Building the surface takes some time. If the dataset is large, even displaying it will take a fair bit of time. For datasets under 50x50x50, that time will not be very large. For much smaller ones, even building the contours can be done in real time. Data subsetting can be used to decrease the size of the data set.
The Image button draws the image you requested. If Image is off, you'll
get some sort of frame, usually representing the boundaries of the data's
space. Turn Image off when tinkering with large databases or when you don't
want IsoView to recalculate images.
Pan Zoom: This button brings up the PanZoom Slider tool already linked to IsoView without the need to go to the Tools menu. This control may not be unlinked from IsoView, although it may be used to drive other applications. The PanZoom Slider may be killed by clicking on the button again.
LightTool: This button brings up a LightTool already linked into IsoView that will control details of the lighting calculations. See documentation on the LightTool application for more information.
Image: Renders a color image when on. A coordinate box is drawn when off. Making manipulations with the image off may be convenient with a big data set because moderate delays occur before drawing images from large data sets.
Lights On: Hitting this button will turn on simulated lighting. The image is drawn with one light source which apparently comes from over the user's right shoulder. Turning on lights will make small surface details much more noticeable at the cost of some display time. Use the Light tool to change some of the lighting parameters.
Expand X: This control alters the aspect ratio of the X axis. It can be modified from very small (.01 percent) to the size of the largest axis.
Expand Y: This control alters the aspect ratio of the Y axis. The largest the aspect can be changed to is the same length as the largest axis.
Expand Z: This control alters the aspect ratio of the Z axis. This is particularly useful for 3D datasets with 2 large (e.g. spatial) coordinates and one small (e.g. vertical) one. The largest the aspect can be changed to is the same length as the largest axis.
Decimate: This wheel allows the user to control how many data points to skip. If the decimation is at one, then every point on the XY plane is drawn. If the decimation is at two, then every other point is drawn, etc. Every point on the Z plane is drawn by default. The higher the decimation level, the faster the image draws at the cost of degradation to the image. Note that there is a base decimation level that the application chooses in order to speed up its drawing. It will decimate the X and Y directions based on how much data can be drawn on the screen. For example, if the screen size is 400 x 400, then a 1024 by 1024 slice of data will be drawn with a decimation level of 3 automatically. This is because only 400 pixels can be shown by the computer. To allow more pixels to be drawn, you can enlarge the window size.
Isovalue: This control chooses the isosurface or contour value to be used. The value chosen is displayed in the textbox.
Applications to Connect This Application to
None
Tricks and Gotchas
If the image is only partially drawn, try resizing the window slightly
to force a re-draw.