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3. Running the program

First we describe a simple example how to run partiview with a supplied sample dataset. Then we describe the different windows that partiview is made up of, and the different commands and keystrokes it listens to.

3.1 Simple example: Hipparcos Bright Star Catalogue

Now start the program using one of the sample "speck" files in the data directory:


       % cd partiview-0.3/src        
       % ./hipbright

and this will come up with a display. You should probably enlarge the window a bit. Mine comes up in roughly a 300 by 300 display window, which may be a bit small (certainly on my screen :-)

hit the TAB key to bring focus to the one line command window inbetween the log screen (top) and viewing screen (bottom). Type the commands


        fov 50                          (field of view 50 degrees)
        jump 0 0 0 80 70 60             (put yourself in the origin
                                        and look at to euler angles
                                        RxRyRz (80,70,60)

and it should give a nice comfy view :-)

partiview view

[spatial units are parsecs, angle units are degrees]

Now play with the display, use the 't', 'r', 'f' and 'o' keys in the viewing window and use the left and mouse buttons down to (carefully) move around a bit, and make yourself comfortable with moving around. Using the 't' button you get some idea of the distance of the stars by moving back and forth a little (the parallax trick). In fact, if you 't' around a little bit, you may see a green line flashing through the display. That is on of the RGB (xyz) axes attached to the (0,0,0) [our sun] position. You should see Procyon and Sirius exhibit pretty large parallaxes, but Orion is pretty steady since it is several hundred parsecs away. If you move the right mouse button you will zoom in/out and should see our Sun flash by with the red-green-blue axes.

Try and use the middle mouse button (or the 'p' key) to click on Sirius or Procyon, and see if you can get it to view its properties. Now use the 'P' key to switch center to rotation to that star. Sirius is probably a good choice. Move around a bit, and try and get the sun and orion in the same view :-)

[NOTE: these Hipparcos data do not have reliably distance above 100-200 pc, so Orion's distances are probably uncertain to 30%]

A little bit on the types of motion, and what the mouse buttons do



              |     left            middle          right
              |     button-1        button-2        button-3
--------------------------------------------------------------------
f (fly)       |     fly             'pick'          zoom
o (orbit)     |     orbit           'pick'          zoom
r (rotate)    |     rotate X/Y      'pick'          rotate Z (+bug?)
t (translate) |     translate       'pick'          zoom

The point of origin for rotations can be changed with the 'P' button. First you can try and pick ('p' or button-2) a point, and if found, hit 'P' to make this point the new rotation center default.


red   = X axis
green = Y axis
blue  = Z axis

3.2 Top Row

The top row, from left to right, shows the following buttons:

More

item

[g1]

g1 (or whichever group) is the currently selected group. See command object ?

[f]ly

Shortcut to select fly/orbit/rot/tran, which can also be activate by pressing the f/o/r/t keys inside the viewing window.

point

Toggle to turn the points on/off

poly

Toggle to turn polygons on/off

lbl

Toggle to turn labels on/off

tex

Toggle to turn textures on/off

box

Toggle to turn boxes on/off

logslum lum

Slider controlling a datavar variable (which?)

3.3 Second Row

The second row from the top controls loading and playing sequences of moving through space

Load...

Brings up a filebrowser to load a .wf path file. This is a file with on each line 7 numbers: xyz location, RxRyRz viewing direction, and FOV (field of view).

Play

Play the currently loaded path

<< < [###] >>>

Control individual path frames

slider

Slider

3.4 Logfile window

The third window from the top contains a logfile of commands gives, and can be resized by dragging the bar between command window and viewing window. The Logfile windows also has a scroll bar on the left.

3.5 Command window

The Command window is a single line entry window, in which VIRDIR commands can be given. Some commands show their result in the Logfile window, others on the originating console.

3.6 Viewing window

The Viewing window is where all the action occurs. Typically this is where you give single keystroke commands and/or move the mouse for an interactive view of the data. It can be resized two ways: either by resizing the master window, or by picking up the separator between Viewing window and Command window above.


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