field o matic - slice and crop a field and create a mesh from the slice

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