Navigation Cube

Introduction
The Navigation Cube gives visual information about the camera orientation in the current 3D view and can be used to change it. By default it is visible and resides in the upper right corner of the view.



The Navigation Cube consists of a number of parts:
 * The main cube
 * Six directional arrows
 * The reverse view button (top right)
 * The mini-cube menu (bottom right)
 * X, Y and Z Axis indicators

All parts, except the axis indicators, can be clicked.

Main cube
The main cube has 26 faces: 6 main faces, 12 rectangular edge faces, and 8 corner faces. Clicking any of them will reorient the camera so that its direction is perpendicular to the selected face.

Directional arrows
There are six directional arrows: four triangular arrowheads and two curved arrows. Clicking one of the triangular arrows will rotate the 3D view around a line perpendicular to the direction of the arrow. Clicking a curved arrow will rotate the 3D view around the view direction.

Reverse view button
Clicking the round button in the top right corner of the Navigation Cube will rotate the 3D view 180 degrees around the vertical axis of the view.

Mini-cube menu
Clicking the small cube in the bottom right corner of the Navigation Cube will bring up a menu with the following options:
 * : switches to an orthographic view.
 * : switches to a perspective view.
 * : switches to an isometric view.
 * : zooms and pans the camera so that all visible objects fit inside the view.

Move the Navigation Cube
The entire Navigation Cube can be moved by pressing the mouse anywhere on the main cube and dragging. The structure will not begin to move until the cursor moves beyond one of the edges of the main cube.

Preferences
The Navigation Cube is controlled by several preferences:. See Preferences Editor.

Cube Layout
The layout of the cube can be controlled by special parameters. To set a color:
 * 1) Go to the Parameter editor and there to the path BaseApp/Preferences/NaviCube.
 * 2) Right-click in the window listing the parameter names and select in the appearing context menu to add the type New unsigned item.
 * 3) Input as name one of these available colors:
 * 4) * BorderColor (the lines separating the cube faces, default is ff323232)
 * 5) * ButtonColor (all elements around the cube, default is 80e2e9ef)
 * 6) * FrontColor (all cube faces, default is c0e2e9ef)
 * 7) * HiliteColor (the cube face that is currently highlighted, default is ffaae2ff)
 * 8) * TextColor (the text at the cube faces, default is ff000000)
 * 9) Input the color value as number. The color has the form TTRRGGBB (each two hexadecimal digits for the Transparency, Red, Green, Blue). This hexadecimal value has to be input as 32-bit unsigned integer. A suitable way to do this is to use an online convertor tool, for example this one. So to get e.g. an orange color, the hexadecimal code would be "ffff8800" and the input would be "4294936576".
 * 10) Press in the Parameter editor the button Save to disk.

The changes will become visible with the next new creation of a cube (creation of a new document, loading a document).

To the border width:
 * 1) Go to the Parameter editor and there to the path BaseApp/Preferences/NaviCube.
 * 2) Right-click in the window listing the parameter names and select in the appearing context menu to add the type New float item.
 * 3) Input the name BorderWidth (default is 1.1).
 * 4) Input the width as value.
 * 5) Press in the Parameter editor the button Save to disk.

Advanced options
The CubeMenu external workbench provides easier access to several more advanced customization options.