MerlinVR Interface:

The MerlinVR interface consists of:

Main Viewport - The main viewport is the 3D workspace in which you create your models. The models are created here and the objects are imported here. This viewport can also be seperated into multiple viewports each showing a different perspective by choosing Viewport Setup from the viewport pulldown menu.

Object and Scene Tools above the viewport. The scene navigation tools are in blue and the object manipulation tools are in grey.

Scene Navigation (in Blue)

Move Scene - This tool moves the viewport camera forward and backward by left clicking and draging and up and down, and by right clicking and draging. This only works in the perspective view. All other views are orthographic which means they are completely flat (2 dimensional), they have no perspective, you can only either pan or Zoom in or out. Thus right clicking has no effect.

Zoom - This function zooms in (closer) or out (farther away) of both perspective or othographic views. Click the zoom button then left click and drag to zoom in or out. Right click for slower more precise zooming.

Rotate Scene - This function rotates the camera around the scene or/and object that is selected with the Look At command. Rotate scene does not work in orthographic views because they are 2 dimensional.

Field of View - The field of view command adjusts how much of the scene you can see. This command works much like changing the lens of a camera from telephoto where you can see less of the scene and fish eye in which you can see more of the scene. Field of view does however distort the perspective. Adjust by left clicking and draging the mouse. Click on Reset scene to return to normal.

Reset Scene - This command resets the viewport camera to its default position. It sometimes easy to get lost in the 3D workspace, simpily click on the reset scene to return to the default position.

Look At - The Look At command places the cameras center of rotation on the object center that you click on after selecting Look At. This is similar to the study or examine commands found in most other 3D programs or VRML browsers.

Object Tools (in Grey)

Select - Selects an object by clicking on it. By right clicking on this button it brings up the object properties menu.

Clone - Similar to a copy funtion. Left click and drag on the object to make a duplicate and move it along the horizontal axis. Right click and drag to copy and postion along the vertical axis.

Move - Select move and left click and drag to move an object around the horizontal plane. Right click and drag to move the object along the vertical plane.

Rotate - Rotates the object in 3D space. Left and right click for different axis. An click both buttons for an axis relative to the camera.

Scale - Scales an object non-uniformly. Different mouse click select differnet axis.

Delete- When selected deletes the object clicked on.

Main Tools Menu

This menu contains MerlinVR's main commands. They are seperated into four groups which are then seperated into subgroups.

Create Menu - Contains tools relating to initializing your scene. Objects, Lights, Cameras.

Paint Menu - All of the tools relating to the adding of materials or coloring objects. Paint object, Texture loading and Texture Mapping are included.

Tools Menu -All modifiers to objects views and render options are found here.

Animate - The main animation controller and options menu

View-Port Pulldown Menu in the top left corner of the screen contains options for the viewport.

Animation Slider Bar this slider bar adjusts the frame of the animation.

Animation Control Bar this bar located at the bottom right of the screen inlcudes the VCR like controls for animating. Inlcudes play, stop, record, advance, and rewind.