How to use the render plane manipulator
Summary
The render plane manipulator allows you to interactively position the plane being visualized in the napari
Image
layer plane depiction mode. The plane depiction mode is a 3D rendering mode where only the specified plane is
rendered. This is a power rendering mode for visualizing structures within a 3D volume, but defining the precise
plane programatically can be challenging. Thus, the render plane manipulator is useful for interactively positioning
the rendering plane.
Instructions
-
Launch
napari
. Open your terminal and activate yournapari-threedee
environment. Enternapari
in the command prompt to launch napari.napari
-
Load the "HIV virus-like particles tomogram" image from the File menu: File -> Open Sample -> HIV virus-like particle tomogram. Note that this will download the sample image so it make take some time. If you have previously opened the sample image, it should be cached and will not download again.
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Click the "Toggle ndisplay" button in the lower left corner of the viewer to enter 3D rendering mode.
Upon clicking the button, you will see the volume in 3D. You you can click and drag to rotate the view. Note that the HIV particles are visible, but low contrast.
-
In the layer controls, change the
depiction
mode fromvolume
toplane
.After changing the depiction mode, you will see a single plane being rendered from your 3d volume.
-
Open the render plane manipulator plugin from the menu: Plugins -> napari-threedee -> render plane manipulator. You will see the render plane manipulator appear on the rendering plane.
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You can click and drag the translator on the manipulator to translate the plane along its normal.
-
You can click and drag the rotator to rotate the plane around the manipulator.
If you would like to change the center of rotation, you can press the shift key while clicking on the plane with the left mouse button to move the manipulator.