Measuring Distances
You can measure distances in the scene. Depending where in the scene you click, these distances can be among vertices, cells and/or the background of the scene.
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To begin using this feature, click the
(Measure Distance) toolbar button.
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If you want to cancel this process after clicking the button, simply press
<Esc>.
You can rotate, pan, and make other standard movements with the scene while measuring. You can also choose one of the standard or stored views using the View menus in the Visualization toolbar. The measurement is not final until you complete the second click and release the left mouse button.
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Click the starting point in the scene for your measurement, and then drag the mouse in the direction you want to measure.
A line (the “length bar”) with the distance appears in the scene.
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To complete the measurement, click again at the end of the distance.
If you click near a vertex at the beginning or the end, the point that you create snaps to that vertex.
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The actual distance for snapping depends on the zoom level.
If you move the mouse anywhere in the scene other than inside a cell or vertex, the distance appears in red. The red color indicates that the reported distance is indeterminate.
| Note | Do not use the measuring tool with the Make Scene Transparent feature activated. Transparency interferes with depth measurement, possibly resulting in incorrect distance reports. |
Detailed information on your measurement also appears in the
Output window.
In addition to the distance itself, this information includes:
- The coordinates of the end points.
- The type of each end point -- if the point is on a vertex (or mesh node) (Node Point), in a cell (Cell Point), or off the model (Scene Point).
- Distances in the x, y, and z planes.
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The length bar remains in the display, and the toolbar button for this feature is deactivated, until you do any of the following:
- Click anywhere in the scene.
- Click elsewhere in the GUI.
- Press <Esc>.