Viewer Region

The viewer region is the primary visualization interface in Flow360 GUI, providing interactive 3D visualization capabilities for geometry inspection, mesh analysis, and results visualization.

Example Views

Geometry View Mode

Example of the geometry view mode showing a CAD model with entity selection panel.

Mesh View Mode

Example of the mesh view mode displaying a mesh visualization.

Core Features

Feature	Icon	Description
View modes		Toggle between Geometry, Mesh, and Visualization views
Boundary conditions		Toggle coloring of boundaries based on their assigned boundary condition
Render mode		Switch geometry display between Solid and Transparent, in both the Geometry and Boundary Condition views
Mesh diagnostics		Open surface or volume mesh quality diagnostics (available when a mesh is displayed)
Mesh resolution		Switch the displayed model between low and high resolution (level of detail) for large models
Entity selection mode		Tools for selecting and managing geometry entities
Entities visibility		Toggle the visibility of entities by clicking the eye icon when hovering over them
Mesh metrics		Expand the mesh metrics view by clicking on the icon when in mesh view
Viewpoints		Controls for saving and loading specific camera positions
Viewpoint presets		Frame the model automatically from preset orthographic or isometric directions via the Viewpoint menu (“Fit to model” / “Fit to flow”), without positioning the camera by hand
Length scale indicator		Visual reference showing model dimensions to help maintain perspective
Rotation cube		Interactive orientation widget for quick view rotation to standard angles

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Detailed Descriptions

View modes

Toggle between Geometry/Mesh/Visualization views using top toolbar tabs.

• Geometry: View CAD geometry

• Mesh: Inspect surface and volume mesh

• Visualization: View simulation results and post-processing

Note

Each mode provides context-specific tools and options.

Boundary conditions

Toggle coloring of boundaries based on their assigned boundary condition.

Note

Helps verify boundary condition assignments before mesh generation.

Render mode

Switch how geometry surfaces are drawn, between Solid and Transparent.

• Solid: the default. Surfaces are drawn opaque.

• Transparent: surfaces are drawn semi-transparent, so you can see through outer surfaces to inspect faces that would otherwise be hidden (for example internal walls or occluded boundaries).

The render mode is selected from a dropdown in the top toolbar and is available in both the Geometry view and the Boundary Condition view, so coloring by boundary condition can be combined with transparent display. The render mode applies to the whole model; to adjust individual surfaces, set their appearance (color and material) selectively from the surface properties in the entity browser.

Note

Transparent mode is useful for checking boundary-condition assignments on internal or occluded faces before mesh generation.

Mesh diagnostics

Open the mesh diagnostics tools to assess mesh quality. Available when a surface or volume mesh is displayed.

• Surface mesh diagnostics: analyze the quality of the surface mesh.

• Volume mesh diagnostics: analyze the quality of the volume mesh through automatically generated slices.

See Surface Mesh Diagnostics and Volume Mesh Diagnostics for details.

Mesh resolution

Switch the displayed model between low and high resolution (level of detail).

• Low resolution: a lightweight version that loads quickly, useful for navigating large models.

• High resolution: the full-detail version. The menu also shows the downloaded and total data size for this level.

Note

The control appears only when more than one resolution level is available for the displayed item.

Entity selection mode

Tools for selecting and managing geometry entities.

Entity Type	Icon	Description
Points		Select individual points/vertices
Edges		Select edge elements
Faces		Select face/surface elements
Volumes		Select volume elements

Note

You can use any combination of selection modes.

Entities visibility

Toggle the visibility of entities by clicking the eye icon when hovering over them.

Mesh metrics

Quantitative mesh quality assessment tools for analyzing both surface and volume mesh characteristics.

Element types overview

The mesh quality visualization provides statistics for different element types commonly found in CFD meshes:

Nodes are present in every mesh and represent the intersection points of mesh elements, they are fundamental to defining the mesh structure and geometry.

• Surface Elements:

  • Triangles: Primary surface mesh elements

  • Quadrilaterals: Optional structured surface elements

• Volume Elements:

  • Tetrahedrons: Unstructured volume elements

  • Prisms: Boundary layer elements

  • Pyramids: Transition elements between different element types

  • Hexahedrons: Structured volume elements

• Surface metrics

  Key metrics for assessing surface mesh quality:

  Metric	Description	Importance
  Area	Face area of surface elements	Identifies areas of highly non-uniform mesh resolution
  Area Ratio	Ratio between adjacent face areas	Indicates mesh growth rate and smoothness
  Aspect Ratio	Ratio between longest and shortest edge	Measures element skewness and potential numerical issues
  First Layer Height	Height of first prismatic layer	Critical for boundary layer resolution

• Volume metrics

  Essential metrics for volume mesh quality assessment:

  Metric	Description	Importance
  Aspect Ratio	Element shape quality indicator	Identifies highly stretched or compressed elements
  Volume	Element volume measurement	Helps detect very small or large elements that might affect solution stability

Viewpoint presets

The Viewpoint menu can frame the model for you from a set of preset directions, so you do not have to position the camera by hand. Selecting a preset fits the geometry to the view automatically, based on the model’s bounding box.

Open the menu from the Viewpoint button at the bottom-right corner of the viewer (visible in the views above), then pick a preset:

• Fit to model: frames the whole model from the chosen direction.

• Fit to flow: frames the model with an offset suited to viewing the flow/wake direction.

• Each group offers orthographic directions (Front, Back, Left, Right, Top, Bottom) and the eight isometric corner directions (for example, Left-Front-Top).

Note

The Viewpoint menu is also where you save and load your own viewpoints (see the Viewpoints section below). Additional framing actions (Fit view, Fit selected, and Reset view) are available from the right-click context menu in the viewer.

Viewpoints

Controls for saving and loading specific camera positions.

• Usage:

  • Click the + icon to add a new viewpoint that will be the current camera position

  • Name the viewpoint to be representative of the camera position

Length scale indicator

Visual reference showing model dimensions to help maintain perspective.

• Features:

  • Dynamic scale adjustment

  • Unit system consistency

  • Reference dimension display

Rotation cube

Interactive orientation widget for quick view rotation to standard angles.

• Usage:

  • Click cube faces for orthogonal views

  • Click vertices or edges for isometric views

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Note

For keyboard shortcuts and navigation controls, see Keyboard Shortcuts. In addition to orbit, pan, and zoom, the viewer supports screen-normal rotation (roll): hold Alt (Windows/Linux) or Option (macOS) while dragging with the left mouse button to rotate the model about the axis pointing out of the screen, for finer control of its orientation.

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❓ Frequently Asked Questions

• How can I reset the view if I get disoriented?

  Use the “Fit to Screen” option in the view menu.

• Why can’t I select certain entities?

  Verify that the correct entity type is enabled in the selection toolbar.

• How do I save a custom viewpoint?

  Use the “Save Viewpoint” option in the View context menu after positioning the view as desired.