selected attempts to retrieve more points than would allow effective display, then the subdraw field colours orange as a warning; the lowest subdraw number will be automatically selected to display maximum points.

     The subdraw field is not available if HyperBubble data is being displayed in the 3D view.

   • Hide Low Res - Enable to automatically remove data outside the selected volume from the display, leaving only data inside the chosen volume visible.

   • Add to Manager - Enable to automatically add the chosen volume to the volumes manager list.

4. Select OK to display the chosen volume at the specified resolution.

Translating or rotating a volume

To translate or rotate a volume:

5. Select the icon shown below.

   

   This brings up the modification frame as shown below.

   

   Each arc may be dragged to rotate the volume about the correspondingly coloured line, and the volume may be dragged to translate along the selected line. This feature provides immediate visual feedback permitting exact points selection.

   The white spot in the center of the circle indicates the volume center position, about which all rotations are performed. For information about how to change the box rotation point, please see section Define.

6. To translate, click, hold and drag along the axial line. Release to leave the volume in the new position. As seen in the image below, inactive axes of movement are removed from the display after an axis of movement has been selected.

   

   The volume then moves along the remaining visible axis until the left mouse button is released.

7. To rotate the volume, click, hold and drag on the circle. Release to leave the volume in the new position. As can be seen in the image below, inactive axes of movement are removed from the display after an axis of movement has been selected.

   

   The volume then moves about the remaining visible axis until the left mouse button is released.

   Whilst in the Translation/Rotation mode, the Translate/Rotate icon will change to the Resize icon. Select the icon shown below to return to resize mode.

   

Selecting a volume in orthographic mode

To select a volume in the Orthographic mode:

8. Select the Switch to 3D orthographic button at the top-right corner of the screen. The split screen Orthographic mode is displayed.

9. You can then make volume selections by dragging a box in each window. The Volume Selection dialogue box will then appear giving further control of selection options.

   After the box in the first window has been selected, if necessary, the second window will center on the correct position for the second selection to be completed.

   

   After the squares have been drawn in both views, the Volume Selection dialogue appears.

10. To remove areas outside the selected volume, select the Low Res button on the Visualisation menu.

    

For speed, panning can be performed by clicking, holding the left-hand mouse button whilst moving the mouse; zooming is achieved by scrolling the mouse wheel. All operations (such as actions under Volumes, Objects and Tools) can be cancelled by either selecting another operation, or pressing the Esc key. When the Orthographic mode is selected, the operator can control the left viewport to display the front/rear/side views of the dataset, the right viewport is a fixed plan view. Direction of view is controlled by the left/right arrows on the keyboard.