Origin 3D/Contour Module Help Contents

Procedures

Creating a 3D Scatter Plot

Creating a Surface or Contour Plot

Combining a Surface and Scatter Plot

Creating a 3D Ribbon Chart

Reference

(Dialog Access)

Scatter Plots

Surface Plots

Ribbon-Wall-Bar Plots

3D Options

Contour


Creating a 3D Scatter Graph
Creating a 3D Scatter Plot

To create a 3D scatter plot:

1.  Create a worksheet that has an X column, Y column, and Z column.

2.  Enter the data you want to plot.

3.  Click on the Z column heading to select the column.

4.  Select the PLOT3D:SCATTER command.

To rotate and zoom the graph:

The ten square buttons at the top right of the 3D scatter plot window are used to rotate and zoom the 3D graph.  The buttons in the left column rotate or zoom in one direction.  The buttons in the right coloumn rotate or zoom in the opposite direction.

To set 3D axes options:

Click on the 3D Options button in the 3D scatter plot window.  The 3D Options dialog box opens.

To set scatter plot options:

Double-click on a plotted data point to open the Scatter Plot Details dialog box.


Plotting a Surface Graph
Plotting a Surface or Contour Plot

To plot a surface or contour plot:

1.  Select the File:New:Matrix command to open a matrix window.

2.  Use the Data:Set Matrix Dimensions command to set the dimensions of the matrix (the number of rows vs. the number of columns).

3.  Select the Data:Set Matrix XY Coordinates to open the Matrix XY Coordinates dialog box.  Enter the values you want to place at the first and last X and Y columns.  Origin interpolates between these values to sett X and Y values for the entire matrix.

4.  Set the Z values for the matrix (this is the value that actually appears in each cell in the matrix).  Select the Data:Set Matrix Values command, and enter aformula in the dialog box.  For example, sin(x)+cos(y)

5.  To plot the data as a surface plot, select the Plot:Plot Mesh Surface command.  To plot the data as a contour plot, select the Plot:Contour Plot command.

To edit a surface plot:

Click on the intersection between mesh grid lines to open the Surface Plot Options dialog box.

To edit a contour plot:

Double-click on the contour plot to open the Contour Details dialog box.


Creating a Surface from a 3D Scatter Plot
Combining a Surface and Scatter Plot

Once you have plotted a 3D scatter plot, you can instruct Origin to create a surface mesh based on the 3D scatter data points.

To create a 3D scatter/surface plot

1.  Enter into a worksheet the 3D scatter plot values.  Note the name of the Z data set (composed of the worksheet name followed by the Z column name).

2.  Click and drag on the column headings to select the X, Y, and Z columns.  Now select the Convert:XYZ -> Grid(Matrix) command.  ****Click OK to accept the values in the Gridding Parameters dialog box.  The worksheet values are converted to the Matrix 1 window.

3.  Select the Plot:Plot Mesh Surface command to plot the matrix values.

4.  In the plot window that contains the surface mesh you just plotted, double-click on the layer icon to open the Layer Control dialog box.  Select from the Available Data list the data set name you noted in step 1 above, then click on the => button to move that data set to the In This Layer list.  Click OK.  This moves the 3D scatter data set into the current plot window.

5.  Finally, add anchor lines to the scatter plot.  Double-click on a 3D scatter plot data point to open the Scatter Plot Details dialog box.  Click in the Anchor Lines:X-Y Plane checkbox to enable the XY plane anchor line, then click OK.

Note:  If you have trouble clicking on a data point, select Data1_c from the Data menu.  You may have to select the command twice.  This is an alternate method to open the dialog box.


Creating a 3D Ribbon Chart

The ribbon chart provides a way to create a 3D graph out of 2D data.  You do not require Z dimension values to createbon chart.  The worksheet column number is used to simulate a third dimension.

To create a 3D ribbon chart:

1.  Open a worksheet, and enter one or more columns of Y data.

2.  Select the Y column(s), then select the PLOT:3D RIBBON command.  Origin opens a new plot windoe, and plots each column of Y data as a separate ribbon plot.


3D Scatter Options Dialog Box
3D Scatter Plot Details Dialog Box

Show

Show the Original scatter points and their Projections onto the various axes planes.

Connect Line

When enabled, connects all scatter symbols for this plot.  Select a connect line color from the associated color list.

Edit Style of

You can choose from here to edit the Original scatter display or the Projections display. When you make a change in this selection, all the controls except those in the Show box will change to reflect the current settings. Please note that projections on all planes must share the same display information.

Symbols

A scatter plot symbol styles and point size can be specified here. You can also choose a color on all the symbols on this scatter plot, or have the symbols assume the color on its Z position according to the ColorMap settings in the current layer. To change the ColorMap settings, click on the Color Map button on the lower right hand size of the page.

Color

Same Color:	Choose a color for the 3D scatter plot symbols.

Color Map:	Symbol color varies according to its height. The colors are defined in the Color Map Control dialog box.

Text/Border Color:	Choose a color for the symbol border. The selected color is also used for the number if numbered symbol is chosen from the symbol type menu (see above).

Projection

Show Original:	Show symbols in their original position.

X_Y Plane:	Project the symbols to X_Y plane and show them there.

Y_Z Plane:	Project the symbols to Y_Z plane and show them there.

Z_X Plane:	Project the symbols to Z_X plane and show them there.

Anchor Lines

Lets you drop an anchor line from the data symbols to the X_Y Plane and/or Y_Z plane and/or Z_X plane. Select anchor line color from the color menu.  All anchor lines are shown in the same color.


Surface Plot Options Dialog Box

Wire Frame

Draw the surface using lines only, without hidden line removed. This option is much faster than the other options. Under this option, you can use a Single Color to draw the surface, which is the fastest, or you can Add 2nd Color. With this option, you can increase the density of the wires and still be able to differentiate the primary grid lines from the added lines. By adjusting the density of the added lines, you can generate a semi-transparent surface.

Fill Color

This option is relatively fast. When Back Face Color is enabled, the drawing becomes slower but the surface is created to a better quality.

ColorMap

This option creates contour lines and fill colors based on the Z values on the matrix. You can open the Color Map Control to set the corresponding relation between the Z scales and the colors. You can also apply Z clipping in this dialog box.


Contour Plot Options Dialog Box

Set contour plot options.

Z Axis Scales

Draw Contour Lines

Fill Contour

Show Data Z Values

Labels, number of digits


Ribbons-Walls-Bars Options Dialog Box

Width

 Z direction:	Percentage of the distance in between walls. When 100, there will be no space between walls

X direction:	Percentage of the average distance in X direction between data.

Plot Group

If Independent style for each member is checked, whatever showed in the dialog box only applies to the member that you clicked on to open the dialog box.

If Same is checked, every member will have the same line color and fill color as shown in this dialog box.

If you checked Increment Fill Color the fill color in the dialog box will be the fill color of the first ribbon in the ribbon list, and the second ribbon will have the color next to the chosen color on the color list.and so on. This works similarly for line color.


3D Options Dialog Box

With this dialog box, you can select which coordinate planes and axes to show, where to put coordinate planes, what colors you want them to be. You can also select from which angle and how close you want to view plotted objects.

Back Planes

Auto Position:	When enabled, coordinate planes will be automatically put behind the objects while the objects are being rotated.

X_Y:	When enabled, show X_Y plane.

Y_Z:	When enabled, show Y_Z plane.

Z_X:	When enabled, show Z_X plane.

X_Y % Pos:	A Percentage of  Z  range from the bottom end. Specifies X_Y plane position.

Y_Z % Pos:	A Percentage of  X  range from the back end. Specifies Y_Z plane position.

Z_X % Pos:	A Percentage of  Y  range from the left end. Specifies Z_Xplane position.

X_Y Plane Color:	Choose a color for X_Y plane from this drop-diwn list.

Y_Z Plane Color:	Choose a color for Y_Z plane from this drop-diwn list.

Z_X Plane Color:	Choose a color for Z_X plane from this drop-diwn list.

X_Axis:	When enabled, increments and labels of  X_Axis will be shown.

Y_Axis:	When enabled, increments and labels of  y-axis will be shown.

Z_Axis:	When enabled, increments and labels of  Z_Axis will be shown.

Skip Points

Speed up drawing of a Surface Mesh Plot by only providing a rough sketch of the graph.  It is especially useful when the mesh is of large dimension (X and/or Y columns). When enabled, only Xpts of data in the X direction and Ypts of the data in Y direction will be picked evenly for drawing.

Projection

Choose between perspective and orthographic projection for the 3D image onto the display surface. Perspecitve projection is what we normally see in photographs where railroad tracks are narrower in the distance. Orthographic projections is an approximation to perspective projection when the viewpoint is located at infinity relative to the objects being imaged. In orthographic projections, there is no distortion of the coordinates of a point and consequently railroad tracks look parallel in the image. Orthographic projection is usually used in presenting multiple experiment scans, or waterfall types of plots.

Rotation(X,Y,Z)

Set the angle of rotation for the X, Y, and Z axes.

When all three rotation angles are set to zero the axes directions are

X axis:  horizontal

Z axis:  vertical

Y axis:  points "into" the screen.

If rotation values for X, Y, and Z are all non-zero, the position of the graph can be obtained by rotating the graph X degrees about the X axis first, Y degrees about the Y axis second, and finally, Z degrees about the Z axis.

Perspective Angle

Specifies the perspective angle, or "depth", of the graph. This field is ignore for orthographic projection.

XY Plane Clipping

When enabled, the part of the graph that fall out of the X and/or Y From-To range will not be shown.


Color Map Control Dialog Box

Color mapping lets you assign different colors to different areas of a 3D scatter or surface mesh plot, based on height above the Z_X axes plane.

To enable color mapping, double-click on the scatter or surface mesh plotted data, then select the Color Map option in the Plot Details dialog box.  To set color map options, click in the 3D plot window on the Color Map button to open the Color Map dialog box.

Color Buttons

High Color/Middle Color/Low Color:

These three buttons establish the color gradient for the color map.  Click on a button to open the Color dialog box, in which you can select a pre-defined color, or define a custom color.  This color then becomes the color for the portion of the color gradient represented by the button you selected.

Color Above/Color Below:

Use these buttons to establish a separate color for the top portion and/or bottom portion of the color map.  These colors will appear above and/or below the color gradient established by the High/Middle/Low color buttons.  Enter a value in the % of Z scale boxes to set the percentage of the color map to be drawn with the Color Above and Color Below colors.  For example, enter values of 10% and 90% to apply the Color Below to the bottom 10% of the map, and apply the Color Above to the top 10%.  The default values of 0 below and 100 above specify that the below and above colors not be used at all.

Ramp

Determines how the three selected gradient colors will be mixed to form the color gradient.  To select gradient colors use the High, Middle, and Low color buttons.

Number of Colors

Specifies the number of intermediate colors that are used to form the color gradient for the color map.  The minimum number of colors is 3;  maximum is 16.

High Clip %/Low Clip %

Enter values in these boxes to clip (at any arbitrary point) the top or bottom portion of a color-mapped object.  For example, enter 75 in the High Clip % box to clip off the top 25% of the object.  Enter 20 in the Low Clip % box to clip off the bottom 20% of the object.  At the default values of 100 high clip and 0 low clip the object is not clipped at all.

High/low clip allows you to create new shapes and see new relationships in your data.  Note that clipping applies only to color-mapped objects.  Non-color-mapped objects cannot be clipped.