Whistle - STL File Tweaker for Windows  

    Known issues
  • Cam textures are limited to those cams which can be switched to 24bit RGB mode.
  • Some older graphics cards, especially on XP, don't give accurate 'picking' results.
  • If you have issues with your GFX Card or system I'd be grateful if you could email me the details. GB

Image shows icosahedron: mouse over caused
highlighted facet in yellow, centre
picking-ball highlighted plus normal arrow.
Vertex 1 is Red, vertex 2 is Green,
vertex 3 is Blue.

    Keyboard Functions
  • Arrow keys rotate scene...
    • Down arrow rolls object around the local x-axis.
    • Up arrow is the reverse of down arrow.
    • Left arrow rotates the object around the global y-axis.
    • Right arrow is the reverse of left arrow
  • Control + Arrow pans
  • Shift + Arrow zooms
  • Home resets positions
  • Escape to deselect
  • Alt + F creates new facet
  • Control + Z undo
  • Enter or return accepts an edit

    Mouse actions
  • Hold shift or use thumbnail to zoom
  • Hold control to pan
  • Hold alt to rotate
  • Left click selection ball to edit vertex or facet ...
    • Vertex and face can be selected by the coloured 'picking-balls'
    • Red: vertex 1
    • Green: vertex 2
    • Blue: vertex 3
    • Normals obey the anti-clockwise rule
    • Brown: facet
    • Click left mouse button then hold ...
      • Shift to extrude
      • Control to pan
      • Enter to commit the edit
      • Escape to abandon the edit
      • On facet (brown) ball only ...
        • 'f' facet divide
        • 'n' invert normal

Loading an STL file

The start up screen
showing File menu

From the 'File' menu select 'Open ...'
'File->New' will create tetrahedron starting object.

Moving the object

It's really your viewpoint around the object that changes.
Use the arrow keys: up and down rotate around x-axis, left and right rotate around y-axis.
Hold shift and move mouse to zoom object in and out.
Hold control and move mouse to slide object around.
Hold alt and move mouse to roll object.
The 'Sensitivity' menu allows you to adjust the steps or amount each motion takes.
Press home to reset to the starting position.

Select and move a facet

Move your mouse over a facet then stop. The facet will turn highlighted and show 4 coloured balls and an arrow. The arrow is the direction of the facet's normal.
The picking-balls are coloured depending on the vertex number: Red, Green, Blue = Vertexs 1, 2, 3 with brown in the center.
To move the whole facet: pause the mouse over the brown picking-ball. Left click to select. The image will change.
Hold shift and move the mouse to slide the facet along the normal.
Hold control and move the mouse to slide the facet along its plane. USe the sensitivity menu to adjust the steps.
Press escape to abort the edit.
Press enter to commit the edit. Edit can be undone using the tool bar icon.

Use the arrow keys to adjust the objects position as it can be very tricky.

Select and move a vertex

A vertex has been picked and adjusted.
The edit will be committed on 'enter'.

Move your mouse over a facet then stop. The facet will turn highlighted and show 4 coloured balls and an arrow. The arrow is the direction of the facet's normal.
The picking-balls are coloured depending on the vertex number: Red, Green, Blue = Vertexs 1, 2, 3 with brown in the center.
To move a vertex: pause the mouse over a red, green or blue picking-ball. Left click to select. The image will change.
Hold shift and move the mouse to slide the vertex along the facet's normal.
Hold control and move the mouse to slide the vertex along the facet's plane. USe the sensitivity menu to adjust the steps.
Press escape to abort the edit.
Press enter to commit the edit. Edit can be undone using the tool bar icon.

Use the arrow keys to adjust the objects position as it can be very tricky.

Adding facets

Move your mouse over a facet you wish to divide then stop. The facet will turn highlighted and show 4 coloured balls and an arrow. The arrow is the direction of the facet's normal.
Hover over the centre brown picking-ball so it's highlighted
Left click to select.
Press the letter f key. You'll see the facet split into 3.
Press escape to abort the edit or press enter to commit the edit. Edits can be undone using the tool bar icon.
You can now move the mouse over the new facets and vertexs, select and move as usual.

The toolbar icons

Saves the edited STL file
Undoes last edit
Switch between wire frame and solid view
Toggle axis display on / off
Toggle header text display on / off
Click front square to change object colour, back square to change background colour.
Alpha / transparency selection.
Copy image to clipboard.
Try to map cam image as texture.

Contact

Email gb@bramblingbooks.co.uk with comments, suggestions, questions, bugs etc. A small donation - only if you can afford it - via Paypal would help with hosting costs.




Copyright (c) Gary Baker July 2009 - All rights reserved