The 3D axis shows the direction of the Cartesian coordinates in the 3D window. There are two axis types, each consisting of 3 legs. The legs of the simple axis are drawn as a line or cylinder with a tip at the end of each leg and a label specifying X, Y, or Z beyond the tip. The simple axis can be drawn using lines or as a solid model using cylinders and cones. The labels are drawn with lines in both cases.
The legs of the coordinate axis are scales with numbers showing the coordinate values in the current units. A label may be placed below the numbers. The label is either a user specified string or automatically composed of the direction and unit, such as X (cm). When an elevated mesh tally is present, the values on the axis leg in the direction of the tally elevation can optionally show the values of the mesh tally.
Several property pages control the type and appearance of the axis, including its size, line thicknesses, size of the solid elements, size of the labels, tip details, colors, and whether or not the tips and/or labels are shown. The choice of a simple or coordinate axis is made on the 3D Axis property page. The simple axis style is set on the 3D Simple Axis property page. The tip style is controlled on the 3D Simple Axis Tips property page. Options for the coordinate axis are found on the 3D Coordinate Axis property page.
The axis size is specified as a percentage of the average extent of the 3D scale box. In addition to entering the percentage on the 3D Axis property page, several mouse and key actions change the size. Moving the mouse with the right button and the a key held down scales the axis. When the a key is held, the zoom toolbar buttons and the numeric keypad + and - affect the axis size (instead of the overall image size). When both the Ctrl and a keys are held down, the numeric keypad + and - keys scale the axis in larger increments than without the ctrl key.
The axis center (where the 3 legs come together) can be specified either in absolute coordinates or relative to the center of the 3D scale box. The coordinates and interpretation choice are made on the 3D Axis property page. The axis can be moved interactively along each of the 3 principal directions by holding down the x, y, or z key and moving the mouse with the right button held down or pressing the arrow keys. When using the arrow keys, holding down the Shift key (along with x, y, or z) moves the axis in larger increments.
The Axis tab of the information window shows the position of the axis center. The absolute position is reported, even when the center is relative to the 3D scale box. When the tab is active, the axis can be used as 3D marker to query the coordinates of objects in the 3D display.
The property page contains an item to reset the center position to (0, 0, 0) following the import of a model by reading a MCNP or Sabrina input file. The position is not reset upon reading a checkpoint file (that presumably contains the position). The Axis submenu of the 3D context menu contains items to toggle the axis visibility, move the center position to the middle of the 3D scale box, to (0, 0, 0) or to the intersection of the 2D plot planes, and to show the property page.
White Rock Science
505 672 1105