NavBar and View Window improvements
A newly designed NavBar and ViewCube have been updated for improved usability. We've also made changes to the way you manage your view windows and added new Layouts and Camera menus to these windows.
Newly designed NavBar
Video contents
- In Alias 2024 we've added a newly designed NavBar and updated the ViewCube.
- The first thing you'll notice is that the NavBar tools now display by default along with the ViewCube.
- You no longer need to press Shift plus Alt to access them.
- Mousing over the dimmed ViewCube also displays tool hints for the mouse interactions used when tumbling, panning, and zooming the view.
- Note that these tools have been recalibrated to improve control.
- You now have two choices for organizing the NarBar tools.
- There is now a Radial Layout which arranges the NarBar tools around the ViewCube in a ring and Vertical Layout which arranges the two vertically beneath ViewCube.
- In the radio layout, the two navigation tool sections can be displayed or hidden using the plus and minus icons.
- In Vertical Layout, the two navigation sections can be collapsed by clicking the horizontal line between the sections.
- Switch between these layouts by selecting the more settings icon and then toggling Radial Layout on or off.
- Radial Layout is on by default.
- Notice the Options menu here where you'll find other options for displaying the ViewCube.
- When in Radial Layout, you could unpin the ViewCube and NavBar from its location at the top right corner of the Viewport.
- After unpinning, the ViewCube in tools follow your cursor as you move it in the viewport.
- Press Shift + Alt to display the ViewCube at your cursor's position.
- Click the pin icon to return the ViewCube to the top right of the viewport.
- Note that you can now assign hotkeys to each ViewCube view.
- In the Hotkey Editor, look under Special, then ViewCube functions.
- We've also made some updates to the NavBar tools.
- For example, you'll now find the Turntable tool on the NavBar.
- The Look At tool is also now accessible on the tool bar.
- An updated Non Proportional Scale button now lets you scale views non proportionally as well as toggle back to the normal view.
- Click and drag to scale the view.
- Then click the button to toggle between the non proportional view and normal view.
For more information, see the following:
View window
Video contents
- We've made some changes to the way you manage your view windows.
- For example, we've simplified the menu for choosing default layouts.
- Each window has its own Window and Camera menus.
- This lets you create, delete, and quickly switch between perspective cameras in each view window.
- Use the Clone View tool to create a floating copy of an active window.
- The clone is a 1 to 1 copy of the source window.
- Initially, the viewpoint is the same as the source camera.
- But, if you create a new camera, it can be tumbled, zoomed, and panned independently.
- The clone window can be moved outside the Alias window and onto a second monitor making this useful for collaboration and presentations.
- We've also improved the Magnify View tool by making it more interactive.
- The view is now continuous as you drag the tool over areas of the model.
- When working in layouts with multiple panes, you can quickly adjust the proportion of the windows by dragging the divider.
- Note that the active window tab displays a slightly darker color and its border is highlighted.
- You can also maximize or minimize a view window by double-clicking its title bar.
- Like in previous versions of Alias, you can toggle between each single view using the function keys.
- Hitting F10 now lets you switch between your selected multi view layout and the selected single window.
- We've also made it easier to create a set of default views when opening a file that does not have them.
- Select new window and select Create Defaults or just click on the views you want to create.
For more information, see View Windows.