19.2.8 Point of view

The point of view is what the user can see. The point of view is defined by the position of the observer’s eye, and a target point defining the eye direction and the field of view. You will be able to save the current point of view and recall it again later to look at the scene under the same conditions.

q Positioning the eye

The eye is the point from which the scene is viewed. You can modify the Eye position using the navigation icon or the keys described in the paragraph The Views. Amapi 3D also lets you specify the position of the observer’s eye precisely using the Eye tool.

Usage:

1. Selecting the Point of View tool.

Click on the icon depicting the View Point tool in the Control Panel.
The cursor takes the shape of a viewfinder.

2. Selecting the Eye tool.

There are two ways to do this:
· In the Assistant Palette, click on the Eye icon depicting the tool in the “Mode” area of the Assistant Palette.
Or
· Press the spacebar.

The cursor becomes an eye.

3. Positioning the Point of View.

There are two way to do this:
· Positioning the cursor on a point (belonging to an object).
· Entering the coordinates through the keyboard. Press the Tab key, enter the coordinates, then Press the Return key to validate the entry.

4. Ending the action.

Validate or put the tool aside to end the action (depending on the interface). See chapter User Manual/Tools/Generic use of a tool/How do you end a tool action?

q Positioning the Target Point

The Target Point is the point toward which the eye looks.
The Target Point is also the center of rotation of the scene (when you rotate the scene to change point of view).
It is also the center point for zooming the scene in and out.
The Target Point is set using the Bullseye tool.

If the scene is empty, Amapi 3D sets the Target Point over the center of the table. However, you can specify a different position for it if you want (see how in the “Usage” paragraph below).
Amapi 3D specifies the position of the Target Point automatically in the following cases:

· See Detail (see chapter User Manual/ View/ Zoom/ See Detail): The Target Point is at the center of geometry of the detail.
· See All (see chapter User Manual/ View/ Zoom/ See All): The Target Point is at the center of geometry of the scene.
· Panoramic sight of the scene (see chapter User Manual/ View/ Navigation / Get a panoramic sight of the scene): The Target Point is moved with the scene.

Usage:

1. Selecting the tool.

Click on the icon depicting the tool in the Control Panel.
The cursor takes the shape of a viewfinder.

2. Positioning the Point of View.

There are two ways to do this:
· Clicking on a point (belonging to an object).
· Entering the coordinates through the keyboard. Press the Tab key, enter the coordinates, then press the Return key to validate the entry.

3. Ending the action.

Validate or put the tool aside to end the action (depending on the interface). See chapter User Manual/Tools/Generic use of a tool/How do you end a tool action?

q Saving the current point of view

If you think you will use frequently the same point of view, you can save it so that you can use it again later.

Using the Point of View tool:
1. Display the point of view you want to save (using the navigation icon or the arrow keys or positioning the Eye and the Target Point as described previously).
2. Drag the cursor on top of the Point of View icon button in the Control Panel.
3. On PC: Click the right mouse button.
On Mac: Press the Option key and simultaneously click the mouse button.

The list of points of view and cameras appears.

4. Click on “New” to save the current point of view. Amapi 3D saves the point of view with the name “view” followed by a number n, its sequence number.

Using the hotkey:
1. Set the Amapi 3D current viewpoint to what you want to save.
2. Once you have set the correct viewpoint,
On PC: Press Ctrl+Return.
On Mac: Press Command+Return.
The current point view is saved with the name “view” followed by a number n, its sequence number.

The points of view are saved as invisible cameras in a specific layer. (See chapter User Manual/ Modeling help tools/Control Panel/Scene Manager/ Classification by layer.) You can have the cameras be visible or not.

q Recalling a point of view

You can recall a point of view using either the “Point of View” tool or using a keyboard shortcut:

Using the Point of View tool:
1. Drag the cursor on top of the Point of View icon button in the Control Panel.

On PC: Click the right mouse button.
On Mac: Press the Option key and simultaneously click the mouse button.
The list of the different points of view and cameras appear.

2. Drag the cursor on top of the point of view or camera name you want to recall and click the mouse button. Amapi 3D automatically display the scene seen from the selected point of view.

Using the keyboard shortcut:
Use the following key combinations:
· Ctrl+0 to watch the scene from the first point of view of the list.
· Ctrl+1 to watch the scene from the first point of view of the list.
· Etc.


The cameras are the tools used to set the Point of View. (See chapter User Manual/Rendering/Cameras.) As you may need to view the scene from one of them, they are also listed in the point of view list.

q Deleting a point of view

Proceed as follows to delete a saved point of view:
1. The point of view you want to delete must be the current point of view. (See above paragraph Recalling a point of view).
2. Drag the cursor on top of the Point of View icon button in the Control Panel.
3. On PC: Click the right mouse button. On Mac: Press the Option key and simultaneously click the mouse button.
4. Click on “Delete” to delete the point of view from the list.