Blog | Four Essential Features You Need to Know!
In this post, we’re going to discuss four essential features you need to know when using Virtual CRASH, whether it’s Virtual CRASH 3, Virtual CRASH 4, Virtual CRASH 5, or Virtual CRASH for Public Safety.
Before we get into it, if you need to install Virtual CRASH, head over the FREE TRIAL page, fill out the registration, and we’ll email you with instructions how to download and install.
You can watch the complete video of the Four Essential Features You Need to Know at the bottom of this post.
Essential Feature #1 | Mouse Cursor Control Types
Pan Mode
The first essential feature is the mouse cursor control type. Below we’re looking at a fairly complex scene built in Virtual CRASH 5. When we launch Virtual CRASH or load an existing project, our cursor starts in Pan mode (see below). This is a good thing, because “Pan” prevents you from directly clicking and moving objects in the scene, which may cause unwanted changes to your simulation or animation project. You’ll know you’re in pan mode when you see the hand icon. In Pan mode, you can safely take a cruise around your scene, evaluate the environment and motion, and not worry about making any accidental modifications.
When in Pan, you can select an object in your scene by left-clicking on its name in the project or layers menu in the left-side control panel. Once selected you’ll be able to make modifications to the object in the properties menu.
Select, Move And Manipulate Mode
If you want to select an object directly in the 3D workspace, then switch your cursor control type to Select, Move And Manipulate. You can switch to this type either using the dropdown menu in the upper tool bar, or by going to edit and then tools in the menu bar. Once you switch to “Select, Move And Manipulate”, you can translate and rotate the object interactively, and you get access to any available interactive controls - for example, the fast control icons for simulated vehicle objects or control vertices for CAD elements (see below).
Select And Move
If you want to interactively translate and rotate your object, without accidentally modifying its interactive control grips, then switch your cursor control type to Select And Move (see below). When in “Select and Move” or “Select, Move and Manipulate”, just hover the cursor near the center of the object’s bounding box, left click hold, and drag to translate, or hover over the corners, left-click hold, and drag up or down to rotate.
The “Restrict To…” Modes
You can even restrict your mouse cursor movements to a preferred direction, such as along the global x-axis, by using this drop down menu in the upper tool bar.
“Restrict To” with “Axis Local“ Enabled
You can also change the restrict mode to work within the object’s local reference frame by using the “Axis Local” option.
Essential Feature #2 | The Gallery Browser (aka The Vehicle and Object Browser)
VC4 | VC5 | VCPS
The second essential feature is the gallery browser. To import a vehicle into your Virtual CRASH 3D environment, left-click on the gallery button in the left-side control panel. Next, scroll down to vehicles 3D and left click on medium to see the medium to high detail vehicle models. You can left-click on a manufacture’s name to filter out results shown below or use the keyword filter, or use both. Next, go to the lower window of the gallery browser. Left-click on the database icon in the upper right corner, hold, and drag your mouse into the 3D workspace.
VC3
Virtual CRASH 3 users will need to use the vehicle hierarchy viewer, which doesn’t provide a nice preview of the vehicle’s geometry.
Essential Feature #3 | The Object Selection Type Menu
Mesh Geometries
The third essential feature is the object selection type drop down menu. For vehicles or meshes, this menu gives you access to vertices, polygon faces, and elements. Once you finish modifying your geometry, remember to switch back to object selection type.
Animation Paths
For animation paths, the object selection type drop down menu gives you access to the orientation control grips.
Point Clouds
For point clouds, the object selection type drop down gives you access to the easy surface builder tool or section tool.
Images
For images set to scaled-image mode, the object selection type drop down gives you access to the scale tool.
Essential Feature #4 | Right-Click-To-Terminate Mouse Command
The fourth essential feature is the right-click-to-terminate mouse command. Both the 2D shapes, excluding polylines, and the 3D shapes require you to left-click, hold, and drag to start creating. The remaining combination of mouse commands will depend on the specific shape selected. Once you are completely finished creating the shape, if you left-click again, you’ll begin creating another instance of that shape; however, If you right-click, the shape command will be terminated. If you’re in “Select, Move and Manipulate”, you’ll then be able to see the shape’s control grips which will allow you to interactively modify the shape’s properties, or you can go to the shape’s miscellaneous menu in the left side control panel.
For polylines, left-click to drop the first control vertex. Continue left-clicking to drop additional control vertices. Right-click to drop the final control vertex. Right-click again to terminate the command. Again, if you’re in “Select, Move And Manipulate”, you’ll be able to see the control vertices, which can then be modified.
Remember that all object attributes can be modified in the left side control panel. Just make sure the big “edit” button is highlighted to see the properties title bar. The menus listed under properties will depend on what type of object is selected.
Watch the video on the Four Essential Features You Need to Know below:
Additional Training Content
If you want more information on Virtual CRASH features and workflows, be sure to visit the VCRASH Academy page. Virtual CRASH for Public Safety users, check out the Online User’s Guide. Also, make sure to take a look on our Live Training Events Page for announcement about upcoming in-person training opportunities.