Moving the View

When one or more parts of the simulation are visible in the graphics window, you can examine them in detail by moving the point of view. Simcenter STAR-CCM+ provides several methods by which you can change the point of view.

Using a mouse, you can change the display point of view by the following techniques:

Shift vertically or horizontally by panning
Rotating or rolling around an axis
Zoom in and out
Align to a part normal

You can also reset the scene to its original view.

The rotate, roll, and zoom functions operate around the point where the mouse was first clicked. So in zoom, for example, the point on the model where the mouse was clicked remains at the same point on the display as the rest of the model shrinks or expands around that point.

Within Simcenter STAR-CCM+, it is possible to change the mouse behavior to suit your preferred working environment. Available styles include Pro-Engineer/NX and SolidWorks. It is also possible to specify joystick, trackball, and 3Dconnexion interactor styles.

Default Mouse Behavior

Rotating and Rolling (Left Mouse Button): To rotate, choose a point on or near the object in the visualization display, and click and drag (holding down the left mouse button) from that point. This technique rotates the object around the axis perpendicular to the direction of your drag. You set the location of the axis when you choose a point to begin clicking and dragging.; To roll the scene, hold down the <Ctrl> key, and click and drag the mouse upward or downward. Using the <Ctrl> key rotates the object along an axis perpendicular to your screen.
Zooming (Middle Mouse Button/Wheel): There are different ways to zoom with the mouse:; Choosing a focal point; Choose a point inside the display, then click and drag downward using the middle mouse button.; This action brings your view closer to that point.; Moving the mouse straight up has the opposite effect.; Rubber banding; To zoom to a specific area in the display, in the Vis toolbar, click the (Rubberband Zoom) button, and then click two points that define the opposing corners of the zoomed area.; Using the mouse wheel; Turning the mouse wheel toward you brings your view closer to the visualization display.; The opposite wheel movement takes your view farther away.; The mouse pointer must be within the visualization display for this operation to work. Its particular position within the display determines the direction of this type of zooming.
Panning (Right Mouse Button): To pan the image in the graphics window, hold down the right mouse button and drag the mouse in the direction in which you want to move the contents.; The image appears to change its view angle as you pan. This is because the scene's view is in the Perspective projection mode, which depicts three-dimensional space. In the Parallel projection mode, the view angle stays the same. To switch between projection modes, in the Vis toolbar, click (Save-Restore-Select Views) and choose Projection Mode > [mode].; You can achieve the same effect with the middle mouse button if you hold down the <Shift> key at the same time.

Aligning to a Normal

To align the view to the surface normal of a part, right-click on the part in the scene display and select Align View to Surface Normal.

The view aligns accordingly.

Similar functionality exists in the pop-up menu of the scene’s part node: the Align View to Part Normal menu item.

Resetting the View

To restore the original view of the scene, in the Vis toolbar, click the (Reset) button in the toolbar.

The <R> key behaves the same as the ( Reset View) toolbar button.