The Graphics Window shows a 3D rendering the current state of Models that include renderable objects. Designs with geometric Mixins are rendered by default; other types of Designs and Rules are capable of rendering as well.
The Graphics Window is intended primarily as a means for visualizing models with geometric rules at any given time.
Selecting an Entity
When you click on an entity and are viewing any rendering type that includes outlines, its outline turns red. If you move your cursor over the entity, a gray-boxed reference breadcrumb is shown in light gray at the upper left of the Graphic Pane, as seen in the screen shot above.
Orientation
You can interactively control the view and orientation of the 3D rendering with the View Cube:
You can select views (top, bottom, right, left, front, back) by clicking on the appropriate surface on the rendered cube in the view cube; and rotate the 3D rendering with left mouse-down and drag on the orientation cube.
Additional Graphics Controls
Via Mouse
You can zoom in or out on the graphic by mousing on the graphic, then rotating the mouse wheel. Rotating up zooms in; rotating down zooms out.
Via Graphics Icons
In addition, there are 7 graphics control icons in a shaded rectangle at the bottom center of this window.
The Zoom expanding arrows icon allows you to zoom the graphic to fit the current size of the window:
The Home icon on the left resets the graphic and the orientation cube to the default orthogonal view:
The Select icon makes it easy to select a given entity in the graphic:
When you include a draggable object in your model or scene, you'll see a Drag icon (fist) on a menu—instead of a drop-down menu, this is a "drop-up."
The Hand (Grab) icon by itself allows you to move the rendering (i.e., translate it visually; it does not affect the positioning of the model except in certain circumstances). The icon also has a small up-arrow that when clicked, reveals a number of graphics manipulations in a "drop-up" menu.
The Render Type icon by default is set to Shaded With Edges. The icon has a small up-arrow that when clicked, reveals alternate rendering types—similar to the Hand, it has a "drop-up" menu.
The PDF icon enables the download (import) of a drawing in an Adobe PDF file.
