Shortcuts

Keyboard Shortcuts

On some platforms, Num Lock may interfere with some keyboard shortcuts. If shortcuts don’t work, try toggling Num Lock.

Rotate Tools

Alt-Click-and-drag

Rotate about the viewer position using the active Rotate tool.

Middle-click-and-drag

Smoothly zoom in and out of the data.

Right-click-and-drag

Translate the data.

Control-right-click-and-drag (Mac: Command-right-click-and-drag)

Rotate about the rotation origin (any tool may be active).

C

Move the rotation origin to the probed point, ignoring zones.

O

Set the center of rotation.

R

Switch to Rollerball rotation.

S

Switch to Spherical rotation.

T

Switch to Twist rotation.

X

Switch to X-axis rotation.

Y

Switch to Y-axis rotation.

Z

Switch to Z-axis rotation.

Contour Add Tool

Alt-click

Place a contour line by probing on a streamtrace, slice, or iso-surface.

Click

Place a contour line.

Control-click

Replace the nearest contour line with a new line.

Click-and-drag

Move the new contour line.

-

Switch to the Contour Remove tool.

Contour Remove Tool

Click

Remove the contour line nearest to the probed location.

+

Switch to the Contour Add tool.

Geometry Polyline Tool

A

Allow translation of polyline segments in all directions.

H

Restrict translation of the current polyline segment to horizontal.

U

End the current polyline at last clicked point and start a new one.

V

Restrict translation of current polyline segment to vertical.

Probe Tool

Click

If the pointer is over a single valid cell, the interpolated field values from all nodes in the cell are returned.

If multiple cells are candidates, the action is dependent upon the plot type:

  • For 2D, the cell from the highest number zone is used.

  • For 3D, the cell closest to the viewer is used.

Control-click

If the pointer is over a single valid cell, the field values from the nearest node in the cell are returned.

If multiple cells are candidates, the action is dependent upon the plot type:

  • For 2D, the cell from the highest number zone is used.

  • For 3D, the cell closest to the viewer is used.

If the pointer is not over any cell, then the field values from nearest data point (as measured in distance on the screen) are returned.

Shift-Control-click

The field values from the nearest point on the screen are returned (ignoring surfaces, zone number, and depth of the point).

This is useful in 3D for probing on data points that are on the back side of a closed surface without having to rotate the object. In 2D, this is useful for probing on data points for zones that may be underneath other zones.

Alt-click

Probe only on streamtraces, iso-surfaces, or slices.

If multiple cells are candidates, the action is dependent upon the plot type:

  • For 2D, the cell from the highest number zone is used.

  • For 3D, the cell closest to the viewer is used.

Alt-Control-click

Probe only on streamtraces, iso-surfaces, or slices.

If multiple cells are candidates, the action is dependent upon the plot type:

  • For 2D, the cell from the highest number zone is used.

  • For 3D, the cell closest to the viewer is used.

If the pointer is not over any cell, then the field values from nearest data point (as measured in distance on the screen) are returned.

Alt-Control-Shift-click

Probe only on streamtraces, iso-surfaces, or slices. The field values from the nearest point on the screen are returned.

X, Y

T, R

When probing, press X or Y in XY Line to switch dependencies, or R or T in Polar Line.

Slice Tool

+

Turn on start/end slices, or increment the number of intermediate slices.

-

Turn off start/end slices, or decrement the number of intermediate slices.

Click

If no slices are displayed for the current slice group, place the primary slice. Otherwise, move the closest displayed start, end, and primary slice from its current position to the clicked position.

Alt-click

Place the start, end, or primary slice (whichever is closer to the click position) on the nearest derived object (streamtrace, slice or iso-surface).

Control-click

Place the start, end, or primary slice (whichever is closer to the click position) on the nearest data point.

I, J, K

Switch to slicing constant I, J, or K-planes, respectively. Available for ordered zones only.

X, Y, Z

Switch to slicing constant X-, Y-, or Z-planes, respectively.

A

Switch to arbitrary slice mode.

1-8

Switch between slice groups.

Streamtrace Placement tools (3D Cartesian plots only)

D

Change the streamtrace style to streamrods.

R

Change the streamtrace style to streamribbons.

S

Change the streamtrace style to surface lines.

V

Change the streamtrace style to volume lines.

1-9

Change the number of streamtraces to be added when placing a rake of streamtraces.

Translate Tool

-

Reduce the magnification of the data.

+

Increase the magnification of the data.

Drag

Translate the data.

Shift-drag

Translate the paper.

Shift - -

Reduce the magnification of the paper.

Shift - +

Increase the magnification of the paper.

Zoom Tool

Click

Center the zoom around the location of your click.

Control-click

Center the zoom around the location of your click and zoom out.

Drag

Draw a box to set the frame view.

Selector Tool

Click

Select the frontmost object at the clicked location.

Control-click

Select the next object behind the currently selected object ("dig").

Shift-click

Multiple selection. Click the first object, then shift-click subsequent objects to add them to the selection

Alt-click

Ignore zone objects when selecting.

Selected Object Options

-

Reduce the size of the object. If multiple objects are selected, all object positions will be shifted towards the first object selected.

+

Increase the size of the object. If multiple objects are selected, all object positions will be shifted away from the first object selected.

Delete

Delete selected object(s).

Control-C

Copy selected object(s) to the clipboard.

Control-V

Paste selected object(s) from the clipboard.

Control-X

Cut selected object(s) to the clipboard, deleting them from the plot.

Time Navigation

Home

Jump to start.

Left Arrow

Step backward.

Space bar

Play or pause animation.

Right Arrow

Step forward.

End

Jump to end.

Other Keyboard Operations

Control-F

Fit Surfaces (3D Only) - Resize plot so that all surfaces are included in the frame, excluding any volume zones.

Fit to Full Size (2D, XY, Polar, Sketch) - Fit the entire plot into the frame (including data, text and geometries).

Control-E

Fit Everything (3D Only) - Resizes plot so that all data points, text, and geometries are included in the frame.

Control-L

Last - Restore the last frame view.

Control-O

Open a layout file.

Control-P

Print.

Control-Q

Exit.

Control-R

Redraw the current frame.

Control-S

Save the current layout to its file.

Control-W

Save the current layout to a specified file.

Extended Mouse Operations

The middle and right mouse buttons are powerful tools you may use to immediately zoom and translate your data without having to switch to the Zoom or Translate tools on the Toolbar. This advanced mouse/keyboard functionality is available when using any 3D rotate, Contour, Geometry (except Polyline), Probe, Slice, Streamtrace Placement, Translate, Zoom, or Zone Creation tools. If you have a two button mouse use the Control key in conjunction with the right mouse button to achieve middle mouse button capabilities.

The following table lists all of the capabilities of the middle and right mouse buttons, when the active mouse tool is the "Selector" toolbar selector or the "Adjustor". toolbar adjustor

Action Middle Button[1] Right Button

Click

Redraw. If the pointer is in the active frame, Tecplot 360 will redraw the active frame. Otherwise, redraw all frames.

Switch from the current tool to the Selector.

Drag

Smoothly zoom in or out. An upward motion zooms out. A downward motion zooms in.

Translate.

Alt-Drag

In 3D Cartesian plots, move the viewer further from (upward motion) or closer to (downward motion) the object. In all other plot types, this behaves like the Drag action

Smoothly zoom in or out. An upward motion zooms out. A downward motion zooms in.

The above actions (and other mouse gestures) are configurable by editing your tecplot.cfg file. Find the $!INTERFACE MOUSEACTIONS command and look for the MIDDLEBUTTON or RIGHTBUTTON section within that command.

1. Mac users can simulate a click of the middle button by holding down the Control key on the keyboard while clicking the right mouse button. Hold any additional keys (such as Alt/Option) along with Control to invoke extended mouse operations.