Figure 65: Unpopulated Plot Menu
The Plot Definition Menu links variables to plots. The plots themselves are set up in the Plot Setup Menu. The menu is is invoked directly from the main menu.
The analysis package currently supports a number basic plot types including, time based plots and XY plots. Each basic plot type comes in a number of variations. The basic plot type assigned to a plot is determined by the number of axes which have variables defined against them. Including only a Y axis variable in a plot will result in a time-based plot with time along the X axis. Setting up a plot with variables defined against both the X and Y axis produces an XY plot. Further adding a Z variable results in an XYZ plot which can only be displayed if you have VTK installed and have selected Vtk Canvas as the device driver to render the graphics. The intensity axis in a plot is represented by color and is activated when a variable is plotted against it.
Clicking the PLOT DEFINITION button in the main menu brings up the plot definition menu shown in Figure 65.
The menu is divided into two sections. At the top is a text window with a set of controlling options to its right. The text window gives a summary of the plots which have been set up and the controlling options are used to add new plot definitions as well as to edit existing ones. Plots are output in the order of the plot definitions in the window. You can shift a definition around in the window by hilighting it and then moving it up or down using the arrow keys. The options below the text window constitute a work area. When a plot definition is being edited its current definition is copied to the work area where changes are made and then copied back into the definition.
To create a plot from an empty menu, click the ADD button. This creates a new plot definition in the text window populating it with the current work area settings. You can set some or all of the work area options settings before clicking ADD but that’s not necessary. Hilight the added entry in the text window and click the EDIT button. This transfers the plot definition option settings into the work. Since you created the new plot definition from the current work are settings you won’t see any change. Next make whatever changes to the plot definitions you want to make. When you are complete click ACCEPT to accept the changes. Some of the changes will be reflected back into the text window. Repeat the above steps until you have defined all of the plots you want to define. Figure 66 shows a populated Plot Definition menu in the process of being edited.
The following describes the options found below in the work area below the text window. These options link a variable with a plot and define various output (drawing) options.
The plot into which the variable is output. It must match one of the plot ID’s assigned to plots defined in the PLOT SETUP menu.
The output method used to display the data. This can be: LINE, POINT, BARS, SOLID or CONTOURS. The contours option is not currently implemented. The output formats applicable to a specific plot depend on both the plot and whether it is being output as a 2D (TK driver) or 3D (VTK driver) plot.
XY (line plots) can be output with any of the first three options. With the LINE option the individual data are connected by lines, with the POINT option the individual data are represented by symbols (no lines), and with the BARS option the data are represented as solid rectangles from the plot baseline to the data values.
Spectrogram format plots (XYI) can be output using the SOLID option. XYI plots can also be output using the POINT option which will produce a scatter plot with each symbol color coded according to its intensity.
Higher dimension plots require the use of the VTK graphics driver. XYZ plots can be output with either the LINE or POINT option and XYZI plots can be output with the POINT option.
For time based plots set this option to YES if you want the data being output within each plot pixel to be averaged over the pixel time width prior to plotting otherwise leave at the default setting of NO. Averaging reduces noise when there are multiple data values output within pixels.
The name of the variable to be plotted against the X axis of the plot. It is used in all plot types except TIME based plots in which case it should be left blank. The time variable for time based plots is an internal variable derived from the time grids.
The name of the variable to be plotted against the Y axis of the plot. All plot types require this variable.
The name of the variable to be plotted against the Z axis of the plot. Leave this blank if there is no Z variable. Inclusion requires both that the VTK graphics package be installed on the local system and that the device driver used to render the graphics be set to VTK.
The name of the variable to be plotted against the intensity or color axis. Currently only plots in which the data is output as POINTs make use of this variable. Leave this field blank if there is no intensity data.
The plot X axis the VarX data is to be plotted against. This can be either TOP or BOTTOM. A plot can have variables plotted against either or both axes.
The plot Y axis the VarY data is to be plotted against. This can be either LEFT or RIGHT. A plot can have variables plotted against either or both axes.
This set of options determines if an axis should be autoscaled from the values of the variable being plotted against. Set to either YES or NO. TIME BASED plots do not make use of this option. If multiple variables being plotted against this axis have autoscale set to YES then the axis maximum and minimum value is determined from the combined inputs of all the variables. If an axis is not autoscaled by any variable then the axis maximum and minimum value is set according to the axis scaling set in the PLOT SETUP menus.
The line style to use in a line plot. The default setting is SOLID. The options for the most part are self explanatory. The DASH options produce dashed lines with different dash widths. The SPDASH options produce DASH lines but add a larger amount of space between the dashes. The DASHDOT options produce lines with alternating dashes and dots (smaller dashes). The DASH2DOT options produce lines with dashes separated by 2 dots. The DASHSPDOT options produce DASHDOT lines but with larger spaces between the dashes and dots.
The color of the trace in a line plot. This is set through the Color Picker Menu. Click the color to bring up the menu. The default is white.
The width of the line drawn in a line plot. The thinnest line has width of 1 (default value).
The character or text to use when outputting data in the POINT format. In addition to the standard alpha/numeric characters you can also specify UDF-8 (unicode) characters as \u# where # is the hex UTF-8 specification. Right clicking in the window will bring up the Symbol Picker menu which contains a number of predefined symbols.
The text color to use in POINT plots. This is set through the Color Picker Menu. Click the color to bring up the menu. The default is white. NOTE: This option does not apply to plots with an intensity input.
The symbol size in points.
The text font to use when outputting symbols in POINT plots. The menu default setting is HOLD which sets the font to the currently loaded font.
The buttons to the right of text windows allow for the addition, modification and removal of selected plot definitions. Their actions are described below.
Adds a new plot definition in the text window. For a new label definition to be added a plot definition must have been selected for editing The new label will be associated with that plot. Adding simply takes the current plot work area option settings and assigns them to the new plot or label.
Edit the hilighted plot definition. This copies the current plot options into the work area where they can be modified. After making any changes click the ACCEPT button to copy them back into the plot definition and update its the text window entry.
Delete a hilighted plot. If this is a plot definition then its associate label definitions will also be deleted.
Accepts the changes made in an edit. This copies the work area setting back into the plot settings and makes them the current plot settings. It also updates the definition in the text window.
Resets all of the options in the work area to their default values. If an plot is being edited this does not activate the changes until they are ACCEPTED.
