field 3D any-type any-data
colormap (optional)
upstream transform (optional, invisible, autoconnect)
upstream geometry (optional, invisible, autoconnect)
The probe path module displays the numeric data values in a field at a
location in space. It works for fields that have been rendered as an
AVS geometry. It works for uniform, rectilinear, and irregular
coordinates, and for any data type. It works for both scalar and
vector fields.
probe path can accumulate the 3D path where the cursor has been,
showing a coloured line in 3D space of the probe history.
Three other coloured lines are also shown, where the path is
"projected" in 2D onto the axis planes. The sampled data
is also stored along the path, and passed out in the 1D field
structure. This is typically sent to other filter modules, or
the graph viewer.
This probe path module is a variation of the standard "probe"
module. It is different in that:
- no sample input
- trilinear only
- field output with sampled data value
- path accumulation
- position and value in text block, not geometry window
- axis projection of path
There are two major ways to use the probe:
With the Pick Geometry option off, the "probe" object in the
Geometry Viewer acts like any other object. To find a data value
at a particular location in space, you make "probe" the current
object and move it to that location. The movement can be direct
manipulation using the usual Geometry Viewer mouse-button commands
(e.g., right button moves object left and right); or, if that is
too awkward and imprecise, you can use the Geometry Viewer's
"Transformation Selection" panel and have the "probe" object jump
to any absolute or relative point in space. As the probe travels,
it continuously reports its location and the data value beneath it.
With the Pick Geometry option on, data sampling is more a "point
the mouse cursor and click" technique. Select "probe" as the
current object in the Geometry Viewer, point at the object surface
you want to sample with the mouse cursor, then press the left
mouse button. The probe object snaps to the surface beneath the
cursor and reports the data value.
The Geometry Viewer tells the probe module what vertex the mouse
cursor was over when the button was pressed, and probe reports the
original data value at that vertex in a text-block parameter space.
When reporting data values for vector fields, probe lists the values
of all the vector elements. If the probe is being colored with the
data values., the color shown is SQRT(vec0**2 + vec1**2 + vec2**2
...).
INPUTS
Data Field (required; field 3D any-type any-data)
The input field is 3D, scalar or vector, uniform or rectilinear
or irregular, of any data type.
Colormap (optional)
If an AVS colormap is supplied to the center input port, the
color of the probe object in the Geometry Viewer will change
according to the data value it is pointing at. I.e., if it is
pointing at a "low" value with the default colormap from generate
colormap, the probe object will be blue; it it is pointing at a
"high" value, it will be red.
Upstream Transform (optional, invisible, autoconnect)
When the probe and render geometry modules coexist in a network,
they communicate through a normally-invisible data port. "Probe"
shows up as an object in the Geometry Viewer. When you select
the probe object and move it, render geometry informs the probe
module what the probe's new location is, and the probe module
recalculates the location and data it is displaying accordingly.
This module connection occurs automatically. The effect is to
give you direct mouse manipulation control over the probe
module's "probe" object.
Upstream Geometry (optional, invisible, autoconnect)
Used by the Pick Geometry's "point cursor and click" technique,
this normally invisible port is what the render geometry module
uses to inform probe of the geometry vertex selected so it can
display the data value for it. The module connection occurs
automatically.
PARAMETERS
Pick Geometry
A boolean switch that controls whether one moves the "probe"
object like any Geometry Viewer object by selecting it as the
current object and translating it with mouse button commands or
the Transformation Selections panel (the default, off); or
whether one selects data by pointing to an object's verticies
with the mouse cursor and pressing the left mouse button.
RELATED MODULES
probes