Model View Mouse Controls

By default, the first button referred to here is the left mouse button and the second button is the middle button. These two buttons can be switched using an option in the 3dmod Preferences dialog, accessed via the Edit-Options menu entry in the 3dmod Info Window.

Moving/Rotating/Zooming the Model

First Mouse Button Drag
The first mouse button moves the model when held down.
Second Mouse Button Drag
The second mouse button rotates the model around an axis perpendicular to the direction of motion of the mouse. It can also be used to "throw" the model in a new direction if the model is already rotating automatically, or if a button or hot key has been pressed to start rotation. The model will rotate continuously in the direction of movement, and the speed of rotation will be proportional to the distance moved. (Moving 100 pixels will make it rotate at the standard speed.)
[Shift] + Right Mouse Button Drag
The right mouse button together with the Shift key can be used to rotate the model around the viewing (Z) axis.
Scroll Wheel
The scroll wheel zooms the model display up or down.

Moving/Rotating a Clipping Plane

[Ctrl] + First Mouse Button Drag
When the Ctrl key is held down, the first mouse button moves the current clipping plane.
[Ctrl] + Second Mouse Button Drag
When the Ctrl key is held down, the second mouse button rotates the current object clipping plane around an axis perpendicular to the direction of motion of the mouse.
[Ctrl] + [Shift] + Right Mouse Button Drag
When both the Ctrl and the Shift key are held down, the right mouse button rotates the current clipping plane around the viewing (Z) axis.

Moving the Light Source

[Shift] + Second Mouse Button Drag
When the Shift key is held down, the second mouse button rotates the light source instead instead of the model. A red vector with a cross on the end is drawn from the middle of the window in the direction of the light source. If you move the light by mistake, you can recenter it by rotating it until only the cross appears. The light direction is specific to each model if multiple models are loaded, and to the particular view if multiple views have been stored.

Selecting Points and Contours

Right Mouse Button Click
Clicking on a point in the model with the right mouse button will select the nearest, frontmost point in the model as the current model point. This is mostly useful when using the Model View from 3dmod, but it can be used to select and delete contours when running the program as 3dmodv. When 3dmod is in model mode, clicking on an object with a saved isosurface will make that the current object.
[Ctrl] + Right Mouse Button Click or Drag
Multiple contours can be selected by holding the Ctrl key down; click on a contour to add it to the set of contours selected in Model View or to remove it from the set if it is already selected. Dragging the mouse with the right button down and the Ctrl key down will add contours that are crossed by the mouse to the set of contours selected in Model View. In either case, if the current point was selected in a 3dmod window instead of in Model View, the set of selected contours will be cleared before adding ones selected in Model View. When 3dmod is in model mode, clicking on an object with a saved isosurface will add that object to the list of selected objects. Because there is no visible indicator of which objects are selected, the list of selected objects will be printed in the Info window. Note that Ctrl+A can also be used to select all contours that are being drawn in the current object (excluding ones that are completely clipped).
[Ctrl] + [Shift] + Right Mouse Button Click
Points can be selected in the current object by holding down the Ctrl and Shift keys and clicking with the right mouse button. The nearest, frontmost point in the current object will be selected. This feature is particularly useful when modeling scattered points that are being used to paint an isosurface, but it will work in other situations as well.

Modeling Scattered Points

If the current object type is scattered points, then holding down the Ctrl and Shift buttons allows you to move, resize, or add points with the mouse. Hot keys can also be used to move or delete a point.
[Ctrl] + [Shift] + Left Mouse Button Drag
Moving the mouse while holding down the Ctrl and Shift keys and the left mouse button will move the current scattered point.
[Ctrl] + [Shift] + Middle Mouse Button Click
Clicking the middle mouse button while holding down the Ctrl and Shift keys will insert a scattered point, as long as the model view is opened from 3dmod and 3dmod is in model mode. The point will be centered at the location that would be selected by clicking with the right mouse button. If the click selects a point on a meshed surface, then the new point will have its center on that surface.
[Ctrl] + [Shift] + Scroll Wheel
Operating the mouse scroll wheel while holding down the Ctrl and Shift keys will resize the the current scattered point.

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