“Picking and Sampling” result values in 3D Postprocessing

by Zoltan Konyha

The feature to pick values in 3D views in the viewer properties is global for all 3D objects in the viewer. Therefore, this picking feature works also for vector results in AVL EXCITE? models, as well as for spray clouds in AVL FIRE? models. In this article we explore this feature in detail.

Querying Result Values with the Picking User Interface

One can just open the properties of the 3D viewer, for example, by double clicking an empty part of the view. The picking tab is integrated into this dialog. Then you can start picking cell or vertex values by clicking one of?the icons "Pick Mode - Polygon Center" and "Pick Mode - Polygon Node". The initial state of the pick info dialog is illustrated in?Figure 1.

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Now you can start hovering over the objects in the 3D view. If you have chosen "Pick Mode - Polygon Center" then the small green icon will snap to cell centers and the readouts in the first row in the viewer properties will indicate the values in that cell and in the node closest to the cell center. If you have chosen "Pick Mode - Polygon Node" then the icon snaps to nodes and the value in the given node and in the closest cell are displayed. Clicking the left mouse button adds the highlighted point to the pick history and the difference to the latest picked item is displayed, too. A snapshot of this procedure is shown in?Figure 2.

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Additional information columns such as coordinates and IDs of clicked nodes and cells can be enabled using the tool bar button shown in?Figure 3.

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Picking Vectors and Spray Droplets

With the picking feature, it is also possible to pick vector values, too. Just hover over a vector and the picking icon changes to a triangle shape and the readouts display the values read from the vector. This is demonstrated in?Figure 4.

?The picking feature can do even more, it can pick values in droplets in spray clouds. This is shown in?Figures 5 and?6.

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Picking in AVL EXCITE? 3D Animations

There is more good news if you work with EXCITE 3D animations. The picking feature works the same way also with the arrows in those visualizations: just hover over them. In?Figure 7?two sets of vectors are displayed:

• velocity, using the default color map, and
• inertia force, using a black to white grayscale color map.

Both can be queried as you hover over them, and the item is added to the pick history on mouse click.

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Combining with the Sampling Feature

The sampling feature allows you to ?easily transfer the points from your pick history into a sampling object. This feature is available as the object "Resample to Polyline". This action is captured in?Figure 8.

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