The Visual Simulation Environment (VSE) simulation window provides keyboard and mouse operations that can be used to control the view and elements in the simulation environment.

Using the Keyboard

The following keys control the movement and orientation of the camera in the simulation environment when the Simulation pane has input focus. When the Simulation pane has input focus, it is surrounded by a blue border. Click inside the pane or press the Tab key until the blue border appears.

Note that you can also use the numeric keypad, as long as it is not in numeric mode. In this case the numeric keys 2, 4, 6 and 8 act as arrow keys.

If you press the Shift key with these keys, the movement keys move 20 times faster.

When the simulator is in Edit mode the navigation keys work the same but some additional options are available when the left Ctrl key is held down. When the left Ctrl key is pressed, the currently selected entity will be highlighted if it has a valid bounding sphere associated with it. While the Ctrl key is pressed, the following additional keys are available:

Using the Mouse

In most cases, dragging the mouse cursor through the Graphics pane by holding down the left button and moving the mouse causes the camera viewpoint to change. In general, keyboard commands affect the position of the camera while mouse movement affects the orientation of the camera.

When the simulator is in Edit mode and the left control key is held down, the mouse behavior can be different. If an entity is selected and the Position property is selected in the Property window, the mouse movement affects the position of the entity. If any component of the position vector is selected, the entity is constrained to move only along that axis. Similarly, if the rotation property is selected in the Property window, the mouse movement affects the orientation of the entity. If any component of the rotation vector is selected, the entity is constrained to rotate only along that axis.

Using an Xbox Controller

If you have an Xbox Controller connected to your PC, you can use it to control the camera as well. The two thumbsticks on the controller can be used to move the camera around. Note that you must press and hold the Left Shoulder button (just above the left thumbstick) while you are moving the camera. This is not immediately obvious.

The movement of the camera is controlled using the left thumbstick and the right thumbstick is used to pan and tilt the camera as follows (with Left Shoulder held down):

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are using another application that uses the Xbox Controller, such as the Simple Dashboard, you must make sure that the Simulation window has the input focus in order to use the controller to move the camera. Click inside the simulation window with the mouse to give it focus. A blue border appears around the simulation area when it has focus. If another application has the focus, then you cannot control the simulation camera using the Xbox Controller.

The simulation coordinate system

The simulator uses a right-handed coordinate system. The +Y axis represents elevation above the ground plane. The X and Z axes are parallel to the ground plane. When facing in the +X direction, the +Z axis is to the right. Some modelling tools use a different coordinate system and it is important to export the models rotated in such a way that they appear correct in the simulation environment.

10. Virtual Simulation Environment