Box Manipulator

The handles on the manipulator are color coded to help the user understand which property of the Box is being modified.

Green handles represent the Direction / Length of the Box.
Blue handles represent the Orientation / Width of the Box.
Red handles represent the Unnamed Direction / Height of the Box.

Rotation

A Box element can be rotated by clicking and dragging on one of the spheres attached to each face of the manipulator.

All rotations are performed around the center of the opposite face of the Box from the selected sphere.

During a rotation the angle through which the Box has been rotated is displayed in the Asset View.

Dragging the mouse in one direction will rotate the Box about one axis and dragging the mouse in the other direction will rotate the Box about the other axis.


Display the manipulator for the Box	Click on one of the manipulator's spheres to start rotating	Move cursor up to rotate about one axis	Move cursor across to rotate about a different axis

During a rotation the user can press the 'X' key while dragging the mouse to cycle through the different rotation modes.


Start rotation about one axis	Press the 'X' key to rotate about the other axis	Press the 'X' key again to freely rotate about any axis

By default during a rotation the manipulator will snap to the following common angles, 30, 45, 60, 90, etc. To disable this snapping the user must press and hold the ‘Control’ key while rotating.


Start rotating the Box, notice how is snaps to common angles	Press the ‘Control’ key to temporarily disable snapping.	Release the ‘Control’ key to re-enable snapping.

Translation

A Box can be translated by clicking and dragging on one face of the manipulator.

Dragging the mouse in one direction will translate the Box in one direction and dragging the mouse in the other direction will translate the Box in the other direction.


Display the manipulator for the Box	Click on one of the manipulator's planes to start translating	Move cursor up to translate in one direction	Move cursor across to translate in the other direction

During a translation the user can press the 'X' key while dragging the mouse to cycle through the different translation modes.


Start translation in one direction	Press the 'X' key to translate in the other direction	Press the 'X' key again to freely translate within the manipulator's plane

Dimensions

The dimensions of a Box can be changed by clicking and dragging on one of the cubes located on the faces of the Box's manipulator.

Each cube is attached to one face of the Box. Clicking and dragging a cube will only move the face to which it is attached, the position of all the other faces will remain unchanged.

While a dimension is being changed its new value is displayed in the Asset View. The dimension is displayed using the current dimension units.




Display the manipulator for the Box	Click on one of the manipulator's cubes to start changing the Box's dimension	Move cursor to make the Box larger, notice how only one face of the Box is being moved	Move cursor to make the Box smaller, notice how only one face of the Box is being moved

While changing a dimension the user can press the 'X' key while dragging the mouse to cycle through the different modes.


Start changing the length and the opposite face will remain fixed.	Press the 'X' key to change the dimension with the center fixed.

General

In situations where the Box being manipulated is occluded by other Assets the user can press the ‘H’ key to temporarily hide all other Assets in the scene. Releasing the ‘H’ key will redisplay the hidden Assets.


Display the manipulator for the Box	Press and hold ‘H’ to hide all the Assets not being manipulated	Release ‘H’ to show all the Assets not being manipulated

Additionally, if the Box itself occludes some of the manipulator handles, the user can press the 'A' key to temporarly hide the Box and all other Assets in the scene. Releasing the 'A' key will redisplay the hidden Assets.

At any time during a manipulation the user can press the ‘Esc’ key to cancel the current action and return the Box to its original position and/or orientation.


Display the manipulator for the Box	Click on part of the manipulator to start manipulating	Press the ‘Esc’ key to cancel the current manipulation