AGi32 Overview - Interface
The program’s user Interface is the screen you see, and in essence, how you interact with the programs capabilities. The first thing you may notice is the program is very similar to a modern CAD program. It is completely graphical in behavior and each project you create in AGi32 will be much like constructing a working drawing in CAD. If you have never operated a CAD program, don't worry, it is not difficult. If you are on old hand with CAD, you will find much of this information familiar.
Work through our online Interface lesson
Before working in a graphical interface (AGI = advanced graphical interface for lighting), you will need to understand the basic 3-dimensional Cartesian Coordinate system consisting of X, Y and Z axes. All entities placed in AGi32, whether they be Lines, Rooms, Objects or Luminaires, have locations described by coordinates phrased in (X,Y,Z) values. Notation such X=50, Y=20, Z=0 refers to a point in 3D coordinate space that is 50 units from the origin in the X-direction, 20 units from the origin in Y-direction and 0 units from the origin in the Z-dimension.
When looking at the screen as you first open AGi32, you will notice a small X&Y coordinate marker in the lower left corner of the screen. This marks the Origin of coordinates (X=0, Y=0). What about Z you say? Well, Z (Zed) sticks straight out of the screen towards you. This is what is commonly referred to as PLAN view. Most of the work you will do takes place in Plan View.
As you might imagine, in a 3-dimensional system, you have the opportunity to explore your work from many different viewing angles including Elevation and Isometric. An Elevation view is so titled as it refers to viewing your work from the side such that the Z-coordinate, or elevation above or below zero is in the primary viewing plane (flat on the screen). Elevation views can be established from any viewing direction and shortcut buttons are provided for the four primary views (N,S,E,W). Isometric views display your work in a 3-dimensional manner such that both the X and Y axis are visibly diverging towards opposite corners of the screen. All dimensions are displayed true size. Shortcut buttons are available for the four secondary viewing directions (NE,NW,SW,SE) as well as a user definable orientation and tilt of the coordinate system.
As you move your mouse within the drawing area, notice the cross-hair cursor moves and the X,Y,Z coordinates are displayed in the lower-left corner of the screen. By default, the cursor moves in increments of one unit. This is referred to as a Cursor Snap of one (Snap=1). The cursor Snap can easily be changed such that the cursor movement is constrained to a smaller or larger number. This makes locating or selecting entities much easier. Similarly, the cursor can be constrained to move in only the X & Y planes, or left to right and up and down. This is called Ortho mode, an abbreviation for Orthographic. As a final alteration to cursor movement, AGi32 provides a Snap-To function. When enabled, this mode allows the cursor to automatically locate vertices, midpoints and intersections and snap the cursor to that position. This can greatly assist in the creation of complicated shapes on top of CAD created backgrounds.
AGi32 can operate in either US Standard or Metric units equally and translate between the two systems. When in US Standard units, the cursor moves in either decimal feet or feet and inches and all dimensions are entered in decimal feet. When operating in Metric units, the cursor movement and all coordinate entry is given in decimal meters.
Lighting metrics can be either US Standard or Metric and can be mixed with the opposite units system. Generally, US Standard operation is in Feet and Footcandles (Illuminance), Metric operation is in Meters and Lux (Illuminance). Units can be mixed to yield Feet with Lux or visa-verse.
On first installation the program is set in US Standard units. This can be changed on a per-use basis or permanently from the Tools - System Settings command.
When you first open AGi32 the screen displays a working area roughly 140x100 units (X by Y). While this might be more than enough area for a small interior application, it will be quite small relative to an outdoor site lighting project. Because the screen requirements of different types of projects you will encounter are so diverse, the program must be truly able to handle an infinite amount of area. Zooming the display is performed with the mouse wheel (although Zoom commands may be employed instead). The amount of area covered on the screen can increase by Zooming-out (scroll towards yourself with the wheel), or can decrease by Zooming-in (scroll away from yourself with the wheel). The amount of Zoom has no effect on the actual size of the entities you have created. Just like a zoom function on a camera, it simply makes the entities appear smaller or larger. AGi32 supports functions for Zoom-In, Zoom-Out, Zoom-Window, Zoom-Extents, Zoom-Limits and Zoom-Center.
While the screen representation is at a particular level of zoom, it is helpful to be able to move the image on the screen. This function is called Pan. In AGi32 you can pan the display in three ways, 1) by depressing the mouse wheel like a button and moving the mouse left to right or up and down on the desktop, 2) by simply selecting a point in space and dragging it to a new location; this is “Pan-Point”; 3) by selecting any point to be moved to the center of the display, this is “Pan-Center”. Keyboard shortcuts are also provided to Pan-Left, Right, Up and Down. Depressing the mouse wheel while holding down the Shift key on your keyboard will allow mouse movement to orbit around the last zoomed point (scroll mouse wheel). This can be a very handy way to view portions of your model that may be hidden from view.