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Scalar Quantities

Visualize scalar valued data at the nodes or edges of a curve network.

curve network scalar demo

Example:

#include "polyscope/curve_network.h"

std::vector<double> xC(nodes.size());
for (size_t i = 0; i < nodes.size(); i++) {
  xC[i] = nodes[i].x; // (use the x coordinate as sample data)
}

// visualize
polyscope::getCurveNetwork(curveNetworkName)->addNodeScalarQuantity("sample value", xC);

CurveNetwork::addNodeScalarQuantity(std::string name, const T& values, DataType type = DataType::STANDARD)

Add a scalar quantity to the nodes of the curve network.

  • values is the array of scalars at nodes. The type should be adaptable to a float scalar array. The length should be the number of nodes in the curve network.
CurveNetwork::addEdgeScalarQuantity(std::string name, const T& values, DataType type = DataType::STANDARD)

Add a scalar quantity to the edges of the curve network.

  • values is the array of scalars at edges . The type should be adaptable to a float scalar array. The length should be the number of edges in the curve network.

Categorical Scalars

Scalar quantities can also be used to visualize integer-valued labels such as categories, classes, segmentations, flags, etc.

Add the labels as a scalar quantity where the values just happen to be integers (each integer represents a particular class or label), and set DataType::CATEGORICAL. This will change the visualization to a different set of defaults, adjust some shading rules, and use a distinct color from the colormap for each label.

Color Bars

Each scalar quantity has an associated color map, which linearly maps scalar values to a spectrum of colors for visualization. See colormaps for a listing of the available maps, and use quantity->setColorMap("cmap_name") to choose the map.

The colormap is always displayed with an inline colorbar in the structures panel, which also gives a histogram of the scalar values in your quantity. The limits (vminmax) of the colormap range are given by the two numeric fields below the colored display. You can click and drag horizontally on these fields to adjust the map range, or ctrl-click (cmd-click) to enter arbitrary custom values.

image inline and onscreen colorbar

onscreen colorbar

Optionally an additional onscreen colorbar, which is more similar to the colorbars used in other plotting libraries, can be enabled with quantity->setOnscreenColorbarEnabled(true).

By default it is positioned automatically inline with the other UI elements, or it can be manually positioned with quantity->setOnscreenColorbarLocation(glm::vec2(xpos,ypos)).

You can even export this color map to an .svg file for creating figures, via the options menu, or with quantity->exportColorbarToSVG("filename.svg").

Scalar Quantity Options

These options and behaviors are available for all types of scalar quantities on any structure.

Parameter Meaning Getter Setter Persistent?
enabled is the quantity enabled? bool isEnabled() setEnabled(bool newVal) yes
color map the color map to use std::string getColorMap() setColorMap(std::string newMap) yes
onscreen colorbar additional onscreen colorbar bool getOnscreenColorbarEnabled() setOnscreenColorbarEnabled(bool newVal) yes
onscreen colorbar location where to put onscreen colorbar, (-1,-1) (default) means auto glm::vec2 getOnscreenColorbarLocation() setOnscreenColorbarLocation(glm::vec2 newVal) yes
save colorbar to .svg file export colorbar to file void exportColorbarToSVG(std::string filename) - -
map range the lower and upper limits used when mapping the data in to the color map std::pair<double,double> getMapRange() setMapRange(std::pair<double,double>) and resetMapRange() no
isolines enabled are isolines shaded (default=false) bool getIsolinesEnabled() setIsolinesEnabled(bool newVal) yes
isoline style stripes or thin contour lines IsolineStyle getIsolineStyle() setIsolineStyle(IsolineStyle newVal) yes
isoline period period of isoline stripes, in data units float getIsolinePeriod() setIsolinePeriod(float newVal) yes
isoline darkness darkness of isoline stripes (default=0.7) float getIsolineDarkness() setIsolineDarkness(float newVal) yes
contour thickness thickness of isoline contour lines (default=0.3) float getIsolineContourThickness() setIsolineContourThickness(float newVal) yes