필 사이언스 Golden Software: Voxler FAQ

Q1. How can I get the latest version of Voxler?
A. Minor updates (e.g. version 1.00 to 1.01) may be downloaded for free if your serial number is registered. Connect your computer to the Internet, then click the Help | Check for Update command in Voxler. This will download the latest patch and install it on your machine. Information about the latest version is listed on the Version History page, and announcements of new versions are sent via e-mail to those who subscribe to the Golden Software Announcements e-mail list on the Golden Software home page.

Q2. Where do I find my serial number?
A. The serial number is on the registration card glued inside the cover of your Getting Started Guide, or in the download instructions you received when you ordered the software. Complete the registration card and return to Golden Software or register online at our web site. With this information, we will be able to mail you announcements of upgrades and newsletters. Newer versions of our products will also allow you to find your serial number by going to the Help menu and selecting "About Voxler." The box will show the serial number.

Q3. Why are some objects not transparent when I reduce the Opacity setting?
A. Voxler provides several transparency methods that trade accuracy for speed. The best method (sorted object, sorted triangle) accumulates all the triangles (which requires a lot of memory), then sorts them according to distance from the viewer (requires a lot of time). The faster Blend method is used as the default. If this method does not work with your plot, try the other methods by right-clicking in the Viewer window and choosing the Transparency Type menu item. For example, the Delayed Blend method makes two passes through the object list.

Right-click in the Viewer window and choose Transparency Type
to change the transparency method.

Q4. How do I change the scale of one of the directions? When I import a data file, the BoundingBox and ScatterPlot displays as a straight line. What is wrong?
A. Voxler uses an X:Y:Z scale of 1:1:1. The straight line indicates that the extent of one direction is much larger than the other directions. Click on the input data module and view the XYZ limits in the Properties window. Insert a Transform module between the data input module and set the Scale of the X, Y, and Z directions.

Insert a Transform module to rescale a plot.

Q5. Why are the axes compressed when attached to a Transform module?
A. The Transform module acts on all output graphic modules including the Axes. To work around the problem, transform the data outside Voxler prior to loading the data.

Q6. When I drag the mouse in the Viewer window, it makes the objects in the window spin. Is there a way to prevent them from spinning?
A. In a spinning window, hold the mouse stationary and click to stop the spinning. To prevent spinning when dragging the mouse, hold the mouse stationary prior to releasing the left mouse button.

Q7. When I delete a module, why doesn't Voxler delete all the modules connected to the output port of the deleted module?
A. Voxler is designed so only the selected module is deleted. This method has the advantage of saving the other modules for use with a new input module. For example, say you have a data module with a Transform module attached to a BoundingBox and ScatterPlot. Delete the Transform module and attach the BoundingBox and ScatterPlot modules to the data module without having to recreate the modules with any custom settings you may have specified.

Q8. I accidentally changed the center of rotation for the objects in the Viewer window. How do I reset the rotation center?
A. Choose the View | Fit to Window or the Fit to Window tool to reset the rotation center to the center of the objects in the Viewer window. The center of rotation moves when panning the Viewer window with View | Pan, the Pan tool, or SHIFT+Drag with the mouse.

Q9. I imported some UTM data, attached a Gridder module to it, and created some Contours. When it rotates slowly the image is "jumpy" or "jittery". I tried using the Dragger on it also, but it was very choppy.
A. The coordinates for the input points are extremely large in magnitude. The underlying graphics system (Inventor) uses single precision values, so large numbers quantize into discrete values. In other words, so many bits are required to represent the large magnitude, that there aren뭪 enough bits to maintain the precision. To work around the problem, transform the data outside Voxler prior to loading the data.

Q10. When I load my Surfer GRD file in Voxler, the Z values are displayed as 0. Why doesn't Voxler recognize the Z values in the GRD file?
A. The values in the Surfer GRD file are recognized as Component 1 (or "C") in Voxler. The 밵?value in a Surfer GRD file can be any variable, i.e. concentration of an ore body or pollutant, and not necessarily the Z value in XYZ space. To display the Z values at the same scale as other objects, create a HeightField with the scale set as shown in this link or convert to a curvilinear lattice.

Q11. When I attach a HeightField to a DEM or GRD file, how do I set the Scale so that the HeightField matches the Z axis?
A. Use the following equation to calculate the HeightField Scale:

Scale = (DataMax - DataMin) / (0.5 * sqrt((xMax-xMin)^2 + (yMax-yMin)^2))

To adjust for the offset of the DataMin value, insert a Transform module between the Gridder output and the HeightField input and offset the Z axis by the DataMin value.

Q12. How do I create an ASCII curvilinear lattice (LAT) file from a Surfer GRD file?
A. The LAT file format consists of header information, a list of the XYZ coordinates, and a repeat list of just the Z coordinates. The LAT file requires additional memory for processing when compared with a GRD file, but a HeightField is scaled automatically and does not require a manual calculation. Use Surfer Grid | Convert to convert the GRD file to an ASCII GRD file and an ASCII XYZ DAT file. Start with the template LAT file listed below, and add the XYZ coordinates to the indicated position by opening the XYZ DAT file in a text editor, copying the contents to the clipboard, and pasting into the LAT file. In similar fashion, open the ASCII GRD file in a text editor, copy lines 6 through the end of the file to the clipboard, and paste into the LAT file where indicated in the template. Save the LAT file, and load it in Voxler. Attach a HeightField module, and set the Scale to 0.

LAT Template

#!/usr/explorer/bin/explorer cxLattice plain 1.0
# nDim, number of dimensions.
2
# dims, the vector of dimensions (size of the array).
# Number of columns and rows in the GRD file.
9 7
# nDataVar, number of data variables at each node.
# 1 for just the Z value.
1
# primType, primitive type of data.
# 1 is short int*2, 2 is long int*4, 3 is float*4, 4 is double*8.
4
# coordType, lattice type.
# 0=uniform, 1=perimeter or rectilinear, 2=curvilinear.
2
# nSteps, number of data structures in the file.
1
# nCoordVar (Curvilinear lattices only).
3
# coordinate values.
# For uniform lattices, these are the bounding box coordinates.
# For rectilinear (perimeter) lattices, these are the values of the edge points.
# For curvilinear lattices, these are the node locations.
# Paste the XYZ values below. Space delimited is OK. Delete the "..."
...
#data values
# Paste the Z values below. Delete the "..."

Q13. I attached a HeightField to a 2D curvilinear lattice, and when I change the scale from 0, the surface is distorted.
A. This is a result of using a 2D curvilinear lattice with a HeightField. Keep the Scale at 0 for this type of lattice. A HeightField offsets the surface in the direction perpendicular to the surface by an amount proportional to the scale factor times component value. This means higher elevations will be distorted more. The higher elevations at the peaks extend outwards more than the lower regions and ultimately start to intersect with each other. Also, the distortion direction is perpendicular to the curvilinear lattice, so the offset will be in a more horizontal direction than vertical along the sides of the hills.

Q14. I can't find the Properties Window, Network Window, or Module Library Window. How can I get it back?
A. The Properties window, Network window, and Module Library window are dockable windows that can be attached to the edge of the Voxler application window, hidden at the edge of the Voxler window, tabbed behind another window, floating at the edge of the monitor display, or turned off.

First, check in the View menu to verify that the window is activated as indicated by the check mark to the left of the window name. If there is no check mark, choose the Properties Window menu item to activate the window.

The check mark to the left of the Properties
Window item indicates that it is activated.

These windows can be hidden at the edge of the Voxler application window with the Auto Hide Pin button that is visible when the window is docked. Examine the edges of the Voxler application window for a tab with the window name and click on the tab to view the missing window.

The Properties window can be hidden along the edge of the
Voxler application window. Click on the tab to view the hidden window.

Check to see if the window is tabbed in back of the Properties, Network, or Module Library windows. Click on the Properties tab to bring the Properties window to the front. Click and drag the tab to change the tabbed window to a separate docked or floating window. Double-click on the Properties tab to convert the window to a floating window.

The Properties window may be tabbed behind
the Network or Module Library windows.
Click on the tab to view the window.

Search the edges of your monitor to see if the Properties window is near the edge. If many application windows are open, minimize them by right-clicking outside any program icons on the Windows Task Bar usually located at the bottom of the monitor and choose the Minimize All Windows (Windows 2000) or Show the Desktop (Windows XP) menu item. If your keyboard has the "Windows" icon key , press "Windows"+M to minimize all the windows. Click on the Voxler icon in the Windows Task Bar to restore the application window and watch for the appearance of any floating windows. Drag the window towards the center of the monitor to view the window.

The Properties Window can be difficult to see when near the edge of the monitor,
as in this example where it is above the Windows Task Bar at the bottom of the screen.
Drag the window towards the center of the monitor to view the window.

If you have reduced the resolution of the display to create larger text and windows, the floating window may be completely off the screen. Increase display resolution by right-clicking on the desktop outside any icons or windows, choose the Properties menu command, click on the Settings tab, and slide the Screen resolution slider to the right.

Increase screen resolution in the
Desktop Properties Settings dialog box.

If all else fails, edit the Windows Registry with the Regedit program. WARNING: Editing the Windows Registry incorrectly may cause Windows to fail. Export a backup copy of the Windows Registry prior to making changes. Close Voxler, choose the Windows Start | Run menu command, enter regedit, and click OK. Delete the key

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Golden Software\Voxler\1\BCGSettings
Restart Voxler. The window and toolbar locations are reset to the default locations.

Q15. Why are my symbols very small when I export to a TIF or other bitmap file?
A. All symbols except the square symbol are drawn with a fixed number of pixels. When the pixels become very small, so do the symbols. To resolve the problem, use the Square (very fast) symbol, or reduce the number of pixels when exporting.

Q16. When I have a Legend with text that uses antialiasing, the background behind the text matches the color of the Viewer window even when the text is in front of other graphic output like a VolRender module. How can I make the text background match the actual background color?
A. Antialiasing uses the Viewer window background color when smoothing the text. Turn off the antialiasing option to resolve the problem.

Q17. Why does Voxler seem to be running slowly?
A. Make sure your OpenGL driver is hardware accelerated. The drivers that come from Microsoft are usually NOT accelerated, while the drivers that come from the hardware manufacturer usually ARE accelerated.
- Make sure hardware acceleration is enabled in Files | Preferences | Enable Hardware Acceleration. Note that you must restart Voxler for this setting to take effect.
- Some of the higher quality transparency modes can greatly slow down rendering. Make sure View | Transparency Type is set to Blend for best performance.
- If there is a lot of hard disk activity and everything seems extremely slow, then your computer may have run out of memory and is trying to page to disk. Voxler requires all network data and graphics output to reside in memory. Several steps can be taken to reduce the amount of required memory:
+ use the Subset module to extract a portion of large lattices, save the extracted data to disk, and use the saved file in future runs.
+ use the ChangeType module to change the data type of large datasets to one that requires fewer bytes.
+ avoid graphics that require large amounts of memory like Heightfields.

Q18. When I click on the cube "resizers" in the ClipPlane dragger, I can resize the dragger, but nothing happens to the ClipPlane.
A. The clip plane dragger is a standard Inventor dragger. Resizing does not make sense in the context of the ClipPlane, so the action is ignored.

Q19. What is Inventor?
A. Inventor is the underlying code, originally developed by Silicon Graphics, used to display the 3D objects. Voxler uses Inventor code to display objects in the Viewer window.

Q20. How can I display 3D lines in Voxler?
A. Create an ASCII Inventor IV file in a text editor. The following example shows three lines with coordinates in the point section. The number of vertices for each line is specified in the numVertices section. Extra white space and carriage returns are shown for readability. For complete technical details about the IV format, refer to the Inventor Mentor web site or publication.

Q21. When I export a ScatterPlot to an Inventor IV file, why is the file blank?
A. The ScatterPlot uses a custom Inventor "node" that isn뭪 supported by the file format. Symbols are ignored when Inventor writes the file out.

#Inventor V2.1 ascii
Separator {
     Coordinate3 {
        point [
        0 0 0,
        1 1 1,
        2 1 1,

        2 2 1,
        2 2 2,
        2 2 3,
        2 3 2,

        2 3 3,
        3 3 3 ]
     }
     LineSet {
        numVertices [ 3, 4, 2 ]
     }
}

Example Inventor IV file to display three lines.

Q22. I'm having a problem installing Voxler. How do I Create an Installation Log?
A.
1. Go to Start | Run.

2. For a local installation, type:

"[drive letter]:\[path]\Setup.exe" /L*v "[drive letter]:\[path]\VoxlerInstall.log"

Replace the [drive letter] and [path] with a drive letter and path on your computer. For example, if the installation CD is in drive D: and you have a C:\temp\ directory on your computer, use the following syntax:

"d:\setup.exe" /L*v "c:\temp\VoxlerInstall.log"

This syntax also works with the EXE file that is provided when Voxler is delivered via the download option.

"c:\download\voxler101.exe" /L*v "c:\download\VoxlerInstall.log"

The download file name is subject to change.

3. Click OK. After the installation process terminates, the log file is created in the path you specify. Please send the log file to technical support along with the installation message text.

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