Working in the Virtual View tab

The Virtual View tab lets you instantly see a very realistic representation of your drawing in 3D and color. You can spin the room around to view your event from any angle and export the images as graphic files that you can email to your clients or insert in your proposals. The Virtual view images are very detailed, giving you a quick glimpse at your design so you can tweak lighting, color, and set up before creating the actual rendering. Using the Virtual View Fixture Selection Tool, you can also select fixtures and adjust their settings with the Light Tool right in the Virtual View.

Here is an example of a typical Virtual view image of an event:

As shown in the image below, the Virtual view includes optional features which can be turned ON or OFF at any time by using the options on the General tab. For details, see "General tab".

• Gyroscope shows you how you are oriented in the drawing. In the bottom-right corner of the image above, the gyroscope appears as a little circle with an axis jack.
• World Axis helps you keep tabs on where you are in the drawing by starting the drawing at the Document Origin. The big blue line, red line and green line in the Virtual view above is the World Jack
• World Grid is a big grid that can be manipulated any way you want! It’s shown below the venue in the image above.

Arranging the camera’s point of view

When you are on the Virtual View tab or in the image preview pane of the Render Wizard, you are looking at your drawing through an invisible, default “camera.”

The default camera control for Virtual View is Traditional Vivien. Alternately, in the Application Options window, you can choose the Other 3D Applications on the Virtual View Camera Control drop-down list if you want to use camera control that complies with other 3D applications. See "Camera Control" for alternative mouse and keyboard action commands.

In the Traditional Vivien default, you can arrange the point of view of this camera in a few ways, depending on the effect that you want to achieve:

• Pan/Tilt: To move side to side or up and down in your drawing (i.e., without zooming in and out), press your left mouse button and move your mouse around.
• Zoom: The zoom feature in Vivien is just like using a regular zoom lens on a camera—you stay in the same spot, but the camera lens brings the image into tighter or further focus. To zoom in and out, use the Page Up / Page Down buttons on your keyboard or the mouse wheel, if you have one. Note that the image can become distorted if you zoom too far out from the object, just like a regular camera. In this case, it’s much better to use the dolly feature described below.
• Dolly: To view your drawing from very far away without distorting it, press CTRL on your keyboard and use your mouse wheel (or Page Up / Page Down buttons on your keyboard) to move the camera away from your drawing.

Switching cameras in virtual view

If you have drawn cameras at different angles in your room, you can instantly switch from one camera to another. For more information on switching cameras in Virtual View, see "Using the Camera toolbar" or "Switching cameras in virtual view".