Changing Settings

Open the Settings window by clicking on the Leapfrog Viewer menu and selecting Settings:

The settings available in this window are described below:

• Display and Navigation Settings
• Overlay Settings
• Colour Scheme
• Lighting Settings
• Usage Policy Settings
• Network Settings

To close the Settings window and leave settings unchanged, click the Revert button, then click Close.

Display and Navigation Settings

In the Settings window, click on Scene to change scene display and navigation settings.

3D Acceleration Mode

Leapfrog Viewer can run in one of three acceleration modes. Click the Acceleration mode button in the Settings > Scene window to use a different mode. The modes available are:

• Software Rendering uses software only, for maximum compatibility with any hardware. This option can be very slow displaying all but the simplest scenes, and is provided as a fall-back if display issues cannot be resolved with either of the other two options.
• Partial Acceleration uses hardware acceleration that has been provided on graphics cards for many generations. In this mode, Leapfrog Viewer renders scenes using “fixed function pipeline” hardware acceleration features that have been superseded in modern graphics cards by programmable shaders, but this legacy capability is widely supported and offers performance advantages over software rendering. Using Partial Acceleration can sometimes fix anomalies or problems encountered in Full Acceleration mode that may be due to bugs in old drivers, and it should work with even old or lower-featured hardware.
• Full Acceleration is the best option, assuming you have good hardware and up-to-date drivers. Because it makes use of programmable shaders provided by modern graphics cards, it is the fastest of the three modes and uses your available graphics memory more efficiently. It is the mode you should use, if your system supports it.

First, try using Full Acceleration and see how it renders scenes. If you seem to be having issues with how data is displayed in the scene, see Running the Graphics Test for information on testing your computer’s graphics capabilities. Note that especially when graphics cards are new on the market, there may be a number of driver versions released to address anomalies, so the use of a recent driver version is important. If using a laptop with dual graphics cards, use it with the power supply connected, and select the Performance Graphics option over the Power Saving option.

If that doesn’t resolve the graphics problems, then try Partial Acceleration mode. If possible, avoid using Software Rendering as it can be very slow.

If your current hardware is unable to support Full Acceleration mode, it may be worth considering upgrading your graphics card. Medium- to high-end home PC and gaming graphics cards are sufficient. High-end workstation grade cards also work very well, but you will also be paying for further capabilities that are not utilised by Leapfrog Viewer.

The acceleration mode can also be changed by clicking the button at the bottom of the Leapfrog Viewer main window:

Font Size

This setting is the size of text used to display information on the grid and axes.

Rotation Settings

The Geographic rotation and Free rotation settings determine whether or not the model displayed in the scene window can be “rolled”. With the Geographic rotation option, the azimuth and elevation can be varied, but the z-axis is constrained to be vertical. With the Free rotation option, however, the rotation of the model is not fixed to any axis and the model can be freely rolled around any axis. Select the option you prefer. When Leapfrog Viewer is installed, Geographic rotation is set as the default option as it is the most commonly used.

The Rotate with left button and Rotate with right button settings determine how the mouse is used to rotate the scene:

• When Rotate with left button is selected, you can rotate the scene by holding down the left mouse button and dragging in the scene. Clicking and holding the right mouse button zooms in and out of the scene.
• When Rotate with right button is selected, holding down the right mouse button and dragging rotates the scene. However, zooming and rotating functions are not swapped. Instead, the left mouse button can only be used for clicking on different objects in the scene. Select this option if you tend to accidentally move the scene when you intend to click.

Camera Settings

The Orthographic projection and Perspective projection settings determine the view of the model in the scene window.

If Perspective projection is selected, you can change the Perspective angle using the slider. This is similar to adjusting the zoom setting on a camera. Higher angles make nearby objects larger and more distant objects smaller. Lower angles will compress the scene. Experiment with the settings to see the effect on objects in the scene.

Select the option you prefer.

Overlay Settings

In the Settings window, click on Scene > Overlays to change what objects are included in the scene.

Select Revert to return to the settings in place when the Settings window was first opened.

Screen Grid Settings

The Show screen grid setting determines whether or not the screen grid is displayed.

Select the option you prefer. The Loose Spacing, Normal Spacing and Fine Spacing options determine the spacing of the grid.

Axis Lines Settings

The Axis Lines settings determine how X-Y-Z coordinates are displayed in the scene. When axis lines are enabled, the axes indicate the extent of data currently displayed in the scene.

• Enable Show axis lines to display the east (red), north (green) and elevation (blue) axis lines.
• Enable Put numbers on axes to display scale ticks along the grid. These are automatically adjusted to fit the extent of the data and the current zoom setting.
• Enable Show whole box to display the axis lines as a box that encloses the current data set.

Slicer Settings

The Slicer settings determine whether or not additional information about the slicer is displayed when it is in the scene.

The Slicer outline setting determines whether or not the edges of the slicer are displayed in the scene:

When the slicer is in the scene and the slice is aligned with the x-, y- or z-axis, text describing the slicer position can be displayed in the lower left-hand corner of the scene. To do this, enable the Slicer position text option.

Other Overlay Settings

The scale bar, compass ball and viewing angle text are the navigation aids in the lower right-hand corner of the scene window:

Colour Scheme

In the Settings window, click on Scene > Colour Scheme to change the colour scheme used in the 3D scene. The options that can be changed include:

• The background colour used in the Scene View tab
• The colour and width used to display borehole traces
• The colour and width of mesh edges, together with the width of the line used when a mesh is sliced and the highlight colour used when mesh parts are selected in the scene
• The colours used for displaying the x, y and z axes
• Grid line width, style and colour
• Axes box line width, style and colour
• Slicer edge width, style and colour

Leapfrog Viewer is installed with three colours schemes: Default, Black Background and White Background. The scheme selected in the Schemes list will be used for all new Leapfrog Viewer projects and for existing projects when they are next opened.

• Experiment with the settings to see how they affect the scene window. The scene will be updated as you make changes.
• Select Revert to return to the settings in place when the Settings window was first opened.
• To create a new scheme, click on an existing scheme. This is the scheme that will be used as a basis for defining the new scheme. Next, click the Add button () and and change its settings.
• Click Reset to revert to the colour schemes defined when Leapfrog Viewer was first installed.

Lighting Settings

In the Settings window, click on Scene > Lighting to change how visual effects are displayed in the scene window. You may be able to use these settings to emphasise significance in the data displayed in the scene.

• The Ambient level setting determines the overall brightness of the scene.
• The Specular brightness and Specular shininess settings determine how light appears to fall on the surfaces in the scene. The Specular brightness setting has a stronger effect when Specular shininess is soft.

You can have up to four light sources defined for a project. By default, two light sources are defined.

Changes made to these settings are automatically applied to the scene.

• Click Revert to return to the settings in place when the Settings window was first opened.
• Click Reset to revert to the lighting sources and settings defined when Leapfrog Viewer was first installed.

Usage Policy Settings

When the Idle time-out setting is enabled, Leapfrog Viewer will prompt you after a period of inactivity. Follow the instructions in the message displayed.

Network Settings

If your organisation uses a proxy server to connect to the internet, you can set this up in the Settings > Network window.

If Autodetect proxy server does not work or if you need to switch between proxy servers in different network environments, choose the Manually configure proxy server option and enter the information provided by your IT department. The advanced settings are optional and you should only change them from the default values if you have been instructed to do so by your IT department.

You can manually configure more than one proxy server. Click the New button to add a new profile and enter the required settings. When you want to swap from one proxy server to another, simply select a Profile from those already defined.

If you have multiple Seequent products running on your computer, you only need to configure network proxy settings once.