Preferences
The Preferences dialog box allows the setting of the applications options.
At the first launch of the application, the Preferences dialog box is shown and enables the user to change the default parameters right away.
Otherwise, it is available:
-
In menu
-
With the
button on the General toolbar
|
For each option, a Reset to default button allows switching back to the initial value. |
3D viewer preferences
The first tab display options about the 3D viewer of the application:
- Default world opacity
-
Sets the default opacity used when creating the world shape. Indeed, a colour is automatically chosen for every new shape and this setting will choose the opacity for this colour. The value 0.0 is fully transparent while the value 1.0 is fully opaque. Please note that this setting will not change the opacity of the world already displayed in the 3D view.
- Default shape opacity
-
Sets the default opacity used when adding a new shape that is not the World shape to the 3D view. For more details, see the previous preference about the world shape.
- Display sizes in the 3D view
-
This option activates an additional widget when selecting elements in the 3D view: the size (in meters) are directly shown. It is disabled by default for better clarity in the 3D view.
- Show tessellated edges
-
This option activates the highlight of the edges of tessellated shapes inside the 3D view.
GDML default material preferences
The second tab — shown above — offers options concerning the default GDML materials used in the application. Indeed, when a new shape is created in EDGE, a default material is assigned to it that can be changed later on in the Material Assignment perspective. Here, it is possible to select which material will be assigned to the world element and to other elements. The selection can be performed from within the Geant4 default materials list.
GDML writer preferences
The third tab — shown below — sets parameters for the GDML writer.
- Write default values
-
If this option is selected, the values for optional fields will be written even if they equal to the default value — it is the case for example for the position and orientation (0 is the default value);
- Write default units
-
If this option is selected, the units will always be specified inside the GDML file even if they equal to the GDML default units (milimeters for lengths and radians for angles);
- Write non-used user-defined materials
-
If this option is selected and that the user has defined materials which are not assigned to a geometric shape, those materials will be stored in the GDML file anyway;
- Save chosen colours to GDML file
-
If this option is selected, the colours chosen in the Geometry panel will be saved to the GDML file using the
<auxiliary>tag, and then when loading the file the colours will be the same. Be careful, the content of the<auxiliary>tag is not interpreted by the Geant4 numerical kernel. This tag is usually properly treated by the client code as explained in the GDML user manual. - Validation mechanism in GDML file
-
Choose the reference to the GDML file validator (.xsd) defined in the GDML file.
- online
-
The validation process requires an internet connection when the file is loaded in other tools.
- local
-
The validation is made locally with a validator file embedded on the local computer. The saved GDML file can only be used on this computer as long as the EDGE application is not moved.
- none
-
No reference to a GDML file validator is written, then no validation will be processed when the GDML file will be used by other tools.
General preferences
The fourth tab offers more general usability preferences, as shown below.
- Maximum number of recent files
-
this option controls the number of recent files stored by EDGE and accessible in the menu.
- Enable drag’n’drop
-
Enables the possibility to move the elements in the Shapes tree using drag and drop gesture with the mouse. It facilitates the modification of the hierarchy. To avoid unwanted modifications, this option is disabled by default.
- Distance unit for new shapes
-
this setting enables to define the default distance unit when adding a new shape (for distance values and the position). It avoids to change the unit each time you create a new shape.
- Angle unit for new shapes
-
same effect as the previous one but applies to angle units (for angles values and orientation).
System preferences
The last tab sets preferences for the system, as shown below.
- Application cache directory
-
By clicking on the “Browse” button, the user can choose the path where the application stores its temporary files. It may be useful to change this setting if you do not have write access to your temporary folder (by default EDGE uses the operating system default temporary folder).
- Maximum allocated memory
-
The user can choose the value (in Gb) of the available memory for EDGE. It can be useful to increase this value when loading big files, without exceeding the system maximum capabilities.