Partiview's User Interface

Partiview's graphical user interface (GUI) was written to be simple and compact. However, for a new user, parts of the interface may seem cryptic. The buttons, sliders, and menus are designed to make navigation, data manipulation, and data group toggling effortless.

Most of Partiview's rich command set is not represented in the GUI. We recommend consulting the Partiview User's Guide for a list of commands and keyboard shortcuts.

Using the screen shot below or the Partiview session you just launched, let's investigate the GUI elements one by one.

**Figure 2.1:** Partiview's graphical user interface (GUI). Please consult the tables and images below to learn how to use the GUI buttons and sliders.

Partiview Menus

	More Menu	More contains two items that are rarely used. Inertia toggles the “drift” feature on and off when you are flying. H-R Diagram invokes a separate window where an H-R Diagram will be displayed (this is not implemented in the Digital Universe).
	Groups Menu	Choose the active data group. The active data group is displayed below the menu. In this case Group 1 as indicated by `[g1]`.
	Flight Mode Menu	Choose your flight mode (Orbit, Fly, Rotate, Translate). Orbit is the default flight mode and is indicated below the menu by `[o]rbit`. [See “Learning to Fly Partiview” for information on Partiview's four flight modes.]

Toggle Buttons

	Point	Turn the points on and off for the active group.
	Polygon	Turn the polygons on and off for the active group.
	Label	Turn the labels on and off for the active group.
	Texture	Turn the textures (images) on and off for the active group.
	Box	Turn the boxes on and off for the active group.
	Home Button	Return to the ‘home’ position set by the home command in the config file. (In the Milky Way Atlas, home is roughly Earth's position.)

The Partiview Slider

	Slider Scale Button	A toggle button between the logarithmic or linear scale (if available) for the active slider. See the following table for the range on each slider in the log and linear modes.
	Slider	Use the blue value adjuster to alter the value of the active slider. The logarithmic or linear value is indicated to the left of the Slider. Below the slider you'll see the active data group and the linear value of the slider (except for the Slum Slider, which has no value shown).
	Slider Menu	A drop-down menu to select the slider function. The active slider appears below the menu (in this image, it is the Slum Slider). The menu has these items:
	Alpha	Sets the opaqueness of an object or image.
	FOV	Adjusts the field of view. We typically use values near 60^o; “telescopic” views may be achieved with small values for the field of view.
	Censize	The size of the Cartesian Point of Interest marker. Values are in the units of the particular data you are viewing. For the Milky Way Atlas, the units of distance are parsecs (1 parsec = 3.26 light-years). In the Extragalactic Atlas, the units are megaparsecs.
	Labelmin	Set the minimum pixel height before a label will be drawn. This is useful if you want only the nearby labels displayed. Set this value to 0 pixels for all labels to be drawn. Setting labelmin to 20 will draw labels only when they are more than 20 pixels high.
	Labelsize	Set the height of the labels in pixels.
	Polysides	Adjust the number of sides of the polygons in the active group.
	Polysize	Set the size of the polygons.
	Slum	Scale the luminosity of the particles, increasing or decreasing their brightness.

**Table 2.5:** Range on the sliders in the linear and logarithmic scales (if available).
Slider	Linear Range	Logarithmic Range	Default Range
Alpha	0-1	not available	linear
FOV	0-180	not available	linear
Censize	0-10,000	0.001-10,000	log
Labelmin	0-20	not available	linear
Labelsize	0.01-1,000	0.001-1,000	log
Polysides	3-16	not available	linear
Polysize	0-10	0.001-10	log
Slum	not available	0.001-31,623	log

Group Buttons

Left Mouse Button	Turn the active group on or off.
Right Mouse Button	Activate a data group (a data group must be active for you to change its display properties).

NOTE: The Group Buttons appear only if two or more data groups are defined.

Time Controls

	Time Display	Black text box displays the current time. If an offset has been set using the Trip Button, this shows the offset from the tripmeter. The absolute time is the sum of the T and + text boxes.
	Reference Time Display	If the Trip Button is pressed, this blue text box shows the reference time.
	Trip Button	Marks a reference in time. Sets the Time to zero and the Reference Time to the current time.
	Back Button	Sets Time to zero. If the Trip Button has been set, this will return the time to the Reference Time.
	Time Dial	Fine-control time adjuster.
	Time Control Buttons	Adjust time by (0.1 `x`speed) data time units.
	Speed Slider	Logarithmic control of the speed.
	Speed Toggle Buttons	Toggle time forward or backward.
	Feed Button	This button has no effect and was built into the GUI for future use.

NOTE: The time controls appear in the GUI only when time-evolving data are loaded.

Flight Path Controls

	Path Button	Opens a file explorer to choose a flight path file to load.
	Play [Stop] Button	Toggle the path animation on and off. Right-click on this button to adjust the play speed. `Play 0.5` will play the path at half speed; `play 5` will play the path 5 times as fast. `Play 5f` increases the frame rate 5 times.
	att Button	This button appears to have no function.
	Frame Controls	The frame number is displayed in the white text box. Use the or buttons to advance the path by 1 frame. Use the or buttons to advance the path by 10 frames.
	Flight Path Slider	Manually adjust time and position on the path. Wall-clock time is shown in the black text box to the left of the slider.

NOTE: Partiview is not capable of recording a flight path.

Console Window and Command Line

Console Window	Shows the input and output to and from Partiview. Some commands issued by the user are echoed here in yellow along with Partiview's response (if any) to them in green.
Command Line (`Cmd:`)	Use the Command Line to enter Partiview commands interactively. To type in this line, focus must be given to this narrow window. You can do this by either placing the mouse in this small space (and hope it stays there) or use the `Tab` key to move the cursor to the Command Line. Use the up and down arrow keys to scroll through the history of commands issued.

Digital Universe Atlas

Digital Universe Guide

Partiview's User Interface

Partiview's User Interface