D3PLOT 22.1

The Format of an "External Data" File

The format of an "External Data" file

External data files are free format ASCII files in which data can appear in any order (unless stated otherwise below). They may contain any or all of the following information:

Header Data type Data format example
$ xxx and blank lines Lines starting with " $ " and blank lines are treated as comment lines, they can appear anywhere in the file and are ignored $ This is a comment line
name < data name > A title of up to 30 characters

name This is a demonstration example

Will read the title "This is a demonstration example"

cont_format <format> Denotes how the number format of the contour bar is determined. <format> can be 'auto', 'manual', 'scientific' or 'general'.

cont_format manual

Will set the contour bar number format to manual

cont_exp <exp> The exponent number to use for a manually defined contour bar number format.

cont_exp 3

Will set the exponent number to E+ 3

cont_dp <dp> The number of decimal places to display on a manually defined contour bar number format.

cont_dp 2

Will set the number of decimal places to 2

automatic < #bands >.

Denotes automatic contours to be used with <#bands> levels where

1 <= #bands <= 13

Contour bounds are determined by scanning the data once read.

automatic 10

Will use automatic contour levels with 10 bands

levels < #levels >

< L1> <rr> <gg> <bb>
<L2> <rr> <gg> <bb>
to #levels lines

Denotes manually specified contours with <#levels> values where:

2 <= #levels <= 14

Each level has a value <Ln> followed by Red Green Blue colour components, each component being in the range 0 - 100.

Colour <i> spans the band <i> to <i+1>

levels 6
0 0 0 100
5 0 100 100
10 0 100 0
15 100 100 0
20 100 0 0
25 100 0 100

Sets up 6 levels, ie 5 bands, from blue to magenta

Note on contour levels / bands:

  • Commands " automatic " and " levels " are mutually exclusive, you cannot have both.
  • If neither is defined then the default is " automatic " with the same number of levels as currently used for normal contouring.
  • In the " levels " case you must follow the levels command with the correct number of lines of data.

circle_f < diam >

circle_v < factor > < min_dia > < max_dia >

rect_f < width > < height >

rect_v < fac_w > < fac_h > < min_dim > < max_dim >

Only one of these options may be used.

  • circle_f is a fixed diameter circle
  • circle_v is a variable diameter circle, with diameter set to < factor * data >
  • rect_f is a fixed size rectangle
  • rect_v is a variable size rectangle of width < fac_w * data > and height < fac_h * data >

In both "variable" cases there is limiting minimum and maximum size for the symbol.

If nothing is defined the default is a fixed size rectangle of 20 x 20 units.

circle_v 0.1 30 250

Would set a variable diameter circle based on 0.1 * the incoming data value, and subject to a minimum size of 30 units and a maximum of 250 units.

rect_v 0.2 0.1 100 300

Would set a variable sized rectangle, width = 0.2 * data, height = 0.1 * data, with a minimum size of 100 units and a maximum of 300 units.

Screen units are based on the scaled screen unit of 4096 units across the window width.

show_value <true/false> Whether or not the data value is drawn as a label on top of each point's symbol. The default is false .

show_value true

Would cause values to be drawn.

show_nid <true/false> Whether or not the node id is drawn as a label on top of each point's symbol (for points defined with <ndata>). The default is false .

show_nid true

Would cause node ids to be drawn.

show_coord <true/false> Whether or not the x,y,z coordiantes are drawn as a label on top of each point's symbol (for points defined with <data>). The default is false .

show_coord true

Would cause coordinates to be drawn.

show_text <true/false> Whether or not arbitrary text is drawn as a label on top of each point's symbol. The default is false .

show_text true

Would cause arbitrary text to be drawn.

data <x,y,z> <value> <text>

Data point values. Each point must have an (x,y,z) coordinate followed by a value. The value may be floating point or integer.

Some optional arbitrary <text> (limited to 80 characters) can be written at the end of the line to annotate the data. If there are spaces in the text it needs to be enclosed by " ".

Any number of data values may be input, by default none is defined.

data 10.1 20.2 30.3 500.0 "some text"

Would make a point at position (10.1, 20.2, 30.3) with a value of 500.0 and 'some text' will be displayed if the show_text flag has been set to true (see above).

ndata <node_id> <value> <text>

Defines a data <value> at node <node_id>. The data value will remain constant, but its plotted position will always be the node's current coordinate at a given time.

Some optional arbitrary <text> (limited to 80 characters) can be written at the end of the line to annotate the data. If there are spaces in the text it needs to be enclosed by " ".

Any number of data values may be input, by default none is defined.

ndata 101 350.0 "some text"

Would specify a value of 350.0 at node 101 and 'some text' will be displayed if the show_text flag has been set to true (see above)

beam <x1,y1,z1> <x2,y2,z2> <colour>

Defines a "beam" (really just a line) from (x1,y1,z1) to (x2,y2,z2) in colour number <colour>.

At present colours are hard-wired as follows:

  1. Red, thin line
  2. Green, medium width line
  3. Blue, thick line

(This feature is a crude solution and will probably develop in the future.)

beam 1.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2

Would drawn a medium width green line from (1,1,1) to (2,2,2)


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