
	Mesh Display

When the PLY file first loads, a sampling of some of the many faces in the mesh will be drawn in wireframe. Under the Display panel are some choices you can make to change the mesh display.

Figure 4. Mesh Display

Your first choice is between Persp or Ortho projection. Usually you have more accurate control over the placement of slices from an orthographic projection. Typing <o> in the CySlice Display window is a quick way of toggling between perspective and orthographic.

You can also choose whether you want to Show or Hide the polygonal mesh. Once you have created the slices or networks, you could hide the polygonal mesh to make the display clearer. Typing <`> (i.e. the key above <Tab>) in the CySlice Display window is a quick way of toggling between visible and hidden.

Your third choice is between Wire, & or Shade. The first is wire all the time (the default). The second is wire when the view is being changed, and shade when its not. And the final choice is shaded all the time. You can also type <s> in the CySlice Display window to shade the mesh when Wire is on.

Figure 5. Varying Transparency

By default the mesh is shaded as a solid surface, but you can change this by adjusting the Opacity slider. Figure 5 shows a sliced mesh, shaded with varying levels of transparency.

The mesh is flat shaded by default. If you enable Smooth then it will be smooth shaded instead. And if Color is enabled, the CPV color data, if there was any in the PLY file, is shown as well.

By default the light shines from over the viewer's Right shoulder. If you wish you can switch this to Left or Off (CPV color data, if present, is shown without surface shading).

Your final choice is between Fast and Nice. This doesn't affect the mesh display; its more of a hint to the slicing and networks tools. The slicing and networks graphics, when deleted or changed, are rubbed-out (i.e. drawn in the background color) when Fast is on. This is very fast, but can sometimes end up looking a bit messy. At any time you can switch on Nice, and the display is completely redrawn. You can then switch it back to Fast, or leave it on Nice for a complete redraw after every change.

Changing the View

The CySlice Display window has viewing controls similar to those found in the Plyview program. See the chapter titled 3D Viewers for detailed information on how to change your view of the mesh.