NAME
Lat3DToGeom
DESCRIPTION
This module generates the geometry for any number of horizontal or
vertical planes from a 3-D perimeter or curvilinear lattice. A list is kept
(in a special format) of all the requested planes. Planes may be
arbitrarily added and deleted from this list. Once all the desired planes
have been specified, then they can be generated simultaneously.
Lat3DToGeom has the ability to generate the planes over a selected data
range with the "Range Start" and "Range End" widgets (plus optional
special value removal) rather than over the entire data range as does
the LatToGeom module. It can also create the geometry as points, lines,
or polygons (triangles) with or without interpolated lattice cell centers.
Finally, a few options are provided for automatic plane generation to aid
animation.
INPUTS
Input -- Lattice
(3-D, 1-vector, float, perimeter..curvilinear).
This is the lattice from which to generate the planes.
Colormap -- Lattice
(1-D, 4-vector).
This is the colormap for the planes.
WIDGETS
Lattice Info -- Text
This is the dimensions of the current lattice. Typing into this widget
has no effect.
Dimension -- Radio Box
This selects how the plane geometry is to be drawn. It can be
represented as points, lines, or the standard shaded polygons.
Lowering the dimension will speed up rendering for better interactive
manipulation.
Use Centers? -- Option Menu
Setting this to "Yes" adds interpolated centers to each full 1x1 lattice
cell essentially breaking them up into 4 triangles instead of the usual
two. Using the centers evens out the color shading across the cell
without a bias to any corner. The center points are also visible with
point or line geometry. Note: Using the interpolated centers can
double the geometry size.
Auto Planes? -- Option Menu
This controls if and how lattice planes are automatically generated. The
possible choices are:
No - Planes are not automatically generated; the "Generate Planes!"
button must be pressed (the default setting).
Exteriors - Whenever the input lattice changes, the plane list is
automatically cleared out, the lattice's six exterior planes are
added to the list (basically the same as the "Add Default Planes"
button), and then they are generated over the specified data range.
Data - Whenever the input lattice changes, all the specified planes
are automatically generated over the specified data range.
Ranges - Whenever the "Range Start" or "Range End" widgets
change, all the specified planes are automatically generated over
the new data range if "Range Type" is set to "Selected".
All - This automatically clears out the plane list, the lattice's six
exterior planes to the list, and generates them all whenever the
"Range Start" or "Range End" widgets change or whenever the
input lattice changes. It's a combination of the "Exteriors",
"Ranges", and "Data" functions.
This automation can be useful for animation purposes so that no
buttons have to be pressed or selections made during looping.
Range Type -- Option Menu
This toggles between generating a plane over all the data values of the
lattice ("Full") or only over the range specified by the "Range Start"
and "Range End" values ("Selected").
Range Start -- Dial
This is the lower bound of the range of data values to include in the
planes.
Range End -- Dial
This is the upper bound of the range of data values to include in the
planes.
Lattice Planes -- Scroll List
This is a list of all the planes currently entered. An example of the
format is as follows:
1 60 1 36 K 1
The first two numbers indicate the start and end of the first axis of the
plane. The second two numbers indicate the start and end of the
second axis of the plane. Next is the axis that will be fixed for the
plane. It can be I, J, or K (either uppercase or lowercase). Finally,
there is the value along the fixed axis. All numbers represent grid
points not actual coordinates. The specification of the planes is
always in the order of I,J, and K. Therefore if K is fixed then the plane
will be IxJ (60x36 in the example). If I is fixed then the plane will be
JxK and if J is fixed then the plane will be IxK. These assumptions are
made in order to keep the plane format as simple as possible.
Add Plane -- Text
This allows a new plane to be added to the "Lattice Planes" list. The
entered string must be in the same format as used in the
"Lattice Planes" list.
Add Default Planes -- Button
This adds all the exterior planes around the 3-D lattice to the
"Lattice Planes" list. There are always six of them and they extend
the full length of the lattice in all directions.
Delete Selected Planes -- Button
This deletes the planes which are highlighted in the "Lattice Planes"
list. There is no "undo" capability!
Generate Planes! -- Button
This tells the module to start creating the geometry for all the planes
specified in the "Lattice Planes" list. It will print what it's doing in the
Explorer Log window.
Saved List -- Text
This hidden port is used to save all the entries in the "Lattice Planes"
list. Nothing should ever be connected to it or unpredictable results
might occur!
Special Value -- Text
Any triangles which contain data points that match this special value
will not be created when the "Range Type" is set to "Selected". This
will also prevent interpolation around special values; they are clipped
out altogether.
Print Progress -- Option Menu
This port is used in conjunction with the "Print Progress" and
"Don't Print Progress" selections in the "Options" menu. It determines
whether status information is printed as to what lattice planes have
been generated so far.
OUTPUTS
Output -- Geometry
This is the geometry for all the generated planes.
KNOWN PROBLEMS
The geometry is not as optimized as it could be; future versions will
hopefully be more efficient. There are no known bugs.
SEE ALSO
GenerateColormap, LatToGeom, LatToGeomNaN, MultiSlice, Render,
RenderRemote
-
Hans Vahlenkamp (Hans.Vahlenkamp@noaa.gov)
Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory / NOAA
Princeton University Forrestal Campus
http://www.gfdl.noaa.gov
