Polytron32 Manual - written by Steve Klinger

The main Polytron window has the drop down menus on top, the Toolbar just below it and the 'Main Status Bar' on the bottom of the screen. Just above the Main Status bar is the lower toolbar.

In between the Toolbar and the Main Status Bar, are the four views where the robot is displayed and edited. New to Polytron is the ability to choose between a more traditional "4 view" mode such as seen at the right or an all new "single view" mode seen below the view at the right. These two modes are know as "Quad" mode and "Single" mode.

Take a look at the two images at the right. You'll notice that to the right of the interface there lies a window that holds data. This is known as the Object Browser. Users that are familiar with previous releases of Polytron32 will be familiar with this. The Object Browser displays different information depending on what "mode" the Object Browser is in. Just above the Object Browser are a number of icons. Select one of these to choose the Object Browser mode. Depending on which mode is selected, the bottom toolbar will display a set of tools related to that modes topic. More on that later.

Below the Object Browser is the WYSIWYG Preview window. This preview window is a special version of Garry Knudson's PMview. It differs from PMview in that it does not allow you to select different robots. It simply displays the model currently being edited in Polytron. Above the Preview display are the icons used to access the Previews functionality.

• New - This opens a new file with one point ready for editing.
• Open - Opens an existing POL file.
• Save - Saves the current file.
• Select Textures - Opens the Polygon Texture Selection dialog.
• Texture Mapping - Opens the Texture Mapping editor. This will appear on the Lower Toolbar.
• Alignment Display - Opens the Alignment Display window.
• Options - Opens the Option/Configuration window.
•   Single View - Selects the Single view mode.
•   Quad view - Selects the Quad view mode.
• XYView -  Sets the focus or selects the XYView. 
•   XZView - Sets the focus or selects the XZView.
•   ZYView - Sets focus or selects the ZYView.
•   Isometric View - Sets focus or selects the Wireframe view.

To the left of the "view(s)", is the Left toolbar. Here you manipulate the focused view items such as the zoom and view move functions. You'll note in the Quad view image above, that the currently focused view is surrounded in red. This is the view that will receive the effect of the Left toolbar commands. In Single mode, there is no red surround as it should be obvious what view is focused. Note that if you are running Polytron32 in a resolution of 640 x 480, some of the icons are not present. You will need to use the keyboard equivalents in this case. This is simply because there is very little screen space available. Every attempt had been made to accommodate this resolution but Polytron32 works best in higher resolutions.

Located on the lower part of the Left Toolbar is the view data area. This tells you the zoom, grid and snap settings for the current view as well as the location of the pointer in coordinates.

Of course, not to be forgotten are the views. The views are somewhat obvious in their purpose. We'll discuss this shortly.

In the lower right of the Polytron32 interface, is the PMV Preview. This is the WYSIWYG isometric display that shows the polymodel as it is. Above this is the Preview Toolbar that has a number of commands to manipulate the preview display.

• PMView - This will open Garry Knudsons' PMView with the polymodel loaded.
• PopUp Menu - This will expose a popup menu with commands for setting the display.
  • Manual Update - If you are running in Manual mode, clicking this icon will refresh the preview. If you are running in full WYSIWYG mode, you don't need to use this command.
  • Line/Poly - Toggles the model between a wireframe and a solid view.
  • Size2Poly - Toggles between a model size that fills the view or displays it in an actual size.
  • Cullface - Toggles between displaying hidden parts or not.
  • Textured - Toggles between a solid whitish color for the model or a textured model.
  • Background - Reveals a list of color choices for the background.
  • Palette - Reveals a list of palette choices to view the model in D2's different palettes.
• Spin - This will cause the preview image to rotate on its own.
• Manual Update - See above.
• Zoom In - Zooms the image closer.
• Zoom Out - Zooms the image farther out.
• Rotate Left - Rotates the image to the left by 5 degrees.
• Rotate Right - Rotates the image to the right by 5 degree increments.
• Rotate Up - Rotates the image up in 5 degree increments.
• Rotate Down - Rotates the image down in 5 degree increments.

Because drawing in three dimensions on a two-dimensional medium, such as your monitor, is impossible (you can't move the cursor toward or away from you), Polytron32 uses a series of two-dimensional views to get around this obstacle. The 'View Windows' each represents a two dimensional plane. The fourth view is the Isometric view.

• XY View - This view represents the XY plane. This view would be the back view, although it's hard to tell the difference from the front view. Just keep in mind that in this view, right is really left.
• ZY View - The ZY View is side view. Here you view your robot from the side.
• XZ View - The XZ View is the Top view. The front of the robot is pointed towards the top of the view.
• Isometric View - Finally, the bottom right window is the Isometric view. This gives you a perspective of the robot in all three dimensions. Like the 2d views, you can select and mark points and polygons with the mouse but you cannot manipulate the points with the mouse. Use the arrow keys to rotate the view. You can also use the 'Page Up' and 'Page Down' keys to zoom in or out.

These views are individually adjustable in both the grid/snap settings and the zoom settings.

To do any work in a particular view, the view must be current. In previous versions of Polytron32, all that was needed was to move the mouse over a view and that view became focused. This feature was called auto-focus. This has been done away with because it presented problems when switching to other applications while Polytron32 was running. To set a view as current, you can do so by clicking in the view or selecting the views icon from the Main toolbar. Once a particular view is set as current, you will notice that that view is enclosed in red while operating in the Quad mode. In Single mode, the view isn't framed in red as there is only one view visible.

The colored lines and circles seen in the Views have special meaning. Here is a run down:

A white circle denotes a point as seen in the example to the right. The white circles are only seen in the 2d views. The Wireframe view doesn't display the white circles. A red circle surrounding a point means that this is the current point. All views display the current point.

The green lines define the current Polygon.

The current point can be marked using the 'V' key or the spacebar. The current polygon can be marked using the 'N' key. The Object Browser also has the ability to mark or unmark points.

The blue circles represent marked points as seen in the example to the right. The red circle surrounding a blue point means that the current point is marked.

The dark blue lines represent marked polygons. The light blue lines represent a marked polygon that is current. When points and polygons are marked, they can be edited in a variety of ways. Keep in mind that anything you do, you do to all currently marked points and polygons. Also note that points and polygons can obscure each other so look at all the views or the Points and Polygons area of the Toolbar to be certain that you'll be editing the correct items.

The Polytron Interface offers a limited level of sizing for the Four Views, Object Browser and Preview Display. There are two splitters that can be grabbed and dragged to size these interface elements.

The Horizontal Splitter is located between the Object Browser data area and the Preview menu. Move the pointer over this area and the cursor will change indicating that the splitter is located beneath it.Holding the left button will reveal the splitter, then just move it up or down. This will change the size of the Object Browsers height and the Previews height.

The Vertical Splitter is located between the Object Browser and the Model Viewing area. This splitter will resize the width of the Object Browser and the Viewing area.

There are preset limits to how far the splitters can be moved. Also, the individual views are not resizable. The splitters also remember their locations between sessions.

To draw in three dimensions, we need a method to describe where in three dimensional space the points are to be located. The system used by Polytron32 is known as the Cartesian Coordinate System.

Cartesian Coordinates are sets of numbers that are used to determine points in a space, relative to a special point called the origin. The origin always has the coordinates (0,0,0). We can think of the origin as the center of the robot or the starting point for finding all other points. Any other point in the robot has a set of coordinates (x,y,z) that describe where it is in relation to the origin point.

The x value or x-coordinate tells how far left or right the point is from the origin point (0,0,0), negative is left of the origin, positive is right of the origin. The Y value or Y-coordinate tells how far up or down the point is from the origin point (0,0,0), negative is down from the origin, positive is up. And the Z value or z-coordinate describes the location closer to you from the origin and farther away from the origin and you. Using coordinates, we can give the location of any point we want by simply using a set of numbers.

The fronts of Descent 2 robots always face the positive Z axis. The back faces the negative Z axis. The left side of the robot always points toward the positive X axis, while the right side points toward the negative X axis. The top of the robot points toward the positive Y axis and the bottom points toward the negative Y axis. It is important to keep this straight because in Polytron as with any 3d editor you can get turned around quite easily.

The three panels of the Main Status Bar provide useful information to the user. The panels are the Tool Description Panel, the Message Panel and the Version Panel.

• Tool Description Panel - This shows a description of the command icon currently under the mouse pointer.
• Message Panel - This panel gives an indication of what your last action was. It doesn't always tell you the last action, but it does for many of the important actions.
• Version Panel - Displays the current Version of the Program.

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