In this video, we introduce the use of georeferenced images in Tecplot 360. For datasets that represent a geographic region, a georeferenced image gives additional context to help communicate the location for your data.
We start with a dataset already open, which are results from the Salish Sea model courtesy of Pacific Northwest National Labs. The Salish Sea is situated along southwestern British Columbia and northwestern Washington State. Without a background map the geography is difficult to ascertain when looking at this model.
A georeferenced image consists of an image file and a world file. Tecplot 360 supports JPG, PNG, and BMP image formats. The world file defines the coordinates for where the image should be placed. Tecplot 360 is unit agnostic, so make sure that your world file is in the same coordinate system as your data. This model uses UTM 10, so our world file is also UTM 10.
Georeferenced images may also be used in 2D plots. In this case you likely no longer need the axes so you may want to disable the axes and increase the extents of the viewport to use the entirety of the frame. In 2D there is no Z adjustment as the image is always drawn behind the data.
This release will benefit geoscientists who work with results from numerical models such as FVCOM (Finite-Volume Community Ocean Model), ROMS (Regional Ocean Modeling System), WRF (Weather Research Forecasting Model) and Telemac (Loaders for ROMS, WRF and Telemac are available upon request, contact sup...@tecplot.com). Highlights that will benefit general Tecplot customers include new colormaps, handy Python scripts, updated Excel add-in, and a CONVERGE output file loader. See all of what is new.
Automation can speed analysis, and Tecplot 360 has a rich Python API known as PyTecplot. The Tecplot 360 Python API can generate images, movies and perform advanced analysis. Python scripts may be recorded based on user actions, which accelerates understanding of the API.
Tecplot, an operating company of Toronto-based Constellation Software, Inc. (CSI), is the leading independent developer of visualization and analysis software for engineers and scientists. CSI is a public company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:CSU). CSI acquires, manages and builds software businesses that provide mission-critical solutions in specific vertical markets.
Our webinar today is going to be an overview of Tecplot 360 and how it can be used to visualize ocean models. In our research over the past year, we found that nearly everyone uses a script-based workflow. This has some advantages, but some inherent disadvantages. The disadvantages being that:
Tecplot is a data visualization and analysis company. We were founded in 1981 by a couple of Boeing engineers; hence, a fairly large user base in CFD, particularly external aerodynamics. We are known as the largest CFD post-processor provider with approximately 47,000 users worldwide. Our users tell us that we are the most complete post-processor out there, given that we have high quality plotting, 2D, XY, and 3D.
Here is the general overview of Tecplot 360. Just a quick tour of the user interface, we have the menu system up top, toolbars where you can load and save files. We have our mouse tools for zooming and translating and rotating your data. We have tools here for annotating your plot with text, lines, geometries, et cetera.
You can see that this total dataset is fairly small, about 3.3 million total elements through all of the time steps. We have X, Y, lat, long, our spatial variables here. We have some vector components. You can see we have our salinity and temperature. You can see some interesting information about these as well.
You can see how my salinity is changing as I go through the depth. Now if we were to look at the side view, we can see how this is going and changing through the layers. This is my isosurface at this particular time step. If I want to see how that isosurface is changing at another time step, I can simply change my time step and then animate through again.
One of the great things about buying Tecplot 360 is you get access to our technical support staff. We have a great staff here that can help you write some of these scripts. Rather than you having to go into Google and try to find out how to write a script to create a curved transect, you can just call up our tech support staff and they can help you out. Learn more and contact Tecplot Technical Support.
This blog answers 9 questions about visualizing ocean models with Tecplot 360. Asked in our Visualizing Ocean Models webinar, they are answered by Scott Fowler, Tecplot Product Manager, and Wen Long, Technical Product Manager.
If you are working with other models, many export netCDF format. NetCDF is a very flexible format, which makes it difficult to support in a generic way. As we develop capabilities for the geoscience community, we will prioritize based on interest and requests. We found that FVCOM had the largest set of support base so far.
If you have two different datasets, the Tecplot equation syntax allows you to compute differences between datasets. We can certainly help you out with that and show you how to do that. Watch these videos on comparing grids from two different outputs.
Tecplot can plot only vectors of one set of vector components at a time in a single frame. If you have just one set of vector components, you could plot an isosurface at the surface and another isosurface at mid-depth. Then those would overlap and you could see those simultaneously.
If you have two different sets of vector variables, there is a way to do it using two overlaid Tecplot frames, with one frame being translucent. If you want to see of that, we can certainly work with you on that (again, contact technical support).
In this video we will demonstrate how to compute the mass flow rate through the exhaust port of an internal combustion engine using a CONVERGE dataset. To do this we will need to place and extract a slice in the exhaust port.
First, right-click and hide the Piston zone so that we can see the bottom of the valve. Then toggle on Slices, and change the Slice location to Arbitrary. Using the 3-Point Probe tool, define the initial orientation of the Arbitrary Slice, and use the Slice Placement tool to adjust it as needed. Toggle on Translucency so that we can see the interior more clearly. The orientation and location of the slice will have an effect on the integration result.
To extract the slice over all time steps in our dataset, select Data > Extract > Extract Slices Over Time. This will prompt Tecplot 360 to automatically step through each time step, and extract the slice to a new zone at each time step. Slice extraction requires loading of data at each time step, and so the speed of this operation will depend on the size of your data, number of time steps, and the speed of your disk access.
First, under Analyze > Fluid Properties, we need to specify the gas constant for air at 287 Joules per kilogram Kelvin. Then we need to define our convective and state variables under Analyze > Field Variables.
Stock Car Brazil is a top racing series in South America. All competitors heavily modify Chevrolet Cruze sedans to race at speeds up to 350 km/h or 220 mph. With nearly identical cars, hundredths of a second can mean the difference between victory and defeat. As with NASCAR and Formula 1 racing, the use of CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) to improve performance of these race cars is a key advantage for top teams.
ATS is the Tecplot distributor for Brazil. They provide consulting engineering services as well as represent a full line of simulation software solutions. They have offices in Miami, Florida, USA and Sao Paolo, Brazil. Contact information for both offices can be found on their website.
Tecplot, Inc is an operating company of Toronto-based Constellation Software, Inc. (CSI), is the leading independent developer of visualization and analysis software for engineers and scientists. CSI is a public company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:CSU). CSI acquires, manages and builds software businesses that provide mission-critical solutions in specific vertical markets.
Dave Taflin: As you mentioned, SZL Server is our client server architecture for loading data that resides on remote machines. It consists of two components, first off an add-on, and the main dialog to the add-on is shown on the right side of the screen there. And secondly, a remote server that this add-on talks to, to retrieve data from the remote machine.
And I should specify here that the SZL Server requires our new SZL file format, which has been under development here at Tecplot for the last three years or so. It enables Tecplot 360 to load small subsets of your data, thereby greatly reducing the disc access for the plots that you need to make. Finally, for security we use the SSH encryption and authentication methods.
A complex plot will take about five times as long to display as if you were loading it from your local hard disk. But that is still an order of magnitude (or two) faster than downloading the file to your local hard disk. So it can save you a lot of time.
Dave Taflin: It is as secure as SSH itself is, which uses pretty state-of-the-art authentication and encryption methods. As I mentioned before, it uses SSH tunneling to encrypt your data for transmission. We also support multi-factor authentication to the remote SSH server. This is typically how security is enforced for the large supercomputer centers.
Dave Taflin: Each instance of SZL Server will use multi-threading, but it is not running in MPI parallel, if that was the intent of the question. However, each remote load that you do is going to launch a different instance of SZL Server, so you can get some parallelism there.
An iso-volume is an important concept when you need to quantify the volume occupied by scaler or a set of scalar values. In ocean sciences, an iso-volume can be used to visualize and quantify values, like dissolved oxygen, an indicator of poor water quality. In diesel engines, an iso-volume can be used to identify regions in the cylinder contributing to emissions.
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