(PeekView) request for comments

Chris

Could PeekView be extended to ALL View Attributes?

With an on/off/ctive/passive matrix a la View Buddy.

And eventually with a save for later use on other views?

hm - downloaded the 20101109 version - I am heard before I spook!

Regarding ZPR-tool do I understand it correctly that it changes view display style while exvis rotating a view?

What excatly is the purpose? to speed up rotation of shaded views of big models?

Moore?

As long as my graphical card rotates the shaded view without delay, stutter, or hiding 80% of the graphics I prefer to see it fully. But when not ... yes that may be a very good trick.

Or do I miss the point?

What exactly is the purpose?

The main purpose is to give a better assessment of the situation during a viewing operation. Usually, when I work in wireframe, while rotating the view I see far too much information (hay stack effect) easily loosing the spatial relationships. This is where I need, say, transparent or shaded feedback.

Hi Chris,

Thanks for indulging my request. Its actually something that was based on problems mentioned others in the Viz beta group.

Amazing that you could implement this as quickly as you did. Even with small files, the performance increase is noticeable. I think the Viz boys will be very grateful.

Zooming Panning Rotating:

1. Zoom with mouse wheel doesn't seem to be picked up by PV. Only when a datapoint is used first?

2. Delay: When does the delay period start? It seems to start at beginning of a view command, not at the initial or end datapoint? I think it would be a smoother user experience if it was at the end datapoint/mouse wheel action. Setting to zero should get PV to toggle on an 'escape' or when the viewing commands are exited..?

3. Hovering over dialogue panel toggles PV view settings. Can PV react only to Mstn View changes? At the moment, it even toggles when the cursor is on the view control icons at the top of the Mstn windows, and over the viewcontrol popup (right-click+reset). This triggers a distracting and often unnecessary view regen. Often, one view command is closely followed by others.. pan.. rotate.. zoom.. rotate.. pan .. etc. The delay period should help avoid unnecessary view setting toggles.. 1-2 secs normal setting?

4. When the 'zooming-panning-rotating' mode is chosen, can the Alt-1,2... PV settings be made 'sticky' for multiple views?  Cursor over View 1, Alt-1 toggles PV settings, move cursor over to View 2 should have the option not cause View 1 to lose its PV settings.

A PV toggle icon on each individual view bar, next to the other view control icons, may be way to go? When the hot key is displayed on the view bar with (Alt-1+1,Alt-2+2..) i.e. Z-P-R mode, then the PV would toggle only when the view commands are used, and revert back to the baseline settings after the last datapoint / mousewheel action + delay period.

Thanks !

Dominic

Thanks for the feedback, Dominic.

w/r 1:

Mouse wheel "zoom" does not trigger the MicroStation viewing command (however it does affect the view by performing a viewing action!). A MicroStation viewing command is a MicroStation state which can only be terminated by a RESET or starting of a modify or a placement command. Currently, PeekView responds to viewing commands only.

I understand that this distinction is far from obvious for the user, so I'll try to think of some strategy which would also work for mouse wheel.

w/r 2:

Delay period start when cursor enters the view area (sans borders and icons).

w/r 3:

When hovering over a dialog box the cursor is considered having left the view. Technically it is hovering over the dialog box, not the view. However I can change that behavior to whether the cursor is confined within view borders or not instead. I'll try to do it for the next update.

w/r 4:

It works like that (they are sticky) in v1.2.2 unless you define the same view style for the View as you have for currently selected Peek style. In this case they negate each other.