Vvidget Builder User Manual

3D Data Graphics > Point Map

A Point Map is a sequence of x-contiguous z-values arranged as a matrix that is mapped to a regular grid of cells. The z-value is mapped to the z-coordinate. The figures below show an example point map.

Print Version

Standard Operations

To create a Point Map bring forward the Graphic Selector, click the Point Map factory cell and then mouse down on a Graphic View and drag the cursor to another point. The initial and final cursor locations define the boundary of a predefined Point Map graphic.

One thing you will probably want to do with a Point Map is modify its points. You can do that via the main or parser Inspector Editor. For information on entering data points see Export And Import Data: Raw Data Points. The Point Map conforms to the Color Map standards where the color map gradient is one of:

Color Mapping Type
No Color Map	The color map is off. This makes most sense while just drawing the stroke so that only the cell boundaries appear.
False Color	The color is mapped from arbitrary independent values. Because there is no way to specify another independent value set this UI implementation maps from the z-values of the data. Programs can map from another basis.
Radiance	The color is mapped based on the angle between the surface normal and the viewing angle. Note that the colors start at negative curl and proceed to positive curl, i.e.: The underside of a surface is the start of the color map and the overside is the end.
Z-Value	The color is mapped from the z-value of the surface. This mapping is very common, albeit somewhat redundant because the surface z-values are already represented by 3d graph although a color mapping of this type is more quantitative because the projection mapping is not present in the color definition.
Distance	The color is mapped from a value related by the distance of the cell to the viewer. The distance is normalized so that the nearest and farthest points of surface define the distance extremum.

Inspector Editor

The Inspector Editor for the Point Map is shown below.