Manipulating Surface Data

You can rotate a three dimensional surface to change the viewing angle so that you can see parts of the surface that are hidden or get a detailed view of part of the surface. When you click and hold the middle mouse button in the drawing area, then drag the mouse. The image changes to a wire-frame bounding box of the surface that moves with the mouse. You can rotate the view in two dimensions simultaneously, or select a single axis at a time to rotate. When you let go of the button, you can see the graph from the new, selected vantage point.

In addition to rotating the graph, you can manipulate it several other ways, as shown in the following table. You can display the indices and values of individual dataset elements in a pop up window. You can control scaling and translating separately, or together with a zoom. You can query the values of individual elements. And you can reset the view to what it was when you started.

Action

Description

Query

Hold down the left mouse button near the surface. A window pops up displaying the nearest dataset element's indices and value.

Reset View

Press r to reset translation and scaling. This does not reset the rotation.

Rotate

Hold down the middle mouse button and drag the mouse to freely rotate the surface. You can also press the x, y, or z keys to select a single axis of rotation.

Scale

Press the Control key and hold down the middle mouse button. Move the mouse down to zoom in on the center of the drawing area, or up to zoom out.

Translate

Press the Shift key and hold down the middle mouse button. Moving the mouse drags the surface.

Zoom

Press the Control key and hold down the left mouse button. Drag the mouse button to create a rectangle that encloses the area of interest. The area is then translated and scaled to fit the drawing area.