Frozen Fish 1: Amiga/FrozenFish-Apr94.iso/bbs/alib/d2xx/d231/plot.lha/Plot/Docs/Readme

Text File | 1989-07-23 | 12KB | 251 lines

                             PLOT 1.2

                           © AG BAXTER

This is program placed in the Public Domain for free use WITH THE
       SPECIFIC EXCEPTION OF REDISTRIBUTION FOR PROFIT.
                            June 1989

                   Walter & Eliza Hall Institute,
              c/o PostOffice, Royal Melbourne Hospital,
                     Parkville 3053. VICTORIA

     PLOT 1.2 is an intuition interface for the data plotting programs
MultiPlot and ThreeDPlot, which were written by Tim Mooney and have
been placed in the public domain. These programs are powerful tools
for manipulating data but are marred by their inconvenience to use.
ThreeDPlot requires that the data file be converted to binary before
loading, both programs output files which need further processing before
they can be input into a CAD program, and both use complex command line
arguments which may discourage some users.

     PLOT 1.2 corrects these faults and provides a convenient way to
use these excellent programs swifty and conveniently, providing the
appearance of a single integrated data manipulation system.

                         SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

    Amiga with a minimum of 512K memory (1MB is useful), Amiga DOS, the
assignment of a T: directory (assign to disk if <1MB memory), a window
based screen editor, the presence of "run", "copy" and "cd" in the C:
directory, and the font ruby 12 in the FONTS: directory.

 If the version of Plot you have is 1.21, you will also need the newcon-
handler (DOS 1.3) in the l: directory. The following files should be in
a single directory, either assigned the name "PLOT:" or in the root
directory of a volume (disk) titled PLOT.


                                FILES

Plot           Intuition interface
Multiplot      2D plotting program
ThreeDPlot     3D net plotting program
Txt_2_Icad     Converts output from Multiplot and ThreeDPlot to IntroCAD
Plot2Draw      Converts output from Mutiplot and ThreeDPlot to Draw format.
Plot2mCAD      Adds an icon to output from Multiplot and ThreeDPlot.
Dat_2_Bin      Converts data to a format accepted by ThreeDPlot
Icad_2_Text    Converts IntroCAD format to mCAD format


                               PLOT

    Plot may be started from the CLI by typing "PLOT" at the prompt, or
from WorkBench by double clicking its icon. It will open its own window
with a tile bar and menu strip at the top.
    Beneath the title bar are three large buttons. The buttons labeled
"2D PLOT" and "3D PLOT" are mutually exclusive and one should be selected
before plotting your data. The middle button labeled "EDIT" calls up the
editor of your choice from within Plot and loads the file listed in the
FileName selector. This allows you to edit or create a data file without
exiting PLOT. A new file may be created by entering a novel name, clicking
on the "EDIT" button, hitting "OK" on the warning that a file of that name
does not exist, and then selecting "YES" when asked if you would like to
create a new file.

    Beneath these three buttons is the FileName requester in which you
enter the full pathname of the file you wish to edit or plot, and the "PATH"
button which will call up a directory-listing style of file requester.

    The next part of the screen is devided into two. On the left side is
a series of buttons related to plotting 2D graphs, and on the right side is
a series on buttons for selecting options when plotting 3D graphs. The 2D
plotting buttons largely describe the data file format (see below). The 3D
plotting buttons toggle options such as cross net for 3D plot, axes, and
rendering of the underside of the 3D plot. The best way to find out
what these do is to try them out on the data file PLOT:data/plot3D.



DATAFILE FORMATS

    A 2D data file is flexible in format. It must contain values in columns,
but what values in which columns can be varied. A good scheme is to place
the X values in the first column, Y values in the second and values of
Error-in-Y in the third (if they exist). Whatever you choose, indicate your
format to PLOT by pushing the selection buttons on the left of the screen.
If none are selected, PLOT will default to X in the first column, Y in the
second, and will not plot error bars.

    The 3D PLOT part of the program is a lot more fussy about the format
of its data file. If the file is not correct in format, it will cause the
computer to crash. A future enhancement of plot will be 3D data file
format checking, but for now, you will just have to be careful. The 3D
data file must consist of a single column of numbers with the exception
of the first line which must contain the number of X values and the
number of Y values with a single space between the two figures. Directly
below this line in the first column of the screen should be first the X
values in increasing order and then the Y values in increasing order. Below
this should be the Z values, reading left to right for each row from the
front to the back. The last line of the data file should be the string
"end_of_file" without the quotes. See ThreeDPlot.doc for more information.
The on/off buttons on the right side of the screen can be used
to select the options for the 3D plot. The default is for the crossnet, axes
and the underside to be drawn.

PLOTTING

    The large button at the bottom of the screen makes it all happen. Both
types of PLOTs will open an interactive window to communicate with you.
For a 2D plot, this is called the "How To" window, and can be recalled
from within the plot to change some options. These options are extensive
and received as a command string which describes to Multiplot the required
tick spacing, whether a grid is desired, point size, presence of error
bars and line colours. A full description of the command arguments may be
obtained by hitting "?" at the "How To" prompt. You will have to resize to
window to read all the help message. A default plot will be obtained by
simply hitting return at the prompt.

    The window opened for a 3D plot  doesn't expect any input from you. It
lets you know how it is getting on plotting your picture. A complex 3D
graph will take many minutes to calculate, so be patient. When the data
has been processed, the program will ask you for the veiwing angle you
would like to veiw the graph from. Hitting return will give you a sensible
default. The screen will go blank while PLOT calculates the screen image.
Again BE PATIENT. Your Amiga will be working flat out calculating the 3D
image. THIS PROGRAM DOES NOT HANG!!! When the graph is drawn, the veiwing
angle can be changed by hitting the cursor keys. This has the effect of
moving the corner of the net nearest to you 10° in the direction of the
arrow on the cursor key. Recalculation takes about the same length of time
as calculating the image the first time. The commonest problem people find
when they use PLOT is they try to plot an enormous 3D plot, hit a few keys,
wonder why nothing happens and then complain about the screen redrawing
itself spontaneously a minute later. REMEMBER... YOU ARE ONLY RUNNING A
68000! IT TAKES A WHILE TO DO SEVERAL MILLION CALCULATIONS!!!

                *******----->>>>  WAIT  <<<<-------*******

     After selecting any of the menu options you will need to hit a cursor
key to redraw the graph with the new options. In this way, multiple new
options may be included before redrawing. If you select the "Make CADFile"
munu option, nothing will happen until after you quit the ThreeDPlot screen.
The CAD file will then be written to the same directory that the data was
obtained from. This again requires some calculation, so on returning to the
PLOT window, WAIT UNTIL AFTER THE DISK IS ACCESSED if you have saved the
graph before pushing any other buttons. The calculation and writing time
is particularly long if writing in the DRAW format. For example a net plot
with 10,000 intersections will take about HALF AN HOUR TO WRITE in Draw
format. This is a problem with the Draw file format, and cannot be expected
to improve dramatically in future releases.

SAVING DEFAULTS

    PLOT now supports saveable defaults. These are for the screen editor,
mode (2D or 3D), and file format (Draw, IntroCAD or mCAD). If a file named
Plot.def is in the PLOT: directory, this will always be used and cannot
be overwritten. If you don't like these defaults, delete this file. On saving
defaults, a file of the same name is written to the s: directory. This is
the second location searched for the default file on starting up. To
change these defaults, change the selections for editor, mode and file
format and select Save Defaults from the Project Menu.
    To change the editor, select Define Editor from the Edit menu. You will
be presented with a box to write the name of the editor you prefer to use.
You can include any command line arguments that the editor accepts between
its name and the name of the file to be edited.

EGs:
        ed                         use the WB editor
        sys:system/Memacs          use this editor which is not in c:
        DME -t46 -l0 -w640 -h124   use this editor with a nice sized window

After entering the editor and file path if not in the c: directory, plus
any arguments if desired, click the use box. The newly selected editor will
now be used for the rest of the session. To save the default for next time,
select Save Defaults from the Project Menu, and ensure there is not a file
called Plot.def in the PLOT: directory.


CHANGING OUTPUT FILE FORMAT

    To change the file format your plot will be saved in, select the desired
format from the Format Menu. This must be done before starting the plot.
If you only use one CAD program, save this format as your default. The format
which is active at the time of saving defaults is the one that will become
your default format.

BITS AND PIECES

Please note the following:

#   Values along the axes are not saved in the CAD files. You will have to
       them back in in a drawing program.

#   Draw output is currently only in one colour.

#   Neither Draw nor mCAD can be started by clicking on the project icons
       of a saved file (Their fault, not mine). IntroCAD can.

#   In 2D Plots, the line between the second last and last data point is
       not included in the saved file. This is to allow space between the
       intended last point and the extra one you are all going to add to
       the end of your data files to sit in the border. This is because the
       border is drawn as close to the plotted data as possible and
       obscures the last point and its error bar.

#   The IntroCAD format allows Quad density dot matrix printed output if
       you own IntroCAD. The Draw format allows Laser printing if you own
       a good DTP package.

#   Neither Professional Page nor PageStream handle Draw files with large
       dimensions very well. If your dimensions are greater than 200 units,
       these programs often scramble the data. Rescale your data to keep
       within these limits if you wish to import to either of these
       programs.

#   If you are not sure about how a feature works, test it out on a little
       file first. Enormous plots look great but take an enourmous amount
       of time to generate.

#   To get the hang of the program and its data file formats, have a look at
       PLOT:data/graph2D and PLOT:data/graph3D, both supplied with PLOT.
       For a thrill, plot PLOT:cos3D.

RELEASE HISTORY

Feb 1988  Batch file version.
Feb 1989  First version of Plot. No file requester. IntroCAD only.
Apr 1989  PLOT 1.0 released.
Jun 1989  Added menus, definable editor, defaults, Draw and mCAD support,
          changed to NTSC sized screen.

THANKS

     Thanks to Tim Mooney for writing MultiPlot, ThreeDPlot, IntroCAD
and others, and for sending the source and suggestions freely. Thanks
to Charlie Heath for the file requester, and to Graeme Riddle for testing
and suggestions.


    Bug finds and suggestions for PLOT to me at the above address. Source
available on request. Praise for the programs Multiplot and ThreeDPlot
to:

                             Tim Mooney
                        5904 Vandegrift Ave.
                        Rockville, MD 20851
                                USA