Creating Great Model Views

Switching between different views is an essential part of visualizing and understanding your surface-water modeling project. SMS 13.4—the newest beta release of the Surface-water Modeling System (SMS)—brings exciting improvements that can help you streamline your workflow and elevate your modeling experience. This new release of SMS expands on its existing tools, offering even greater flexibility alongside a range of helpful features.

Customizing Your Project View   

SMS has always offered several different tools for controlling the way your model looks. Presenting a strong view of your model will help you visualize key features of your audience.

The View menu and the Display Options dialog provide additional tools for managing the view of your model. For example, when looking at a model, you can adjust different parameters such as bearing and dip to change the angle of the view. Additionally, you can set the Looking at point, which focuses the view on a specific location defined by x, y, and z coordinates. These features are located in the Display Options dialog—under the General option and the View tab—and allow you to focus on particular areas of your model with precision.

Once you’ve established the view you want, you can create display themes to save and quickly apply display options for various elements of the data, including color ramps, contours, and visibility settings, without needing to change the underlying data. To create a display theme, all you need to do is right-click in the Project Explorer and select New Display Theme. Using display themes allows you to quickly change between important views in your project.

What’s New in SMS 13.4?

The ability to transition between different views is an essential part of visualizing a surface-water modeling project. To enhance this, SMS 13.4 introduces Front View, Side View, and Oblique View buttons to the main toolbar. This allows for quicker, smoother transitions between different modeling perspectives.

In addition to a more accessible location, users now have the ability to translate their zoom levels across views. When transitioning between Oblique View to Plan View, you can keep your zoom level intact by simply pressing and holding Ctrl as you switch. This ensures smooth transitions and helps you maintain a consistent view across your project.

Unlock greater flexibility and control with SMS 13.4 to enhance your presentation of your SMS models!