Preface File Naming Conventions 1-9 1 Introduction 1.1 Why visualization? 1-2 1.2 Visualization techniques 1-4 Slicing air flow data 1-4 Extruding loan data by geographical region 1-4 Texture mapping 1-5 Other techniques 1-6 AVS/Express Examples library 1-6 1.3 From data to picture - how it works in AVS/Express 1-7 Reading data 1-7 Processing the data 1-7 Applying visualization technique(s) and viewing results 1-8 1.4 The next step - where to go from here 1-10 2 The Field:The AVS/Express Data Model 2.1 The AVS/Express Field data structure 2-2 The importance of fields 2-2 2.2 Field basics 2-3 Field components 2-3 Grid and node data 2-3 Connectivity information 2-5 Cell data 2-8 2.3 Meshes 2-10 Mesh types 2-10 Mesh types summary 2-10 Understanding Unstructured vs. Structured meshes 2-11 Mesh Type: uniform 2-12 Mesh type: rectilinear 2-13 Mesh type: structured 2-14 Unstructured mesh - cell sets required 2-14 Why mesh types matter 2-16 2.4 Mesh characteristics - ndim and nspace 2-18 Examples 2-19 2.5 Support for Second Order Cells 2-21 Using 2nd order cells 2-22 2.6 Time Dependent (Multistep) Data 2-24 Time-dependent data structure group objects 2-25 3 Example scenarios 3.1 Unstructured data 3-2 Point data 3-2 Multivariate data 3-4 Line data 3-5 A better way... 3-5 3.2 2D data 3-8 No coordinates 3-9 Multivariate 3-9 Common image file formats 3-10 3.3 3D data 3-11 Uniform meshes 3-11 Rectilinear meshes 3-13 Unstructured meshes 3-14 Multi-variable 3-16 3.4 Managing your data 3-18 4 Importing Data 4.1 Why Import Data? 4-2 4.2 Mapping Data Into Fields 4-3 Field Mappers 4-3 Table Mappers 4-9 4.3 Overview of Techniques for Importing Data 4-10 4.4 Using the AVS/Express Readers 4-11 netCDF reader and writer 4-11 4.5 Using Read_Column_File 4-12 Mapping the Data into a Field 4-12 Example 4-13 4.6 Data in AVS Field File Format (Read Field) 4-15 Reading in a Field File 4-16 Examples 4-16 4.7 Querying a Database 4-17 Using the Table Mapper Modules 4-19 Examples 4-21 4.8 Creating File Access Objects Using the Add File Import Module Tool 4-23 Using the Add File Import Module Tool 4-23 Example 4-24 4.9 Live Data Sources 4-27 Reading the Data In 4-27 4.10 Troubleshooting Tips 4-28 Verify Results One Step at a Time. 4-28 Start with Simple Data 4-29 Using the Correct Field Mapper 4-29 For Problems with Reader Code, Divide and Conquer 4-29 5 Catalog of Visualization Techniques 5.1 The Data Visualization Libraries 5-2 Macros 5-2 DV prefix base modules 5-3 Mid-level and DV_Param macros 5-4 5.2 Overview of the Data Visualization Techniques 5-5 5.3 Visualization techniques 5-7 Exteriors and edges 5-7 edges 5-8 Contours, isolines, and isosurfaces 5-8 Slices and cross-sections 5-9 Colors, Lookup Tables (LUTs), and colormaps 5-10 Glyphs 5-11 Vector fields 5-12 City scapes, ribbon plots, and surface plots 5-12 Probes and interactions 5-14 5.4 Geometries 5-15 Example network 5-15 Network Editor locations 5-17 V locations 5-18 5.5 Data preprocessing 5-19 Combiners and extractors 5-19 Data filters 5-20 Interpolation 5-20 Cropping and cutting 5-21 Data sampling and regridding 5-22 Coordinate transformations 5-22 Conclusion 5-23 5.6 Image Processing 5-24 The Image Processing Libraries 5-25 Using the Image Processing objects 5-25 Viewing images in a renderer 5-26 5.7 Adding your own image readers and writers 5-27 Implementing an image reader 5-27 Implementing an image writer 5-30 XIL on SUNOS5 5-32 5.8 Geographic Information System (GIS) Components 5-34 5.9 Accessing Data on the World Wide Web 5-36 Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) Output 5-37 6 Using the Animator and Image Capture Modules 6.1 Keyframe Animation in AVS/Express 6-2 Understanding Keyframe Animation 6-2 6.2 Defining a Keyframe Animation 6-4 Instancing the animator Module 6-4 Creating the Animation Keyframes 6-6 Before adding keyframes 6-7 Adding the first keyframe 6-8 Adding additional keyframes 6-8 Modifying the Keyframes 6-9 6.3 Controlling what is Animated 6-11 The animate property 6-11 Rescanning the application for changes in the animatable parameters 6-12 Understanding the interpolation 6-12 6.4 Generating and Viewing the Animation 6-14 6.5 Capturing Viewer Images 6-16 Using the Capture Controls 6-17 Capturing images 6-18 Controlling how the images are saved 6-19 Using the Playback Controls 6-19 Creating a Movie 6-20 7 Using the Data Viewers 7.1 Using the View Editor 7-2 Specifying the View Renderer, Size, and Color 7-3 Specifying Display Output 7-8 Creating a New View 7-9 7.2 Using the Transform Editor 7-12 Specifying the Interactor Behavior 7-13 Setting a Transformation 7-16 7.3 Using the Light Editor 7-19 Setting the General Light Attributes 7-19 Specifying Spot Light Attributes 7-24 Manipulating Ambient Light 7-25 7.4 Using the View Object Editor 7-27 Specifying an Object's General Attributes 7-28 Specifying Field Conversion Methods 7-30 Set Image Data Conversions 7-33 Setting Texture Conversions 7-36 Selecting Rendering Modes 7-37 Specifying View Object Properties 7-40 Specifying a Texture Mapping 7-50 7.5 Using the Camera Editor 7-53 Setting the Camera General Attributes 7-55 Setting the Camera Lens 7-57 Setting the Camera Tripod 7-61 Setting the Camera Clipping Planes 7-62 Setting the Camera Depth Cueing 7-63 7.6 Using The Datamap Editor 7-66 Understanding Datamaps 7-68 Specify a Data Range 7-69 Defining the Color Mapping 7-73 Defining the Current Alpha Map 7-75 Reading Datamap Files 7-76 7.7 Using the Graph Editor 7-79 Setting the Graph Title 7-80 Setting the Graph Properties 7-82 Setting the Graph Style 7-85 Specifying Axes 7-86 Specifying Ticklines 7-88 Specifying the Appearance of the Legend 7-91 Specifying Contour Graph Characteristics 7-92 Specifying Colors In The Graph Editor 7-93
