D.Star's key features (e.g., one object - many views, two object types (collections and alternatives), large displays) make its user interface different from many other applications.
D.Star is designed for large displays in which you choose where to
work on the display. Its menu thus floats: it is available wherever
your current focus lies. Right-click to access the main menu.
The main menu provides seven categories. Some categories are single commands.
-- accesses the main D.Star interface; gives local project information
-- deselects all collections and alternatives. This is frequently used.
-- accesses these help pages
-- accesses the sink, from where sunk collections can be restored.
-- accesses the D.Star settings
-- displays logs
-- accesses a menu of commands on collections
D.Star provides multiple coordinated views of collections: a collection can be viewed as an image gallery and as a parallel coordinate system. Two views of the same collection are said to reference each other. It is also possible to have two collections that are identical but independent: such pairs are called clones. References and clones are produced by different versions of the usual cut, copy and paste commands.
D.Star provides projects. Typically these comprise alternatives that have a common parametric model. One project at a time may be open.
D.Star has two distinct object types: collections and alternatives. Collections hold alternatives; they are the main organization tool in D.Star. D.Star maintains two distinct selection sets, one for collections and one for alternatives. It needs these because many commands require both a set of collections and a set of alternatives in their arguments.
D.Star is all about handling multiple alternatives, so the most frequent selection tasks involve selecting multiple objects. In D.Star, selection is cumulative by default. Clicking on an object adds it to the currently selected set of objects.
CTRL-C -- Copies the currently selected collections to the collections clipboard.
CTRL-X -- Cuts the currently selected collections to the collections clipboard.
CTRL-V -- Pastes as a reference the contents of the collections clipboard.
CTRL-B -- Pastes as a clone the contents of the collections clipboard. The resulting collection is a clone, but the alternatives in it are references.
CTRL-SHIFT-B -- Pastes as a deep clone the contents of the collections clipboard. The resulting collection is a clone as are all of its alternatives. Both collection and alternatives are independent of other objects in the project.
ALT-C -- Copies the currently selected alternatives to the alternatives clipboard.
ALT-X -- Cuts the currently selected alternatives to the alternatives clipboard.
ALT-V -- Pastes as a reference the contents of the alternatives clipboard. The paste operation applies to each of the currently selected collections.
ALT-B -- Pastes as a clone the contents of the alternatives clipboard. The paste operation applies to each of the currently selected collections.