You can invoke MeshTV from the command line by typing:
When you first start MeshTV, it will generally open two windows that fill as much of the screen as possible. The following figure contains the most common layout. If you have ever flipped the MeshTV Main window and then saved your settings, the MeshTV Main window will lay out 2 visualization windows. However, for purposes of this tutorial, we will assume you are using a vertical layout.
At the top of the main control window, you will see the main menu bar which contains several pulldown menus. These give you access to many popup menus used to control MeshTV. To access a menu:
· Press the left mouse button over the pulldown menu. You will see a list of the menu entries.
· While holding down the mouse button, move the cursor down the list of entries to the desired choice. As you move the cursor, you will highlight individual entries.
· To make a selection, release the mouse button while the desired choice is highlighted.
· If you decide not to make a selection, simply move the cursor out of the menu area and release the mouse button.
Some menu choices have a triangle pointing to the right. The triangle indicates a pullright menu. To access a pullright menu:
· Press the left mouse button over a pulldown menu.
· Slide the cursor to the right while a pullright menu entry is highlighted. This will bring up a pullright menu.
· Slide the cursor down the pullright menu and make a selection just as you would with a pulldown menu.
If you press and release the left mouse on a pulldown menu, the pulldown will stay visible. To make a selection, simply click the left mouse button over the desired entry. To hide the pulldown menu without making a selection, click the left mouse button outside the menu area.
In the MeshTV Main window and several of the popup windows, you will see scrolling lists. These allow you to make selections from a list where the number of elements may change in time. To scroll a scrolling list:
· To scroll down a scrolling list, move the cursor over the down facing triangle in the scroll bar. The scrolling list will scroll down as long as the left mouse button is depressed.
· To scroll up a scrolling list, move the cursor over the up facing triangle in the scroll bar. The scrolling list will scroll up as long as the left mouse button is depressed.
· To scroll to an absolute position in the scrolling list, move the cursor over the center area of the slider. Press the left mouse button, as you move the slider the list will scroll to the position of the slider. Once you have reached the desired location release the mouse button.
· To scroll up a page in the scrolling list, move the cursor into the scroll bar above the slider and press and release the left mouse button.
· To scroll down a page in the scrolling list, move the cursor into the scroll bar below the slider and press and release the left mouse button.
· To scroll to the top of the list, press and hold the <Shift> key and press the left mouse button with the mouse over the up-facing triangle in the scroll bar.
· To scroll to the bottom of the list, press and hold the <Shift> key and press the left mouse button with the mouse over the down-facing triangle in the scroll bar.
There are two types of scrolling lists within MeshTV -- one allows you to make a single selection from a list and another allows you to make multiple selections from a list. To use single selection in the scrolling list:
· Position the mouse over the desired entry and press and release the left mouse button. If another entry has already been selected, it will become unselected.
To use multiple selection in the scrolling list:
· To select a single entry, move the mouse over the desired entry and press and release the left mouse button. Any previous selections will become unselected.
· To select a continuous range of entries, position the mouse over the first entry in the range. Any previous selections will become unselected. Press the left mouse button and drag the mouse over the remaining entries in the desired range. Once the last entry in the desired range is selected, release the mouse button.
· To select all the entries in the list, position the mouse over the first entry and then press the left mouse button and drag the mouse down the list past the bottom. Keep holding the mouse, with the button down, until the list has scrolled to the bottom. (This will occur after a short pause.) Once the list is selected, release the mouse button.
· To modify an existing selection, press and hold the <Shift> key while moving the mouse to a new end point, then press the left mouse button. The items between the initial start point and the current entry will now be selected. The selection proceeds as above.
· If you have already selected files, and you want to add more to your selection, move the mouse over the entry you want to add. Press and hold the <Ctrl> key, and then press the left mouse button. The new item will be added, and any previously selected items will be unaffected. You can add a continuous range of entries by pressing and holding the <Ctrl> key, selecting the first entry by pressing the left mouse button, and dragging the mouse over the remaining entries. Once the last entry in the desired range is selected, release the mouse button.
· To delete an item or multiple items from an existing selection, move the mouse over the first entry to be deselected, press and hold the <Ctrl> key, then press the left mouse button. The entry under the mouse will become deselected. Additional entries may be deselected by dragging the mouse over a range of entries. Releasing the mouse button ends the deselection.
Several of the popup windows contain text fields. These allow you to enter information from the keyboard.
To insert text into a text field:
· Move the cursor to the position in the text where you want to insert text.
· Press the left mouse button. An insertion cursor should appear in the text field -- this is the insertion point.
· Text typed from the keyboard will be inserted after the insertion point.
To delete text from a text field:
· Move the cursor to the end of the text that you want to delete.
· Press the left mouse button. An insertion cursor should appear in the text field -- this is the insertion point.
· Press the <Back Space> key to remove characters immediately in front of the insertion point.
To replace text in a text field:
· Highlight the section of text that you want to replace.
· Position the cursor over a character and click the left mouse button once to highlight a single character.
· Position the cursor over a word and click the left mouse button twice to highlight a single word.
· Position the cursor over a line of text and click the left mouse button three times to highlight the entire line.
· Move the cursor to the beginning of the text that you want to highlight. Press the left mouse button. Move the cursor across the text to the end of the text to be highlighted. Release the mouse button. The text will now be highlighted.
You do not always have to press the <Return> key to get the a popup window to recognize the changes you have made in the text field. Pressing the Apply or Make default buttons in an attribute window will cause all the text lines in the window to be read.
Visualization windows support several modes that determine how mouse actions are interpreted.
If the vis window contains a 2D image, then the available modes are:
If the vis window contains a 3D image, then the available modes are:
The mode can be set using the popup menu in the visualization window, or by pressing the appropriate button in the toolbar.
The popup menu can be used to set the mouse mode (via the "Mode" entry), clear the window, reset the view, redraw the window, choose the center of rotation, print the image in the window, save the image in the window, flip the X and Y axes, and produce the largest picture possible. Options in the "Copy" entry allow you to copy various attributes from other windows. Options in the "Display" entry allow you to invert the background and foreground colors, place a bounding box around an image when rotating to increase speed, switch to perspective view, keep an image spinning on rotation, and set the stereo mode. To use the popup menu:
· Press the right mouse button in the vis window. You will see a list of menu entries.
· Using the popup menu is now equivalent to using a pulldown menu.
The toolbar appears at the top of all visualization windows. It shows window state as well as provides buttons for common actions. It can be used to set the mouse mode, reset the view, lock windows, and set the active window. The toolbar can also be collapsed into a tiny space in the window or completely removed.
The leftmost button, the one depicting two arrows, collapses the toolbar. Pressing it again expands the toolbar.
The next five buttons control the mouse mode of the window. The compass rose signifies "Navigate mode." The magnifying glass signifies "Zoom mode." The line chart signifies "Lineout mode." The crosshair with the question mark signifies "Pick mode," and the crosshair and question mark with the slice plane signifies "Slice pick mode." These modes correspond directly to the modes in the popup menu. Pressing any one of the five buttons switches the window to that mode. In addition, the button that appears "pressed-in" reflects the window's current mode.
The button with the eye performs a "reset view" operation, resetting the viewpoint to what it was when you first loaded the dataset.
The lock button allows windows to be "locked together". This is a more advanced topic. See the User's Manual for more information.
The button with the light bulb is the "Activate" button. Only one window may be active at any time. That window is signified by having a lit light bulb. All other windows have unlit light bulbs. To make a window the active window, press its unlit light bulb.
You can manipulate 3D images in Navigate mode as follows:
· Enter the Navigate mode by selecting "Navigate" from the "Mode" pullright menu from the popup menu in the vis window. The shape of the cursor will be an S.
· To rotate the image about the center of the 3D data limits, press the left mouse button. The cursor will change shape from an S to two arrows in a circle. The image will rotate by moving the mouse as shown above.
· To pan the image, press and hold the <Alt> key. Press the left mouse button. The cursor will change shape from an S to an up and down arrow and left and right arrow joined like a plus sign. The image will now follow the cursor.
· To zoom the image, press and hold the middle mouse button. The image will zoom as long as you hold down the middle mouse button. The cursor will change shape from an S to a Z in a circle.
· To de-zoom the image, press and hold the <Alt> key. Press the middle mouse button. The image will de-zoom as long as you hold down both keys. If you release the <Alt> key, the image will start zooming. To stop zooming and de-zooming, release the middle mouse button. When de-zooming, the cursor will change shape from an S to a Z in a circle.
· The visualization window will stay in Navigate mode until it is changed.
These rules apply when using a standard mouse. MeshTV also supports a 3D mouse known as the Magellan Space Mouse, and the rules are different for this pointing device.
The Magellan Space Mouse is a six degree of freedom input device that allows for translation and rotation in three dimensions. In MeshTV, the Space Mouse can be used to navigate and zoom on three dimensional images. There are two modes of interaction in bounding box mode. The first mode moves the bounding box as soon as the cap starts moving. When the cap stops moving, the image is redrawn. The second mode is started by pressing one of the side buttons. When the cap moves, the bounding box also moves, but the image is not redrawn if the cap stops moving. Pressing the side button a second time causes the image to redraw. Both modes of interaction are always enabled.
Because the space mouse is sensitive, some movements are made easier by placing the space mouse in dominant mode. This is done by pressing the `*' and `3' buttons on the device at the same time. While in dominant mode, only the input of largest magnitude is processed. Dominant mode may be turned off by pressing the `*' and `3' buttons again.
You can use Navigate mode to manipulate 2D images in the following manner:
· Enter the Navigate mode by selecting "Navigate" from the "Mode" pullright menu from the popup menu in the vis window. The cursor shape will be a P.
· To pan the image, press the left mouse button. The cursor will change shape from a P to an up and down arrow and left and right arrow joined like a plus sign. The image will now follow the cursor.
· To zoom the image, press and hold the middle mouse button. The image will zoom as long as you hold down the middle mouse button. The cursor will change shape from a P to a Z in a circle.
· To de-zoom the image, press and hold the <Alt> key. Press the middle mouse button. The image will de-zoom as long as you hold down both keys. If you release the <Alt> key it will start zooming. To stop zooming and de-zooming, release the middle mouse button. When de-zooming, the cursor will change shape from a P to a Z in a circle.
· The visualization window will stay in Navigate mode until it is changed.
You can use the Zoom mode to zoom in on a section of an image as follows:
· Enter the Zoom mode by selecting "Zoom" from the " Mode" pullright menu from the popup menu in the vis window. The shape of the cursor will be an arrow.
· Press the left mouse button in one corner of the rectangular region that you want to be the used as the new plot boundary. The shape of the cursor will change to an arrow pointing into a corner.
· As you move the cursor a rectangle will appear showing the region that will be used to define the new plot boundaries.
· Release the mouse button when the rectangle defines the new plot boundaries.
· The visualization window will stay in zoom mode until it is changed.
The line-out mode is used to produce "value vs. distance" curve plots from a 2D image. These plots are referred to as curve plots, or sometimes reference curves. In actuality, two lines are drawn when you are in line-out mode. One is the line you draw (called the reference line plot) on the visualization window, and the other is the curve plot, which must appear in a separate visualization window. This requirement means that you must have at least two vis windows for line-outs to function properly. To make a reference line plot:
· If you already have two visualization windows, you can skip this part. Add a second vis window by selecting Window from the MeshTV Main window and then selecting "Add."
· Enter the line-out mode by selecting "Line-out" from the "Mode" pullright menu from the popup menu in the vis window. The shape of the cursor will be an arrow.
· Press and hold the left mouse button at the first end point of the line.
· As you move the cursor a line will be displayed showing the line that will be drawn when you release the mouse. This is the reference line plot.
· Release the mouse button when the second end point is in the correct location.
· A curve plot, which represents the variable versus distance along the selected line, will appear in another visualization window. The default window for this output is vis window 2, but that window must exist before you use this mode.
· You may continue creating lines as long as you are in line-out mode. The vis window will stay in line-out mode until it is changed.
Tutorial 1: The Basics and Tutorial 2: Using Multiple Windows contain tutorials to help you learn how to use MeshTV. For more information about reference plots, please see Performing the Line-out Operation in Tutorial 2.
The pick and query mode is used to get quantitative information from an image. To get information about a point in the image:
· Enter the pick and query mode by selecting "Pick" from the "Mode" pullright menu from the popup menu in the vis window. The cursor shape will be a plus sign.
· Press and release any mouse button over the position you want to query.
· The result of the query will appear in the Output window.
· You may continue querying points as long as you are in pick and query mode. The vis window will stay in pick and query mode until it is changed.
Tutorial 1: The Basics and Tutorial 2: Using Multiple Windows contain tutorials to help you learn how to use MeshTV. For more information about pick and query, please see Using Pick and Query in Tutorial 2.
The slice pick and query mode outputs the same kind of information as the normal pick mode. It is also used like the normal 3D pick to select a starting point for the Onion Peel (or segment) operator. To select a starting point using this mode:
· Enter the pick and query mode by selecting "Slice Pick" from the "Mode" pullright menu from the popup menu in the vis window. The cursor shape will be a plus sign. You will see a slice of your data set. The slice will be parallel to the axis most facing you, and it will appear in the center of the data set.
· To move the slice plane, press and hold the left mouse button. Move the mouse up and down to move the plane forward and backward in the problem's bounding box. When you release the mouse, the plane will draw in its new location.
· Press and release any mouse button over the position you want to select.
· You will see a crosshairs appear, along with a label containing the zone number. You can use this picked point in later segment operations, which are not described in this tutorial. For more information about them, see the MeshTV User's Manual .
· You may continue selecting points as long as you are in pick mode. The vis window will stay in pick mode until it is changed. The last-selected point is the one that will be used by the segment operator.
Choose center is used to select the center of rotation for 3d images.
· You may choose the center of rotation by selecting "Choose center" from the popup menu in the vis window. The cursor shape will be a plus sign.
· Press and release any mouse button over the point you want for the new center of rotation. The new center of rotation will correspond to the x, y, and z position of the point on the front surface under the mouse.
· The new center of rotation will be displayed in the Output window.