User_Guide_Interface

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General GUI layout

At figure you can see ngPlant application screenshot. There are three main regions:

1. 3D-view region
2. Parameter panel
3. Plant structure panel

3D view camera can be controlled by using mouse and keyboard. To rotate plant model move mouse while holding center mouse button pressed. To move camera move mouse, holding center mouse button and Shift key. Use mouse scroll to change zoom.

Frequently used operations are assigned to Numpad keys:

Action	Keys
Switch to front view	Numpad-1
Switch to right view	Numpad-3
Switch to top view	Numpad-7
Switch to back view	Shift-Numpad-1
Switch to left view	Shift-Numpad-3
Switch to bottom view	Shift-Numpad-7
Rotate around Y axis clockwise	Numpad-4
Rotate around Y axis counterclockwise	Numpad-6
Rotate around X axis clockwise	Numpad-8
Rotate around X axis counterclockwise	Numpad-2
Toggle between orthographic and perspective camera	Numpad-5

Users of Blender will find these shortcuts very familiar...

Numeric editors

Numeric editor allows to change numeric values (integer or floating-point) using mouse. To change value click left mouse button somewhere near numeric value and drag to the right (to increase value) or to the left (to decrease value). Different parameters have different predefined steps by which value is changed. By holding Shift key while dragging mouse you can change value more precisely. Another way to change value is to click on plus and minus signs. Holding Shift while clicking will decrease change step. Mouse wheel can be used to change value also. To change value using keyboard double-click on numeric editor and enter the number in dialog window.

Curve editors

Some plant model parameters are not single values, but rather shows some kind of dependency between two values. For example, such parameter can specify how branch diameter is changed along the branch, or how branch declination angle changes depending on its offset on parent branch and so on... These dependencies are represented as a curves, which can be edited using special controls - curve editors.

Curve editor is shown at the picture on the right. White line at figure represents curve itself. Small red circles are control points which define curve shape. To create new control point set mouse pointer somewhere near curve, and drag it holding left button pressed. To remove control point move mouse to point to be deleted and click right mouse button. To change control point location move mouse to control point and drag it holding left button pressed. Right-click on the free space inside editor displays pop-up menu with a single item - Reset to default, click on this item will reset curve to it's initial state. Double-click on curve editor will open dialog window with much larger editor inside, so curve can be edited more precisely.

Curve editor size can be changed in Preferences dialog (File->Preferences...->Misc.->Curve control ...).

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