Tekla Structures

3D Mouse User Guide

Product version 16.0 December 2009

2010 Tekla Corporation

 2010 Tekla Corporation and its licensors. All rights reserved. This Software Manual has been developed for use with the referenced Software. Use of the Software, and use of this Software Manual are governed by a License Agreement. Among other provisions, the License Agreement sets certain warranties for the Software and this Manual, disclaims other warranties, limits recoverable damages, defines permitted uses of the Software, and determines whether you are an authorized user of the Software. All information set forth in this manual is provided with the warranty set forth in the License Agreement. Please refer to the License Agreement for important obligations and applicable limitations and restrictions on your rights. Tekla does not guarantee that the text is free of technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Tekla reserves the right to make changes and additions to this manual due to changes in the software or otherwise. In addition, this Software Manual is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. Unauthorized reproduction, display, modification, or distribution of this Manual, or any portion of it, may result in severe civil and criminal penalties, and will be prosecuted to the full extent permitted by law. Tekla, Tekla Structures, Xcity, Xengineer, Xpipe, Xroad, Xpower, Xsteel, and Xstreet are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Tekla Corporation in the European Union, the United States, and/or other countries. Other product and company names mentioned in this Manual are or may be trademarks of their respective owners. By referring to a third-party product or brand, Tekla does not intend to suggest an affiliation with or endorsement by such third party and disclaims any such affiliation or endorsement, except where otherwise expressly stated. Portions of this software: D-Cubed 2D DCM 2008 Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software III (GB) Ltd. All rights reserved. EPM toolkit 1995-2004 EPM Technology a.s., Oslo, Norway. All rights reserved. XML parser 1999 The Apache Software Foundation. All rights reserved. Project Data Control Library 2006 - 2007 DlhSoft. All rights reserved. DWGdirect, DGNdirect and OpenDWG Toolkit/Viewkit libraries 1998-2005 Open Design Alliance. All rights reserved. FlexNet Copyright 2006 Flexera Software Limited. All Rights Reserved. This product contains proprietary and confidential technology provided by and owned by Flexera Software Limited Of Schaumburg, IL, USA. Any use, copying, publication, distribution, display, modification, or transmission of such technology in whole or in part in any form or by any means without the prior express written permission of Flexera Software Limited is strictly prohibited. Except where expressly provided by Flexera Software Limited in writing, possession of this technology shall not be construed to confer any license or rights under any of Flexera Softwares intellectual property rights, whether by estoppel, implication, or otherwise. The software is protected by U.S. Patent 7,302,368. Also elements of the software described in this Manual may be the subject of pending patent applications in the European Union and/or other countries including U.S. patent applications 2004031231, 2004267695, 2005285881, 2006000484 and 200613639.

Conventions used in this guide

Typographical conventions

The following typographical conventions are used in this guide:

Font
Bold

Usage Any text that you see in the user interface appears in bold. This font is used, for example, for window and dialog box titles, box and button names, and list items. New terms are in italic bold when they appear in the current context for the first time. Extracts of program code, HTML, or other material that you would normally edit in a text editor, appear in monospaced font. This font is also used for file names and folder paths, and for any text that you should type yourself.

Italic bold Monospace

Noteboxes

The following types of noteboxes are used in this guide:

A tip might introduce a shortcut, or suggest alternative ways of doing things.

A note draws attention to details that you might easily overlook. It can also point you to other information in this guide that you might find useful.

You should always read very important notes and warnings, like this one. They will help you avoid making serious mistakes, or wasting your time.

This symbol indicates advanced or highly technical information that is usually of interest only to advanced or technically-oriented readers.

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Contents
Conventions used in this guide ........................................................................................................................... 3

1 2 3

About 3D mice ........................................................................................... 5 Installing a 3D mouse................................................................................ 7 Changing the 3D mouse settings............................................................. 9

3.1 Changing the mappings.......................................................................................................................... 9 Available commands ........................................................................................................................ SpaceNavigator button identifiers .................................................................................................... SpaceExplorer button identifiers ...................................................................................................... SpacePilot button identifiers............................................................................................................. Checking mouse button identifiers ................................................................................................... 3.2 3.3 3.4 10 11 12 13 13

Adjusting axis sensitivity ....................................................................................................................... 14 Adjusting axis speed............................................................................................................................. 14 Changing axis direction ........................................................................................................................ 15

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About 3D mice

Tekla Structures 16.0 is compatible with the following 3D mice provided by 3Dconnexion: SpaceNavigator, SpaceExplorer, and SpacePilot. The main features of the 3D mice are:

You can simultaneously pan, zoom and rotate models and objects on your screen. The 3D mouse controller cap easily rotates in six directions. You can use the 3D mouse in conjunction with an ordinary wheel mouse. For example, you can use one hand to control the wheel mouse, and the other hand to control the 3D mouse. You can easily customize the functionality of the 3D mouse. 3D mice have programmable buttons that you can map to the most frequently used Tekla Structures commands. You can change the function of each button at any time.

For more information on 3Dconnexions 3D mice, see http:// www.3dconnexion.com.

See also

Installing a 3D mouse (p. 7) Available commands (p. 10)

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TEKLA STRUCTURES 16 About 3D mice

Installing a 3D mouse

Before you start, download 3DConnexionInstaller_160.exe from the Tekla Extranet. To install a 3D mouse: 1. 2. Connect the 3D mouse to your computer's USB port. Windows automatically recognizes the mouse when you plug it in. Install the configuration file for the 3D mouse. a Start Tekla Structures 16.0. b Run the 3DConnexionInstaller_160.exe file. c In the installer dialog box, select your 3D mouse from the device list and then click Install. A predefined configuration file (DirectInput.cfg) is saved onto your computer.

In Windows Vista and Windows 7, the file is located in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Tekla Structures\16.0\UserSettings. In Windows XP, the file is located in C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Tekla Structures\16.0\UserSettings.

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Alternatively, you can store the configuration file in a common folder so that it is available for all users in your company. To do this, save the configuration file on a network drive and add the following line at the end of the user.ini file:
set XS_DIRECTINPUT_CONFIG=<configuration_file_location>

For example:
set XS_DIRECTINPUT_CONFIG=Z:\Common_files\DirectInput.cfg See also

About 3D mice (p. 5)

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Changing the 3D mouse settings

This section describes how to map the mouse buttons, and how to change the sensitivity and direction of the axes.
Contents

Changing the mappings (p. 9) Adjusting axis sensitivity (p. 14) Adjusting axis speed (p. 14) Changing axis direction (p. 15)

3.1 Changing the mappings

The buttons on your 3D mouse are pre-mapped to certain commands in Tekla Structures. For example, when you press a particular mouse button, Tekla Structures fits the work area in the model. You can change these mappings at any time to better suit your needs. To change the mappings of your 3D mouse: 1. 2. Open the DirectInput.cfg file in a text editor. Change the ButtonID value of a particular command. Each ButtonID value refers to a particular mouse button identifier (ID). For example, the value 4 refers to the mouse button with the identifier ID=4. Repeat step 2 for each button whose mapping you want to change. Optional: To disable a button, set the corresponding ButtonId value to -1. Save the file. Restart Tekla Structures for the changes to take effect.

3. 4. 5. 6.
Example

The following example shows the SpaceExplorer configuration file. The button with the identifier ID=1 is not being used in this example.

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See also

Available commands (p. 10) Checking mouse button identifiers (p. 13) SpaceNavigator button identifiers (p. 11) SpaceExplorer button identifiers (p. 12) SpacePilot button identifiers (p. 13)

Available commands
The following Tekla Structures commands can be used with 3Dconnexions 3D mice:

Command BUTTON_INFO BUTTON_ZOOM_ORIGINAL BUTTON_ZOOM_IN BUTTON_ZOOM_OUT BUTTON_PAN_UP BUTTON_PAN_DOWN BUTTON_PAN_LEFT BUTTON_PAN_RIGHT BUTTON_SET_VIEW_POINT BUTTON_FIT_WORKAREA_BY_OB JECTS BUTTON_FIT_WORKAREA_ALL

Description See Checking mouse button identifiers (p. 13). Restores the original level of zoom. Zooms in. Zooms out. Moves the viewpoint downwards. Moves the viewpoint upwards. Moves the viewpoint to the right. Moves the viewpoint to the left. Relocates the center of rotation. Fits the work area to include the selected parts only. Fits the work area to include all model objects.

10

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See also

Changing the mappings (p. 9)

SpaceNavigator button identifiers

Use the following identifiers when mapping the mouse buttons on a SpaceNavigator:

See also

Changing the mappings (p. 9)

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11

SpaceExplorer button identifiers

Use the following identifiers when mapping the mouse buttons on a SpaceExplorer:

See also

Changing the mappings (p. 9)

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SpacePilot button identifiers

Use the following identifiers when mapping the mouse buttons on a SpacePilot:

See also

Changing the mappings (p. 9)

Checking mouse button identifiers

Use the BUTTON_INFO option to easily figure out the identifier of an unmapped mouse button. This can be useful when you are configuring a 3D mouse whose buttons are not listed in this document.

This functionality only works for unmapped buttons. If a button is already mapped to a command, its identifier cannot be displayed on the status bar.

To check the identifier of an umapped button: 1. 2. In the configuration file, change the value of BUTTON_INFO to 1. Save the file.

TEKLA STRUCTURES 16 Changing the 3D mouse settings

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3. 4.

Restart Tekla Structures for the change to take effect. Press an unmapped button on your 3D mouse. Tekla Structures displays the buttons identifier on the status bar. For example:

5.
See also

Repeat step 4 for each button whose identifier you want to check.

Available commands (p. 10)

3.2 Adjusting axis sensitivity

You can adjust the sensitivity of each axis on you 3D mouse by changing the DeadZoneFactor value in the configuration file. The recommended values range from 0.1 to 100. The lower the value, the more sensitive the axis is. To adjust the sensitivity of an axis: 1. 2. 3.
Example

In the configuration file, change the DeadZoneFactor value of the axis. Save the file. Restart Tekla Structures for the change to take effect.

In the following example, the sensitivity of the zoom axis is 20.0. To increase the sensitivity, enter a lower value.

See also

Adjusting axis speed (p. 14) Changing axis direction (p. 15)

3.3 Adjusting axis speed

You can adjust the speed of each axis on your 3D mouse by changing the Factor value in the configuration file. For example, you can increase or decrease the rotation speed. The higher the value, the more the speed is increased. The recommended values range from -100.0 to 100.0. To adjust the speed of an axis: 1. 2. 3.
Example

In the configuration file, increase or decrease the Factor value of the axis. Save the file. Restart Tekla Structures for the change to take effect.

In the following example, the original rotation speed is 1.0. The value 2.0 would double the speed, and 0.5 would lower it to half of the original.

14

TEKLA STRUCTURES 16 Changing the 3D mouse settings

See also

Adjusting axis sensitivity (p. 14) Changing axis direction (p. 15)

3.4 Changing axis direction

You can change the direction of each axis on you 3D mouse by reversing the Factor value in the configuration file. For example, you can change the zooming direction. To change the direction of an axis: 1. 2. 3.
Example

In the configuration file, reverse the Factor value of the axis. Save the file. Restart Tekla Structures for the change to take effect.

In the following example, the direction of the zoom axis is -1.0, which means the mouse zooms in when you press the cap and zooms out when you lift the cap. To reverse the direction, change the value to 1.0.

See also

Adjusting axis sensitivity (p. 14) Adjusting axis speed (p. 14)

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15

Index
a
axis settings direction................................................................. 15 sensitivity............................................................... 14 speed .................................................................... 14

i
ID, see button identifiers.................................................9 installing..........................................................................7

b
button identifiers .......................................................9, 13 SpaceExplorer....................................................... 12 SpaceNavigator..................................................... 11 SpacePilot ............................................................. 13 buttons, see mappings ................................................... 9

m
main features..................................................................5 mappings available commands..............................................10 button identifiers ....................................................13 changing..................................................................9 predefined mappings...............................................9 unmapped buttons.................................................13

c
changing settings ........................................................... 9 commands.................................................................... 10 configuring...................................................................... 7 customizing ................................................................5, 9

s
sensitivity, see axis settings .........................................14 settings ...........................................................................9 speed, see axis settings ...............................................14

d
direction, see axis settings ........................................... 15

u
unmapped buttons........................................................13

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TEKLA STRUCTURES 16

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