This has four submenus, for selecting the Model, Drawing, Operating and Cursor modes. The selections in the Model, Drawing and Operating mode submenus are also in the Dialog Bar - Left, turned on and off in the Display Menu. The Cursor modes are also in the Dialog Bar - Right.
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The Model mode determines how the crystal(s) are displayed.
In Standard mode, there is an external view, and this view occupies the center of the viewing area unless it is deliberately displaced. In the original orientation, the view is down a*.
In Stereonet mode, the standard drawing of the crystal occupies the left half of the viewing area, and a standard Wulff Stereonet occupies the right half. The original viewing orientation of the crystal is different from that in the standard mode; it is viewed directly down the c crystallographic axis rather than the a* axis. If clinographic viewing is on for the standard view, it is ignored in the stereonet mode. Other rotations are transferred between the two modes.
In Section/Zoning mode, a section or successive sections of the crystal, parallel to the y-z plane, are drawn. The many parameters for this type of view are set in the Sections and Growth Zones dialog in the Input1 menu and its subdialogs. This mode is not available in SHAPE Standard Edition.
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The Drawing mode determines what method is used to draw the crystal(s). The drawing can be in 2D (two-dimensional) mode, for more schematic drawings; or in 3D (OpenGL) mode for more realistic representation as 3D objects. For actual stereoscopic viewing, either 2D or 3D can be shown as separated stereopairs, the Quad Stereo mode can take advantage of hardware which supports quad-buffered OpenGL or the Direct3D mode can show also stereo in Windows with appropriate hardware.
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The Operating mode determines whether SHAPE uses procedures for normal crystals (Crystal or SHAPE mode) or for non-crystallographic symmetry (Cartesian, quasi-crystal or QSHAPE mode).
Polyhedral solids with non-crystallographic symmetry such as icosahedral or pentagonal are often referred to as quasi-crystals (hence the name QSHAPE, formerly used for a separate version of SHAPE). The Cartesian mode is not available in SHAPE Standard Edition.
For normal crystallographic symmetry, SHAPE can simply permute and/or negate the indices of input forms to find all the symmetry equivalents. The form/face indices refer to intercepts on axes whose length and mutual inclination vary. It is only necessary to select one of the 32 crystallographic point groups or crystal classes.
For quasi-crystal symmetry, face/form indices always refer to Cartesian axes, and it is necessary to read a file containing the symmetry matrices. An auxiliary program, SYMGRP, can write these files, although the files containing matrices for the icosahedral and pentagonal groups are provided. Indices are integers for the Crystal mode, and decimal or floating-point numbers for the Cartesian mode. Cartesian-mode indices are always normalized automatically to a length of one.
Apart from the symmetry input and the integer/floating-point nature of indices, operation is almost identical in the two modes.
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The Cursor Mode determines what happens when you click in the graphics window.
In the Index mode, when the left mouse button is clicked, the face is identified and certain other information is given (see Face at Cursor). If the right button is clicked on an edge or corner, you have the option of adding a face truncating that edge or corner - the indices of the new face will be the sum of the indices of the faces involved in the edge or corner.
The Resizing mode allows automatic adjustment of central distances and therefore face sizes. In this mode, clicking the left button on a face will increase the central distance of the form , and cause recalculation (the current orientation will be retained). Of course, increasing the central distance generally decreases the size of the faces in the form. Clicking the right button decreases the central distance. The amount of the increase or decrease is set in the Preferences dialog in the Settings menu. Clicking on a face of a twin will cause a change in all the twin individuals.
Note that the Resizing mode affects all faces of a form. If you want to change individual faces, distorting the crystal from ideal symmetry, select the Remove Symmetry button in the Dialog Bar - Right, or go the the Symmetry option in the Input1 menu and select the Remove Symmetry button.
When in the Resizing mode, there is a box in the upper left of the graphics window labelled "Resize mode off". Clicking in this box will revert to the Index mode.
In the Rotate mode, clicking and dragging in the major part of the graphics window causes rotation on either or both of the reference axes in the plane of the screen. Clicking and dragging near the left-hand or upper edges causes rotation on the axis perpendicular to the screen.
Summary of mouse cursor operations in graphics window. For Macintosh, "Right button" is obtained with the option key plus the mouse button.
Index (Identification) mode:
Left button - identifies face and form; successive clicks give interfacial angle.
Right button - identifies edges and corners; allow addition of new form truncating face or corner.
Resizing mode:
Left button - increases central distance of form selected - usually decreases area.
Right button - decreases central distance of form selected - usually increases area.
Rotate mode:
Left button - click and drag in main part of window rotates around axes in screen; click and drag near left or upper edge rotates around axis perpendicular to screen.