There are few techniques as divisive as the keyboard short cut. It\u2019s generally a \u201clove it\u201d or \u201chate it\u201d kind of a tool. When I teach keyboard shortcuts, the average response is something along the lines of, \u201cBah.. I can never remember those things. Don\u2019t waste your breath.\u201d<\/p>\n
I can certainly empathize with that attitude. I use a very wide variety of software packages for different purposes so it\u2019s a full time job keeping track of the keyboard shortcuts for them all. I haven\u2019t always been a keyboard shortcut user and I\u2019m certainly not as serious as some people are. So, while it\u2019s not the first thing I recommend people learn, it sure does boost your productivity once you start to get the hang of things. However, with seemingly a million shortcuts to choose from where do you start?<\/p>\n
I use a good number of the keyboard shortcuts available in Visualize. So today, I\u2019m going to share just 5 of them which I\u2019ve found most helpful along the way. Of course, there are the standard Windows shortcuts that carry over (Save, New, Open, Undo, etc.) as well as the SOLIDWORKS mouse and keyboard controls, but in this session I\u2019ll stick to the more obscure Visualize-specific shortcuts. Without further ado, drumroll please\u2026<\/p>\n
Alt + Middle Mouse Button Scroll <\/em><\/p>\n This is the first shortcut I fell in love with in Visualize. Having an organic way to change your camera\u2019s focal length makes it incredibly easy to dial in how you want the shot to look. I can set a camera in seconds that used to take minutes. This means I\u2019m efficient, but moreover, I can try more angles and not have to think about buttons and dials while doing it. I can purely work with the framing of the shot with a natural interaction. Simply hold down the Alt<\/em> key while you\u2019re working the scroll wheel on your mouse and instead of the camera dolly you would normally get, you\u2019ll see a change in the perspective of the image instead. This is the equivalent of changing what lens you\u2019ve got on your digital camera.<\/p>\n Shift (or Ctrl) + Alt + Right Click <\/em><\/p>\n If there\u2019s one thing that takes a little bit of adjustment when moving from SOLIDWORKS to Visualize, it might be the center of rotation on the cameras. SOLIDWORKS has an active algorithm that is constantly moving the center of rotation for you based your viewport settings and cursor location. This method is perfect when you\u2019re modeling, but Visualize has a different purpose. Visualize is mimicking the way that we use a physical camera. That means we\u2019re setting where the camera looks ourselves based on our needs for the shot. Sometimes I\u2019ll \u201cstep away from the camera\u201d by adding a second camera to move around my main camera. But often times that isn\u2019t necessary. If I just want to move what my camera is looking at, a quick swipe of the keyboard and mouse will do the trick. Simply hold Control <\/em>and Alt <\/em>together and Right Click<\/em> on the object you\u2019d like to lock on to. Now your camera will look at and rotate about whatever location you\u2019ve right clicked on.<\/p>\n Both Control<\/em> and Shift<\/em> will do this for you. The difference is Shift + Alt<\/em> will not move your current camera view where Control + Alt<\/em> will center the camera on your selection. This can be difficult to remember so you can either stick with your preference (I prefer Shift + Alt<\/em>), or remember it by thinking that Control<\/em> is the forceful one, it \u201ccontrols\u201d your camera. Shift<\/em> is shifty and sneaky and will \u201cshift\u201d the point without you seeing a change.<\/p>\n Shift + Middle Mouse Button + Mouse Forward \/ Backwards <\/em><\/p>\n Have you ever gone to set up a camera and wanted to get right in between one click of the mouse wheel and the next? When it comes to setting up renderings, we often need to get the view just right to \u201cget the shot\u201d. Holding the Shift<\/em> key down, press the Middle Mouse Button<\/em> (instead of scrolling as you normally would), and move the mouse itself forward and backwards. You should now get a buttery-smooth motion of the camera in and out.<\/p>\n Shift + Left \/ Right Click <\/em><\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t get much easier than drag and drop. Visualize is set up let you grab pretty much anything you need, and drag it wherever you want it applied. When it comes to appearances, I often find myself wanting to take the appearance I already have applied on one part, and apply it elsewhere. Visualize does have a handy Appearance selection mode which allows us to quickly locate an appearance and drag that onto our next selection. But when I\u2019m in the groove, I like to stay as focused on the graphics area as possible. By simply holding Shift<\/em> and Left Clicking<\/em> on the object that has the desired appearance, you can then Right Click<\/em> on the object that you wish to have the appearance (still holding the Shift<\/em> key). If you have a hard time remembering which one is \u201cCopy\u201d and which one is \u201cPaste,\u201d just remember that your Left Click<\/em> is always the selection tool. Select what you\u2019re after with the Left Click<\/em>, then transfer it with the Right Click<\/em>.<\/p>\n Ctrl + Alt + Left Mouse Button Drag <\/em><\/p>\n This a relatively new addition to my bag of tricks. This might not be the first shortcut you pick up but it is quite slick when you get there. I wouldn\u2019t say that the scene rotation option is buried (it\u2019s right where you\u2019d expect it to be towards the top of the scene settings) but not having to go chasing after it at all is a nice plus. By holding down the Control<\/em> and Alt<\/em> keys simultaneously, you can drag your Left Mouse Button<\/em> horizontally in the graphics area to rotate the environment. This is excellent when you\u2019ve just pulled in an environment out of the library and are checking to see if it meets your needs. It\u2019s also nice if you\u2019re just fine tuning the lighting at the end of the process. Either way, I\u2019ve found I have the patience for more adjustments when I have direct access and don\u2019t have to go hunting for the option!<\/p>\n For those of you who have gotten those down and are looking for more, here are a couple of my honorable mentions.<\/p>\n Ctrl + [ or ]<\/em><\/p>\n Hold Control<\/em> and tap the right bracket to increase brightness by .25 or the left bracket to decrease by .25. Great for quick tweaks at the end. Pro tip: Add Shift<\/em> with the Control<\/em> key to jump by .5 increments.<\/p>\n Ctrl + ; or \u00a0\u2018 <\/em><\/p>\n This one looks more obscure on paper than it is on the keyboard. It\u2019s simply the next set of keys down from the brackets. Just like adjusting the Environment Brightness, holding the Control<\/em> key and tapping the apostrophe will increase gamma by .25 while semi-colon will drop it equally. The Shift <\/em>key will double the increment here as well.<\/p>\n So there are my top 5 keyboard shortcuts for Visualize (with a couple of freebies). I find that I simply cannot remember keyboard shortcuts unless I use them a few times IMEDIATELY after learning them. So I\u2019ve created a simple example and tutorial that you can watch and download here to give these a try in context.<\/p>\n Open up Visualize, and follow along with the tutorial video here:<\/p>\n\n
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BONUS<\/strong>:<\/h3>\n
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