RAM Structural System Help

View/Update - 3D View Pane

The 3D view allows you to see just the walls in the selected wall design group. You can use the mouse or keyboard to rotate or pan the view. When the dialog first displays, by default the keyboard rotates and the mouse pans. Note that you can click in the view and then use the scroll wheel of the mouse to zoom in and out, if your mouse has a scroll wheel.

The buttons above the view behave as follows:

Menu Item/Image Description
Zoom All Zoom out so that all the walls in the wall design group are visible.
Zoom Fence Zoom in by specifying a rectangle in the view.
Zoom In  
Zoom Out  
Zoom Previous  
Elevation View Switch to elevation view.
3D View Switch to 3D view.
Orthographic Use orthographic projection to display the walls.
Perspective Use perspective projection to display the walls.
Keyboard Rotates Use the arrow keys to rotate the view. Note that left and right rotate about the model's Z axis, so if you are looking down from above, the view will rotate clockwise or counterclockwise. If you hold down the Control key while using the arrow keys in this mode, it will pan instead of rotating.
Keyboard Pans Use the arrow keys to pan the view. If you hold down the Control key while using the arrow keys in this mode, it will rotate instead of panning.
Mouse Rotates Click and drag with the left mouse button to rotate the view. Unlike keyboard rotation, dragging left and right rotates the view to the left or right based on the current orientation. If you hold down the Control key while dragging in this mode, it will pan instead of rotating.
Mouse Pans Click and drag with the left mouse button to pan the view. If you hold down the Control key while dragging in this mode, it will rotate instead of panning.
Mouse Selects Section Cut Click on any section cut to select it. The selected section cut will be reflected in the design pane, the status bar, and any section-cut specific tabs in the information pane.
Mouse Selects Rebar Click on any rebar to select it. This will highlight the corresponding row in the appropriate Vertical or Horizontal tab in the Reinforcing tab of the information pane.

The buttons below the view behave as follows:

Menu Item/Image Description
Show/Hide Section Cuts Click to toggle section cut display on or off in the 3D view. If you have Mouse Selects Section Cut selected as the mouse action, this will be disabled, since section cuts must be displayed in order to select one.
Show/Hide Rebar Click to toggle rebar display on or off in the 3D view. If you have Mouse Selects Rebar selected as the mouse action, this will be disabled, since rebar must be displayed in order to select one.
Show/Hide Mesh Click to toggle mesh display on or off in the 3D view. The mesh displays colored stress contours when a section cut is selected and a load combination is selected for the section cut.
Mesh Options Click to show the Mesh Options pop-up dialog.
Show/Hide Axes Click to toggle display of the global coordinate axes.
Show/Hide Section Cut Labels Click to toggle display of the section cut labels.
Increase Text Size Click to increase the text size. Repeat as desired.
Decrease Text Size Click to decrease the text size. Repeat as desired.

If you select a section cut, the actual segment in the section cut that you select will be highlighted in orange, and the other segments will be highlighted in white. The actual selected segment ID will be displayed in the status bar, along with the story name for the selected section cut.