A model's appearance in a View window is determined by the position of the view's camera and the direction in which it points. The basic actions with the mouse are zooming the camera in and out using the scroll wheel, panning the camera using left drag, and orbiting the camera using right drag.
View Camera Controls
Mouse/Keyboard Action |
Effect |
Left Click |
Selects the point of interest. The point on the surface of the object under the cursor becomes the point of interest. If no object is under the cursor, the point on the xy-plane is used. |
Scroll Wheel |
Zooms the camera in or out. The camera is moved towards or away from the point of interest. One click moves the camera 10% closer to or farther away from the point of interest. |
Left Drag |
Pans the xy-plane. The camera is moved in the xy-plane from its present position. The point of interest is reset to the cursor position. |
Shift + Left Drag |
Pans the z-axis. The camera is moved along the z-axis from its present position. The point of interest is reset to the cursor position. |
Right Drag |
Orbits the camera. The camera orbits left/right and up/down around the point of interest. |
Shift + Right Drag |
Look around. The camera looks left/right and up/down. The point of interest is unchanged. |
If no object is selected, the camera can also be moved using the arrow keys or the WASD keys.
An individual object can be moved by left clicking on the object to select it and then using control + left drag to reposition it. Multiple objects can be moved by selecting them one at a time using control + left click and them moving them as a group using control + left drag.
By default, dragging an object moves it in the xy-plane. An object can be moved in the z-direction by holding down both the Control and Shift keys and dragging the object up and down.
The size and orientation of a selected object can be manipulated using Ctrl + left drag on a corner of the object or on its rotation handle.
Moving and Resizing Objects
Mouse/Keyboard Action |
Effect |
Left Click |
Selects the object. The object under the cursor is selected for input/output viewing and for repositioning, resizing, or rotating. The selected object is indicated by a green rectangle bordering it. Green handles allow the object to be resized or rotated. |
Ctrl + Left Click |
Selects multiple objects. Adds the object to a list of selected objects. |
Ctrl + Left Drag |
Moves the object(s) parallel to the xy-plane, while holding its z-coordinate constant. |
Shift + Ctrl + Left Drag |
Moves the object(s) parallel to the z-axis, while holding its x-coordinate and y-coordinate constant. |
Ctrl + Left Drag on a Handle |
Resizes or rotates the object. Ignored it multiple objects are selected. |
The selected object can also be moved using the arrow keys or the WASD keys.
Polyline objects such as Arrow can be re-shaped using the mouse. When selected, these types of objects display coloured handles at each node in the polyline. The node at the start of the line is coloured blue, the one at the end is coloured yellow, and intermediate nodes are coloured green.
Reshaping Polyline Objects
Mouse/Keyboard Action |
Effect |
Ctrl + Left Drag on a node |
Moves location of the node in the xy-plane. |
Shift + Ctrl + Left Drag on a node |
Moves the location of the node along the z-axis. |
Alt + Ctrl + Left Click on the Line |
Adds a new node to the line. |
Shift +Alt + Ctrl + Left Click on an intermediate node |
Deletes the node. |
Adding and removing nodes can also be done using the right click (context) menu.