AVS Modules field o matic NOAA/ERL/Forecast Systems Laboratory NAME field o matic - slice and crop a field and create a mesh from the slice SUMMARY Name field o matic Type mapper Inputs field, any-data, any-coordinates colormap (optional) Outputs field, float, irregular geometry Parameters Name Type Default Min Max Choices show slice zone toggle on - show slice pos toggle on - slice coord integer 1 1, 999 slice axis radio K I, J, K crop slice toggle off - zone center h integer 1 1, 999 zone center v integer 1 1, 999 zone radius h integer 1 0, 999 zone radius v integer 1 0, 999 DESCRIPTION Field o matic!! It slices!! It dices!! Actually, it slices and pares. The field o matic module essentially provides the same capabilities as the orthogonal slicer, crop, and field to mesh modules. The input field is sliced orthogonally in computational space. Slicing a 3D field results in a 2D field, slicing a 2D field results in a 1D field, and slicing a 1D field should result in a 0D field, but AVS dislikes 0D fields so a 1D field of size 1 is used instead. 2D and 1D slices may be cropped, respectively yielding a patch ("window") or a segment. "0D" fields may not be cropped (Why would you want to?). The location of the slice may be indicated by wires and the slice zone may be displayed as a mesh. If an optional colormap is supplied, the mesh will be colored if the field contains scalar data, but not if it contains vector data. The mesh of a 2D slice represents a surface, while the mesh of a 1D slice degenerates to a line. Since the mesh of a "0D" slice degenerates to nothing, the slice zone and slice position indicator toggles are disabled in this case. INPUTS Input Field (required, field, any-data, any-coordinates) The input field must be a of 3, 2, or 1 computational dimensions in 3D space. The data values may be scalars or vectors of any data type in any grid configuration. Input Colormap (optional) If the input data are scalars and an optional colormap is supplied, the slice zone will be colored according to the data values and how those values map into this colormap. PARAMETERS show slice zone If the show slice zone toggle is on, field o matic will generate a geometry object which is a mesh (2D surface or 1D line) of the slice zone. If the show slice zone toggle is off, no slice zone will be generated. If the slice is a "0D" field, this toggle is disabled and hidden. show slice pos If the show slice pos toggle is on, field o matic will generate a geometry object which indicates the positions of the slice and the slice zone. The slice position is indicated by a wire frame at the edges of the entire slice. The slice zone position is indicated by a wire frame around the edges of the slice zone and two crossed wires that indicate the center of the slice zone. For slices of less than two dimensions, these wires degenerate into a single line and the result is basically useless. If the show slice position toggle is off, the position indicators are not generated. If the slice is a "0D" field, this toggle is disabled and hidden. slice coord slice axis Field o matic makes orthogonal slices in computational space. The slice axis parameter is used to specify the computational axis which is orthogonal to the desired slice and the slice coord parameter is the position of the slice along the slice axis. When changing from one axis to another and then back again, the previous value of slice coord for each axis is remembered. If the data to be sliced is a 3D field, the axis choices are I, J, and K; for a 2D field, they are I and J; and for a 1D field the only choice is I. crop slice zone center h zone center v zone radius h zone radius v The zone center parameters are used to specify the horizontal and vertical computational coordinates, within the slice, of the center of the slice zone. The zone radius parameters specify the horizon- tal andertical radii (actually, the half-width and the half-height), measured from the slice zone center, of the slice zone. For a 2D slice, both the horizontal and vertical parameters are available. Only the horizontal parameters are available for a 1D slice, and for a "0D" slice all of the cropping parameters are ignored and hidden. The cropping parameters will be used only if the crop slice toggle is on. Otherwise, these parameters are ignored and hidden. OUTPUTS Output Field (float, irregular) The data within the slice zone is output as a field with one less computational dimension than the input field. The exception to this is a slice of a 1D field, which should be a 0D field but is output as a 1D field of size 1. The output data type is always float and the grid configuration is always irregular, regardless of the input data type and grid configuration. The vector length of the output field is the same as that of the input field. Output Geometry If the show slice zone parameter is on, field o matic creates an object named "field_slice_zone" which is a mesh of the slice zone. This mesh represents a surface for a 2D slice degenerates to a line for a 1D slice, and degenerates to a point for a "0D" slice. The slice zone will be colored by the optional colormap. If the show slice pos parameter is on, field o matic creates an object named "field_slice_position" that consists of polylines that, for a 2D slice, define the edges of the slice and the edges and center of the slice zone. For a 1D slice, all of these lines are coincident, making this object basically useless. In any case, these are lines are not colored. EXAMPLE This example uses field o matic to slice a 3D field, output the 2D slice and generate a colored mesh surface of the slice. Contours are generated from the 2D slice field and placed on the mesh surface. The bounds of the 3D field are included for reference. READ FIELD | GENERATE COLORMAP +------------+ | | | FIELD O MATIC VOLUME BOUNDS | | | | CONTOUR FIELD | | | | +---------+------------+ | RENDER GEOMETRY | DISPLAY PIXMAP LIMITATIONS This module has also been known as "field-o-matic". Its name has been changed to "field o matic" because the AVS online help facility doesn't like module names with hyphens in them. Even if the input field is uniform, the field origin is always placed in the "lower left" corner. This makes it easy to display uniform and irregular fields with the same orientation. This module has been used with uniform and "nice" irregular fields. It has not been tested with anything really weird. AUTHOR Phil McDonald, NOAA/ERL/Forecast Systems Laboratory NOAA/ERL/Forecast Systems Laboratory AVS Modules field o matic