Navigation¶
Mouse and keyboard (render window)¶
PyVista's standard trackball controls apply inside the render window:
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| Left drag | Rotate |
| Right drag / scroll | Zoom |
| Middle drag (or Shift + left drag) | Pan |
| Double-click | Select the galaxy under the cursor (the most massive one, if several) — on any tab, and inside HD |
| Single click | Nothing — pure camera interaction (no selection state change) |
Persistent header controls¶
Six buttons sit above the tab panel and work no matter which tab is active:
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| Reset Camera | Returns to a full-box view from outside the box |
| Info (i) | Opens or closes the selection card |
| Focus toggle (◎ target icon) | Masks haloes and galaxies outside the current zoom region. Galaxy zooms auto-enable focus |
| Centre (✛ crosshair icon) | Places the camera AT the box centre, looking out |
| Isolate (🔍 magnifier icon) | Shows only the selection, 3 Mpc/h away as Go: the galaxy, or in halo context its halo and whole group |
| HD | Detailed 3D model of the selection and its group — see HD Mode |
Selecting a galaxy¶
Double-click a galaxy to select it. A cyan ring marks it. In the card's Halo + group context every member of its FOF group is ringed alike; rings that would pile up on screen merge into one. The selection is the galaxy itself, not its row: changing snapshot finds it again by its GalaxyIndex, or says it isn't there (not formed yet, or merged).
The Console also selects (go to halo 42 selects that halo's central), and so do the card's group list and the Find list.
The selection card¶
The i button in the header (or Show info at the end of the Structure tab) opens the card:
| Part | What it does |
|---|---|
| Galaxy / Halo + group | What the actions apply to: the galaxy, or its host halo with the whole group |
| Go | Fly to it, 3 Mpc/h away: the galaxy, or in halo context the halo and its group (inside HD, to it in close-up). Everything else stays shown, within a 10 Mpc/h focus sphere |
| Isolate, HD | As the header buttons. In Galaxy context HD draws just the galaxy; in Halo + group context, the whole group |
| Gas | HD's halo gas on or off |
| ← → | Back and forward through what you've selected |
| ‹ › | Previous / next member of the group, flying to it (the card keeps its Galaxy / Halo + group context) |
| ☆ | Up to the group's central |
| Nearest | Hop to the nearest galaxy and fly there; amber rings mark the next nearest (the next hop larger). Hopping again carries on to the nearest not yet visited, so it never bounces back |
| Zoom 3 / 5 / 10 | Fly in at that radius (Mpc/h), with focus |
| Clear / Show indicator | Rings off or on. The galaxy stays selected, and the choice holds through HD, Gas and new selections |
| Host halo · Go to halo | The halo the central sits on, and a flight to it |
| Properties | Key properties; All properties lists every field (Approx Age needs SAGE's full star-formation histories, SaveFullSFH 1) |
| Group | Every member (central first); click one to select it and fly there |
Keys¶
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
[ / ] |
Previous / next member of the group |
C |
The group's central |
N |
The nearest other galaxy |
B / Shift+B |
Back / forward |
Esc |
Cancel an HD build, or leave HD |
Environment filter and Find¶
The Environment filter at the end of the Structure tab shows only galaxies in the ticked environments: Field (< 10¹¹ M☉), Isolated (10¹¹–10¹²·⁵), Pairs, Groups (10¹²·⁵–10¹⁴) and Clusters (> 10¹⁴).
Find, at the end of the Filters tab, lists galaxies worth a look in the current snapshot. Pick a preset, then click a result to select it and fly there. The presets are:
- most massive galaxies;
- richest groups and clusters;
- Milky Way analogues;
- close pairs;
- galaxies merging before the next snapshot;
- starbursts;
- quenched centrals;
- biggest black holes;
- feedback-free starbursts.
The list updates as the snapshot changes.
Coords tab¶
Enter X, Y, Z in Mpc/h and a standoff distance, press Go to point the camera at that location.
Box tab¶
Enter an axis-aligned bounding box (Xmin, Xmax, Ymin, Ymax, Zmin, Zmax) in Mpc/h. Press Zoom to frame that region. With Focus active, the box also defines the masked region.
In Lightcone Mode the Box tab is replaced by a Photometry tab (a lightcone has no periodic sub-box to zoom to) — see Lightcone Mode → Synthetic photometry.
Cam (camera bookmarks)¶
| Control | Action |
|---|---|
| Label + Save | Save the current camera position with a name |
| Bookmarks dropdown + Go | Restore a saved camera position |
| 🗑 | Delete the selected bookmark |
Programmatic navigation (Python API)¶
from visage.scene.camera import CameraController
# After scene is created:
scene.camera.go_to_coords(30.0, 30.0, 30.0, distance=10.0)
scene.camera.go_to_halo(42)
scene.camera.zoom_to_box(0, 30, 0, 30, 0, 30)
scene.camera.zoom_to_radius(center=(31.25, 31.25, 31.25), radius=10.0)
scene.camera.reset()
scene.camera.go_to_box_center()