Navigating the VU.CITY 3D environment is designed to be intuitive and user-friendly, allowing for seamless exploration and interaction with urban planning projects.

Input controls

To move around in VU.CITY, the following controls are used:

W, A, S, D keys: Move forward, left, backward, and right respectively.

Q and E keys: Move up or down.

Arrow Keys: Orbit around the scene up, down, left, and right.

Left Mouse Button (click and drag): Orbit around the scene.

Right Mouse Button (hold and drag): Pan the view horizontally or vertically.

Mouse Scroll Wheel: Zoom in and out for a closer or broader view.

Compass

N/S/E/W

The compass is used to amend the main camera position to point towards North, South, East, or West. This feature helps to orient the view accurately and ensures that the navigation aligns with real-world directions. Clicking on the compass points will rotate the view to the selected direction, providing a clear and consistent reference for orientation within the 3D environment.

Orthographic Top down (2D) and Perspective View

The VU.CITY platform allows seamless switching between 2D mode and perspective (3D) view, providing flexibility in how urban environments are analysed and presented.

Toolbar

The toolbar is accessible on the left side of the screen, which remains visible regardless of the menu in use. It allows for changes to global settings such as weather and shadows without needing to close the current menu. The toolbar includes the following tools:

Screenshot

Provides options to include or exclude the user interface (UI) from screenshots. It also offers resolution adjustments for exported images and allows the selection of the save location for screenshots (local disk saving is not available on VU.CITY Cloud). Clicking ‘Take Screenshot’ captures an image.

Screen recorder

Offers similar options as the screenshot tool, including UI inclusion/exclusion and resolution adjustments. It also allows the selection of the save location for recordings. Clicking ‘Start Recording’ captures a video of the screen.

Sunlight

Controls the position of the sun using the sun slider to set the time of day. It includes adjustments for day and month sliders to change the time of year, ensuring seasonal accuracy.

Weather

Allows customisation of environmental effects with options for clear, cloudy, overcast, and rainy skies. It also enables fog and simulates distance blur for added realism.

Tile loading toggle

Temporarily freezes the dynamic loading and offloading of city model tiles during navigation.

Model range

Adjusts how far into the distance VU.CITY will load context geometry, with a maximum range of 16km.

Trees toggle

Toggles trees on and off in the 3D environment.

Leaves toggle

Toggles leaves on and off for added visual detail.

Shadows toggle

Toggles shadows on and off to enhance visual depth and realism in the scene.