Movement Gizmo

Click on the direction arrows with the left mouse button to move forwards, backwards or sideways, for example. If you keep the mouse button pressed, you move continuously in the selected direction.

To change the viewing angle in space, click the “trackball” with the left mouse button. Hold down the mouse button and move the mouse in the desired direction of view.

Alternatively, you can change the viewing direction by holding down the mouse wheel and moving the mouse.

Movement via keyboard

You can also move around the room using the keyboard. Use the “WASD” keys to do this.

To move around the room faster, you can also hold down the Shift key.

Movement via mouse only

Alternatively, you can move around the virtual space using only the mouse.

To move forward, scroll forward with the mouse wheel. If you turn the mouse wheel backwards, you move backwards.

The exhibition rooms can be viewed in different views.
The different views help you place exhibits and position yourself in the room as easily as possible. You can switch views using the “View Menu” or the “Toolbar”.

Floor plan view

The floor plan view is great when you want to place 3D exhibits in the room or quickly move to another room. If you want to change the floor, click on the corresponding architecture overview icon at the bottom left.

Modellansicht

In the model view, you can check the positioning and effect of the exhibits from different perspectives and perform a quick pre-placement of the exhibits across multiple rooms.

By keeping the scroll wheel pressed and moving the mouse at the same time, the model can be rotated. Also in this view you can show and hide the floors with the architecture overview icon.

3D view

The 3D view is the default view and is used for interaction in the room and with the exhibits. Work images can be placed on the walls or on the floor via drag & drop. This view helps you evaluate the works in the virtual exhibition space and make hanging and placement optimizations.

You can import all exhibits and exhibit lists using the “Import Menu” at the top of the screen or the “Quick Import Menu” at the bottom left of the screen in the “Gallery Bar”.

In both menus you will find the possibility to import the following media format and lists:

• 2D images (BMP, JPG, PDF, TIFF, PNG)
• 3D objects (FBX, DAE, OBJ, GLTF)
• Pseudo 3D object (PNG, JPG)
• Video (MP4, OGV)
• Exhibit lists in XLS(X), CSV format

Imported exhibits are initially displayed in the “Gallery Bar” until they have been appropriately placed in the room (wall / floor).

Partial deletion is a convenient solution that allows you to use a simple menu to select what you want to move back to the gallery bar or what you want to permanently remove from the project.

If you only want to remove the unplaced exhibits within the gallery bar, select the corresponding menu item “Remove unplaced exhibits?” as shown in the illustration. All imported exhibits are removed from the gallery bar, regardless of the file type. All exhibits placed within your project remain untouched.

If, on the other hand, you would like to move all placed exhibits on walls and floors etc. back to the gallery bar, select the menu item“Delete hangings and placements?”.

Have you painted walls or used temporary architecture and no longer need it? Select “Keep temporary architecture?” and all wall colors will be set back to white and temporary architecture will be removed.

cura^3D museum pro offers the possibility to import exhibit data in XLS, XLSX or CSV file format.

In the attached screenshot you can see the structure of the sample file used for the import. It is mandatory to specify the image (file) name associated with the exhibit entry. In addition, all associated image files must be located in one folder, which you must select using “Select image path”. Again, you can use both the text-based “File Menu” at the top of the screen and the “Quick Import Menu” at the bottom left of the “Gallery Bar”. If the file has been imported successfully, you only need to assign the correct attributes to the corresponding table column (see figure).

To place an exhibit on a wall, or on the floor, go to the 3D or Model view and drag the exhibit from the gallery bar to the desired location while holding down the left mouse button. Left-click and hold the mouse button to move the exhibit to the desired position.

museum pro can import a variety of common 3D file formats. To import 3D data, you can also use the “File menu” or the “Quick import menu”.

After selecting the file in the file manager, the 3D models are loaded into the “gallery bar”. A double click on the respective 3D object in the gallery bar opens the exhibit view. Here you can edit metadata, check or change dimensions.

Move object

When placing 2D or 3D exhibits, the tool for moving objects is selected by default . In this mode, you can easily move objects around the room using drag-and-drop, which automatically snap into place on walls, floors and ceilings.

Move object via 3D gizmo

For more precise positioning of objects in space, we recommend using 3D-Gizmo, which allows you to move your selected object continuously in all axes. To do this, click and drag on one of the colored arrows displayed in the center of your object and move the object in the corresponding axis.

This mode also allows you to move objects through glass surfaces and walls and to place objects floating in the room.

Rotate object

With the rotation tool, you can quickly and easily rotate the object in the corresponding axis by clicking and dragging the colored rings.

This tool works closely with the quick positioning tool. Settings that you make here are also displayed using numerical values in the quick positioning tool.

Global or local coordinate system

Global

Local

Sometimes it makes sense to switch from global to local coordinate system, especially for objects hanging on the wall.

These two buttons are used to realign the pivot point of your 3D or 2D object.

Metadata

Under the tab “Exhibit” you will find all relevant data on the selected work. This metadata is optionally matched and imported from an existing database or from a table in csv or xls format.

You can edit the fields or add additional information at any time.

Passepartout

Activate the “Passepartout” check box with a tick and enter the desired dimensions. Via the lock symbol ( activated by default) you link the horizontal and vertical dimension input. If you want to enter different measurement values, deactivate the lock.

Then select the desired color in the color dialog. To do this, use the RGB color settings or take a color from a screen element using the pipette, or enter the hex color value. Under “Last used colors” you can save up to 8 colors by clicking the “+” button and use them in all color dialogs.

Frames

Activate the “Frame” check box. Enter the profile width of the frame and note that the lock icon for the horizontal and vertical profile width is enabled by default (In the rare case of different dimensions for the horizontal and vertical profile width, disable it by clicking).

Use the first frame type to use your own colors, otherwise a selection of different frame types is available.

List view

The list view provides a quick overview of placed and unplaced exhibits. You can access the listing via the “Exhibits List” button and additionally sort all exhibits by title, artist:in, ID, wall and room name. Clicking on the work image opens the exhibit manager.

Filter exhibits

To specifically search / filter the matching exhibits in the “Gallery Bar” after import, use the “Filter Menu”.

By clicking on the filter icon in the “Gallery Bar” you can filter for the following metadata entries:

• Artist
• Title
• Object ID/Inventory number (ID)
• Dating
• Medium
• Comment

All data fields can be activated and searched simultaneously.
Imported files can also be filtered using the following format criteria:

• All
• 2D
• 3D
• Pseudo-3D
• Video
• Text

The right-click menu, or secondary menu, combines the most important project-related operations into one compact menu.

Color wall

Right-click on a wall, floor or ceiling and select the icon. The “Colorize Wall” dialog opens, where you can colorize the selected element.

Wall dimensioning

This tool works only on walls and temporary architecture. First place at least one exhibit on a wall and then right-click on that wall. Now select the icon to display the dimensions.

Wall development as PDF

To get a PDF document with all dimensions, right-click on the desired wall and select the icon.

Screenshot erstellen

A screenshot in double window resolution of the respective working perspective can also be created via the right-click menu. First align your view in the 3D, or model view and then right click on the floor, wall or ceiling and select the icon. After that, your file manager will open and you can determine where to save your recording.

InteractiveTour VR erstellen

Under this menu item you can create virtual tours of your exhibitions. For this you need the InteractiveTour VR plugin, more about this in the corresponding section.

Exponate automatisch platzieren

Select the icon from the right-click menu and automatically pre-place exhibits on a wall. Before placing, you have the option to set the minimum distance between the individual exhibits. This function is particularly effective when used in conjunction with filtering. Search your exhibits for e.g. an artist and place the respective exhibits on the desired wall.

Import an image file or use an exhibit that has already been imported.
Search for the corresponding image in the “Gallery bar” and double-click on the image with the left mouse button to change the dimensions of the image. Enter the appropriate height and width under the “Exhibit” tab and confirm the settings with the “Apply” button at the bottom right of the window. After you have adjusted the settings, you can drag the picture from the “gallery bar” onto the desired wall.

Now carry out the positioning and finally click on the “Create wallpaper” button in the “Quick positioning tool”.

To change a wallpaper back, click with the right mouse button on the corresponding wall and select the wall colouring symbol in the “Secondary menu”. After the wall colouring window has opened, all you have to do is click on the “Remove wallpaper” button, whereby the wallpaper is converted back into a normal image and placed back in the “Gallery bar”.

^cura3D museum pro makes it possible to create texts using an internal text editor. The texts can also be edited at any time after placement in the exhibition rooms by double-clicking on the text.

You can find the text editor in the “File menu” ❶ or in the “Quick import menu” ❷ at the bottom left of the “Gallery bar” ❸.
Just like exhibits, the created text elements are initially located in the “Gallery bar” ❸ and must first be dragged and dropped onto the walls. Once the created text element has been placed on the wall from the gallery bar, you can start editing by double-clicking on the text.

Move texts by holding down the mouse button and adjust the text box format with the blue frame. The editing of the text corresponds to that of standard word processing programs, select individual letters or entire words to adjust font styles.

For typographically complex texts, please use common editors such as Adobe Indesign® or Affnity Publisher®. and export it in PNG format with layer transparency. The imported texts behave like images that can be scaled.

This function is ideal for incorporating texts already set by Gestaler:Innen into the visualization.

With the temporary architecture, you can create pedestals, platforms, pillars and free-standing walls that you can later hang exhibits on, add texts to and colour. To create temporary architecture, use the “File Menu” or the “Quick Import Menu” again and select the appropriate menu item.

In the opened editor you will see the floor plan of the building, now navigate to the desired room with the third mouse button pressed (scroll wheel) and double-click at the desired location where, for example, a base is to be created. Then edit the dimensions of your temporary architecture.

Hold down the left mouse button to reposition the pedestal in space, use the distance grid to move the object only at certain distances.

To delete temporary architecture, right-click on the corresponding architecture element. Note that there must no longer be any exhibits on the wall / plinth to be deleted.