Mesh Viewer

Toolbar:

Menu: CAD-Earth > Mesh commands > Mesh Viewer

Command line: CE_MESHVIEWER

Prompts:

Select mesh:

CAD-Earth version: Premium.

Command description:

The Mesh Viewer displays a selected mesh in perspective or orthographic view. You can rotate the view relative to a certain point, to the observer viewpoint or at the observer view height, or select a predefined view. If an image is linked to the mesh, it will be projected into the mesh instead of visualizing it with a solid color. You can define the sun position and colors to be applied on the surface, background and lighting, and control the color contrast and intensity.

Within the Mesh Viewer, you can also do the following:

•Instantly get cut-fill volume calculations, comparing with another mesh inside a region defined by selecting points on the mesh or an existing closed polyline in the drawing. You can preview the cut and fill areas with color and transparency, and insert a summary cut-fill volume table in the drawing, along with the plan view image of the area analyzed.

•View the surface by elevation or slope ranges, defining colors and min-max values for each range, and insert a summary table in the drawing with the corresponding plan view image.

•Display instant contour lines, defining the contour line color, gap and base elevation.

•Create animation videos, defining camera positions and view directions, speed and pause time. The resulting file can be opened in any mp4 compatible player, such as the Windows Media Player.

•Measure distance, slope and angles directly on the mesh, along any of the XYZ axis and planes.

•Open the Mesh Cross Section Viewer, where you can inspect an orthographic view of a mesh cross section.

•Take a screenshot of the current view, and save it to an image file or insert it in the current drawing as a raster image reference.

Button	Description
	Save. If you define new camera views or create animation videos, you must press this button and save the current drawing to permanently save the information.
	Rotate view relative to a center point. If you keep the left mouse button pressed and move the mouse pointer, the view will rotate relative to a point on the surface at the center of the screen.
	View at observer height. The camera will be placed at the observer view point. If you keep the left mouse button pressed and move the mouse pointer, the view will rotate with the observer view point as reference. You can move the mouse wheel to walk forward or backward on the surface.
	Pan view. If you keep the left mouse button pressed and move the mouse pointer, the view will slide in the second point direction.
	Plan view. The camera will be placed at the top looking down vertically.
	Bottom view. The camera will be placed at the bottom looking up vertically.
	Front view. The camera will be placed at the center looking towards the positive Y-axis direction.
	Back view. The camera will be placed at the center looking towards the negative Y-axis direction.
	Left view. The camera will be placed at the center looking towards the positive X-axis direction.
	Right view. The camera will be placed at the center looking towards the negative X-axis direction.
	Isometric back-left view. The camera will be placed at the back between the negative X and positive Y-axis looking down at the center.
	Isometric back-right view. The camera will be placed at the back between the positive X and positive Y-axis looking down at the center.
	Isometric front-left view. The camera will be placed at the front between the negative X and negative Y-axis looking down at the center.
	Isometric front-right view. The camera will be placed at the front between the positive X and negative Y-axis looking down at the center.
	Set sun position. Update the sun position specifying azimuth and elevation angle values or selecting a point inside a circular graph.
	Mesh color settings. You can define colors for the mesh, background, lighting and wireframe view, define the overall image intensity and contrast, and select to show the linked image and mesh wireframe.
	Save screenshot image. An image file will be created of the current view at the current resolution.
	Insert screenshot image. A raster image object will be created and embedded in the drawing or referenced to an external file at the resolution specified.
	Make animated video. Create mp4 video files by defining keyframes containing camera position and view direction, speed and pause time.
	Camera settings. Add, edit, delete and save camera view related data, such as position, view direction, projection type, front and back projection distances, field of view and view width, specifying the name and description of the view.
	Show/hide XYZ axis icon. If you don't want the XYZ axis icon to be shown when you save or insert a screenshot from the current view, uncheck this button.
	Measurement tool. Allows you to measure the 2D/3D distance, height difference, slope and XY angle between to points, selecting points directly on the surface, along the X, Y or Z axis, or on the XY, XZ or YZ planes.
	Draw cross-section rectangle. You can define a rectangle directly on the surface to display the Mesh Cross Section Viewer where you can inspect the section in orthographic view. If you modify the rectangle position or rotation, the corresponding section view will be updated.
	Orthographic view. Check this button to display the view without perspective distortion.
	Calculate cut-fill volume inside a region. Instantly get cut-fill volumes between two meshes inside a closed polygon. The comparison mesh can be specified selecting a closed 3D polyline or an existing mesh in the drawing or selecting points on the surface to create a temporary mesh. The cut-fill regions will be shown with the colors specified for each depth range defined. Optionally, you can insert a summary table and the corresponding plan view in the drawing. You can make the comparison surface horizontal and modify its elevation to calculate watershed volumes.
	Show elevation range colors. The mesh will be shown with the colors specified for each minimum-maximum elevation defined, inside a region defined by selecting points on the surface or an existing polyline in the drawing or applied to the whole mesh. You can insert a summary table and the corresponding plan view in the drawing with the total area analyzed and minimum-maximum elevation, color, area and percentage values for each range defined.
	Show slope range colors. The mesh will shown with the colors specified for each start-end slope range defined, inside a region defined by selecting points on surface or an existing polyline in the drawing or applied to the whole mesh. You can insert a summary table and the corresponding plan view in the drawing with the total area analyzed and start-end slope, color, area and percentage values for each range defined.
	Show contour lines. The contour and index contour lines will be shown instantly using the specified gap, color and base elevation. You can move the cursor over a contour line to see its Z coordinate displayed in the lower left corner of the Mesh Viewer.

Tips:

•You must have a graphic driver or video card compatible with at least DirectX 10 to be able to open the Mesh Viewer. To know which DirectX version you have installed, run the Windows DirectX Diagnostic Tool DXDIAG in your computer.

•If you can run Google Earth in DirectX mode with no problems, you should be able to open the Mesh Viewer also.

•Use the command to create a mesh from 3D faces to convert meshes from previous CAD-Earth versions to the new format so you can display them in the Mesh Viewer.

•You can maximize the dialog box to enlarge the current view and see a more detailed image.