


<h2><a NAME="principles">Principles</a></h2>
<img SRC="window.jpg">
<p>The main window as it is shown on the picture consists of 7 major parts:
the menu bar, the tool boxes, the tools, the drawing information area, 
the drawing area, the object list and the help and progress bars. 
Some parts can be modified
by the user , for example it is possible to divide 
the drawing area into few editor windows (up to 4).
<br>the Menu Bar containes: 
<UL>
  <LI> <B>File</B>: Saving, exporting, importing and exit.
  <LI> <B>Edit</B>: Copy, cut and paste and positioning objects
  <LI> <B>View</B>: Selecting 1, 2, 4 views of the scene.
  <LI> <B>Effects</B>: Action on objects.
  <LI> <B>Objects</B>: Creating new objects, like blob objects or 
       heightfiled objects or...
  <LI> <B>Options</B>: Setting the configuration of ppModeler
  <LI> <B>Help</B>: Help on ppModeler and the About window.
</UL>

The tool boxes are located on the top-left side. This menu containes the
buttons that allow the user to switch from one tool box to another one.....
Each tool box is dedicated to a primitive componenent. An object is composed 
of vertices, edges, faces. A scene is made of objects, lights and a camera. 
So, there is a tool box for working on vertices and edges, one for working 
on faces, one for creating and positioning objects, one for modify objects, 
one for managing lights, and one for placing the camera. A last special 
tool box is dedicated to object animation.<br>
The user can acces to <b>tool tips</b> by pressing the <b>right mouse 
button</b> on one button of the tool bars.<br>
The help bar is located on the bottom, it containes the progress status
that is used for a long operations. The bottom left area is dedicated to
the possible tools and states of the selected tool box. This area changes
according to the current tool box.
<br>The big black area on the right is the drawing part.
<br>&nbsp;
<table>
<tr VALIGN=TOP>
<td><img SRC="repere.gif" ></td>

<td>On the bottom of the drawing area, the world coordinates is drawn.
ppModeler uses a left hand coordinate system. That means, when the x axis
(associated to the thumb) points to the right, the y axis to the top, the
z axis points into the screen.&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
</table>

<table>
<tr VALIGN=TOP>
<td><a NAME="draw_camera"></a><img SRC="drawcam.gif" ></td>

<td>The white star is a light, the white arrow is the camera. The box is
the camera origin. The arrow shows to the camera direction. The camera
is set so that the y axis is vertical from the camera point of view.&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
</table>

<h2>
<a NAME="info_area"></a> Managing the view(s)</h2>

<table>
<tr VALIGN=TOP>
<td><img SRC="params.gif" ></td>
<td></td>
<td><a NAME="viewcfg"><img SRC="viewcfg.gif" ></a></td>
</tr>
<tr VALIGN=TOP>
<td>configuration of the last view and <br>
    information area.</td>
<td></td>
<td>configuration of the view, with the 'o' shortkey.</td>

</tr>
</table>
Draw mode :
<dl>
<li>wire, all :&nbsp; all the edges of objects are visible. 
  If the tool <img SRC="i_vertex.gif" >
  (work on the vertices) is selected, all vertices are surrounded by a small
  boxes&nbsp; (usefull to find vertices). If the drawing mode is set to iso
  view, the bounding sphere is drawn.<br>
  <img SRC="wirevw.gif" align="middle"> A sphere in <B>wire, all</B> mode.</li>
<li>wire, visible : all the edges that belongs to visible faces are drawn,
  and the faces are not filled.<br>
  <img SRC="visvw.gif" align="middle"> A sphere in 
  <B>wire, visible</B> mode.</li>
<li>wire, hidden : only visible edges of objects are drawn. The selected objects
  are in white, the unselected in blue. The zoom factor is ignored if the 
  drawing mode is not iso view.<br>
  <img SRC="hidevw.gif" align="middle"> A sphere in 
  <B>wire, hidden</B> mode.</li>
<li>flat shadded : flat shadded faces are drawn.<br>
  <img SRC="flatvw.gif" align="middle"> A sphere in 
  <B>flat shadded</B> mode.</li>
<li>textured : draw the objects with all the material properties.<br>
  <img SRC="txtvw.gif" align="middle"> A sphere in <B>textured</B> mode.</li>
</dl>
Iso view : if set, the drawing mode is iso view, otherwise, it is perspective.
The difference between the two modes is explain in the following picture :<br>
<img SRC="pers-iso.gif"><br>
In perspective view, the size on screen of the object is related to the 
distance between the view point and the object. Far object are small, near 
object are big. This is more or less a model of a normal camera.
But, it is usefull to view the object with a size not related to its 
distance from the view point. That the purpose of the iso view. Most of 
the time, when modeling object, the iso view is selected.

<p>Light at user : if set, when the drawing mode is flat or textured, the
scene is lighted by one virtual light placed at the viewer position. Otherwise,
the scene is lighted by the scene defined lights.&nbsp;
<p>Zoom : Set the zoom mode. This parameter is not active in flat and 
texture draw mode. It is not active either in wire hiden mode, with perspective
view turn on.
<p>&nbsp;Blue texte : Information depending on the current action.
<p>&nbsp;</td>

<h2><a NAME="selecting">Selecting objects</a></h2>
<img SRC="selectob.gif" ><img SRC="selectvi.gif" >
<p>Objects can be selected by placing the tool in the
<a href="#objects">selecting
mode</a> or using the object list. 
A selected object is displayed in yellow, an unselected one in blue.
A left click on a name unselect all the object and select the pointed name 
object. A left click while the "Shift" key is pressed toggle the selection
of the corresponding object. A right click changes the object visibility. A green
circle on the right of the object name is for visible objects, a red one
for unvisible objects. The "A" key selects all the objects. The "N" key
unselects all the objects. This key are active if the mouse pointer is on
the object list.<p>
In <a HREF="#animations">animation mode</a>, 
the object list displays the skeleton, showing
the name of each bone.<br>

<IMG SRC="objhand.gif"><P>
Each object have a selection handle in its center (light blue square).
The selected objects have a selection handle (purple square), 
placed in the barycenter of the
selected objects, and an action handle. The selection handle is used to move the
objects and the action handle is used to rotate and scale the selected objects.

<h2><a NAME="view_point">Moving the view point</a></h2>

Moving the view point is done with the keyboard. The view which has the 
keyboard focus is drawn with red axes, the other with blue axes.
<ul>
<li><B>o</B> : open the the <a HREF="#viewcfg">configure view window</a></li>
<li><B>x</B> : the x axis points inside the screen</li>
<li><B>y</B> : the y axis points inside the screen</li>
<li><B>z</B> : the z axis points inside the screen</li>
<li><B>c</B> : view the scene from the camera</li>
<li><B>f</B> : flip the view (view from the opposite point of view)</li>
<li><B>v</B> : view toward the selected part</li>
<li><B>w</B> : center the view</li>
<li><B>-</B> : the view goes backward</li>
<li><B>+</B> : the view goes forward</li>
<li><B>up, down, left, right, page up, page down</B> : 
  rotation of the view around the centre of the selected part.</li>
<li><b>a</b> : select all objects, or all faces or all vertices according to
  the selected tool box.
<li><b>i</b> : Invert selection.
</ul>




