For a quick overview of the many benefits of using AVS/Express to visualize your data please run through this quick start guide. This introduction should help you to understand how AVS/Express enables you to rapidly build visualization based solutions.

What you see when AVS/Express Starts

Using the Data Import and Data Visualization Wizards

This section will walk you through a sample application using AVS/Express' two wizards. You will need to check both the Add Data Import Wizard to application and Add Data Visualization Wizard to application boxes In the New Application panel.

Using the Data Import Wizard

In the SingleWindowApp window, pictured on the left, make sure that the Modules selection is set to Data Import Wizard. Now, you will need to enter a file name to get started. We will use wind.fld.

1. Enter:

data\field\wind.fld

You may also use the browse button to find this file.

2. Press Enter. When you have completed this step the file description should have changed from No filename to AVS Field File.

3. Click on the Continue button

4. Use "Modules" menu to switch to the Data Visualization Wizard.

Using the Data Visualization Wizard

Now, the SingleWindowApp should look like the picture on the right.

1. Click on the Continue button. A pop new screen will pop up.

2. The window title should now be Data Viz Wizard -Framing. Select bounding box from the Bounding options and select none for the Axis option.

Click on the Continue button

3. The window title should now be Data Viz Wizard -Preprocessing. For both the Preprocess mesh option and the Preprocess data option select none.

Click on the Continue button.

4. In this window you will choose a Visualization option. Select isosurface.

Click on the Continue button.

5. select none for the legend and misc options.

Click on the Finish button.

You have now completed an application using the Data Import Wizard and Data Visualization Wizard. Now, if you want your application to look similar to the picture below, you may follow these three steps.

1. Use the modules scroll menu to select isosurface.

2. In the UI panel uncheck DATA0 and check DATA1

3. Left Click on the viewer window to rotate the visualization.

In the next section, you will create a similar application without using the wizards. In order to start the next section you will need to delete this current application. To do so, right click on the blue bar in the network editor entitled SingleWindowApp. Select delete. Now you are ready to start the next section.

The first thing you need to do is create an application that enables you to build your visualization. This New Application dialog that appears when you use File->New Application from the menubar of the Express Development Environment is used to achieve this. There several options for application type, but you will predominantly use Single-window DataViewer or Multi-window DataViewer depending upon the look and feel that you require. For the moment we will choose SingleWindow DataViewer but you may experiment with the other options.

You also have the choice to select the default viewer to be a 3D, a 2D, both 2D and a 3D or none at all. If you aren't sure, choose 3D. Choose 2D when you are working with images or other data that is inherently 2D. For this tutorial, choose 3D. This panel also allows you to add in the Data Import Wizard and Data Visualization Wizard, which were discussed earlier in this guide.

To create an application in AVS/Express you select objects from the available libraries. Whilst it is possible to create your own custom objects with their own functionality there are many objects already available in the product for you to use. Above, we select a ReadField object using the left mouse button and then drag it into the application workspace as shown below.

Notice that the SingleWindowApplication container turns a pink colour to indicate that you are inserting an object into it. This procedure is known as instancing an object in the network editor. You are basically creating a copy of the object in order that it is available for use within a visualization network.

 In the case of objects like ReadField, there is some use interface that automatically becomes created inside the SingleWindowApplication user interface as shown below. This allows you to browse for a data file, and the ReadField object then performs its function and reads the file. There is now data available to AVS/Express and it resides within the ReadField object.

You can then proceed to instance further objects into the application workspace as shown below. In order for you to create a visualization network, you need to connect the objects you have instanced together to create the application workflow. This is achieved by clicking the left mouse button on the coloured ports on each of the objects that you have instanced. Below, you will see an example of connecting the ReadField and the isosurface objects. Note that when you click the left mouse button over a coloured port and then drag the mouse around AVS/Express will indicate the available connection points by highlighting the objects in green and drawing a white connection line between the ports. The colours of the ports and connections are significant - they indicate the type of object that you are connecting. In particular, the blue/black represents the AVS field object and the red represents an object that can be rendered in a viewer.

Once you have made all the necessary connections you will have created what is known as a network. You are now ready to use the viewer and all of its constituent controls to visualize and interact with your data.

The SingleWindowApp pictured below shows what the above network looks like in the viewer once a dataset has been read in. The controls on the viewer allow you to pan/zoom/rotate the isosurface in the viewer. There are also many other controls on the attributes of the isosurface object. Basically, any object that is seen in the viewer has its own set of properties that you can change. For example, you may want to change the surface opacity, or the metallicity for light reflection on the surface of the object.

Once you have positioned the object in the viewer, you can also change the properties which are exposed in the user interface that is created when you instance some objects. For example, the isosurface object created the user interface shown below. You can change the level of the isosurface (surface of constant value through the data volume) by using the slider widget.

You will also notice that there are selections for DATA0, DATA1 and DATA2. These are the parameters that exist in the dataset that we have read using ReadField. It is possible to select one of the parameters (eg. DATA0) to perform the isosurface algorithm on and select another parameter (eg. DATA1) for the data on each of the vertices on the data. (the vertices in the data are commonly referred to in AVS/Express as nodes and together with a mesh constitute what is described as a field). This results in you seeing the variation of DATA1 across an isosurface of a particular value of DATA0. This can be an interesting visualization technique across many application areas. For example, you may have a data volume which contains pressure and temperature values. It may be very beneficial to visualize the temperature variation across a particular pressure isosurface.

It is possible to continually update and revise your application by adding/deleting objects and breaking/inserting connections. By adding in an orthoslice object for example we then see an addition object in the viewer. It is possible to have any number of objects represented in the AVS/Express viewer, each one capable of having its own individual properties associated with it. (eg surface opacity etc).

In the same way that we changed the isosurface level using the slider in the isosurface user interface the illustration below shows how the orthoslice that has been added can be controlled.

Once you have completed your application you will typically wish to save your work. This is achieved by using the File->Save Application option from the main menubar in the AVS/Express network editor window, as shown below.

This creates the myApplication.v file which contains the AVS/Express v code that can be reloaded to recreate your application in the network editor. This can be achieved using File->Load Application from the main menubar of the network editor window.