Visualization Extension Engine

VXE v2.4
USER DOCUMENTATION

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
   
   
   1. Overview
   2. Installation
   3. Running VXE
      
      
2. Interface
   
   
   1. Program Menus
   2. Program Toolbars
   3. Overview
      
      
3. Streams
   
   
   1. Definition
   2. Interface
      1. Adding Streams
      2. Streams Menus
      3. Customizing Streams
   3. Generated Streams
   4. Calculated Streams
   5. Computational Streams
      
      
4. Meters
   
   
   1. Adding new meters
   2. Adding streams
   3. Playing through a data set
   4. Meter interface
      1. Meter interaction
         1. Properties
         2. Domain bar
      2. Plot interaction
      3. Domain & Range manipulaiton
      4. Triggering
         
         
5. 3D System Area
   
   
   1. plug-ins
   2. Connecting streams to plug-ins
   3. Right clicking
   4. Navigation
   5. Playing through an animation
   6. Manipulation
   7. 3D Key controls
   8. 3D Window Properties
      
      

1. Introduction  top

The Visualization Extension Engine is an application independent software which is designed to extend the visualization capabilities of simulation applications.

VXE is installed automatically in the Typical and Compact installation with the InstallShield. If using a custom installation, be certain that the VXE Program Files checkbox is checked to ensure VXE installation.

Component selection

To run VXE, click Start-> Programs-> VTB Personal Edition v1.3-> Visualization Extension Engine-> VXE v2.4.

2. Interface  top

2.1 Program Menus  top

File menu: top

Edit menu: top

View menu: top

Streams menu: top

Time submenu:

Edit submenu:

Meters menu: top

3D menu: top

Animation menu: top

Performance menu: top

Window menu: top

Help menu: top

2.2 Program Toolbars  top

Main toolbar: top

	New - Creates a new VXE system.
	Open - Opens a VXE system.
	Save - Saves the current VXE system.
	Cut - Copies data to the clipboard then deletes the selection.
	Copy - Copies data to the clipboard
	Paste - Pastes data from the clipboard to VXE.
	Networking - Toggles network status.
	New Meter - Creates a new meter.
	New 3D Window - Creates a new 3D window.
	Tile windows horizontally - Tiles VXE windows horizontally.
	Tile windows vertically - Tiles VXE windows vertically.
	Tile desktop windows horizontally - Tiles desktop windows horizontally.
	Tile desktop windows vertically - Tiles desktop windows vertically.

Streams toolbar: top

	New Stream - Creates a new VXE system.
	Open file as streams - Opens a VXE system.
	Generate Stream - Saves the current VXE system.
	Calculate Stream - Copies data to the clipboard then deletes the selection.
	Mark as time - Copies data to the clipboard
	Associate with time - Pastes data from the clipboard to VXE.

Animation toolbar: top

	Synchronize - Toggles synchronization for active window.
	Rewind - Returns animation to initial value
	Stop - Stops animation
	Pause - Pauses network data streams
	Play - Starts Animation
	Thumbwheel - Adjusts animation speed

Meters toolbar: top

	Zoom all - Zooms out to show the full domain and range
	Properties - Opens the meter properties dialog
	Anti-aliased lines - Draws meter plots with anti-aliasing on.
	Same range - Plots all traces using the same range.
	Dynamic range - Plots streams with ranges relative the selected.
	Framed range - Adjusts range to reduce stretching from zooming in.
	Manual range - Changes range to that specified by the user.
	Entire domain - Changes domain to show entire domain.
	Domain min/max - Sets the domain to the user specified min & max.
	Domain width - Sets the domain to a user specified width.
	Toggle triggering - Toggles triggering.

3D toolbar: top

	Add plug-in - Opens add plug-in dialog.
	Delete plug-in - Removes the selected plug-in from the system.
	Port icons - Toggles port icon visibility.
	Reset view - Resets the camera viewpoint to default.
	Lights - Opens light dialog.

2.3 Overview  top

The VXE interface involves three main areas: streams window, meters window, and 3D system window.
Any window can be maximized within VXE by double-clicking the top bar.

The Meters window is useful for visualizing graphical plots of data. Many manipulations can be performed on the data, such as measuring differences in data values, oscilloscopic behavior, and domain/range manipulations. These features are discussed in greater detail in Section 4.

The 3D window allows the user to visualize data in a virtual form with 3D models which are used by the plug-ins. Plug-ins take the data and display it using rendered 3D objects. See Section 5 for more information.

The streams window stores all of the data sets (known as streams) that are to be used in the VXE system. The streams window add a drag-and-drop functionality to data sets. For more information on streams, continue to the next section.

3. Streams  top

3.1 Definition  top

Data is imported into the VXE program via streams. A stream is a set of formatted data, either contained in a text file or transmitted from another computer. How this data is used is determined by the plug-ins.

3.2 Interface  top

When streams are added to a system, they are listed in the streams window. If there are more streams than the window currently shows, then a small arrow will appear and the user can scroll through the list by clicking and dragging with the middle mouse button. (see image above)

There are different ways to add streams to the system. Streams can be added one at a time, a whole file can be added, calculated streams can be created from an equation,  constant streams can be generated, or computational streams can be created from a computational plug-in.

To add streams to the system, use the Streams menu, or right click in the streams area to open an abridged streams menu (described below).

The streams menu opened by right-clicking the streams window is an abridged version of the Streams program menu.

There are a few ways to customize the appearance of streams, either by changing the color of the stream or by renaming it. To rename a stream click on the stream, then select Change name... from the Streams menu or from the streams right-click menu.
When Change color... is selected, the following dialog appears, allowing the user to change the color of the stream. Streams can also be lightened or darkened using the streams menu.

Color dialog

3.3 Generated Streams  top

Generated Stream dialog

A generated stream is a constant stream determined by the initial and final values. It is useful for adding a straight line plot to the meter.

3.4 Calculated Streams  top

Calculated Stream dialog

Calculated streams allow the user to generate a stream of data based on a function entered into the calculated stream dialog.

3.5 Computational Streams  top

Computational streams provide a "placeholder" for data which is created from a computational plug-in. A computational stream starts out empty and then is filled in by the plug-in.

4. Meters  top

4.1 Adding new meters  top

To add a new meter, select Add new meter or Add new empty meter from either the right-click menu, or the Program menu. It is also possible to create a meter from a stream. (see Streams Menus)

4.2 Adding traces to meters  top

There are many ways to add a stream to a meter. The most common is to drag the name of the stream to the meter to add it to. Other ways include right-clicking a stream and selecting Create new meter from the menu.

4.3 Playing through a data set  top

To play through a data set, select the window to play through and press the play button on the animation toolbar.

4.4 Meter interface  top

4.4.1 Meter interaction  

4.4.1.1 Properties  

The properties of a meter can be changed by either selecting Meters->Properties from the Program Menu or by clicking the properties button on the Meters toolbar. Doing so opens the following Dialog box:

Meter name - The user can type a new name for the meter here. Grid - Here the user can toggle grid line visibility and adjust the number of grid lines. Line style - Toggle anti-aliasing (smooth lines), change line thickness or lines style. Data reporting - Exact data uses only data provided in the streams, interpolated data interpolates graph points inbetween those provided by the stream. Independent axis - The user can specify what makes up the independent axis here. Triggering - Toggle triggering, set whether it fires on a positive slope (rising) or a negative slope (falling), set continuous or single event triggering and set the trigger value.

4.4.1.2 Domain bar  

Left-clicking and dragging on the triangled ends of the bar changes the domain width and clicking and dragging on the bar moves the domain.

4.4.2 Plot interaction  

There are a few plot manipulations that can be done:

• Left-click -> Clicking on a plot will select that trace. The range of the plot changes relative to the trace selected. (i.e. if multiple traces are in a meter, the range is displayed with “clean values” for the selected trace while the range on the other traces is displayed relative to the selected) To force all traces to have the same range, manually enter the range.
• Middle-click -> Toggles a tracing bar on the plot which displays the value of each trace at that point. Dragging with the middle button slides the bar back and forth on the plot.
• Right-click -> Picks a point to measure a distance between two lines, a second click picks the second point.
• Left-click & left drag -> Zooms in on the domain selected by the drag. Does not change the range, however.
• Left-click & right drag -> Zooms both domain and range as specified by the box outline created by dragging.

4.4.3 Domain and range manipulation  

see Meters Toolbar

4.4.4 Triggering  

see Meter interaction

5. 3D System Area  top

5.1 plug-ins  top

plug-ins are visualization objects framed by the index of the data connected to it. To add a plug-in to the 3D Window, click the Add Plug-in icon from the toolbar, select it from the Program menu, or right-click on the background of the 3D window.

5.2 Connecting streams to plug-ins  top

To connect streams to plug-ins, active the port icons. Right-clicking on a port icon shows a list of available streams to connect to the port. Select a stream and it is connected to the plug-in.

5.3 Right clicking  top

Right clicking has different effects depending on the plug-in that is clicked. Whomever creates the plug-in also creates the right click interface of that plug-in.

Right clicking on the background of the window produces the following menu:

Background color - The user can change the background color to preset colors of tan, blue, gray, black, or white, or the user can create a custom color using the color dialog.
Window Size - The user can change the window size to 646x486, 640x480, 480x368, 320x240, 240x180, 160x128, or the size can be set to Auto Resizing.

5.4 Navigation  top

There are 4 different types of views with which to navigate: Observer’s, Walker's, Traveler’s, and Follower’s. Each view mode changes the effect of the mouse controls. The controls used to navigate in the 3D window are Left-click&drag, middle-click&drag, and combination left and middle-click.

The walker mode behaves just like traveler mode, but much slower. The arrows in the chart below indicate mouse drag direction.

5.5 Playing through an animation  top

Playing through an animation is similar to playing through a data set. Merely select the window then click Play on the animation toolbar.

5.6 Manipulation  top

Middle clicking on a plug-in model toggles the manipulation controls. Each of the controls transforms the model in a different way:

• Corner control – click & drag this control to adjust the overall size of the model
• Rotation control – click & drag this control to rotate the model about the respective axis
• Face Centered Control – click & drag this control to adjust the size of the model along the axis normal to that face

There is one other manipulation that moves the model constrained in two dimensions. To move the model, click and drag on a face of the manipulation box. The directions available for movement are those that define the selected face of the box.

5.7 Key controls  top

Pressing the 'h' key in the 3D system window displays the list of key controls for use in the 3D window. They are as follows:

5.8 Window Properties  top

The label of the 3D window can be changed by selecting 3D->Properties. This allows the user to name each 3D window appropriately.

To return to the Visualization Engine, click here.