FreeX3D - User Interface

Last update: 21 July 2013

Intro

Touch

Models rendered in FreeX3D can be spun around, or zoomed near/far. As FreeX3D renders STL models within a rich X3D environment, only one form of movement is possible.

Examine mode One finger movement spins model around. Two finger pinching or pulling zooms into or away from the model shown. (work in progress - it is getting worked on as we figure out what works best migrating the FreeWRL library onto a tablet)

Walk mode One finger, pressed and moved left/right rotates the model in front of you. Finger up moves you forward, finger down moves you back. Two fingers pinch moves you up or down, and left/right.

Other X3D modes (eg, "Fly") are currently not supported.

Additionally, the X3D model can specify movement types, or movement speed. FreeX3D will adhere to the requests found in the X3D model, so it is possible to load a model that does not allow user-defined movement.

Menus

In early 2012, Google decided to move Android away from older menu systems, and focus on the "ActionBar". FreeX3D follows the Android ActionBar methodology, and uses a compatibility library (ActionBarSherlock) for operation on older pre-Android 4.x devices. ActionBarSherlock does have some issues with some of the smooth transitions, but in general works as expected.

The ActionBar is shown at the top of your screen, just underneath some system information.

FreeX3D allows you to set the ActionBar so that it is on the screen for 5 seconds, 20 seconds, or for ever. If the ActionBar has timed out and is not shown, touching the area where it should be will bring the ActionBar to the screen.

All menus in FreeX3D are shown in the ActionBar, but, depending on device, screen size, and orientation, Android may put some of the menu items under the "menu" button, so screen shots shown here should be understood to be approximates to your actual device/Android revision.

New

This allows you to select a new file from your local (device) storage. You can select any file, but (of course) not all files are actual files that FreeX3D can use. Choosing a valid file should show the contents of the file rendered on screen, choosing an invalid file will not work.

The "Log" screen will be shown if errors are found on the input file.

Viewpoints

For STL users, there are a few "Viewpoints" defined, and selecting "Viewpoint" will go to the next Viewpoint. All Viewpoints will cycle through, and, should you get yourself into a location (say, inside of the model, or facing some unknown direction), selecting the "Viewpoint" will transform you back to a known location.

For X3D users, Viewpoints defined in the X3D model are used, and no additional Viewpoints are added to your model.

Settings

The "Settings" menu gives the following options:

• Headlight: turns on/off the headlight; some models need a headlight in order to view the geometry. By default the headlight is on. (X3D files can expressly disable the Headlight, and FreeX3D will abide by the request).

• Object Collision: If this is selected, shapes seen on the screen will be solid, and if you navigate and try to penetrate them, you will slide off, mimicing reality.

  If this is turned off, you will be able to penetrate objects. Note:Object Collision takes processing time to perform, so rendering speed may be impaired. Slow rendering may allow you to actually penetrate the object, and you may be "stuck" inside the object until this option is turned off, or until the "Viewpoint" menu item is selected.

• Walk Navigation: Selects "Walk" mode for UI movement.

• Examine Navigation: Selects "Examine" mode for UI movement.

• Menu Hide: Determines how long the ActionBar is shown on screen. Currently 3 choices are available, hide in "5 seconds", "20 seconds", or "never hide".

• Menu Background: If selected, the ActionBar will have a black background, otherwise it will be transparent, overlaying your model with the ActionBar text.

• Show Bounding Box: Will show the calculated BoundingBox around the object.

• Graphics Rendering: Fast rendering is usually fine for most models, but on models with fewer triangles, or ones where parts may be transparent, some lighting issues may appear. Turning on this option tells FreeX3D to calculate lighting on a per-pixel basis, as opposed to a per-vertex one, and it lets the GPU throw away bits of shapes that may be transparent. Both operations can be quite "expensive" in terms of rendering time, but the results can be worth it.

Settings: Shape Appearance Setting sub-menus

FreeX3D also lets you manipulate the look of your shapes on screen. This code is currently in beta testing, and will make its way into the production version as sections are finalized.

Here's a list of the sections:

• Select Shape Eventually, you will be able to select the shape on the screen that you want to manipulate, for now, the first shape found in the list of shapes will be used.

• Fill Properties This works on STL files, and on VRML/X3D files. A variety of line types can be directly overlaid on the shape. There are 10 lines/metre on X3D shapes; on STL shapes, as there is no implicit sizing in an STL file, you can think of the shapes as having 10 lines/mm, 10 lines/foot, or whatever scale you think the model is in.

  This closely follows the X3D "FillProperties" node, thus the name of the section.

• Base Material Change the base colouring and transparency. There are 5 areas in this screen:
  • Different Front/Back Material allows you to have different colours for "front facing" facets and "back facing" facets;
  • Front Diffuse drop down menu to select the Diffuse,Emissive,Specular colours for front/back facets for changing;
  • Colour Selector changes the colour selected for the above "Front Diffuse" menu. "Apply" changes the colour, "Original" selects the current colour.
  • Associated Shininess Changes the shininess of the selected front/back facet;
  • Associated Ambient Intensity Changes the shininess of the selected front/back facet;
  • Associated Transparency Changes the shininess of the selected front/back facet.

Texture Properties: In a future release you will be able to assign textures to your shape; what we will do here will be visually very interesting. Keep your eyes on FreeX3D for info... ;-)

Preferences

This screen shows options meant to affect models as they are being loaded.

The "Prefs" menu gives the following options:

• Stereo Anaglyph: If the checkbox is checked, your model will render as a dual colour anaglyph.

• Anagliph left/right eye(s) Allow setting of the left/right eye colours, as some Anaglyph glasses have different colour combinations.

• STL Rendering:
  • Original Shows the model with hard edges, and back-facing facets coloured red. Not optimized for rendering.
  • Check shows Watertight and Manifold 3D printing errors lit in red. Faster rendering than "Original". Note that, on models with loads of facets close together, the Manifold tests can give false-positives.
  • NicestOptimizes model for great rendering speed and visuals.

  (see the STL Rendering page for more details)

• Texture Sizing: Force FreeX3D to force textures to "Tiny" (max 16x16) or "Small" (64x64) or use the textures "Original". FreeX3D creates "Mipmaps", for best texture rendering depending on the number of pixels the texture will render to. As such, large textures rarely, if ever, get rendered full-size. Reducing texture sizes (either forcing, like this option, or with another app and using the smaller texture) will help Android render your scene. The Android OS is very agressive in stopping running Apps that are resource hungry, and WILL stop FreeX3D if you have too much data.

Info

The Info screen pops up when FreeX3D wants to tell you something, or if you wish to see messages, build versions, or my email address.

It is used to display the last 3 system messages, (latest near the top), the system build time and version, and the contact email should you wish to email an issue.

It will automatically appear in case of issues, such as X3D syntax mistakes, or will appear for STL, giving rendering updates (for slow-to-parse ASCII STL files) and statistics on FreeX3D's algorithms to streamline STL files for mobile rendering.

FreeX3D History

FreeX3D is a value-added version of FreeWRL. STL layering and model manipulation has been overlaid on the FreeWRL X3D engine.

From circa 1999 to April 2010, the FreeWRL project was managed by John A. Stewart.

There is absolutely no warranty, express or implied for this software. For details on the conditions of use, see the FreeWRL distribution.

FreeWRL is Copyright (C) 1998, 1999...2009 Tuomas J. Lukka, John Stewart and others.

The FreeWRL library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Library General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

The FreeWRL library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Library General Public License for more details.