bin field - perform binning on 3-space irregular n-dimensional fields (3d histogram)

Name

     bin field - perform binning on 3-space irregular n-dimensional fields
	(3d histogram)

Summary

     Name	   bin field

Type

  mapper

Inputs

   field irregular 3-coordinate n-dimensional n-vector any data

Outputs

   field 3D rectilinear integer data

Parameters

   
	Name		   Type		  Default	 Min	   Max
	bin count	integer		    10           10        256

Description

    A grid is constructed in three-space which represents the extents of
    some input 3-space field.  The grid has a user specified number of
    coordinates, or bins, along each axis.  For every input point,
    the count in the three-space bin in which it lies is incremented.
    A typical use of this module is for processing "scatter" data, and
    counting the number of occurances of particles in a particular 
    spatial location.
    The module operates by first computing the extents in 3-space of the
    input data.  (Any existing extents field is ignored.)  Then, each 
    input point is evaluated and the bin in which it lies has its count
    incremented.
INPUTS
     Data Field	(required; field irregular 3-coordinate any data any veclen)
	The input field is 3-space n-dimensional "scatter" data.  Since 
      	only input points, and not data, is processed, the data may be of
	any type or vector length.
PARAMETERS
      bin count (integer)
	This parameter will control the coarseness of the output grid.
	Increasing this value will result in more bins; decreasing
	this value will result in fewer bins.
	
	The bin count controls the number of bins in each of the three
	spatial dimensions.  If the data occupies 3-space more or less
	evenly this is fine.
OUTPUTS
 
      Field 3D rectilinear scalar integer
	The output field is a 3D rectilinear field; the bins are the
	regions between the coordinate values along each axis and the
	data at each grid location represents the number of occurances
	of events in the grid cell within the input data.
	
	

Example

	In this example, it is assumed that we are reading in a 1-d
	list of 3-space scatter data.  We will represent each of these
	input points with a sphere, as well as compute an isodensity
	surface.  Note that "volume bounds" cannot process a 1-d list
	of 3-space data.
	READ FIELD (assume 1-d list of 3-space scatter data)
             |
             +----------------------------------------------+
             |                                              |
        NEW SCATTER DOTS (LBL/NCSC AVS Module -- scatter dots won't work 
             |            on 1-d lists)                     |
             |                                           BIN FIELD
             |                                              |
             |                                 +------------+-----------+
             |                                 |                        |
             |                          ISOSURFACE               VOLUME BOUNDS
             |                                 |                        |
             +-----------------------+---------+------------------------+
                                     |
                             GEOMETRY VIEWER

Related modules

	none

Author

	Wes Bethel, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, 16 April 1992
AVS Modules						              bin field
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory                                      16 April 1992