[GRASS-dev] more NVIZ updates

[Helena Mitasova]

On Dec 5, 2006, at 8:01 PM, Michael Barton wrote:

> On 12/5/06 2:14 AM, "Hamish" <hamish_nospam at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Here are some initial comments and questions before I start working on
> these...
>
>>
>> some comments/suggestions:
>>
>> * "Visualize->Volumes" is confusing as vector volumes can exist too
>> (watertower, dinosaur)

just a note -

there is a difference - 3D rasters represent trivariate functions
so at each point in 3D space you can have a different value - I think
calling this a volume is quite intuitive

watertower, dinosaur - 3D vector surfaces are quite different - if  
you try to represent
it by a volume you would have it filled with just 1 and no-data.
So I don't think that 3D surfaces or 3D vectors should be called
volumes - you essentially have 3D points, lines and areas.

Helena

P.S. I am working on the GRASSbook 3rd edition and I have a list of  
terminology
troubles that we have in the manual pages and other documentation.
I will bring it up for discussion when I feel I have most of them to  
make the discussion
most efficient and get the big picture too.

>
> I thought about this too. There is no separate vector volumes panel  
> (it
> might be nice though), which is why I went with the simpler  
> 'Volumes'. Maybe
> call this one...
>
>     Raster volumes
>     Voxels
>     Grid 3D volumes
>
> other?
>
>>
>> * make the green text of "DRAW", DRAW CURRENT darker. It's hard to  
>> read
>> against the grey window background. the NSEW placement arrow isn't as
>> bad, but I'd still make it and the blue text a bit less bright.
>
> I'll see if I can find a darker color that still looks sort of  
> green. The
> idea is to make the "draw" button stand out.
>
>>
>> * In Vis->Vect points get rid of the empty space when no map is  
>> loaded.
>> when a map is loaded, have the thematic controls toggle down  
>> instead of
>> always there. aka hide the advanced options so not to overwhelm the
>> user with a 747 cockpit of controls.
>
> I'd like to have this one close too. I might have figured out how  
> to do it
> in the volume control panel, but I'm not sure. I'll see. Same with the
> controls. This is doable but complicated. What makes it worse is  
> that the
> code is so old and convoluted.
>
>>
>> * Rast/Vol panels: don't bother with drop down menus for lists of  
>> 2 or 3
>> items (Drawmode, Style, Shading ; Vis type, Shading) You can have all
>> opts on the main panel + a column title without losing much real  
>> estate.
>> There's plenty of vertical space in those two panels to play with.
>
> I agree. I want to keep some consistency among panels, but it is  
> good to
> save space--especially with the very large volume panel. I want to  
> do some
> other things to tighten this on up if I can.
>
>>
>> * If you go Vis->Vector pts then Vis->Scaled diff, the points panel
>> doesn't close automatically. Same with a number of other  
>> combinations of
>> panels.
>
> To be frank, I don't know what makes some panels close and others  
> stay open.
> The best would be for panels to stay open until a certain cumulative
> vertical size is reached and then close.
>
>>
>> * fringe: fix the positioning of the fringe corners. Setting the  
>> Raster
>> fine resolution to "1" helps a bit. the error depends on that  
>> setting.
>
> This is a togl issue that Bob is working on. Might not be fixable.
>
>>
>> * default Label text size is very small. Suggest default font size of
>> 17? (16 doesn't exist for me  "Cannot Load Font\nTrying default  
>> Font")
>>
>
> Is the same on all systems? I didn't change the defaults because of  
> this
> very problem you mention. Any way to find out which sizes might be  
> standard
> on most systems?
>
> Michael
>
> __________________________________________
> Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
> School of Human Evolution & Social Change
> Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity
> Arizona State University
>
> phone: 480-965-6213
> fax: 480-965-7671
> www: http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton
>
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