each window in dune is divided into 6 areas: toolbars, the route view, the tree view, the 3d view, the field view, and the channel view. all views and toolbars can be hidden (see the "View" menu), except for the 3d view which is always in the center of the window.
dune is a multi-window app, but it does not use MDI (the multiple document interface). MDI needs to be taken out and shot. each window in dune opens the way god intended, in a separate top-level window. each window has its own toolbars and menus, and represents one open document.
| note: | on some braindead operating systems which shall remain nameless, having many windows open will cause some of the 3d windows to perform slowly, and/or drop to software rendering. this is because you have run out of resources on your graphics card, and the OS is too stupid to share them properly. the solution for now is to close some of the windows, or any other applications using 3d (eg., a VRML browser). |
in the 3d view, you may view and manipulate the objects in the scene in a rendered view. most objects have "handles" which you may drag to change the object's parameters. by default, handles are shown for the currently-selected object. however, in the preferences dialog, you can also choose "show handles for all items", or "show handles never" (see Options::Preferences).
Keys:| CTRL | rotate the view around the point of interest (mouse movement). |
| SHIFT | zoom the view towards or away from the point of interest (vertical mouse movement). |
| up arrow | move towards the point of interest. |
| down arrow | move backwards, away from the point of interest. |
| left arrow | turn left. |
| right arrow | turn right. |
two modifier keys are important in the 3d view: SHIFT and CTRL. holding SHIFT causes the view to zoom, and holding CTRL rotates the view around the origin (0, 0, 0). you can also use the arrow keys to navigate the scene in a quake/doom-like fashion (left and right arrows turn the view left and right, up and down arrows move forward and backward respectively).
the tree view may be used to select objects, to examine the hierarchy, and via drag and drop, to move, copy and instance objects. while dragging, the cursor will change to reflect a valid move, copy or link. nodes can only be dropped on those parents which allow that child (eg., Material nodes can only be dropped on Appearance).
Keys:| CTRL | copy a node (while dragging). |
| CTRL and SHIFT | link, or instance a node. |
since instancing (DEF/USE in VRML terms) allows the scene graph to be a graph rather than a tree, instances after the first are represented using little arrows superimposed on the icon (like links or shortcuts in windows). however, they behave just like the first one in terms of showing properties, etc.
to the right of the 3d view is the field view. here, the fields (attributes) of the currently-selected object are shown. different field types interact differently, but there is some commonality. numerical fields may be dragged, by putting the cursor in the field and dragging the mouse left/right. selecting a field's value when it is already selected causes a text entry popup to come up to enter or edit a numerical value.