AVS Modules animate float Lawewnce Berkeley Laboratory Feb 21, 1991 NAME animate float - send a range of floating point numbers to a module's parameter port SUMMARY Name animate float Type data coroutine Inputs none Outputs float Parameters Name Type Default Min Max min value float dial 0.0 unbounded max value float dial 1.0 unbounded steps int dial 10 2 10000 sleep switch on restart switch off LBL MODIFICATIONS 1. The maximum number of steps has been modified to be 10000, rather than the Stardent-imposed limit of 100. 2. The "mode" choice has been removed. This module operates in a manner analgous to "animated float"'s "one time" mode. That is, the module executes the number of times indicated by "steps". 3. A restart switch has been added. This is useful for restarting the module from step 0 (without having to kill then reinstantiate the module). DESCRIPTION The animate float module automatically modifies floating point parameters. It is used to create simple animations or to drive user simulation code. You plug animated float into another module's floating point parameter port (color-coded dark purple), type in minimum and maximum floating point values, and a number of steps (default 10). When you turn off sleep, animated float calculates the delta value ((max-min)/(steps-1)), starts at the minimum value, and begins to send a continuous sequence of evenly-spaced floating point numbers down the connection to the receiving module. Because animate float is a coroutine, the AVS flow executive passes one floating point parameter value down the network at a time until the network has fully executed, then signals animate float to send the next floating point parameter value. For example, you could connect animate float to the isosurface module's "level" parameter port. By setting minimum, maximum, and step values, you could watch a series of output pixmaps that show the different isosurfaces for each value. It is often useful to set the minimum and maximum values relative to the range of your data. The statistics module can be used to determine reasonable value for these parameters. The "frame rate" (speed) of the animation depends upon how compute- intensive the downstream modules are. With a compute-bound module like tracer, the animation will be quite slow. With simple modules, it will more closely resemble continuous motion. There is no direct way to regulate the speed at which animated float executes. Before you can connect animate float to the receiving module, you must make that receiving module's parameter port visible. To make a parameter port visible, call up the module's Editor Window panel by pressing the middle or right mouse button on the module icon dimple. Next, look under the "Parameters" list to find the parameter you want to plug into. Position the mouse cursor over that parameter's button and press any mouse button. When the Parameter Editor appears, click any mouse button on its "Port Visible" switch. A purple parameter port should appear on the module icon. Connect this parameter port to the animated float module icon in the usual way. If you bring up the receiving module's control panel, you can watch the parameter values change. animate float can be connected to multiple modules. PARAMETERS minimum value A dial to specify the lowest value in the floating point number sequence. maximum value A dial to specify the maximum value in the floating point number sequence. steps An integer typein specifying how many steps. sleep A toggle switch that turns animated float on and off. It is off by default. When you turn off the stream of floating point numbers by pressing sleep, some number of additional values may continue to flow through the network before animate float actually goes to sleep. restart A toggle switch which will reset the "current step number" to zero and toggling on the sleep switch (stopping the module). OUTPUTS Floating Point Number (parameter) A floating point number intended to be input into a floating point parameter port of another module. EXAMPLE The following network illustrates the use of animate float to set the isovalue parameter of the isosurface module. READ FIELD ANIMATE FLOAT | | | | | +---------------+ | | ISOSURFACE | RENDER GEOMETRY | DISPLAY PIXMAP RELATED MODULES Modules that can process animated float output: any module with a floating point parameter See also animate integer, which behaves exactly like animate float, but for integer parameters. AVS Modules animate float Lawewnce Berkeley Laboratory Feb 21, 1991 NAME animate float - send a range of floating point numbers to a module's parameter port SUMMARY Name animate float Type data coroutine Inputs none Outputs float Parameters Name Type Default Min Max min value float dial 0.0 unbounded max value float dial 1.0 unbounded steps int dial 10 2 10000 sleep switch on restart switch off LBL MODIFICATIONS 1. The maximum number of steps has been modified to be 10000, rather than the Stardent-imposed limit of 100. 2. The "mode" choice has been removed. This module operates in a manner analgous to "animated float"'s "one time" mode. That is, the module executes the number of times indicated by "steps". 3. A restart switch has been added. This is useful for restarting the module from step 0 (without having to kill then reinstantiate the module). DESCRIPTION The animate float module automatically modifies floating point parameters. It is used to create simple animations or to drive user simulation code. You plug animated float into another module's floating point parameter port (color-coded dark purple), type in minimum and maximum floating point values, and a number of steps (default 10). When you turn off sleep, animated float calculates the delta value ((max-min)/(steps-1)), starts at the minimum value, and begins to send a continuous sequence of evenly-spaced floating point numbers down the connection to the receiving module. Because animate float is a coroutine, the AVS flow executive passes one floating point parameter value down the network at a time until the network has fully executed, then signals animate float to send the next floating point parameter value. For example, you could connect animate float to the isosurface module's "level" parameter port. By setting minimum, maximum, and step values, you could watch a series of output pixmaps that show the different isosurfaces for each value. It is often useful to set the minimum and maximum values relative to the range of your data. The statistics module can be used to determine reasonable value for these parameters. The "frame rate" (speed) of the animation depends upon how compute- intensive the downstream modules are. With a compute-bound module like tracer, the animation will be quite slow. With simple modules, it will more closely resemble continuous motion. There is no direct way to regulate the speed at which animated float executes. Before you can connect animate float to the receiving module, you must make that receiving module's parameter port visible. To make a parameter port visible, call up the module's Editor Window panel by pressing the middle or right mouse button on the module icon dimple. Next, look under the "Parameters" list to find the parameter you want to plug into. Position the mouse cursor over that parameter's button and press any mouse button. When the Parameter Editor appears, click any mouse button on its "Port Visible" switch. A purple parameter port should appear on the module icon. Connect this parameter port to the animated float module icon in the usual way. If you bring up the receiving module's control panel, you can watch the parameter values change. animate float can be connected to multiple modules. PARAMETERS minimum value A dial to specify the lowest value in the floating point number sequence. maximum value A dial to specify the maximum value in the floating point number sequence. steps An integer typein specifying how many steps. sleep A toggle switch that turns animated float on and off. It is off by default. When you turn off the stream of floating point numbers by pressing sleep, some number of additional values may continue to flow through the network before animate float actually goes to sleep. restart A toggle switch which will reset the "current step number" to zero and toggling on the sleep switch (stopping the module). OUTPUTS Floating Point Number (parameter) A floating point number intended to be input into a floating point parameter port of another module. EXAMPLE The following network illustrates the use of animate float to set the isovalue parameter of the isosurface module. READ FIELD ANIMATE FLOAT | | | | | +---------------+ | | ISOSURFACE | RENDER GEOMETRY | DISPLAY PIXMAP RELATED MODULES Modules that can process animated float output: any module with a floating point parameter See also animate integer, which behaves exactly like animate float, but for integer parameters.