draw_lines The draw_lines module enables you to create both 2D and 3D lines interactively with the mouse. The mouse gesture for line creation is: depress the Ctrl key and then click the left mouse button on any pickable object in the viewer. The first click establishes the beginning point of the line segment and the second click establishes each successive point.
polyline processing The polyline processing module accepts a 3D polyline and can either increase or decrease the number of line segments of the polyline. A splining algorithm smooths the line trajectory once the number of points are specified. This module is useful for applications such as a fly over application (along a polyline path drawn by the user). If the user drawn line is jagged with erratically spaced line segments, polyline spline smooths the path and creates evenly spaced line segments along the path.
triangulate_polygons triangulate_polygons converts a closed polyline into a triangulated surface. This surface can be extruded or used by the distance to 2d area module to perform areal subsetting of 3D models. Polylines with WIDTH in AutoCAD DWG files are converted by import_cad into triangle strips of the specified width. As you zoom in on polylines with width, the apparent width will change, whereas the apparent width of lines DOES NOT change. However, once they are triangles, they DO NOT define a closed area and therefore would not work with triangulate_polygons.
triangle refinement triangle refinement is primarily for use with distance to surface. It can subdivide triangular and quadrilateral cells until none of the sides of the output triangles exceed a user specified length (a default value is calculated as 5% of the x-y extent of your input surface). This increases the accuracy of distance to surface especially when the input surface comes from create_tin and the nodes used to create the TIN are poorly spaced. It can also correct the normals of a surface. It does this by organizing all of the triangles and quadrilaterals in a surface into disjoint patches, and then allowing the user to select which patches have normals that need to be flipped. The maximum number of triangles in a patch is 130,000, any triangles above this number will be considered to be in the next patch.
tubes The tubes module is used to produce open or closed tubes of constant or data dependent radius using 3D lines or polylines as input. Tube size, number of sides and data dependent coloring is possible. Rotation of the tubes are done with the Phase slider (or type-in), which is specified in degrees. There are two methods used to maintain continuity of the tube orientation as the path meanders along a 3D path. These are specified as the Phase Determination method:
volumetric_tunnel The volumetric_tunnel module allows you to create a volumetric tunnel model that is defined by a polygonal surface cross-section along a complex 3D path. Once this volumetric grid is defined, it can be used as input to various modules to map analyte and/or geologic data onto the tunnel. These include: 3d estimation: external grid port: to map analytical data lithologic modeling: external grid port: to map lithologic data interp_data to map analytical data interp_cell_data: to map stratigraphic or lithologic material data The requirements for the tunnel path and cross-section are:
cross_section_tubes The cross_section_tubes module is used to produce open or closed tubes of user defined cross-section and constant or data dependent radius using 3D lines or polylines as input for the centerline and a single 2D polyline as the cross-section of the tubes. Module Input Ports Input Field [Field] Accepts a field with or without data containing lines which represent the paths of the tubes. Input Cross Section Field [Field] Accepts a field which has the cross-section of the tubes. Rotation of the cross-section is done with the Phase slider (or type-in), which is specified in degrees. There are two methods used to maintain continuity of the tube orientation as the path meanders along a 3D path. These are specified as the Phase Determination method:
extrude The extrude module accepts any mesh and adds one to the dimensionality of the input by extruding the mesh in the Z direction. The interface enables changing the height scale for extruded cells and extruding by a constant, any nodal or cell data component. This module is often used with the import vector gis module to convert polygonal shapefiles into extruded volumetric cells.
drive_glyphs The drive_glyph module provides a way to move any object (glyph or object from Read_DXF, etc.) along multiple paths to create a “driving” animation. Module Input Ports drive_glyphs has three input ports. Data passed to the first port is the paths to follow (normally from read_lines). The second port accepts the glyph or vehicle to drive, usually read in with the read glyph module.
place_glyph General Module Function The place_glyph module is used to place a single scalable geometric objects (glyph) at an interactively determined location.
glyphs at nodes The glyphs at nodes module is used to place geometric objects (glyphs) at nodal locations. The glyphs can be scaled, rotated and colored based on the input data. If the input data is a vector, the glyph can be scaled and rotated to represent the direction and absolute magnitude of the vector field. In a scalar data field, the objects can be scaled based on the magnitude of the scalar. The glyphs can represent the data field of one data component while being colored by another data component. Arrow glyphs are commonly used in vector fields to produce visualizations of the vector field.
create_fault_surface The create_fault_surface module creates a 3D grid that is aligned to a specified strike and dip. Module Input Ports Z Scale [Number] Accepts Z Scale (vertical exaggeration). Input Field [Field] Accepts a field to extract its extent Module Output Ports Z Scale [Number] Outputs Z Scale (vertical exaggeration) to other modules Output Field [Field / Minor] Outputs the surface Fault Surface [Renderable]: Outputs to the viewer
create_grid The create_grid module produces a 2D or 3D uniform grid that can be used for any purpose. A typical use is starting points for 3d streamlines or advector. In 2D (default) mode it creates a rectangle of user adjustable grid resolution and orientation. In 3D mode it creates a box (3D grid). The number of nodes will depend on the X, Y & optional Z resolutions as well as the cell type specified.