Jimco Software Reviews - trueSpace 6.6 (continued)
The toolbars in trueSpace are all multi-function. Each visible button (trueSpace calls them icons) may have many other buttons "under" it that can be accessed by a click-and-hold on the visible button. Many buttons also provide access to properties panels by right-clicking on the button. Each button has an indicator as shown in figure 4. A small green triange in the upper-left of a button indicates that other buttons can be accessed by clicking and holding on the button. A small red triange in the upper-right means that other options can be accessed by right-clicking on the button. In figure 4, I've clicked on the Sweep tool and held the mouse button down to access the other polygon sweep tools. To select one of the other tools, I simply move the pointer over that tool prior to releasing the mouse button.
Figure 4 - The Multi-Function Toolbars
Toolbars can be docked anywhere and dragged anywhere. You can also click on the small border on the left of the toolbar to cycle through the standard view of the toolbar strip, a collapsed version which only displays a small square (the toolbar will re-appear by hovering over the square), and a fully expanded view which shows all buttons available on the toolbar. The collapsed version is helpful in cases where you need to maximize screen area and because each toolbar can be individually configured, you can set things up exactly the way you want them.
Views
The default view in trueSpace is perspective view. This view is a 3-dimensional view that allows you to freely rotate around objects. trueSpace offers many other views as well; bottom, left, right, top, front, etc. You can also choose to have a 4-view display as shown in figure 5. Each view is individually configurable and the dividers between views can be moved so that the size of each view can be controlled easily.
Figure 5 - 4-Views Layout
In the inside corner of each view is a View icon that can be clicked to change the view that is displayed in that particular viewport.
Modeling
Now that you've seen a little about how to work in trueSpace and what interface options are available, let's look at some of trueSpace's great modeling features.
trueSpace offers polygon modeling, NURBS modeling, metaballs modeling, PlastiForm modeling (unique to trueSpace) and much more. You can truly create any object you can imagine with trueSpace. Figure 6 shows a clock modeled and rendered in trueSpace.
Figure 6 - A Clock Rendered in trueSpace