Canvas¶
The canvas is the main visual workspace. It displays the FRC field with your path drawn on top and lets you directly manipulate path elements — drag to reposition, rotate handles for heading, click to select.
Navigation¶
Zoom¶
Use the scroll wheel to zoom in and out. Zoom is centered on the mouse cursor.
Pan¶
Click and drag on empty field space to pan the view. Clicking on an element selects it instead, so pan works as long as your initial click isn't on top of anything.
Selecting elements¶
Click an element to select it. The selected element animates a selection indicator (v0.4.0+) and its properties appear in the sidebar. Clicking empty field space clears the selection.
Selection is preserved across drag, reorder, undo, and redo operations so you don't lose your place while editing.
Moving elements¶
Drag a Waypoint or TranslationTarget by its body to reposition it on the field. The sidebar's X/Y properties update live while you drag.
Adjusting rotation¶
Waypoints and RotationTargets have rotation handles — arrows extending from the element pointing in the current heading direction. Drag a handle to change the rotation. The sidebar's degree display updates live.
Moving rotation targets along a segment¶
A RotationTarget lives on the line between two translation elements. Drag it along that line to change its t_ratio — the position along the segment where the rotation is achieved.
Dragging is constrained to the segment — you can't move a RotationTarget off its line. To move a RotationTarget to a different segment, either reorder it in the sidebar list or change the surrounding translation elements.
Path visuals¶
Line between translation elements¶
The straight line connecting consecutive translation elements is the path segment — the nominal line the robot will follow. Rotation targets and event triggers appear as markers along this line.
Handoff radius¶
A magenta dashed circle is drawn around each translation element. When the robot enters this circle, FollowPath advances to the next translation target.
Radii can be set per-element (sidebar → Handoff Radius (m)) or globally (Settings → Edit Config… → Default Handoff Radius).
Constraint overlay¶
Click a ranged constraint in the sidebar's Path Constraints section and the canvas paints a green overlay over the segments the constraint applies to. This is the visual confirmation for which ordinals a given constraint covers.
Protrusions (optional)¶
If protrusions are enabled in project config, waypoint and rotation-target elements render a dashed offset perimeter on the chosen side (left, right, front, or back). Waypoint protrusions are dashed orange; rotation-target protrusions are dashed green. The main element perimeter is unchanged. See Protrusions.
Simulation view¶
When you press Play, the canvas shows:
- Simulated robot moving along the path, respecting constraints.
- Robot footprint (from the Robot Length / Robot Width config fields).
- Protrusions if enabled — their visibility respects Default Protrusion State plus any Show/Hide event keys that fire during sim.
- Rotation indicated by the robot's orientation.
See Simulation for what the sim does and doesn't model.
Keyboard shortcuts¶
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Delete / Backspace |
Delete the selected element |
Space |
Play / pause simulation |
Ctrl/Cmd + Z |
Undo |
Ctrl/Cmd + Y / Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Z |
Redo |
Ctrl/Cmd + S |
Save current path |
Segment-bar shortcuts (arrow keys, S to split) are covered in Sidebar.
Recent changes¶
- v0.5.0 — Added animated selection indicator throughout canvas items (waypoints, translations, rotation targets, event triggers).
- v0.4.0 — Clicking empty field space now clears selection. Drag/rotation undo no longer creates spurious move entries for simple clicks.
- v0.3.0 — Simulated robot footprint changes size as protrusions toggle during sim playback.