3D Modeling

3D Display

The 3D display provides the following features:


Dynamic View Manipulation

You can use the following standard methods to change your view dynamically:


Other methods are also available – they are usually provided to keep interface compatibility with older versions of VariCAD:

For dynamic view rotation, zoom or pan all keys and/or mouse buttons must be held simultaneously, of course.


Dynamic view changes can be set in command “CFG”.


Animated View Changes

If view is not changed dynamically by cursor movement or mouse wheel rotation, the change is animated. For instance – if you select a front view and the current view is under a random angle, the view is not redrawn immediately. Angle of view is changed within a few tenths of second. This gives you better impression of the change.


VariCAD permanently checks time of redrawing. If you have slow graphics and if you want to redraw a large amount of 3D data, animation is automatically turned off. Animation of view changes can be managed in command “CFG”.


Predefined View

You can use a predefined angle of 3D view. Predefined view is created from front view by rotation around X, Y and Z axes of display. It can be set in command “CFG”. By default, the predefined view is used whenever a new file is created.


Predefined View - PRV

This commands sets the view according to predefined angles.


Rotating View Using the Arrow Keys

You can use the arrow keys to rotate the view around a specific axis. Press Shift, Ctrl, or both, and then press the following:

You can use the keys in combination to change the view angle.


3D View Tools

Left View - VLE
Right View - VRI
Front View - VFR
Back View - VBA
Top View - VTO
Bottom View - VBO
View to Plane - RNP

Sets the view perpendicular to a selected plane. This tool is useful especially when creating a 2D view export.

Rotate View Around X 90 Degrees - X90
Rotate View Around X 180 Degrees - X180
Rotate View Around X 270 Degrees - X270

Rotates the view by the specified angle around the global X axis

Rotate View Around Y 90 Degrees - Y90
Rotate View Around Y 180 Degrees - Y180
Rotate View Around Y 270 Degrees - Y270

Rotates the view by the specified angle around the global Y axis

Undo View - ZPR
Redo View - ZRD
Zoom Window - ZWI

Defines the zoom by specifying opposite display corners

Zoom All - ZALL

Adjusts the view to display all visible objects


Saving Views

You can save up to eight views that contain rotation, zoom and pan settings. The Predefined Tools toolbar enables you to easily restore these saved views.

Save View - click this icon and select the number of the saved view.

The other icons on this toolbar restore the numbered views. Your views are saved with the file.

Both the 2D and 3D components of a file can each contain eight saved views.



Predefined Views toolbar


Shaded and Wireframe Display

Shade/Wireframe Entire Display - SHW

Switches the display from shaded to wireframe or vice versa.


3D Display Settings

3D Shading and Edges Settings - 3DS

Enables you to change how 3D objects are displayed. You can define:


Colors and Wires of Solids - SCO

This function defines:


You may also select different colors for entire groups of objects. Thus, the objects are distinguished easily from the rest. This option overrides objects' own colors, if turned on. Turned off, the objects are displayed again in their own colors.

You may select a distinct color for:



Solid display settings window


View Rotation Center

Whenever you rotate 3D view, the view rotates around a defined point. You have several methods to redefine the view rotation center. The best option is to right-click an empty area and to select the change from pop-up menu.


Auto View Rotation Center - VCN

Sets the view rotation center to the center of geometry of all visible solids.

Define View Rotation Center - VCNI

Sets the view rotation center to a specified location, selected by cursor.

View Rotation Center to Display Center

Sets the view rotation center to center of viewport. This option is especially recommended for enhanced rendering.


Enhanced Rendering

Enhanced Rendering - SRD

Renders 3D objects more precisely. Smoothly rendered images are realistic and can be used in product presentation materials such as brochures, printed PDF files, folders etc. Once selected, enhanced rendering persists until any 3D edit function is called. It means that you can use all functions working with display, like standard views, view rotation etc. and enhanced rendering is still present. Display settings are the same as for standard mode; however, set values are different for each display mode.


Enhanced rendering is recommended if you want to create a bitmap output of images, or for printing of 3D display.


For enhanced rendering, you can set the following attributes:


Surface Shading

For surface shading, you can set the following attributes:


It is recommended to combine enhanced rendering with selection of a proper color palette. All values can be changed by cursor movement, effect is seen immediately and values can be reset whenever.


The settings are different for shaded solids and for transparent solids.



Shading surface settings window


Setting 3D Display Performance

During start, VariCAD detects supported OpenGL version. If available, OpenGL 4.3 or at least 4.0 is used. For older hardware or insufficient OpenGL support, VariCAD works with OpenGL 1.1. In such situation, some features may be limited.


OpenGL 4.0 and higher allows you to fully exploit power of graphic adapter (card). Rendering time of large 3D data is significantly shorter than under old OpenGL 1.1.


If necessary, you may redefine which OpenGL version is used – although we recommend to let the decision at VariCAD system. To change the OpenGL version, run command “CFG” and then select “OpenGL Version and Initialization Settings”.


To change functionality of OpenGL, you may run command “CFG” and select “Performance, 3D Graphics, OpenGL”. For OpenGL 4.0 and higher, you may select:


If hardware does not support anti-aliasing sufficiently, VariCAD automatically turns it off. You may override such blocking.


Example of the aliased display method


Example of the anti-aliased display method


For old OpenGL 1.1, you may select:

Again, we do not recommend to change the behavior, if there are no problems detected. Changing these settings may be useful only if hardware or display driver performance is erroneous and you are looking for a method how to circumvent problems.


Hardware accelerated OpenGL

VariCAD is an OpenGL application. It means that for displaying of 3D objects, VariCAD uses the OpenGL functionalities. The OpenGL standard is widely supported by hardware manufacturers.


We recommend to work with hardware accelerated OpenGL. It means that final displaying of 3D objects is calculated directly in the graphic adapter (or, in other words, in the graphic card). Even in case the computer is fast enough, displaying is slower if calculated by CPU. Moreover, software emulation of OpenGL may not be always fully compatible with the standard. This may be a problem especially for older hardware.


If you are working under Windows operating system and if your computer has a graphic adapter like NVIDIA or ATI, OpenGL is likely hardware accelerated. Only some cheap solutions working with graphic adapters integrated on the board may be slow.


Under Linux operating systems, OpenGL may not be fully supported. To solve this problem, we recommend you the following:


Test of Hardware Performance

Test of Hardware - HWTEST

This function is useful if you want to compare performance of different VariCAD settings or different hardware, like graphic adapters, main boards, processors etc.


The best option is to run the test after start of VariCAD, with no open files. VariCAD creates its own benchmark file. Then, hardware performance is measured. Results are displayed and can be saved into a text file. For the benchmark file, results are comparable. Optionally, you may run the test with any currently open file.


The test measures and displays:


Results depend also at other hardware components.