Autodesk Design Review 2008: Full Navigation Wheel

Autodesk Design Review 2008 is now available as a download from the Autodesk web site.

When you think about "Full Throttle," do you think of an energy drink? Well to use Autodesk Design Review 2008 at full throttle, you're going to want to think about the Full Navigation Wheel. In a previous blog article, I provided an overview of what's new in Autodesk Design Review 2008. One of the new features is Steering Wheel Navigation. I followed this up with Autodesk Design Review 2008: 2D Navigation Wheel and Autodesk Design Review 2008: Building Tour Wheel.

This posting is an additional follow up that provides information for the Full Navigation Wheel. The content in this blog posting is a "mutation" of the information you will find in the Autodesk Design Review 2008 help file created by Chris Blocher, Jonathan Geary, and Kim Schaefer of the Technical Publications group at our Ithaca, New York office.

The Full Navigation Wheel is intended for more advanced users. If you use the Full Navigation Wheel, you can brag to your friends. "Oooh look at me. I am using the most powerful navigation wheel that Autodesk Design Review has to offer. Wheeee!" :-) The Full Navigation Wheel combines tools of other wheels.

You can use the Full Navigation Wheel to examine 3D objects or conduct virtual walk-through of architectural models. Like the other wheels, the Full Navigation Wheel is divided into sections referred to as wedges. The Full Navigation Wheel is a tracking menu that contains six wedges. Clicking in a wedge activates functionality identified for that wedge. By having the wheel track as you move your mouse, it is always nearby. This makes it handy to use. The Full Navigation Wheel provides six tools on a single interface:

Wedge	Description	Usage Steps
Walk	Move the camera within the model.	When you click and hold the Walk wedge, the mouse pointer changes to the Walk Tool superimposed over a target. The target sphere represents the center of the view only. It does not create a new rotation target. You drag the mouse in any direction to move the camera. Drag upward to walk forward or downward to walk backward. You release the mouse button to exit the Walk Tool. You can change the speed at which you move through a model when using the Walk Tool. The Walk Tool must be active to change the movement speed. To Increase the speed, you press comma (,) to incrementally increase the speed of the Walk Tool. To decrease the speed, you press period (.) to incrementally decrease the speed of the Walk Tool. Any movement rate changes you make while using the Walk Tool will be in effect when you use the Look Tool. Senior Product Manager, Allister Lundberg notes that when the Walk Tool is active, you can temporarily access the Up/Down function of the Tour Building Wheel by pressing Shift to display an Up/Down slider. Drag the slider up or down to change the elevation of the camera. Thanks Allister.
Orbit	Orbit the view of the object.	When you click and hold the Orbit wedge, the mouse pointer changes to the Orbit Tool and displays the rotation target. You drag the Orbit Tool to move the camera view around the rotation target. When viewing the interior of an architectural model, you may find it easier to use Zoom, Pan, and Look tools to change the view. You release the mouse button to exit the Orbit Tool. When the Orbit tool is active, you can set a different rotation target around which the camera travels when orbiting. You press Ctrl and click the Orbit wedge to display the rotation target. You drag the target to the location around which you would like to orbit. You then release the mouse button to set the new rotation target. The next time you engage the Orbit tool, the new target will be used.
Zoom	Dynamically zoom the view.	When you click and hold the Zoom wedge, the mouse pointer changes to the Zoom Tool. You drag the Zoom Tool upward to zoom in, or downward to zoom out. You can also press Ctrl+click to zoom in or Shift+click to zoom out. You release the mouse button to exit the Zoom Tool.
Look	Turn the camera to look in any direction without moving the camera.	When you click and hold the Look wedge, the mouse pointer changes to the Look Tool.You then drag the Look Tool in any direction to point the camera in that direction. When done, you release the mouse button to exit the Look Tool. You can change the speed at which you look within a model when using the Look Tool. The Look Tool must be active to change the movement speed. Press comma (,) to incrementally increase the speed of the Look Tool. Press period (.) to incrementally decrease the speed of the Look Tool. Any movement rate changes you make while using the Look Tool will be in effect when you use the Walk Tool on the Full Navigation Wheel.
Rewind	Return to a previous view.	When you click and hold the Rewind wedge, the mouse pointer changes to the Rewind Tool and a series of thumbnails is displayed. A new thumbnail view is created each time you release the mouse button when using a Steering Wheel. You move the Rewind Tool over the thumbnails. As you do so, each of the views is displayed on the canvas. You can click the Rewind wedge once to rewind a single view only. You release the mouse button to return to the desired view.
Pan	Move the view parallel to the screen.	When you click and hold the Pan wedge, the mouse pointer changes to the Pan Tool. You drag the Pan Tool to move the view parallel to the screen. You release the mouse button to exit the Pan Tool.

With a little practice:

1. You can start with a 3D model. You activate the Full Navigation Wheel to impress your friends:
   

2. The Full Navigation Wheel moves along with your cursor:
   

3. You can use the Orbit wedge to move the model around a pivot point (green sphere):
   

4. When walking via the Walk Wedge. you can hit the Shift view to raise or lower the height of the camera:
   

5. If you make a mistake, you can always get back to where you were using the Rewind wedge:
   

Having one file format that can house all of your project data, in one file, for all of your project members, that can be shared across the entire life cycle of your project, is a boon to the construction, mechanical, and mapping industries. Being able to navigate it powerfully allows DWF to go beyond the paper. Not using the wheel is enough to drive a man to drink. :-) Perhaps an energy drink would be in order?

Comments

[Ralph Grabowski]

I wonder if 3dconnexxion is looking at this blog, and saying itself, "Uh oh."