Navigating The Viewer

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Video Tutorial – Navigating the Orbital Stack Viewer

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1. Dashboard

Your dashboard is customized to you, the Account Type bar indicates the type of Account you have, while the summary bar identifies your remaining AI and CFD Credits.

To access your profile, click on your initials in the top right of the screen, here you will have access to your Company Administration page.

Note: Only users with the Org Admin role can access the Company Administration page. If your user role is anything else, you will not have access.

1.1 Navigating and Sorting Projects

Orbital Stack offers several ways to organize and find your projects:

• Projects: Displays all projects you have access to
• Shared with Me: Shows only projects that others have shared with you and that you’ve accepted
• Favorites: Lists any projects you’ve marked as favorites for quick access
• Sample Projects: provides demo projects you can explore.

To quickly find a specific project, you can:

• Use the search bar to enter keywords related to the project name, location or project ID
• Apply the Order by filter to sort projects alphabetically, oldest, and newest

2. Viewing a Scenario / Configuration

You can view scenarios in multiple ways:

• In this tab, you can view and sort by the scenario name, simulation status, simulation type, created date and simulated date by clicking on the column headers.

• You also have the ability to edit your scenario name, duplicate and delete a scenario.

3. Using the Viewer

If you do not see your model or other parts of your geometry, make sure you have the geometry toggled on.

3.1 Displaying the Color Legend

A legend can be shown by clicking on the small icon in the lower-right corner of the Viewer. The Color Legend will change depending on the results layer that is being displayed. Use the Color Legends Explained guide to understand what is being measured and how to fully interpret your results.

3.2 Displaying Wind Rose Data

Wind rose data can be viewed by clicking the icon in the upper-right corner of the Viewer. Note, this is only available to applicable simulations.

Depending on available data, the wind rose will match, as closely as possible, the season and time range of the layer being displayed. If no matches are found, annual data is displayed.

3.3 Keyboard & Mouse Controls

Scroll the mouse wheel to zoom. Scroll up to zoom in and scroll down to zoom out.

3.4 Simulation Settings

– Pedestrian Level Wind & Thermal Comfort Settings

Note: Some parameters above may not be visible within your project if certain metrics were not requested.

– Cladding Settings

3.5 Compass

The compass is located in the top-left corner of the Viewer. As you rotate your model the compass automatically adjusts and by clicking on the icon, it will automatically center your model with north facing up

4. Reviewing Simulation Results

4.1 Adding Results Layers 

To visualize results, click +Add in the Layers section

Choose between Horizontal or Volumetric results

• Horizontal layers are for typical surface plots
• Volumetric layers are for streamlines

Select desired layers, then click Add Layers

Toggle a layer on by checking the box next to its title

Tip: Hover over a layer name to view its full title

4.2 Toggling between presentation planes 

If your simulation contains multiple presentation planes, you can toggle between them to view them individually. This is especially important if your presentation planes overlap each other.   

To do this, simply click on the Toggle Results button located under the +Add Layers button. 

Then select the layers you want shown:  

5. Toolbar Options

5.1 Split Screen 

Split your viewer into two screens by selecting the Single View drop down then choosing Split Screen. This can be used to view two different layers or scenarios side by side.

You can choose different options for Screen A and Screen B independently. This allows you to compare two differently designed scenarios side-by-side, such as design variations, wind directions, or seasonal conditions.

Important Note: The icons you’re used to seeing in the toolbar are still available— they’ve just been tucked away. Simply click the hamburger menu (three stacked lines) in the top-left corner to access them.

To revert back to the singe screen, simply click on the Split Screen icon and click Single View.

5.2 Themes (Geometry Colors)

5.3 2-D View and 3-D View

You can select either a 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional view of the Geometry by clicking the buttons at the top of the Scenario Toolbar.

5.4 Save / Select Camera Angles

It is often desirable to return the view to exactly the same orientation as a previous visit in order to generate screen captures with identical placement of reference geometry.  Saving and reusing ‘Camera Settings’ provides this ability.

1. Adjust the view to your desired angle
2. Click the Camera Angle icon and select Save Camera Angle
3. Enter a name and save the angle

Tip: You can also save a camera angle directly from the Screenshot feature:

5.5 Screenshot

Use the Screenshot feature to download an image of your current view.

1. Click the Screenshot icon
2. Choose the preferred Aspect Ratio and Resolution
3. Choose Screenshot Type
   • Current Layer – Downloads an image only of the visible layer in the current view
   • All Layers – Downloads an image for each results layers of the current view
   • Set Project Image – Saves the current view as the main project image in the Project Dashboard

Tip: You also have the ability to save your camera angle here.

5.6 Probe Mode

Probe Mode lets you inspect specific data values directly on your results layers.

1. Select an active result layer
2. Click the Toggle Probe Mode icon in the menu
3. Click anywhere on the layer to view data values at that specific point.

Use this feature to explore detailed results across different locations in your model.

For more details, visit our Probe Data Values post.

5.7 Clipping Plane

The Clipping Plane tool allows you to slice through your geometry to reveal hidden results, such as data beneath overhangs or cantilevered sections.

You can activate the clipping plane using the sliding scale toggle or enter a specific height in meters for precise adjustment.

6. Project Properties

The Project Properties panel allows you to view and manage key settings related to your project. This includes access to: Project Details, Scenarios, Share Settings, Administration, Resources

Note: Depending on your assigned user role, you may not be able to view/update these fields.

You can access your projects Properties panel in two ways:

• From the Project Tile on the Dashboard, click the Properties button
• From within the 3D Viewer, click the Vertical Ellipsis at the top of the page, located next to the project name

6.1 Details

When first creating a project, you will need to specify certain details such as the project name, address, geolocation, etc. If you would like to make any changes to this information, you may do so from within the Project Details page. The geolocation is the exception and cannot be adjusted.

You can upload an image of your project here to appear on your project tile.

When you are satisfied with your changes, click “Update“.

6.2 Scenarios

Scenarios tab shows all scenarios created under the current project, the status of each scenario and type of simulation run i.e. AI, CFD.

If you no longer require a specific scenario, you have the ability to delete a scenario here.

6.3 Share Settings

Share settings enable you to specify who can access your project. Projects may be shared with Share Groups or specific individuals. You may also share projects with all RWDI Engineers.

Note: Share Groups are managed by your Company Administrator and only contain users from within your company / organization.

– Share Groups

To share your project with a Share Group, find the desired share group in the drop-down menu and click “Add”. The project will now be shared with all users in that share group.

To stop sharing the project with a share group, simply click the Trash icon to the right of the desired share group.

For instructions on how to create Share Groups go to our Company Administration page.

– Share with Individual Users

To share your project with a specific user, type their email address into the search bar under “Users”, then click “Add”. The user will then be sent an invitation to access the project.

Note: The user must accept the invitation in order to access the project, this will show up in the notification bell at the top right of your screen. If the user does not have an Orbital Stack-affiliated account, they will be prompted to create one.

After you have shared the project with the given user, you can grant them permission to allow this user to share the project with other users by checking the Can Share box.

– How to Accept a Project Share

Locate the Project Sharing Email Invitation from no-reply@orbitalstack.com, then follow the instructions.

Additional instructions can be found at Accessing a Shared Project.

6.4 Administration

To give other users the same privileges as the project owner, you may assign additional project administrators to the project. This will enable them to edit, share, and add new project admins to your project. You can only give this privilege to users within your own company.

Note: Organization Administrators have full access and permissions. Those users can be viewed in the right hand column of the screen above. They can also be assigned under your Company Administration page. For more information please visit Company Administration Page Explained.

6.5 Resources

The Resources tab is where you can download or request your surrounding context model for your project location. For additional instructions please visit Automatic Generation of Surrounds.

The Weather Data source is identified and a map is provided with a pin to identify your project location and weather station selected (if you selected measured weather data).

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