The Control Points window allows the user to specify the control point positions directly using the keyboard rather than by using the mouse in one of the design windows. Whenever the Control Points window is selected the highlighted row is that of the current control point in the current surface.
Only the control points of visible surfaces will be displayed. Those of locked, visible surfaces will be displayed in grey and cannot be edited. Only the control points of unlocked, visible surfaces can be changed.
The position, offset and height of a control point may be edited by selecting the relevant cell. It is also possible to copy and paste data from other applications such as spreadsheets. You may select rows, columns, the whole window, or an individual cell by using the mouse.
The Surface, Column, and Row columns are not editable. The Surface column displays the surface name as specified in the Properties dialog. The Column and Row columns specify the row and column numbers in the same order as their position in the net.
If the Surface is a NURB surface, it is possible to have control point weights other than unity. This is necessary for producing true conical and spherical surfaces, but should otherwise be left as unity. See the section on Surface Types on page 90 for further details.
To edit a control point position numerically
· Select the control point you wish to edit.
Select the control point from any of the drawing windows.
· Select the Control Points window.
· Scroll through the list.
The selected control point will be highlighted.
· Edit the control point position.
Note:
Addition and deletion of control point rows and columns may not be performed in the Control Points window. To add and delete rows use the Add and Delete functions from the Controls menu in their respective drawing windows.
In the Control Points window it is possible to view the points listed by row then column or by column then row. This is achieved by setting the Row then Column or the Column then Row items in the Preferences dialog (in the View menu).
This is an advantage when you wish to paste a single row of data into a surface such as in the case of an airfoil section being imported from a spreadsheet. In other cases you may wish to paste only a single column of data.
Alternatively, you may sort the data by any column by right clicking in that column's header and selecting from the pop-up context menu. Or you may sort in ascending order by double clicking the column's header.
Single control points selected in the design view are selected in the Control Points table and control points selected in the Control Points table will be selected in the design views. This can make it easier to verify visually which control point is which.