Getting Detailed Information

Provides numeric statistical information on the entities in your scene.

How to Use

Select Windows > Information > Information window for any active entity.

Types of Information Windows

Information windows vary according to the type of object they are invoked for. See the following sections for details:

• Surface Information Window on page 384

• Curve Geometry Information Window on page 386

• Line / Arc Information Window on page 387

• Curve-on-Surface Information Window on page 388

• Edit Point Information Window on page 389

• CV Information Window on page 390

• Cluster Information Window on page 391

• Light Information Window on page 392

• Camera Information Window on page 393

• Polyset Information Window on page 394

• Polyset Vertex Information Window on page 395

• Joint Information Window on page 395

• Shell Information Window on page 396

• Curve / Surface Locator Information Window on page 397

Using Information Windows

There are four types of cells in any Information Window:

labels

Identify the type of data following (for example, "Name:" )

editable cells

Contain numeric or alphanumeric data that you can change. Similar to the editable fields in option boxes. These cells are pink in color.

non-editable cells

Display data that cannot be changed. These cells are light gray in color.

Common Parameters

The following parameters are used in the Surface, Cluster, Lights, Cameras, and Joints Information Windows.

Name

Editable string containing the system or user-defined name of a node. This string is the same as the name inside a node box in the SBD window. To change the name of an object, double-click in the field, type a new name and press Enter .

Transform information

Translate

Editable data specifying the amount of translation of this node in the X, Y, and Z dimensions, in current major linear units. This data is presented in reference to the entity's own local frame of reference (object space reference).

Rotate

Editable data specifying the amount of rotation of this node in the X, Y, and Z dimensions, in current major angular unit dimensions. This data is presented in reference to the entity's own local frame of reference (object space reference).

Scale

Editable data specifying the amount of scaling of this node in the X, Y, and Z dimensions. This data is presented in reference to the entity's own local frame of reference (object space reference).

Pivot information

Rotate Pivot

Non-editable data showing the world space location in current major linear unit dimensions of the rotation pivot point.

See Setting Local Axes on page 202 for information.

Local Axes

Non-editable data showing the amount of rotation in the object's local space to achieve the orientation of the object's local axes.

Scale Pivot

Non-editable data showing the world space location in the current major linear unit dimensions of the scaling pivot point.

Bounding box information

Min/Max

Non-editable data showing the minimum and maximum world space coordinates of the entity's bounding box in the respective X, Y, and Z world space axes. This data is shown in the current major unit linear dimensions.

Toggles

Bounding Box

The following is an example of a sphere's Information Window with Bounding Box toggled OFF (the default).

When you toggle the control ON, the sphere is replaced by a bounding box.

Invisible

When you toggle Invisible ON, the corresponding item becomes invisible.

Simple Display

When toggled ON, the object is displayed in a simpler form. See Simplifying the Display of Objects on page 300.

To find out more about layers, see Introduction to Layers on page 235.

Layer

This field indicates which layer the active object belongs to. See Toggling between Layer Names and Numbers on page 271.

Information Window pin

The push pin is a way to keep the object in the list even when the object is deselected. The three asterisks to the right of the object's name indicate the item is active.

For example, when an object is active and you click the pin then select Pick > Nothing, the object remains listed in the Information Window.

Surface Information Window

Pick a surface to make it active (such as a primitive sphere), and then select Windows > Information window.

See Common Parameters on page 380 for details on the statistics in the first four sections of the above window.

Surf Geometry info

Form (U,V)

Non-editable. The fields display whether the object is OPEN , or PERIODIC (closed).

Degree (U,V)

Non-editable. The data presents the NURBS surface degree in the U and V parametric directions.

Spans (U,V)

Non-editable. The data presents the number of spans in the U and V parametric directions.

Segments (U,V)

Editable. The data presents the number of straight line segments drawn between edit points in the U and V parametric directions (for display purposes while modeling only). Values must be in the range 1 to 129.

Curves (U,V)

Editable. The data presents the number of curves per patch in the U and V parametric directions (for display purposes while modeling only). Values must be in the range 2 to 32.

If you build a surface using any one of the Surfaces tools, the Information window updates to include that new surface's statistics. This example shows the Information Window for a revolved surface (Surfaces > Revolve).

Curve Geometry Information Window

Degree

Non-editable. The data presents the NURBS curve degree.

Spans

Non-editable. The data presents the number of spans in the curve.

Segments

Editable. The data presents the number of straight line segments drawn between edit points (for display purposes while modeling only).

Form

Non-editable. Displays whether a curve is OPEN or PERIODIC (closed).

End tangents

Editable. Click to display the popup menu from which you can select either FREE or LOCKED to change the type of end tangents a curve will have. This property of a curve is used when moving an edit point on a curve.

The following examples show the Information Window for an active OPEN and PERIODIC (closed) curve.

Line / Arc Information Window

If an arc or line (created with Curve > Lines, Curve > Arcs or Curve > Line-arc) is selected, the Information window will contain, in addition to the common parameters and curve geometry information already mentioned, an Attributes section as shown in the following windows.

Attribute information

Length/Radius

Editable. This field modifies the length of the line or the radius of the arc.

Angle/Sweep

Editable. This field modifies the angle of the line with the positive X-axis, or the sweep of the arc.

Arc Complement

This button is a toggle which allows the conversion of a circular arc into its complement. Click it to get the complement of the active arc. Click it again to revert to the original arc.

Curve-on-Surface Information Window

To view information on a curve-on-surface:

1

Select Pick > Object Types > Curve on surf.

2

Click a curve-on-surface to make it active

3

Select Windows > Information > Information window.

The Information Window displays the following additional section:

For information on the Degree, Spans, and Curves statistics, see Curve Geometry Information Window on page 386.

End tangents

Editable. Click to display a menu from which you can select to change the type of end tangents a curve will have.

Edit Point Information Window

Pos

Non-editable. The data presents the world space location of the Edit Point in the current major linear unit dimensions.

Parameter (U,V)

Non-editable. The data presents the parameter value on the curve, or the U/V parameter of a surface.

If you select more that one edit point, the Information Window adds a section for each point selected. See the following example.

CV Information Window

To select a CV on a curve, use Pick > Point Types > CV.

If you select a CV on a curve and then open the Information window, it shows the following section, which contains the statistics for the CVs on a curve:

To select a surface CV, make sure CVs is toggled ON in the Control window (ObjectDisplay > Control - ) and then use Pick > Point Types > CV.

If you select a CV on a surface and then open the Information window, it shows the following section, which contains the statistics for the CVs on a primitive plane.

Position

Non-editable. The data presents the world space location of the CV in the current major linear unit dimensions.

See Changing the Weight of CVs in the NURBS Modeling manual for details.

Weight

Non-editable. The data presents the rational component of the CV.

See Making Sharper Bends in Curves with Multiplicity in the NURBS Modeling manual for details.

Multiplicity

Non-editable. The data presents the multiplicity factor of the CV.

See Common Parameters on page 380 for details on the Cluster statistics.

Cluster Information Window

Light Information Window

To select a light in your scene, select Pick > Object and then select the light.

This section displays the statistics of lights in a scene. See Common Parameters on page 380 for details on the statistics.

If you select the light at the component level (Pick > Component), the Information Window displays the following.

Camera Information Window

To pick a camera, pick the camera icon in the title bar of the Perspective window, or the camera's three nodes in the SBD window.

This section shows camera information. See Common Parameters on page 380 for details on the statistics.

To pick a camera, pick the camera icon in the title bar of the Perspective window, or one of the camera's three nodes in the SBD window.

Each time you select the Eye, View, or Up node from the SDB window, the Information Window shows information for that component of the camera, as in the following example.

Polyset Information Window

Polygons

Non-editable. The data presents the number of polygons in the polyset.

Vertices

Non-editable. The data presents the number of vertices in the polyset.

See Common Parameters on page 380 for details on the other statistics.

Polyset Vertex Information Window

position

Non-editable. The data presents the world space location of the polyset vertex.

normal

Non-editable. The data represents the normal vector at the vertex. This vector is set and used when polysets are quick rendered or rendered.

To build a skeleton, use Objects > Draw skeleton. (See Animating in Alias.)
To select a joint use Pick > Joint.

Joint Information Window

This section displays information for joints on a skeleton.See Common Parameters on page 380 for details on the statistics.

If you select one joint, the Information window shows information for that joint:

If you select multiple joints, the Information window displays information for the combined joints:

Shell Information Window

For information on shells, see NURBS Modeling.

This section shows information on shells.

Form

Non-editable. This field displays whether the object is CLOSED, or OPEN.

Faces

Non-editable. This field displays the number of faces on the selected shell geometry.

See Common Parameters on page 380 for details on the other statistics.

Curve / Surface Locator Information Window

Use the Locators > Move locator tool to select a curve or surface locator, then open the Information window.

Click the black arrow to the left of the heading to open the Tangents , Curvatures , or Arc Length parameter sections.

U/V sliders

Editable. The U and V parametric values corresponding to the position of the locator on the curve (only U applies) or surface.

Window

Editable. Click to display the menu from which you can choose if the locator will be displayed in all windows (All Windows ) or currently active window only (Current Window ).

Position

Non-editable. The X, Y and Z world space coordinate values of the locator.

Tangent

These non-editable fields show the following information on tangent parameters.

• for a curve: the tangent as well as the two normals (Normal 1 and Normal 2 ) at the locator's position on the curve.

• for a surface: the U Tangent, V Tangent, and Normal at the locator's position on the surface.

Curvature

These non-editable fields show the following information on curvature:

• For a curve: its locator displays the curvature value and corresponding radius of curvature at the locator's position.

• For a surface: its locator displays the following values:

• Mean - t he average of the two principal curvatures, giving an average curvature through the point.

• Gaussian - the product of the two principal curvature values.

• Principle Minimum, Principle Maximum - the extreme values of the curvature, that is curvature of the steepest and flattest curves that pass through a given point on the surface.

Arc Length

Along U and V

shows the value of the arc length along the U and V tangents for a surface, or the arc length along a curve.

Space locator

See Curve / Surface Locator Information Window on page 397 for the description of these statistics.