3. Mouse, keyboard and joystick | ![]() |
3.1 Mouse
The mouse can be used to manage the 3D objects
trough rotation, translation and scale operations, changing the mouse mode with the
context menu and/or the M hotkey (see hotkeys section). To change a 3D property,
you must drag the mouse from left to right and vice versa pressing the left mouse button.
To apply a Z transformation (rotation or translation), you must drag the mouse holding the
middle button or the left button and the shift key at the same time. The mouse wheel, if
present, has some functions on the basis of the current mouse mode: it can rotate around Y
axis, translate along the Z axis and zoom.
In the main window, you can select some functions with the context menu, pressing the
right mouse button:
Item | Subitem | CmdName | Description |
Mouse mode
|
Rotate | mMouseRotate |
Switch the mouse into the rotation mode. |
Translate | mMouseTrans |
Switch the mouse into the translation mode. |
|
Scale | mMouseScale |
Switch the mouse into the scaling mode. |
|
Measure | None | mPickNone | With these items, you can enable/disable the mouse atom picking in order to show the atom information and/or perform a measure between 2 (distance), 3 (angle), 4 (torsion) and 6 atoms (angle between two planes). The result of each pick/measure operation is showed in the console window. |
Distance | mPickAtom | ||
Angle | mPickAngle | ||
Torsion | mPickTorsion | ||
Plane angle | mPickPlaneAngle | ||
Joystick enabled | mJoyEnable |
Enable/disable the joystick control. |
|
Display | Wireframe | mShowWire |
Switch the current display mode to Wireframe, Van der Waals dotted, Van der Waals vectorized, Van der Waals solid, CPK with vectors, CPK solid and liquorice. |
VdW Dotted | mShowVdwDot | ||
VdW | mShowVdwWire | ||
VdW Solid | mShowVdw | ||
CPK | mShowCpkWire | ||
CPK Solid | mShowCpk | ||
Liquorice | mShowLiquorice | ||
Settings | mShowSettings |
Show the display settings dialog box. |
|
Window | 320x240 | - |
Change the window size. Only the sizes compatible with the current screen resolution, are showed in the this submenu. |
640x480 | - | ||
800x600 | - | ||
1024x768 | - | ||
1280x1024 | - | ||
1600x1200 | - | ||
Reset | mResetView |
Reset the current view, changing to default the rotations, the translations and the scale factor. |
Please note that the CmdName column contains the command name, that must be used with SendVegaCmd program to activate the menu functions in batch files (click here for more information).
3.2 Keyboard
When the main window is active, some commands can be executed directly from the keyboard, like showed in the followind table:
Key | Description |
A |
Turn on/off the animation mode. |
ESC |
Close VEGA. |
L |
Switch on/off the light. |
M |
Change the mouse mode in rotate -> translate -> scale. |
SPC |
Stop the animation. |
V |
Change the current display mode in Wireframe -> Van der Waals dotted -> Van Der Waals vectorized -> Van der Waals solid -> CPK with vectors -> CPK solid -> Liquorice (see the main menu section). |
Arrows Up, Down |
Rotate the molecule around the X axis. |
Arrows Left, Right |
Rotate the molecule around the Y axis. |
Pg. Up Pg. Down |
Rotate the molecule around the Z axis. |
3.3 Joystick
To enable the joystick operation, you must check the Joystick enable menu item present in the the context menu. The keybord and the mouse are kept full operative. VEGA supports some types of joystick: analog, digital, with 2 or 3 axes and with or without multiple buttons. The following table reports the functions associated with buttons and axes operators (buttons and/or sticks):
Joystick | Function |
X axis | X rotation. |
Y axis | Y rotation |
Z axis or X axis + button 1 |
Z rotation. |
X axis + button 2 | X translation. |
Y axis + button 2 | Y translation. |
Z axis + button 2 or X axis + button 1 + button 2 |
Z translation. |
Y axis + button 3 | Scale. |