The graphic user interface (GUI) is in early development, and its features are pretty preliminary.
The purpose of the GUI is to help users visualize and check the model. More advanced features (e.g. model editing) will be added.
Please provide any feedback or suggestion so we can improve.
To build the final executable, we need to do the following steps.
Step 1: Install Qt
The MARS GUI library is compiled under Qt 5.6.1, a newer version should work as well.
Qt can be downloaded from: https://www.qt.io/.
Step 2: Download MARS library and prerequisites from our website.
Create three folders, if not exist:
- src. It includes the source files of user defined features (e.g. user.cpp)
- MarsLib. It includes the files from the MARS library (e.g. mars.h, libmarsGUI.a, etc)
- 3rdparty. It includes the png library, which is used to create screenshots by MARS. It can be found under GUI folder: http://mars.es3inc.com/protected/MARS/GUI/.
Step 3: Create Qt project.
A sample .pro file (marsGUI) is attached. You can modify it according (e.g. replace/remove certain .h/.cpp files).
marsGUI.pro.zip- (1.58 KiB) Downloaded 1015 times
This marsGUI.pro file and the 3 folders created in Step 2 should be in the same folder.
Double click marsGUI.pro, Qt Creator will start. Modify the build directory if needed. Memorize the build directory so we can locate the final executable.
According to the picture below, we need to add the environment variable MARS_LICENSE_PATH properly so MARS can validate the license.
- Qt_GUI.png (188.15 KiB) Viewed 6154 times
Step 4: Build.
Use the "Build Project" button on the left to build final executable.
Step 5: Run.
Use the "Run" button on the left to start MARS.
Once MARS starts, click File in the menu bar, click Open to locate an input file.
If you are working on the same input file, you can specify it in Qt so you don't need to reopen it:
- Qt_input.png (117.81 KiB) Viewed 6154 times
GUI introduction.
- demo.png (231.97 KiB) Viewed 6153 times
On the left, we have a tree view of the model hierarchy.
Only lists (e.g. face list, element list) can be visualized. We can use the checkbox to show/hide individual list.
Right click Lists, in the pop-up menu, we can show/hide all and show default lists.
For non-standard (user defined) features, a placeholder "----" is shown. They can't be visualized.
Later, a tutorial will be provided to show how to extend the GUI to user defined features.
On the right, we have the visualization panel. We can manipulate the view using mouse only:
- Rotate: left mouse
- Pan: right mouse
- Zoom: middle mouse (scroll, or press & drag)