Menus & Commands



The Menu (subject to change!)


Jump directly to description of:
Menu [Prefab], [Process], [Preview], [Present], [Push], [Pull], [Put], [Published]
 

 

Menu [Prefab]:


[Prefab]/[Open Initial...]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[O]')
Invite a NoLimits prefab into the 'Purgatorium'. Prefab selection is set to 'IN'. The whole prefab will be evaluated, views, track or data (whatever was set) will be displayed. CAUTION: Opening a new 'IN' will possibly delete an existent 'PR'. (which may have been depending on the former 'IN's values!)
 
[Prefab]/[Open Initial From Track...]:   (NOT YET AVAILABLE) Open any '.nltrack'-file and extract the bezier values to create an 'IN' out of it. The first vertex will become the same as in the track file. This in general will produce quite large prefabs with lots of segments thus resulting in very(!) long computation times.
 
[Prefab]/[Save Processed]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[S]')
Will save the 'PR' with original filename automaticaly extended to '_prp.nlelem'. NO overwriting of original prefabs is done under any circumsatces except you choose the next option('Save As...') and do this at will.
 
[Prefab]/[Save Processed As...]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[A]')
Will save 'PR' under user defined filename. Fileextension '.nlelem' will be added in case not present.
 
[Prefab]/[Save Initial Seg's as Single Files...]:   Split 'IN' and save each segment as a single prefab. Base filename is the 'IN's name with added numbers from 'OrigPrefabName_S001.nlelem' to '..._Snnn.nlelem' then.
 
[Prefab]/[Save Proc'd Seg's as Single Files...]:   Same as above, but this time with the single segments of your burnt 'PR'.
 
Following NOT YET available:
[Prefab]/[Load Purgatorium Values...]:  
[Prefab]/[Save Purgatorium Values...]:  
(but for sure working in some future version. Still searching hard for the most possible complicated and weird file format... *g*)     (Tiny voice: "REGEDIT4!", low voice: "3DS!!", tiny voice: "MS-DOC!!!", third voice:"Whaddayatalkinabout???")
 
[Prefab]/[Load Initial from CSV-/Text-File...]:  
[Prefab]/[Save Processed as CSV-/Text-File...]:  
For Loading and Saving CSV-/Text-Files please see 'File Xchange', resp. '...Import' and '...Export' below on this page.
 
 
[Prefab]/[Exit from?/to? Hell]:   (Hotkey: '[Alt]+[F4]')
(Couldn't figure out what that actualy was for...
Well, who wants to leave a warm and cosy place like the waiting room to hell anyway???)

   ^ Top of Page


 

Menu Process


 
[Process]/[Undo Push...]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[Z]')
You will have the Chance of ONE single 'Undo' for the last 'Push' operation you may have performed.
 
[Process]/[Redo Push...]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[Y]')
NOT YET Availble!
 
[Process]/[Send Prefab through Purgatorium!]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[Shift]+[P]')
Send an 'IN' through the Purgatorium to create a 'PR' version of it.
 
[Process]/[Copy Initial to Processed]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[P]')
Copy the 'IN' to the 'PR' while leaving it untouched. (No matter whatever is set in the 'Purgatorium' panel) Mostly used for instance to save it to disk.
 
[Process]/[Set Processed as New Initial]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[N]')
Make the 'PR' your new 'IN'. Use either to have different transformation which can not be performed within one 'run' or in case you additionaly want to 'push' an already processed one.
 
[Process]/[Clear Purgatorium Values]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[C]')
Set all values within the 'Purgatorium' panel (the left one, yeah, you guessed it!) do default and uncheck any options.
 
[Process]/[Uncheck Purgatorium Options]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[U]')
KEEP all values within the 'Purgatorium' panel and ONLY UNCHECK options.

   ^ Top of Page


 

Menu Preview


 
[Preview]/[Initial Prefab]:   (Hotkey: '[I]')
[Preview]/[Processed Prefab]:   (Hotkey: '[P]')
[Preview]/[Xternal Prefab]:   (Hotkey: '[X]')
Select either one of these three to investigate the according prefab. Each (I,P,X) is only available when actualy present.
 
[Preview]/[Views Panel]:   (Hotkey: '[V]')
[Preview]/[Track Panel]:   (Hotkey: '[K]')
[Preview]/[Data Panel]:   (Hotkey: '[D]')
[Preview]/[Synth Panel]:   (Hotkey: '[Y]')
Any of these four will select the according Panel. Selecting the 'Views Panel' will NOT affect the type of view (Q,T,F,R,A) you have currently selected but show up with the last settings.

   ^ Top of Page


 

Menu Present


 
[Present]/[Quad View: T, F, R, Axo]:   (Hotkey: '[Q]')
[Present]/[Top View]:   (Hotkey: '[T]')
[Present]/[Front View]:   (Hotkey: '[F]')
[Present]/[Right View]:   (Hotkey: '[R]')
[Present]/[Axonometric View]:   (Hotkey: '[A]')
Any of these four will select the according view while switching to the 'Views Panel'.
 
[Present]/[Toggle Vertex Display]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[*]', '*' on NumPad!)
[Present]/[Toggle Handles Display]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[/]', '/' on NumPad!)
[Present]/[Toggle Segm. Numbers Display]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[,]')
[Present]/[Toggle Grid Display]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[G]')
[Present]/[Toggle Pseudo Supports Display]:   Use these to mess up your graphic display a bit...

   ^ Top of Page


 

Menu Push

Menu 'Push' is subject to urgent change, therfor not yet documented. 'Pushes' con only be performed on the 'IN'.
 
[Push]/[Prefab ZX-Plane After...]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[J]')
[Push]/[Prefab Continous After...]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[Shift]+[J]')
[Push]/[Prefab ZX-Plane Before...]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[I]')
[Push]/[Prefab Continous Before...]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[Shift]+[I]')
'Push Prefab...' will open another file from disk (leaving any existent 'PR' or 'XT' untouched.) and add it according to the selected sub-options (Before|After, ZX-plane|Continuos)
 
[Push]/[Initial Self ZXPlane After...]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[E]')
[Push]/[Initial Self Continuos After...]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[Shift]+[E]')
[Push]/[Initial Self ZXPlane Reversed After...]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[R]')
[Push]/[Initial Self Cont. Reversed After...]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[Shift]+[R]')

 
[Push]/[Equidist. Straight After...]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[T]')
[Push]/[Equidist. Straight Before...]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[Shift]+[T]')
Attach an additional straight segment to the End (After) or Beginning (Before') This segment will point in the same direction as the according vertex-handle does already and have an 'equidistant' characteristic based on the handle-lenght of this former last / first vertex. (Just try this to see what it does. You'll like it!)

   ^ Top of Page


 

Menu Pull

Menu 'Pull' is also subject to change, therfor not yet documented.
 
[Pull]/[L&oad Xternal Prefab...]:   (Hotkey: '[Ctrl]+[X]')
Use this to load an independent 'XT' from disk. Remember that the 'XT' is for viewing and comparison only. Nothing can be 'done' with this.
 
These '[Pull]/[Values of Xternal Prefab...]' are NOT YET working:
[Pull]/[Values of Xternal Prefab...]/[From 1st Vertex: Slope-T]:  
[Pull]/[Values of Xternal Prefab...]/[From 1st Vertex: Inverse Slope-T]:  
[Pull]/[Values of Xternal Prefab...]/[From Last Vertex: Slope-T]:  
[Pull]/[Values of Xternal Prefab...]/[From Last Vertex: Inverse Slope-T]:  
[Pull]/[Values of Xternal Prefab...]/[From 1st Vertex: Rotate X-axis]:  
[Pull]/[Values of Xternal Prefab...]/[From 1st Vertex: Inverse Rotate X-axis]:  
[Pull]/[Values of Xternal Prefab...]/[From Last Vertex: Rotate X-axis]:  
[Pull]/[Values of Xternal Prefab...]/[From Last Vertex: Inverse Rotate X-axis]:  
 
Following'Pull's should be working alright and are calculating and setting additional 'Purgatorium'-values from already existent (and enabled) ones:
 
[Pull]/[Preserve X from Scale Total]:  
 
[Pull]/[Scaling to ZX-Skew by Rotation]:  
 
[Pull]/[Inv. X-Rotation from Slope-T]:  
[Pull]/[Inv. Slope-T from X-Rotation]:  
 
Have more still more fun with these:
 
[Pull]/[Z-Axis Rotation for Y-Out = Y-In]:   Set and enable Z-Axis Rotation so that the Y values of the very first and last vertex of the whole prefab be at same height (mostly beeing zero).
[Pull]/[X-Axis Rotation for Y-Out = Y-In]:   Set and enable X-Axis Rotation so that the Y values of the very first and last vertex of the whole prefab be at same height (mostly beeing zero).
[Pull]/[Y-Axis Rotation for X-Out = X-In]:   Set and enable Y-Axis Rotation so that the X values of the very first and last vertex of the whole prefab be on a line parallel to Z-axis.

   ^ Top of Page


 

Menu Put


 
[Put]/[All Metrics/Units to 'European']:  
Will immediately set all input units as well as output values to meters, kmh, etc. while keeping any settings and displaying current values with the new units. (by doing automatic conversion!)
 
[Put]/[All Metrics/Units to 'English/US']:  
Same as above but set everything to feet, miles/h and so on.

   ^ Top of Page


 

Menu Published


 
[Published]/[Program Help]:  
[Published]/[Program Turturial]:  
[Published]/[Processing Options]:  
Will open this documentation in case of correct installation.
 
[Published]/[English Help]:  
[Published]/[Deutsche Hilfe]:  
Switch between languages on the fly (When available)
 
[Published]/[About This 'Purgatorium'...]:   You don't want to know that...

   ^ Top of Page



 

General Buttons


General Button Bar

From left to right:
 
Buttons showing with 'Preview'


Preview Button Bar

From left to right:
 
Buttons showing with 'Track Panel'


Track Button Bar

From left to right:
 
Button showing with 'Synthesis'


Synthesize Button (Hard to reckognize, isn't it?)

   ^ Top of Page



 

Move & Zoom

The program code handling the 'Walk'-, 'Move'- and 'Zoom'-features as well as the way the views are represented currently is due to a major rewrite. Expect any hotkeys beeing kept but different visualization behavior in future versions!.
 
You may walk, move or zoom your views by using special hotkeys.

 
All zoom-/move-keys with numbers are located on the numeric keypad! The 'NumLock' button on your numeric keypad must be enabled for this!
 
Walking along the prefab in steps: Moving as seen from top view: Zooming by a constant multiplicator (which is squareroot of 2) Reset Zoom and / or reset Move position:

   ^ Top of Page



 

File Xchange

There is a feature to exchange any prefab data with other programs, for instance spreadsheed-apps or math-programs. This is done by reading/writing the vertex coordinates as well as optional banking and 'CR'-/'RR'-flag information from/to text files. These text files will be 'Windows ANSI' with standard 'CR/LF'-linebreaks.
 
The 'Prefab Purgatorium' will by default read and write two basic formats:
 
There are many additional options to acommodate the possible import/export file-formats of various applications or defining custom formats.
 
File im- and -export settings are both defaulted in the same way to give you not only fast data exchange with common spreadsheed applications but also easy handling by 'understandable' reordering and modification of data.

   ^ Top of Page



 

File Xchange - Import

CAUTION: By importing data there is NO proofing/validation done. Values are read 'as is'. In case your imported segment data are not adjacent or not 'continuos' as required (watch handle directions on the vertices!) you may and will get unpredictable results!
 
Keep an eye on the following issues:
Menu: [Prefab]/[Load Initial from CSV...] (only available when 'IN' is selected) will open:  


CSV-Import Options Dialog


Group 'File Format':
  Group 'Values':
  Group 'Additional':
  Group 'Expected':
Will show a symbolic preview of expected values and their respective column order. ('TAB-space' if present is represented by the '>' character.)

   ^ Top of Page



 

File Xchange - Export


Menu: [Prefab]/[Save Processed as CSV...] (only available when 'PR' is selected) will open:  


CSV-Export Options Dialog

On exporting a prefab please care for this:
Group 'File Format':
  Group 'Values':
  Group 'Comments':
  Group 'Sample Line(s)':
Will show a symbolic preview of values to be written (as well as the 'Header' and comment-type when selected) and the column order. ('TAB-space' if present is represented by the '>' character.)
 

   ^ Top of Page