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Vector Field Displayed with Cone Plots

This example plots the velocity vector cones for the wind data. The graph produced employs a number of visualization techniques:

1. Create an Isosurface

Displaying an isosurface within the rectangular space of the data provides a visual context for the cone plot. Creating the isosurface requires a number of steps:

2. Add Isocaps to the Isosurface

Isocaps are similar to slice planes in that they show a cross section of the volume. They are designed to be the end caps of isosurfaces. Using interpolated face color on an isocap causes a mapping of data value to color in the current colormap. To create isocaps for the isosurface, define them at the same isovalue (isocaps, patch, colormap).

3. Create First Set of Cones

4. Create Second Set of Cones

5. Define the View

6. Add Lighting

Add a light source and use Phong lighting for the smoothest lighting of the isosurface (Phong lighting requires the Z-buffer renderer). Increase the strength of the background lighting on the isocaps to make them brighter (camlight, lighting, AmbientStrength).


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