Description
Very often you need the ability to interrogate the location of a point or points in the project or find the distance between two points. This can be
accomplished at nearly any instant using the mouse and keyboard (see Mouse Functions and Fidelity Pointwise Shortcuts for more information). You
can select a point using Ctrl+Shift+MMB to have the point’s coordinates printed to the Messages window.
Use the point probe to measure distance between two points. The Display window (left)
renders a dashed line between the two points and displays the distance near the cursor. After
you release the mouse, the Messages window (right) displays the point location and the
displacement vector and distance from the previous point.
Click and hold Ctrl+Shift+MMB on the second point to display, in the Display
window, a dashed line to the previous point along with the associated distance. While holding the
sequence you can also drag the mouse to other pickable points and have the dashed line and distance
dynamically updated in the Display window. Upon release of the mouse button, the
coordinates of the last selected point will be printed to the Messages window along with
the displacement vector and distance from the previous selected point.
Keep in mind that text in the Messages window can be copied and pasted to other text fields within Pointwise or to another software package
altogether. On Windows platforms, Alt+RMB can be substituted for the Ctrl+Shift+MMB sequence.
Tip: You can use the point probe shortcuts (Ctrl+Shift+MMB for all platforms and Alt+RMB for Windows
platforms) within any Pointwise command. If you need the coordinates of a point on your geometry for use in a command’s text entry field, simply use the
point probe on the point, copy the point’s coordinates that are output into the Messages window, and paste into the desired text field.