Tutorial

Launch the file 'Laser.exe'. If all goes well, two forms entitled 'Main' and 'Visualisation' will be created. If something goes wrong, please follow the recommendations given in the installation tutorial.

Step 1. Open the demonstration project

Search the menu bar on the top of the form entitled 'LASER / F Main'

1. > 'Projet' > 'Ouvrir',

2. select the subdirectory 'Demo' in the dialog box ,

3. choose the 'construction.lsr' file > 'Open': the project entitled 'construction' will open.

Step 2. Visualization of the 3D scene

The 3D scene corresponding to the project is now displayed in the background form entitled 'Visualisation'. Bring this form into the front. The 3D scene is displayed in the black viewer component.

1. Move your mouse over the viewer,

2. Choose a point on the scene by right-clicking on any coloured object ,

3. Zoom in or out of the 3D scene with the wheel,

4. Rotate around a selected point by keeping the left mouse button pressed and move.

5. Rotate the scene with the arrows of the NUMERIC KEYPAD: left, right, top, down.

Some basic information are displayed in the groupbox 'Info' in the lower part of the 'Visualisation' form.
A list of objects is also available in the treeview located in the upper left part of the form. You can choose any object in the list by clicking on it. Each object is identified with a unique number and name stored in the 'construction.geo' file.
Activate the checkboxes in the viewing options groupbox (beware: some of them are not active!).
It is possible to create a brief video of your 3D scene by clicking on the 'Video' checkbox. This creates a file in *.avi format. Activate the checkbox and give a name to the file in the dialog box that will open. The content of the viewer component is registered in the *.avi file until you deactivate the checkbox. The *.avi file can then be viewed, as for example with Windows Media Player.

Step 4. Visualization of the results

Once the simulation is fully completed, the results that were saved on disk can be viewed in 3D.

1. In the menu bar of the 'Main' form, > 'Résultats' > 'Exploiter une simulation',

2. Make sure you are in the directory where you requested to store the results. In the list of * .reb files, choose a file among all those whose name starts with the generic name that you defined beforehand (e.g. 'test-20160707-100000.reb') > 'Ouvrir',

3. Click on the 'Visualisation' page. In the groupbox 'Résultats', 'Sélection principale' check the result you want to visualize:
   'Temp. surface' for example if you want to see the surface temperatures,

4. Activate the 'Visualisation' form to see the results in 3D,

5. Use the set of buttons at the bottom of the viewer to move forward or backward in time (this will also change the active *.reb file)

If you want to see the materials again, check 'Voir matériaux' (default option). The choices in 'Sélection principale' groupbox are mutually exclusive.
If you want to visualize the components of the radiation balance, check 'Flux' in 'Sélection principale' groupbox, and check one variable available in the 'Flux' groupbox. Warning: these variables can be added all together, for example it is possible to check simultaneously 'Direct' and 'Diffus' to visualise the solar global radiation.

More information about how exploit the results can be found in 'Results' tutorial.