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WORKSPACE
At the beginning, the program shows the scene in prospective view. Following default settings, may be visible:

workspace
  • Global Coordinate System with the axis X-Y-Z in green color (always visible);
  • Active Coordinate System with the axis x-y-z in red color;
  • The graphic grid of the Active Coordinate System at z=0;
  • The position of the Sun in the sky relative to the origin of the Global Coordinate System.
 MAIN, DRAWER AND FLOATING WINDOWS
The main window contains the model and some instruments of visualization, it is possible:
  • reposition with the title bar;
  • redimension with the resize button at bottom right hand side and with zoom (green) and collapse (yellow) button in the title bar;
The drawer contains three groups ob buttons, a coordinate section and a result visualization section:

  • the graphic option group contains:
    		•
    3D models linking
    Snap to points
    Grid visualization
    		optionpalette
    Flat surfaces mesh (rendering)
    Redraw view
    Snap to grid
  • the 3D navigation view group contains:
    		•
    Centrate view
    Zoom out
    Camera out
    X-rotation CW
    Y-rotation CW
    Z-rotation CW
    		 viewpalette
    Zoom window
    Zoom in
    Camera in
    X-rotation CCW
    Y-rotation CCW
    Z-rotation CCW
    View modifications may be done also with the mouse wheel: acting on this it will be possible to obtain top, bottom, left and right view movements (pressing the (shift) key movements will be faster). Pressing the (option) key at the horizontal mouse-wheel moving the software will react with an horizontal view rotation (pitch), and to a vertical mouse-wheel moving a vertical view rotation (yaw) will be linked. Pressing the (command) key the mouse-wheel moving will be linked to a video-plan view rotation (roll).
  • the element group contains:
    		•
    Camera input
    Flat surface input
    Flat surface user input
    Wall input
    Transparent opening input
    Opaque opening input
    Lighting source input
    Object input
    Line input
    Wire input
    Polyline input
    Poligon input
    		elementpalette
    Camera dialog
    Flat surface dialog
    Flat surface free input
    Extrusion dialog
    Opening dialog
    Empty opening input
    Lighting source dialog
    Object dialog
    Line dialog
    Dimension input
    Polyline dialog
    Poligon dialog

    The Coordinate section contain:
    • editable field X: reports the current X coordinate of the mouse on the Active Coordinate System in the current units (cm or in);
    • lock X-coordinate button;
    • editable field Y: reports the current Y coordinate of the mouse on the Active Coordinate System in the current units (cm or in);
    • lock Y-coordinate button;
    • editable field Z: reports the current Z coordinate of the mouse on the Active Coordinate System in the current units (cm or in);
    • lock Z-coordinate button;
    • editable field L: reports the length in the current units (cm or in) of the segment traced from the last point;
    • lock Length button;
    • editable field A: reports the angle in degrees between the traced segment and the Active Coordinate System X axis (azimuth angle);
    • lock Azimuth angle button;
    • field H: Reports the distance along the active x axis between the current point and the last point introduced (horizontal distance)
    • field V: Reports the distance along the active y axis between the current point and the last point introduced (vertical distance);
    The Result visualizatoion section (work only in result visualization mode) contain:
    • check box "Color map", to quickly toggle the color scale mode in result visualization;
    • check box "false", to quickly toggle true color or 8-color scale mode in result visualization;
    • check box "Curve map" to quickly toggle curves plot mode in result visualization;
    • check box "log" to quickly toggle logarithmic intervals for curves mode in result visualization;
    • pop-menu to quickly choose the value values to plot in result visualization;
    • check box “Values map” to quickly toggle values map mode in result visualization.
    It is possible to introduce the points with the keyboard (the Z coordinate, if not bound to the design plan, will always be introduced with the keyboard) keying the value in the current units (cm or in) in the relative field in the drawer and press “return” to define the point. It is possible to lock one or more variables to an assigned value simply choosing from the keyboard the key to lock (X, Y, Z, L, A): the relative button will be selected. To unlock all previous locked coordinate it is possible to type “N” key. In the bottom side of the window there is a status line, indicating the command sequence to execute and calculation results. There are three scroll bars in the main window:
    The horizontal and vertical scroll bar allows movement of the scene in the four directions on the screen; the same effect is possible to obtain through the mouse wheel (pressing the (shift) key scrolling is faster);
    bar
    The horizontal scroll bar at bottom left cut the scene with a surface parallel to the screen allowing to enter into the model to examine the results directly in the perspective view.
    bar2
    The program presents three floating palettes containing some buttons.
    THE MOUSE AND THE DATA INTRODUCTION
    The current position of the cursor is indicated always in the editable fields at the top left: the coordinates follow the Active Coordinate System in the plane Z=0 and in the current units (cm or in). The following keys carry out the procedure used in the generation of points:
    • The tabulation key cycles the active field (X -> Y -> Z -> L -> A -> X ->...).
    • The “X”, “Y”, "Z", "L" and “A” keys activate and alternatively lock and unlock the field at the relative variables (the "N" key unlock them); this is particularly useful when you want give coordinates to points “taken” for alignments known and existing;
    • The key (option) when pressed make sensible the position of the cursor at existing points in the project, the existence is highlighted with a change of the form of the cursor snapcursor. Activating the autosnap procedure it will be possible to snap to existing points without pressing the (option) key.
    Points introduction is done with a simple click of the mouse or by inserting numeric valuesin the current units (cm or in) in one or more fields (x, y, z) and pressing the “RETURN” key.
    In practice, if you want to introduce a point at X=100, Y=200 and Z=300, in the Active Coordinate System it is enough to move the cursor until you read in the X fields the value ”100” and in the Y field the value “200”, introduce in the Z fields the value “300” and press “RETURN” key, or introduce in the three fields the desired values and press “RETURN”.
    The introduction of the objects is done as in traditional CAD, following the mouse procedure “click-drag-click”. The attachment (“snap”) to existing point is done by pressing the (option) key: when the cursor passes near existing points the cursor becomes a circular point. The selection/deselection of more objects is done by pressing the ^(shift) key. Other kind of selection are the 'window selection' and the 'crossing window selection', described in the "Menu"->"Selection" section.
    A double-click inside an element region opens the info-dialog of that element.
    TRY POINTS
    The combination + click assigns a “try point”, a particular function of LTB-LIGHT for precision input of ties or existing alignments.
    The sequence of the procedure is as follows:
    1. passing on an existing point the cursor highlights its existence.
    2. the combination + click takes the real coordinates of the point in the editable fields “X”, “Y” and “Z” of the main window.
    3. at this point, taking care not to move the cursor, it is possible to:
      • block one or more coordinates;
      • modify with the keyboard one or more coordinate;
      • move to other fields with the tabulation key;
    4. finally, simply accept the present point in the editable fields with another click or by pressing “RETURN”.
    Activating the autosnap procedure it will be possible to snap to existing points without pressing the (option) key.
    DATA PROTECTION
    LTB-LIGHT automatically saves every command chosen on a service file: this characteristic allows the program to protect the data from a system crash or a black-out, when restarting LTB LIGHT you have present a back-up file of the last working section and this may be saved on the disk.
    A text file called “LTBLpref.txt”, present in the same directory of LTB-LIGHT, permits to save the default directories and values, so the upgrades of the software will not change the user framework.
    LTB-LIGHT lists the summary of the reports exported in RTF in a text file called “LTBLsummary.txt”, placed in the same directory of the main program.
    USER SURFACE
    LTB-LIGHT permits to define every surface, flatten or curved, as a “user surface”, to simulate audience arrangement or working plane, and to calculate, in addition to the horizontal, also the vertical and semi-cylindrical illuminances, contrast rendering factors C.R.F. and glare indexes C.G.I. and U.G.R.).
    An user plane is a transparent virtual surface, that retains data relative to rays passing through it; measured points are placed in the barycentres of the finite elements of the same surface (defined by the calculation internal grids), and the local X-axis represents the viewing direction.
    A user surface can simulate, so, working plane in a fabric, desktop in a school, audience in a theater or in a cinema hall,...
    LTB-LIGHT WIZARD
    At start-up the program presents a tool for quickly jump to the preferred section:

    wizard

    The user can disable this function by clicking the dedicated button. It is always possible to reactivate it in the dialogue "Options" - "Preference".

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