Basic Operating Elements
General remarks
- Start Moloc by typing 'mx' (the alias for the Moloc path)
in a shell window.
It is useful to have the default directory of the shell
set to where you want to read and write most of your files.
- Mouse and Keyboard are used to navigate through Moloc.
- The Menu Structure is hierarchical. Choosing the
EXIT button 'x' will put you back to the higher-level menu from
where you called the present one.
Mouse
- Click with the RIGHT mouse button to select
a menu item from the bottom menu bar. (When
toggled help is set [.../:/h], you may also make
your choices by clicking the letters of the vertical menu item list.)
- LEFT and MIDDLE mouse buttons
are used to ADJUST the VIEW.
- Hold down the LEFT mouse button and move the mouse to
ROTATE the objects. (Actually you rotate your viewpoint
around the objects, their coordinates remain unchanged!)
- Hold down the MIDDLE mouse button to
TRANSLATE within the screen plane.
- Hold down LEFT and MIDDLE mouse button together to
TRANSLATE perpendicular to the screen by moving the
mouse in and out (up and down).
- Hold down LEFT and MIDDLE mouse button together to
ZOOM in and out by moving the mouse sideways.
- To ROTATE precisely about a coordinate axis,
keep the ALT-key pressed:
- Hold down the LEFT mouse button and move the mouse
in and out to rotate about the x-axis
- Hold down the MIDDLE mouse button and move the mouse
sideways to rotate about the y-axis
- Hold down LEFT and MIDDLE mouse button and move
the mouse sideways to rotate about the z-axis
- Picking is described
on a separate page.
Keyboard
Alternatively the keyboard can be used to operate Moloc. Because it is not
clear whether Microsoft will support full mouse functionality for third party
software (Windows 8, up) this section has been moved to a
separate page.