* Note: The functionality of the mouse buttons depends on the Application used.

For
instance, the menus that pop-up in Modeling are different from those in Sketch.

2.3.1.4 Mouse Functionality

The following is the illustration of the mouse buttons used for rotating, panning and zooming in
or out on the graphic screen. Besides using these different combinations of mouse buttons, the
following commands can also be performed by icons in the Toolbar.

Rotate:

Press and hold the middle mouse button (or scroll button) and drag around the screen to view
the model in the direction you want. The model can also be rotated about a single axis. To
rotate about the axis horizontal to the screen, place the mouse pointer near the right edge of
the graphic screen and rotate. Similarly, for the vertical axis and the axis perpendicular to the
screen, click at the bottom edge and top edge of the screen respectively and rotate.

If you keep pressing the MB2 at the same position for a couple of seconds, it will fix the
point of rotation (a green + symbol appears) and you can drag around the object to view.

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Zoom In /Out:

Press and hold both the left mouse button and middle button (or scroll button) simultaneously
and drag OR

Press and hold <Ctrl> button on the keyboard and then press and drag the middle mouse
button. OR

Scroll up and down if the mouse has a scroll wheel.

Pan:

Press and hold both the middle button and right mouse button simultaneously and drag OR

Press and hold <Shift> button on the keyboard and press and drag the middle mouse button.

2.3.2 NX7 Gateway

The following figure shows the typical layout of the NX7 window when a file is opened. This is
the Gateway of NX7 from where you can select any module to work on such as modeling,
manufacturing, etc. It has to be noted that these toolbars may not be exactly on the same position
of the screen as shown below. The toolbars can be placed at any location or position on the
screen. Look out for the same set of icons.

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2.3.2.1 Functions of Gateway Zones

Title Bar:
The Title Bar displays the following informa
information for the current part file.

The name of the currentlyly displayed part

The name of the current work part
If the work part is read only
If the work part has been modified since it was last saved

Menu Bar:
The Menu Bar is the horizontal menu of options displayed at the top of the main window
directly below the Title Bar. Menu bar options are called menu titles and each corresponds to a
NX functional category. Clicking on a menu title leads to a drop
drop-down menu of choices.

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Toolbar:
A Toolbar is a row of icons that you can use to activate standard NX menu items. NX7 comes
with a large selection of toolbars. The active Toolbars are located below the Menu bar. The
toolbars can be placed anywhere on screen by dragging their handles.

If the toolbar handle is dragged to the edges of the screen they attach to that edge of the screen.

Selection Bar:
The Selection Bar is located below the active Toolbars and displays the selection options. These
options include the Filters, Components/Assembly, and Snap Points for selecting features.

Resource Bar:
The Resource Bar features icons for a number of pages in one place using very little user
interface space. NX7 places all navigator windows in the Resource Bar, as well as the History
Palette, Assembly navigator, Part navigator, Animation navigator, Simulation navigator, Roles
and the Web Browser. By Default, the Resource Bar is located on the left side of the NX7
window. You can dock and undock the resource bars by clicking on the pin icon on the top left
of the resource window.

- UNDOCKED - DOCKED
Cue Line:
The Cue Line is shown at the top of the main NX window below all the Toolbars. The Cue Line
displays prompt messages that indicate the next action that needs to be taken.

Status Line:
The Status Line, located to the right of the Cue area, displays information messages about the
current options or the most recently completed function.

Progress Meter:
The Progress Meter is displayed in the Cue Line when the system performs a time-consuming
operation such as loading a large assembly. The meter shows the percentage of the operation that
has been completed. When the operation is finished, the system displays the next appropriate
cue.

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2.3.2.2 Part Navigator

Click on the Part Navigator icon, the second icon

from the top on the Resource bar

The Part Navigator provides a visual representation of

the parent-child relationships of features in the work part
in a separate window in a tree type format. It shows all
the primitives, entities used during modeling. It allows
you to perform various editing actions on those features.
For example, you can use the Part Navigator to suppress
or un-suppress the features or change their parameters or
positioning dimensions. Removing the green tick mark
will Suppress the feature. The software will give a
warning if the parent child relationship is broken by
suppressing any particular feature.

The Part Navigator is available for all NX applications

and not just for modeling. However, you can only perform feature-editing operations when you
are in the Modeling module. Editing a feature in the Part Navigator will automatically update the
model. Feature editing will be discussed later.

2.3.2.3 History

Click on the History icon, the fourth from

the top on the Resource bar

The History Palette provides fast access to

recently opened files or other palette entries. It
can be used to reload parts that have been
recently worked on or to repeatedly add a small
set of palette items to a model.

The History Palette remembers the last palette

options that were used and the state of the
session when it was closed. NX stores the
palettes that were loaded into a session and
restores them in the next session. The system
does not clean up the History Palette when parts
are moved.

To re-use a part, drag and drop it from the

History Palette to the Graphics Window. To reload a part, click on a saved session bookmark.

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2.3.3 Geometry Selection

Geometry Selection properties are very advanced in NX7. You can filter the selection method,
which facilitates easy selection of the geometry in a close cluster. In addition, you can perform
any of the feature operation options that NX7 intelligently provides depending on the selected
entity.

The Mouse cursor in the Graphics screen will normally be in the shape of a cross hair as
shown in the figure. Selection of items can be based on the degree of the entity like,
selection of Geometric entities, Features and Components. The selection method can be
opted by choosing one of the icons in the Selection Toolbar.

Feature Selection:

Clicking on any of the icons in the figure below will let you select the features in the part file. It
will not select the basic entities like edges, faces etc. The features selected can also be applied to
a part or an entire assembly depending upon the requirement.

Besides that, the filtering of the features can be further narrowed down by selecting one of the
desired options in the drop-down menu as shown in the figure below. For example, selecting
CURVE from the option will highlight only the curves in the screen. The default is NO
SELECTION FILTER.

General Object Selection:

Clicking on the icon as shown in the figure below will let you select the general object entities
displayed on the screen.

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If you want to select any geometric entity, feature, or component, then
navigate the mouse cursor closer to the entity until it is highlighted with
a magenta (pink) color and click the left mouse button.

If you want to select an entity that is hidden behind the displayed

geometry, then place the mouse cursor roughly close to that area on the
screen such that the cursor ball occupies a portion of the hidden
geometry projected on the screen. After a couple of seconds, the ball
cursor turns into a plus symbol as shown in the figure.

Click the left mouse button (MB1) to get a Selection Confirmation

dialog box as shown in the following figure below. This QuickPick
menu consists of the list of entities captured within the ball of the
cursor. The entities are arranged in ascending order of the degree of
the entity. For example, edges and vertices are assigned lower numbers
while solid faces are given higher numbers. By moving the cursor on
the numbers displayed, NX7 will highlight the corresponding entity on
the screen in a magenta color. For example, in the figure below, the
face on the top is assigned the number 5. Likewise, the hidden entities will also be allotted with
a number in the list. You can browse through the numbers and click on the number that
corresponds to the desired object or feature.

2.3.4 User Preferences

Choose PREFERENCES on the Menu bar to find the various options available

User Preferences are used to define the display parameters of new objects, names, layouts, and
views. You can set the layer, color, font, and width of created objects. You can also design
layouts and views, control the display of object and view names and borders, change the size of
the selection ball, specify the selection rectangle method, set chaining tolerance and method, and

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design and activate a grid. Changes that you make
using the Preferences menu override any counterpart
customer defaults for the same functions.

User Interface

Choose PREFERENCESUSER INTERFACE

to find the options in the dialog box.

The User Interface option customizes how NX works

and interacts to specifications you set. You can control
the location, size and visibility status of the main
window, graphics display, and information window.
You can set the number of decimal places (precision)
that the system uses for both input text fields and data
displayed in the information window. You can also
specify a full or small dialog for file selection. You can
also set macro options and enable a confirmation
dialog for Undo operations.

The General tab allows you to set the precision

level as seen in the Information Window
The Layout tab allows you to set the location of the
Resource Bar
The Macro tab allows you to set the pause while
displaying animation

Visualization

Choose PREFERENCES VISUALIZATION

to find the options in the dialog box.

This dialog box controls attributes that affect the

display in the graphics window. Some attributes are
associated with the part or with particular Views of the
part. The settings for these attributes are saved in the
part file. For many of these attributes, when a new part
or a view is created, the setting is initialized to the
value specified in the Customer Defaults file. Other

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attributes are associated with the session and apply to
all parts in the session. The settings of some of these
attributes are saved from session to session in the
registry. For some session attributes, the setting can be
initialized to the value specified by customer default,
an environment variable.

Click on the different tab buttons to find the

options available under each command.

Choose PREFERENCES COLOR PALLETE

to find the options in the dialog box.

Click on EDIT BACKGROUND to get another

pop up Dialog box. You can change your
background color whatever you want.

The background color refers to the color of the

background of the graphics window. NX supports
graduated backgrounds for all display modes. You can
select background colors for Shaded or Wireframe
displays. The background can be Plain or Graduated.
Valid options for all background colors are 0 to 255.

Click OK when you are done

You can also update the background of the graphic window using Preferences.

Choose PREFERENCES BACKGROUND

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Edit Object Display

Object Display option is used to modify the settings such as layer, color, font, width, grid count,
translucency, and shading status of existing objects. You can select the Edit Object Display icon
on the Menu Bar as shown below.

You can also click PREFERENCES OBJECT

This will pop up a dialog window OBJECT PREFERENCES or EDIT OBJECT DISPLAY.
Change and observe the Color and Translucency of the solid object. This is not just limited to
solid objects. You can also apply this setting to individual entities of the solid. For example, you
can click on any particular surface of the solid and apply the Display settings.

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