NAME	NEW SLICE -- slice a field of up to 4 dimensions on X, Y, Z or time

AUTHOR	Kathy Pearson, MCNC, kathyp@mcnc.org, (919) 248-9240

SUMMARY

	Name		NEW SLICE	

	Type		mapper	

	Inputs		input field		(field)	

	Outputs
			output field		(field)
			output slice axis	(string)

	Parameters
			Name			Type	Def	Min	Max
			----			----	---	---	---
			slice plane		(int)	0	-5000	5000
			slice axis		(choice)  Z
			reset field minmax	(toggle) 0	0	1

DESCRIPTION

Unlike the standard AVS slice module, the NEW SLICE module will accept
4D data input in addition to a 3D data field.   It outputs a field of 
one dimension less than that input with the same coordinate space and
the same number of vectors as the input.  The NEW SLICE module also
outputs the slice axis to indicate to downstream modules whether the
slice has occurred in the "X", "Y", "Z", to "Time" dimension.  This is
necessary because whenever standard AVS modules see a field with the
same min and max coordinates (points[0] - points[1] for X, points[2] -
points[3] for Y, points[4] - points[5] for Z, and points[6] - points[7] 
for Time), they assume that the first of these is the slice dimension.
Since cropping to a single grid cell in any dimension is now allowed by
the NEW CROP module, this assumption becomes invalid and the NEW SLICE
module outputs the slice axis as a cue to downstream modules.

INPUTS

input field	field	

OUTPUTS

output field	field with one less dimension than that input

output slice
 axis		string indicating slice axis of "X", "Y", "Z", or "Time"

PARAMETERS

slice plane	the row, column, layer or time step to be output as a data
		field, depending upon slice axis of X, Y, Z, or Time,
		respectively

slice axis	the choice of outputting a slice plane on X, Y, Z, or Time

reset field
 minmax		toggle indicating if the AVS routine should be called to
		reset the output field minmax once the data is prepared for
		output 	

EXAMPLE

RELATED MODULES

LIMITATIONS

SEE ALSO

(MCNC Visualization Plan)						11/93
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The MCNC Environmental Programs Group has created this module as part of a
suite of AVS demo modules, networks, and sample data sets to demonstrate 
the functionality of its visualization prototype for an Environmental 
Decision Support System (EDSS).  This system provides a unified method of 
analysis and visualization for data output from different environmental air 
quality models.  Remotely, standard output files from the following models 
can be read into AVS:

        ROM (Regional Oxidant Model)
        RADM (Regional Acid Deposition Model), low res and high res
        RADM (Regional Acid Depostion Model) Emissions, low res
        UAM (Urban Airshed Model, regulatory version)
        UAM (Urban Airshed Model, AREAL research version)
        UAM Wind (Urban Airshed Model, regulatory version)
        MCNC ALPHA-Prototype netCDF files

Alternatively, xdr portable binary AVS fields can be created from these
data types and accessed directly from the local workstation.

You can download these modules individually from the IAC using anonymous
ftp to the appropriate directories /avs_modules at avs.ncsc.org.  
If you would like to download the entire suite of modules, networks, and
sample datasets at the same time, the IAC recommends that you use 
anonymous ftp to grab the following file from avs.ncsc.org -

/sample_data/avs_data/MCNC_Env_Pgms/MCNC_Env_Pgms.tar.Z

This contains all source code to all local and remote modules, as well as
all of the sample datasets, networks, documentation, installation, and
usage notes.
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