Defining the Coloring and Style
Depending on the plot type and space dimension, the following options are available and defined under Coloring and Style. The items are listed in alphabetical order.
Arrow Base
Select Tail (the default) to position the arrow’s tail at the arrow position, Head to position the arrow’s head at the arrow position, or Center to position the center of the arrow at the arrow position.
Arrow Length
Select an Arrow length:
Proportional (the default), so that the length of the arrows is proportional to the magnitude of the quantity they represent.
Normalized, so that all arrows have the same length.
Logarithmic, so that the length of the arrows is proportional to the natural logarithm of the magnitude of the quantity they represent. This makes arrows representing small values relatively larger. The value in the Range quotient field (default: 100) determines the ratio between the smallest and largest values in the range of values for the logarithmic arrow length.
Arrow Placement
Select a Placement of the arrows: Uniform, Mesh nodes, or Uniform anisotropic.
Select Uniform (the default) for arrows positioned uniformly on the surface.
Select Mesh nodes for arrows positioned in the mesh nodes (that is, more densely placed arrows where the mesh density is high).
Select Uniform anisotropic to position the arrows using an anisotropic density (that is, more arrows in some directions than in others). If Uniform anisotropic is selected, use the x weight, y weight, and (in 3D) z weight fields to give weights for the arrow density in the different directions (using positive scalar weights). The default weights are 1 in all directions. A higher value increases the arrow density in the corresponding direction.
Number of Arrows
When Uniform or Uniform anisotropic is selected as the Placement, also specify the Number of arrows (default: 200).
Arrow Scale Factor
Select the Arrow scale factor check box to enter a scalar number to scale the arrows or use the slider to select.
Arrow Type
Select an Arrow type: Arrow or Cone.
Color
For surface and contour plots, for example, from the Coloring list select to use a Color table (see Color Table) or select Uniform to use a single color from the Color list. You can also select Custom to define a custom color from the colored list below (on Windows) or by clicking the Color button (on Linux and Mac) and then selecting a color from the color palette.
For arrows, and unless a Color Expression subnode determines the arrow colors, select an arrow Color or select Custom to define a custom color from the colored list below (on Windows) or by clicking the Color button (on Linux and Mac) and then selecting a color from the color palette.
For lines, select a Color: Custom, Cycle, Black, Blue, Cyan, Gray, Green, Magenta, Red, White, or Yellow. If you select Cycle, it cycles through all the colors. If you select Custom, define a custom color from the colored list below (on Windows) or by clicking the Color button (on Linux and Mac) and then selecting a color from the color palette. Enter a line Width or use the slider to select.
The Color Palette
In the color palette that opens, you can choose from a number of basic colors, or click Define custom colors to open a section where you can specify a specific color using sliders to define the R (red), G (green), and B (blue) components. You can also click on one of the RGB values to enter a specific value (0–255). Click Add to custom colors to add it to the set of available custom colors.
Color Legend
The Color legend check box is selected by default. Click to clear the check box if required. The legend position is determined by the settings in the Color Legend section in the Settings window for the parent Plot Group node.
You can adjust the default precision settings if required. Open The Preferences Dialog Box and click Graphics and Plot Windows. Under Display format (number of digits), in the Color legend field, enter an integer between 1 and 15 for the number of digits for the values displayed on the color legend. The default setting is 5 digits.
Color Table
If the default (Rainbow in most plots) is not suitable for the plot, try other options. See Color Tables below for details. In some cases, select a Coloring: Color Table (default) or Uniform. If Uniform is selected, select a Color or Custom to choose a different color.
Reverse Color Table
Select the Reverse color table check box to reverse the order of the colors in the color table.
Symmetrize Color Range
Select the Symmetrize color range check box to obtain a color range centered around zero. This setting is useful for visualizing wave-like solutions with zero bias.
Ellipse Axis Expressions
Define the semi-major and semi-minor axes of the ellipse using vector expressions. For the Semi-major axis expression and Semi-minor axis expression, click the Replace Expression button () to select a predefined expression to replace the current expression, or press Ctrl+Space (or Ctrl+/) to insert a predefined expression (dimensionless). The expressions available are based on the physics interfaces used in the model. If the Geometrical Optics interface is used to compute ray intensity, the default expressions (typically gop.pax, gop.pay, and gop.paz for the semi-major axis and gop.pbx, gop.pby, and gop.pbz for the semi-minor axis) represent the shape and orientation of the polarization ellipse.
Ellipse Scale Factor
Select the Ellipse scale factor check box to enter a scalar or use the slider to select.
Function
In a Table Surface plot, choose Continuous (the default) to consider the (x, y, data) triplets as samples of a function data = f( x, y), where f( x, y) is continuous, or choose Discrete to treat the samples as discrete and draw them as large pixels.
Grid
Select a Grid: None (the default), Fine, Normal, or Coarse. If Fine, Normal, or Coarse is selected, also choose a Color for the grid.
Interpolation and Number of Interpolated Times
Particle trajectories can appear jagged because the output times for the simulation are too few to result in a smooth plot. You can improve the particle trajectories by using a uniform interpolation of the data for the particle trajectories. From the Interpolation list, select None for no interpolation (the default), or select Uniform to use a uniform interpolation of the data using additional interpolated times defined in the Number of interpolated times field. The default is 100 interpolated times.
Legend Type
For contour, isosurface, and directivity plots, the Legend type list box is available. You can choose Automatic (the default for contour and directivity plots; not available for isosurfaces), Filled for a filled (joined) legend, or Line (the default for isosurface plots), for a legend with separated lines for the levels. The Automatic setting provides a filled legend for filled contours and a line legend for line and tube contours.
Line Markers or Marker Type
Select a Marker type: None, Cycle, Asterisk, Circle, Diamond, Plus sign, Point, Square, Star, or Triangle.
If a marker is selected (excluding None), then from the Positioning list, select Interpolated or In data points. For Interpolated, enter the Number of markers to display (the default is 8; the maximum is 10,000 markers) or use the slider to select. If In data points is selected, the markers appear in the data points for the plot (which for a plot of a 1D solution are the mesh nodes).
Line Style
The line styles available depend on the type of plot and the space dimension and include these options:
From the Line list (for line graphs and point graphs, for example): Cycle, Solid, Dotted, Dashed, or Dash-dot. If Cycle is selected, it cycles through all the options.
From the Line type or Type list (for line, streamline, and particle trajectory plots, for example): Line, Tube, or None. For 3D Streamline, Particle Trajectories, Point Trajectories, and Ray Trajectories plots, Ribbon is also available. Ribbons are an alternative to tubes for visualization of, for example, the vorticity of a flow field.
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If Tube is selected, enter a Tube radius expression (the radius of the tube); click the Replace Expression button () to select a predefined expression to replace the current expression, or press Ctrl+Space (or Ctrl+/) to insert a predefined expression (SI unit: m). The default is 1 m.
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If Ribbon is selected for streamlines, enter a width for the ribbons in the Width expression field; click the Replace Expression button () to select a predefined expression to replace the current expression, or press Ctrl+Space (or Ctrl+/) to insert a predefined expression (SI unit: m). The default is 1 m. Select the Width scale factor check box to enter a user-defined scaling of the ribbons’ width in the associated field. By default, the program scales the width automatically.
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If Ribbon is selected for particle trajectories, specify a direction for the ribbons: At Ribbon direction, click the Replace Expression button () to select a predefined expression to replace the current expression, or press Ctrl+Space (or Ctrl+/) to insert a predefined expression (SI unit: m). You can also edit the expressions in the Direction, x component; Direction, y component; and Direction, z component fields. Select the Width scale factor check box to enter a user-defined scaling of the ribbons’ width in the associated field. By default, the program scales the width automatically.
In Particle Trajectories plots, you can also choose an interpolation from the Interpolation list: None (the default) or Uniform. For the uniform interpolation, specify the Number of interpolated times (default value: 100).
Plot Along Lines When Animating
If the plan is to create an Animation report, select the Plot along lines when animating check box. This is useful for Particle Trajectories, Particle Tracing, Particle Tracing with Mass, and Point Trajectories plots.
Point Motion
Select a Point motion to specify what should happen When particles leaves domain: Stick to boundary (to plot the points on the boundary at the exit point) or Disappear (to not render these points at all).
For static fields, specify the End time in the Advanced section. It is possible that all particles have left the domain at the selected time. In that case, all points appear at the outflow boundary if Stick to boundary is selected, and no points appear if Disappear is selected. To make the points appear, specify an earlier end time.
Point Radius
Enter a Point radius expression; click the Replace Expression button () to select a predefined expression to replace the current expression, or press Ctrl+Space (or Ctrl+/) to insert a predefined expression (SI unit: m). The default is 1 mm.
Point Style
Under Point style, select a Type: Point, None, Comet tail, Arrow, or Ellipse. If Point or Comet tail is selected, enter a Point Radius and Radius Scale Factor.
Comet tail and Arrow are available with the Particle Tracing, Particle Tracing with Mass, Particle Trajectories, Point Trajectories, and Ray Trajectories plots. All of them except Point Trajectories and Ray Trajectories require a license for the Particle Tracing Module. See Particle Tracing, Particle Tracing with Mass, Particle Trajectories, and Point Trajectories. The Ray Trajectories plot requires a license for the Acoustics Module or the Ray Optics Module.
Ellipse is available with the Particle Trajectories and Ray Trajectories plots.
Radius Scale Factor
Select the Radius scale factor check box to enter a scalar number for the scale factor.
Range Quotient
If Logarithmic is selected as the arrow length, enter a Range quotient, which is the ratio between the maximum arrow length and the arrow length below which no arrow is drawn. The default is 100.
Scale Factor
Enter a Scale factor for the arrows using a positive scalar number in the field or by using the associated slider (for scale factors between 0 and 1).
Tail and Tail Components
Define the length and direction of the comet tail as a vector expression. For the Tail expression, click the Replace Expression button () to insert a predefined expression into the Tail, x component; Tail, y component; and Tail, x component (for 3D plots) fields. The expressions available are based on the physics interfaces used in the model. The default expressions (typically pt.nvx, p.nvy, and pt.nvz) represent the negative of the particle velocity.
Tail Scale Factor
Select the Tail scale factor check box to enter a scalar number between 0 and 1 or use the slider to select.
Type
Select Curve or Solid from the Type list for the type of histogram to plot when the Function list under Output is set to Discrete. Select Solid for filled histogram bins.
Wireframe
To plot only on the visualization mesh, select the Wireframe check box, and then click Plot (). This displays the surface plot as a triangular grid.