Datasheet

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CHAPTER 1 GETTING TO KNOW VIZ
Docked and Floating Toolbars
In addition to the Main toolbar, you see several “floating” toolbars that may be sitting on top of the
viewport (see Figure 1.2) or hidden. You can open hidden toolbars by right-clicking on a blank part
of any toolbar. A context menu will appear listing the available toolbars. Let’s take a quick look at
the floating toolbars.
1.
Right-click on a blank area of the Main toolbar and click on any of the toolbar items that do
not have a checkmark next to them.
2.
Repeat the process until all five floating toolbars are exposed.
All five toolbars float over the Perspective viewport: the Layers, Render Shortcuts, Snaps, Axis
Constraints, and Extras toolbars. As with most toolbars, you can move these floating toolbars to the
side or hide them altogether to gain better access to objects in the Main viewport. The toolbars can be
resized by clicking on and dragging their left edges.
Layers are like overlays that help you organize the objects in your model. If you are an AutoCAD
or Photoshop user, you should have an idea of how layers work. You’ll learn more about layers in
Chapter 6.
Working on a Lower-Resolution System
If you’re working with a screen resolution less than 1280 × 1024, you won’t see all the tools on the Main tool-
bar. Some of the tools are off the screen to the far right. To access these tools, place the cursor on the toolbar
so that a hand icon appears, and then click and drag the toolbar to the left. The hidden tools will emerge. You
can also click the Rendering menu item to access all the rendering tools. The smallest supported resolution in
VIZ 2008 is 1024 × 768, but the recommended resolution is 1280 × 1024 or higher.
Consider a Dual-Screen System
In VIZ and many other graphics programs, screen space is always at a premium. Using a two-monitor
system allows for a lessening of screen clutter by moving items such as floating toolbars, the Material
Editor, graph editors, tool palettes, and so forth to the second monitor, freeing up as much screen real
estate as possible.
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