Dialog Box: Crystal Axes [ Input2 Menu]
You can superimpose crystal axes onto the drawing. Crystal axes cannot be drawn on stereopairs.
The crystal axes are scaled initially to be about the same size as the crystal. Thus the Scale factor is initially 1.0. The axes are always shown in front of the crystal(s), except in 3D mode. For hexagonal and trigonal (non-rhombohedral) crystals, the a3 axis is plotted, although it is not listed in print-outs.
If the Include in scaling box is checked the displaced axes will be included in any automatic Scaling or Centering operations (as selected in the Input1 menu).
The Displacements can be used to separate the crystal and axes, for example to put a small axial cross in a corner of the drawing. Note that you can also move the crystal with the Centering and Displacements command in the Input2 menu or the Center button in the Dialog Bar - Right . The Scale Grid can assist in these displacements.
If you click on the Locate with Mouse button, the next click in the graphics window will relocate the axes to that point.
Front-back displacement is used only in the 3D mode.
If perspective viewing is on, the axes are projected as if they intersected at the origin, although they are drawn as if they were in front of the crystal.
If the Dashed box is checked, the c axis is shown solid, the b axis is dashed with the dash intervals set in Crystal Edges dialog in the Input2 menu, and the a axis is dashed with half these intervals. The crystal and the axes are projected independently, even if they are separated by displacements - that is, if you are looking directly down the a-axis direction in the crystal, you will also be looking directly down the a-axis in the axial cross.
Labels can be added to the positive end of each axis. The Font for axis labels is the same as that set in the face Labels dialog (Display menu). However, the size of the letters may be different from that in face labels - this is controlled by the Scale factor for labels .
In the 3D display mode in Perspective, there may be slight errors in the intersection of the axes at very short perspective distances (less than 20).