Working in a 3D Viewport

Once a visualization has been successfully generated for a product, selecting the 3D button on the Product Structures screen opens a viewport displaying the 3D model visualization.

Within the viewport, you can view and perform simple actions on the visualization using the toolbar options. The toolbar contains additional actions relating to either the entire scene or to a specific geometry.

Toolbar Options

Icon

Description

(Show Objects)

Displays the selected object or objects.

(Hide Objects)

Hides the selected object or objects.

(Isolate Selection Context)

Hides the objects that aren't part of the active selection context in the viewport and displays only the assembly and the selected object in the active selection context.

To view the entire 3D model again and remove the isolation of the assembly in the active selection context, choose the (Isolate Selection Context) option again.

Turntable

Rotates selected objects and rolls the camera in the 3D viewport. The object always remains on the Z axis and the camera can't rotate all the way around an object.

Orbit

Rotates the scene.

(Pan)

Pans the scene relative to the selected axis or axes.

Zoom

Zooms into a selected section of the scene.

Measurement tool(Measurement Tool)

Measures distances, angular distance, surface area between various elements on 2D drawings and 3D models. You can also calibrate measurements to its actual size.

Fit to View

Provides a best fit of the scene in the user interface, or zooms into a selected section of the scene.

Cross Section Axis
Sets an axis for the cross section plane. The down arrow displays your axis options.

  • X Cross section on the X plane.

  • Y Cross section on the Y plane.

  • Z Cross section on the Z plane.

  • Flip Reverses the cross-section plane to show the opposing cross section.

Uses the pre-defined camera views to display scenes in the viewport. The views enable you to select an orthographic viewpoint for viewing a model.

You can rotate the model by left-clicking your mouse and dragging. The arrows indicate the model orientation. All imported 3D files are normalized on import, so they’re all the same. We define our standard coordinate space to be right-handed with X increases to the right, Y increases as up, and Z increases towards the camera.

Camera view options are:

  • Initial: Returns the camera to the properties that the camera had when you initially loaded this model in this authoring session.

  • Front: The model is displayed front-on.

  • Back: The model is displayed back-on.

  • Left: The model is displayed from the left side.

  • Right: The model is displayed from the right side.

  • Top: The model is displayed from the top.

  • Bottom: The model is displayed from the bottom.
Context Menu Options

Option

Description

Zoom to Fit

Changes the camera so all the objects are visible in the viewport.

Zoom to Selection Context

Changes the camera so all the components of the active selection context are visible.

Zoom to Selected Part

Changes the camera to focus on the selected component.

Clear Selection

Clears the selection and the root BOM becomes the active selection context.

Isolate Selection Context

Hides the objects that aren't part of the active selection context in the viewport and displays only the assembly (active BOM header) and the selected object of the active selection context continues to be highlighted.

Show All

Starts displaying all the objects outside the active selection context semitransparent and removes the display of objects in the active selection context.
Keyboard Shortcuts

Function

Key Combination for Mac

Key Combination for Windows

Drill down into the BOM assembly of the selected object

Shift + Left click

Shift + Left click

Drill a level up the hierrachy of the selected object

Option + Left click

Alt + Left click