VS3D Region Mode

1.4.1 Region Definition/Modification continued.

"Flood Fill" : Click on a point on the sculpture grid to specify the Z height at which to construct a flood-fill area. All the grid points in the selected "basin" that are equal to or less than the Z height of the point that was clicked on are added to (or removed from) the current region. For example, if the sculpture surface has multiple depressions or "holes" in it, clicking on the bottom or side of a depression will add/remove the shape of that depression to/from the current region.

"Text" : Click on a point on the sculpture grid and the "Define Text Region" dialog will appear. This dialog has many settings. At the top is a window where the desired text annotation can be typed. One or more lines of text can be entered. The height of each letter (in grid points) is set via the "Height" field. The "Baseline Spacing" field determines the amount of spacing between multiple lines of text. This value should normally be larger than the letter Height. The "Character Spacing" field specifies the spacing between letters. Normally, this is zero or positive, but a negative value can also be entered. The "Alignment" field controls the justification (0.0 = left, 0.5 = center, 1.0 = right).

The baseline has two possible types. The "Straight" baseline has fields for the Position (X,Y grid coordinate) and the baseline angle (measured in degrees counter-clockwise from horizontal). The Position field will show the point that was initially clicked on to bring up the dialog. The "Arc" baseline type can be used to put letters on a curved path. The "Arc Center" field shows the point that was initially clicked on to bring up the dialog. The "Relative Radius Point" specifies a point on the arc and it is measured relative to the Arc Center point. The text will be placed at the Radius Point (using the specified justification along the arc). The "Reversed" mode, if "On", will cause the letters to be arranged in a counter-clockwise order rather than clockwise order. There are two types of Character Positioning. "Upright" mode keeps all letters upright even when placed on an arc or inclined path. "Allow Rotation" mode will allow letters to rotate when the baseline is rotated or curved.

There are three types of text fonts: "Vector", "True Type", and "Hardware". Different computers may have different True Type and Hardware fonts available. Vector fonts are drawn with line segments and they are of low to medium quality. True Type fonts are drawn with polygons and they are high quality. Hardware fonts can not be scaled (fixed size) and they do not rotate (always "Upright"). The font style list can be used to select the desired font.

Once all the text/font parameters are set, the "Display" button can be used to show the proposed text region on the sculpture grid as blue outlines. The blue outlines are also drawn when the keyboard "Enter" key is pressed in any text field, or when the font type/style is changed. If the "Ok" button is clicked, the text is added to (or removed from) the current region. "Ok" or "Cancel" will remove the "Define Text Region" dialog.

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