DB2 graphic  QMF Version 8

Creating viewpoints

A viewpoint is a location in a scene. A viewpoint has three properties: the x- and y-coordinates of the center of the viewpoint, and the zoom level.

Viewpoints enable you to isolate a particular area of a scene at a particular zoom level. You can use them as targets in jumps between scenes and associate them with a particular a level of detail.

For example, suppose a scene presents a world map indicating factory locations. You could define viewpoints for each region of the world that would enable users to move quickly to the location and magnification for the region they are interested in.

The following figures illustrate two viewpoints of the same scene.

Figure 21. A viewpoint named "Global"
Figure 22. A viewpoint named "Africa and Asia"

To jump from one viewpoint to another, you can right-click the scene background, click Jump To, and select a named viewpoint.

In addition to providing a navigation tool, named viewpoints can be the target of an event action. For example, you can specify the display of a particular viewpoint if a user double-clicks an object.

Note: The default viewpoint (0,0, 100% zoom) is a helpful orientation point when you are developing a scene. In a large scene, when you want to return to the center, you can press the HOME key to take you back to the default viewpoint.

To create a viewpoint, with the scene open in the Scene editor, click Insert --> Viewpoint and then select values for the properties and type a viewpoint name.

Note: You can also save a viewpoint in runtime mode of the Scene editor. Click Edit--> Save Viewpoint to display the Insert Viewpoint dialog box.

You can now specify the named viewpoint when you create event actions that jump to a new location. Named viewpoints are a powerful navigation tool when you combine them with levels of detail, which display more data as a viewer zooms in on a scene. See the following section for information about levels of detail.


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Copyright IBM Corporation 1982,2004 Copyright IBM Corporation 1982, 2004
timestamp Last updated: March, 2004