Chapter 5: Using Visualization Techniques
l Turn Camera. Enables you to rotate the camera view when looking through the Camera
without editing the Camera properties. You must be looking through the camera and it
must be unlocked for this to work. Dragging with the MMB does the same thing if the
camera is unlocked.
l Draft Quality HLR/HLV. Toggles between low-quality (draft) and high-quality edge
Hidden Lines Removed (HLR) or Hidden Lines Visible (HLV) display. This affects display
speed for complex parts or large assemblies. When in draft-quality mode, edge display
may be inaccurate.
l Perspective. Displays the model in perspective view without using a Camera. If you want
to create a perspective view on a drawing, you must create a custom view in the View
Orientation dialog box with Perspective selected. You can adjust Perspective through
View ➪ Modify ➪ Perspective by adjusting the relative distance from the model to the
point of view. Relative distance is measured by the size of the bounding box of the model;
therefore, if the model fits into a box roughly 12 inches on a side and the perspective is set
to 1.1, the point of view is roughly 13 inches from the model. For more accurate perspective,
you can use a Camera.
Caution
Perspective view and sketching do not work well together. Sketches and dimensions will look distorted and
incorrect with perspective turned on. I recommend disabling perspective view when sketching. n
l Curvature. A geometrical analysis tool that applies a color gradient to the part based on
the local curvature. You can also apply curvature display to individual surfaces through
the RMB menu. With some hardware, curvature display can take more time to generate
for complex models.
Performance
Settings in Tools ➪ Options ➪ Performance can greatly affect rebuild speed if curvature display data is
regenerated for each part rebuild. You should leave this setting at the default setting, which is Only on
Demand. n
Zebra Stripes
Another geometrical analysis tool that helps you visualize the quality of transitions between faces
across edges. Zebra Stripes simulates putting a perfectly reflective part in a room that is either
cubic or spherical and where the walls are painted with black-and-white stripes. In high-end shape
design, surface quality is measured qualitatively using light reflections from the surface. Reflecting
stripes makes it easier to visualize when an edge is not smooth.
The three cases that Zebra Stripes can help you identify are as follows (see Figure 5.10):l Contact. Surfaces intersect at an edge, but are not tangent across the edge. This condition
exists when stripes do not line up on either side of the edge.