Bottom Toolbar

The Bottom Toolbar is your main interaction panel, giving you quick access to essential tools for navigating, selecting, and analyzing the 3D scene. From here, you can switch navigation modes, toggle between perspective and orthographic camera views, manipulate viewpoints, select objects, and apply various measurement functions to compare distances or relationships between elements in your setup.

📘How to use the Bottom Toolbar:

Selection Tool

This is the first button on the 3D Viewer toolbar and controls how you select elements in your scene.

Default Mode – Select objects one by one. Ideal for precise inspection or editing of individual components.
Area Selection Mode – Allows box selection: click and drag to select multiple objects simultaneously. Useful when working with grouped elements or applying transformations to several parts at once.
Ray Drill Select – Selects objects along a virtual ray cast from the camera through the cursor. Instead of picking just the first object, this mode identifies all objects intersected by the ray.

💡 Tip: Use area selection when you want to apply changes to multiple elements quickly.

Navigation Modes

The 3D Viewer lets you explore your machining setup with precision, giving you multiple ways to navigate through the scene depending on your needs.

Navigate (3D Pan) – Click and drag to move the entire scene freely in any direction. Perfect for quick adjustments and viewing different areas without changing orientation.

Controls:

Left**-**Mouse Button + drag: Rotate the view - When you left-click in the scene, a black dot appears at the selected location. This dot represents the pivot point around which the camera will rotate
Mouse Scroll: Zoom in/out toward the cursor - Scrolling the mouse wheel will zoom the scene toward the cursor’s position in the 3D View (pivot point).
Mouse Scroll + Click + drag: Pan the scene - Tip: The pivot point is where the mouse cursor’s position is in the 3D View.
Right**-**Mouse Button + drag: Dolly Zoom - The pivot point is fixed at the center of the 3D View.

💡 Tip: Knowing the pivot point for each control helps you navigate precisely and inspect your setup more efficiently.

Turntable – Rotate the view around a fixed center point on the Z-axis. This is ideal for inspecting an object from all angles.

💡 Tip: The Turntable is great for rotating around the part

Mouse Walk – Provides a first**-**person perspective, similar to walking through the setup. This immersive mode is useful for detailed inspection of complex or large arrangements.

💡 Tip: Mouse Walk gives a more immersive feel.

Keyboard Walk – Provides a first**-**person perspective, similar to walking through the setup. This immersive mode is useful for detailed inspection of complex or large arrangements.
Camera Settings

The 3D Viewer gives you control over how the scene is rendered, so you can adapt the view to your task and improve spatial understanding.

Perspective View – Adds depth and realism to the scene, making it easier to understand spatial relationships.
Orthographic View – Maintains true scale and proportions, which is essential for accurate measurements and alignment checks.

💡 Tip: Switch to Orthographic View when performing dimension checks or aligning elements precisely.

Visualization Settings

The 3D Viewer allows you to control how elements are displayed, giving you flexibility to focus on what matters most.

Available Rendering Modes:

Shading with edges – Renders faces and outlines, offering a clear, detailed view of geometry.
Shading – Displays only shaded faces, without edge lines, for a clean and minimal look.
Tessellation edges – Shows only the tessellation edges, useful for analyzing mesh structure.
X**-**Ray – Selected items remain fully visible, while unselected items become transparent, helping you see through overlapping components.
Gooch - Applies mid-tone shading so edges and contours remain visually distinct without harsh highlights.
Toon –Uses discrete shading levels for a stylized, cartoon-like appearance that emphasizes shape and silhouette.

💡 Tip: Use Rendering Modes to reduce clutter and focus on specific elements during inspection or editing.

Measurement Tools – Precision at Your Fingertips

The 3D Viewer provides built-in measurement tools that let you check critical dimensions directly inside your machining scene. No need to switch applications or leave the workspace — you can quickly validate distances, clearances, and alignment.

What you can do with the Measurement Tool:

Measure point to point: Measures the distance between two points.

How to: Click to select the first point, then the second point.

Measure line-to-line angle - Measures the angle between two lines (0–180°)

How to:

Select the intersection (common point) of the lines.
Click the first line, then the second line.

💡Tip: The angle between the lines is displayed after the second point is placed.

Measure edge length - Measures the length of edges. For circles, it measures the radius.

How to: just click on the edge that you need to measure

Measure polygon area - Measures the area of a user-defined polygon.

How to: Click to add points; double*-*click the last point to complete the polygon.

Measure polyline distance - Measures the total length of a polyline.

How to: Click to add points; double*-*click to finish an open polyline or click the first point again to close the loop.

Measure body**-to-**body distance - Measures the minimum distance between two bodies.

How to: Hover to highlight a body, click to select it, then select a second body. Move the mouse to position the measurement label and click to finalize.

Measure face**-to-**face distance - Measures the minimum distance between two faces

How to: Hover to highlight a face, click to select it, then select a second face. Move the mouse to position the measurement label and click to finalize.

Measure face-to-face angle - Measures the angle between two faces

How to: Hover to highlight a face, click to select it, then select a second face. Move the mouse to position the measurement label and click to finalize.

🎯 Operator insights

Use Area selection mode to quickly select multiple elements for inspection.
Switch to Orthographic view for precise alignment and dimension checks.
Vertex snapping is enabled by default for all measurement modes; to disable it, hold Alt before each selection.

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