Overview
GINOSURF is a multi-dimensional graphical display library
providing a variety of surface representations. Contour plots,
perspective surfaces and cross-sectional diagrams can all be
generated to perform accurate visual appraisal of your
multi-dimensional data. This impressive and high performance surface
mapping can all be created with a minimum of programming effort.
Data sources include 3D or 4D, random or gridded datasets which are
interpolated onto a gridded or triangulated network with full
programmable interpolation control. Pre-triangulated data can also
be input from FE triangulated datasets and DXF Polyface surface
metafiles. Control routines provide full colour control, scaling,
direction of viewing, character and annotation control, projection
of contour slices, area fill of specified data regions, axis control
and full hidden surface facilities.
Triangular Interpolation
GINOSURF can interpolate from functions, random data or gridded
data, but as well as interpolating onto a rectangular grid as most
other packages do, GINOSURF can interpolate onto a triangular
network.
A triangulation network may be generated from random (or gridded but
treated as random) data from which contour maps, 3D surfaces and
cross-sections may be drawn. Contouring through a triangulated
network allows more precise tracing of a particular height value
because the 'route' of the contour is evaluated by interpolating
between the three nodes of each triangle which means only the
'local' values will affect the contouring. Interpolating onto a
rectangular grid involves a larger number of surrounding points and
can influence the tracing adversely. The triangulation network has
the disadvantage of greater complexity, but has the advantage of
offering irregular boundaries, faults, excluded regions and many
additional control routines.
Contour Maps
GINOSURF contour maps give you full control over all aspects of
the map, either by accepting the default settings or customizing via
additional parameters and routine calls. Contour maps can be
displayed over the complete contour range of the data or just the
contour levels you want to display on the map. You can choose a
whole range of annotation settings for the axes or contours
themselves and of course you can add colour fill between the
contours to enhance the presentation quality.
Contours overlayed on Image
A coloured contour map can easily be overlayed onto an existing
image map giving accurate colour information directly relating to
the image data. The image can be any one of the popular image
formats including BMP, JPEG, WMF, PNG etc.
3D Projected Contours
In addition to displaying contour maps as 2D drawings, they may
also be projected onto a 3D axis system with or without an
accompanying surface. They can be colour filled or line-drawn and
the line-drawn variety can be optionally background filled
beforehand if a transparency effect is not desired.
3D Filled Surfaces
3D surface maps can be shaded or filled to emphasize height
related features. The surface can be viewed from any eyepoint and
control is given over frame style, base style, annotation,
height-base ratio, and display of surface line styles.
Contoured Surfaces
Filled surfaces can also be drawn with contour data overlaid so that
the colour filling is controlled by the contour bands.
3D Wireframe Surfaces
Wireframe surfaces can be viewed and controlled in the same way
as filled surfaces but can be used to give more a more accurate
represention of the data being displayed. Wire-frame surfaces can be
drawn with different coloured section lines that vary according to
height.
3D Shaded Surfaces
Lighting and Shading can be applied to any type of surface map
using the OpenGL facilities of GINO. Flat, Gouraud or Phong shading
can be set together with up to 8 light sources including spot
lights, directional lights or ambient lights.
Textured Overlays
Texture mapping can be applied to any filled surface allowing
the draping of any size pixel map up to 1024 x 1024 pixels. The
texture can be applied in overlay mode, modulate mode or blend mode,
either replacing or merging with the surface colours respectively.
Faults and Breaklines
One or more vertical fault lines can be added to an existing 3D
network. A fault line (or curve) is a vertical discontinuity in the
surface, but to allow triangulation of the fault, it is displaced by
a small amount from the vertical.
Break lines may be used to add surface details such as contours,
ridges or buildings whether or not the heights of such features are
known. The line segments are guaranteed to exist as edges of
triangles in the new network and therefore where constant heights
are supplied, contours will not cross the breakline.
Cut and Fill Surface Display
Projected building site boundaries and slopes may be added to
surveyed surface data to calculate and display cut-and-fill areas
and volumes for the project. The site data is formed into an
additional sub-surface from which the intersection with the true
surface data is calculated. Separate areas and volumes both above
and below the intersection are supplied along with the ability to
display the site in-situ with the original surface.
Animation
Animation sequences can be both displayed and exported using
facilities within GINOSURF. Utilising OpenGL display lists via the
GINO segment facilities, smooth rotated views of shaded surfaces can
be displayed as part of an application under Windows or .NET.
Alternatively, sequences of metafiles can be exported to construct
animation applets using all the power of GINOSURF.
Cross-Sections
Two points on the base of a contour map or 3D surface can easily
be used to draw a simple cross-section. The cross section can be
wire-frame or colour-filled as per a contour map and the usual
facilities of frame type, axes style, labels and annotation can all
be controlled.
A polyline cross section is composed of contiguous sections
specified through a series of line segments along the base of a
contour map or 3D surface.
3D Cross-Sections
Straight line and Polyline cross sections can be displayed on a
set of 3D axes either with or without their corresponding surface.
Additional Features
Export maps to DXF, WMF, CGM, BMP, JPG, PNG and Postsript
formats
Print to any Windows printer or plotter
Import DXF polymesh into vertex and triangle arrays
Combine any number and any type of map on a single page
Full screen cursor or mouse interaction for data and point
enquiry
Define custom line styles and colors and save for use on other
maps
Add Text anywhere on the map using TrueType fonts
Include superscripts, subscripts and Greek or other characters
in text
Easily clip boundaries or posted points to contour map limits
Display and print subsets of completed maps, complete with
subset axes
