PLOTMTV(L) PLOTMTV(L)
July 15, 1994
NAME
plotmtv - fast multi-purpose plotting program for X11-windows
SYNOPSIS
plotmtv
[-mult] [-Pprinter] [-printcmd print_command] [-colorps]
[-3d] [-v] [-d] [-l] [-scale scale]
[-noframe] [-nodate] [-noxplot] [-plotall] [-print]
[-pbg background_color] [-pfg foreground_color]
[-geom geometry] [-rv] [-bg background_color] [-fg
foreground_color]
[-o postscript-file]
data-file1 data-file2 ...
DESCRIPTION
plotmtv is a fast and convenient X11 program for visualization of
scientific data. The program reads in data in the MTVDAT format and
plots each dataset in the data-file in turn. Each plot comes with a
simple but functional Graphical User Interface (GUI), which allows
users to zoom in or pan to areas of interest on the plot, or to toggle
between 2D and 3D plots. The plots may then be sent directly to a
grayscale or color PostScript printer for hard-copy output. plotmtv's
capabilities include 2D line and scatter plots (x-vs-y), contour
plots, 3D surface, line and scatter plots as well as vector plots.
The program has been extended recently to include probability plots,
barcharts and histograms. See the MTV Plot Data Format for details on
the data-formats used to specify data for the above-mentioned plot-
types. The Graphical User Interface for plotmtv is quite limited,
consisting of several toggle buttons for setting commonly used plot
options, and an interactive zoom and pan capability via the mouse. The
GUI also allows toggling between 2D and 3D plots, rotating 3D plots,
and some (limited) customization of the resultant plots. Through the
GUI, one can also print the plot using the "Print" button, or save the
Postscript plot to a file using the "Print to File" button. If more
than one data-file or data-set is specified, a small "page" widget
will appear in the lower left corner of the plotmtv plot window. The
"page" widget allows one to page between different plots, using the
same window, by clicking on the Up or Down buttons. The X11 plot in
plotmtv can also be controlled from the keyboard, i.e., by pressing
specific keys on the keyboard while the mouse is within the X11 plot
window. Pressing on "n" (next) and "p" (previous) pages between
different plots, while pressing the "q" key is a fast way of exiting
the program. For the 3D plot, the viewing vector can be changed using
the "h", "j", "k", "l" and "o" keys on the keyboard; the plot on the
screen can be rotated sideways using the "h" or "l" keys, rotated up
or down using the "j" and "k" keys, and drawn with the original
viewing vector using "o". The "a", "s", "d" and "f" keys will produce
90o rotations. "z" will plot the image projected on the x-y plane
(z=constant), "y" will plot the image projected on the x-z plane
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PLOTMTV(L) PLOTMTV(L)
July 15, 1994
(y=constant), and "x" will plot the image projected on the y-z plane
(x=constant).
Key Action
p page to the previous plot
n page to the next plot
q end program
h rotate right 10o (3D plot only)
j rotate down 10o (3D plot only)
k rotate up 10o (3D plot only)
l rotate left 10o (3D plot only)
a rotate right 90o (3D plot only)
s rotate down 90o (3D plot only)
d rotate up 90o (3D plot only)
f rotate left 90o (3D plot only)
o return to original view (3D plot only)
z project on x-y plane (3D plot only)
x project on y-z plane (3D plot only)
y project on x-z plane (3D plot only)
DATA FORMAT
plotmtv uses the MTVDAT data format, which is too long to describe in
this document. The data format is described fully in The MTV Plot Data
Format document.
OPTIONS
-mult
Brings up an X-window with multiple plots. This is a useful way
of comparing different plots on the same page.
-Pprinter
Specifies the printer to which to send the PostScript plot. The
default uses the printer name from the environment variable
$PRINTER.
Note: plotmtv will send a PostScript file to the specified
printer only if the size of the file is less than 1000Kbytes.
This maximum file size is due to the limitations of the UNIX
lpr(1) command.
-printcmd print_command
Specifies the print_command to be executed in sending a
PostScript plot to the printer. The default is the UNIX "lpr -h"
command. The print_command may also be set using the environment
variable $MTV_PRINTER_CMD, i.e., 'setenv MTV_PRINTER_CMD "lpr
-h"'.
-colorps
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PLOTMTV(L) PLOTMTV(L)
July 15, 1994
-color
-pscolor
Instructs the PostScript renderer to include colors in the
PostScript description of the plot. By default, plotmtv produces
gray-scale PostScript plots. The color PostScript file produced
with this option may be printed out on a color PostScript
printer. Be aware however that the same file will not print out
correctly on a black-and-white PostScript printer. The color
PostScript mode may also be set by setting the $MTV_PSCOLOR
environment variable, i.e., "setenv MTV_PSCOLOR ON".
-3d Plots in 3D instead of the default 2D.
-v Makes plotmtv more talkative.
-d Makes plotmtv extremely loquacious.
-l Prints the PostScript plot in landscape mode (rotated 90o).
-noframe
Prints the PostScript plot without a bounding box frame. The
bounding box frame is drawn only when the plot is printed with a
scale value less than 1. Specifying this option turns off the
frame.
-nodate
Prints the PostScript plot without a time/date stamp.
-noxplot
-noplot
Stops the program from starting up the X11 graphics routines.
The normal mode of operation is start up plotmtv from an X-
terminal or X-display and interact with the graphics using the
Graphical User Interface. However, the -noxplot option is also
provided to allow the plots to be directly drawn in PostScript,
thus bypassing the X11 plotting routines. This is particularly
useful for batch-mode operation, where multiple plots can be sent
to a printer without user intervention.
-plotall
Plots all the datasets found in a single plot. Useful for
combining data from different files.
-print
Sends the PostScript plot to the printer automatically. Usually
this is used together with the -noxplot option to produce
PostScript plots in batch, i.e., "plotmtv -noxplot -print
datafile".
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PLOTMTV(L) PLOTMTV(L)
July 15, 1994
-scale scale
Sets a plot scale factor. This is used only for PostScript
plotting.
-pfg foreground_color
-pbg background_color
Sets the foreground and background colors in the plotmtv X11 Plot
Window.
-display host:display.screen
Opens a window on the given host and display
-geom geometry
-rv
-fg foreground-color
-bg background-color
data-file1 data-file2...
Specifies the MTVDAT data-file(s).
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
PRINTER printer name for hardcopy (e.g., "hpps")
MTV_PRINTER_CMD name of the UNIX print command (e.g., "lpr -h")
MTV_PSCOLOR for color PostScript (e.g., "ON")
MTV_WRB_COLORMAP uses a different color map for contours (e.g.,
"ON")
MTV_USE_ISOLATIN_FONTis used to turn off the ISOLATIN PostScript Plot
(e.g., "OFF")
MT_PSFONT1 specifies the size of the top-label PostScript
font (e.g. "25")
MT_PSFONT2 specifies the size of the axis-label PostScript
font (e.g. "20")
MT_PSFONT3 specifies the size of the axis-ticks PostScript
font (e.g. "15")
MT_PSFONT4 specifies the size of the side-label PostScript
font (e.g. "12")
MT_PSFONT5 specifies the size of the annotations PostScript
font (e.g. "12")
MT_PSFONT6 specifies the size of the date-stamp PostScript
font (e.g. "10")
MT_PSFONT7 specifies the size of the contour-label PostScript
font (e.g. "8")
HISTORY
plotmtv is based on the DRAWPLOT, CONTOUR and PDRAW programs from U.C.
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PLOTMTV(L) PLOTMTV(L)
July 15, 1994
Berkeley (yes, I'm responsible for those too!). plotmtv essentially
combines all the capabilities of the three packages into one single
package.
BUGS/LIMITATIONS
The GUI is very limited. The 3D viewing stuff is quite limited too;
hidden-surface removal is implemented as a simple painter's algorithm,
so large 3D polygons don't get plotted (with hidden-surfaces)
correctly. Also there are no perspective plots yet (and probably
never will be)... plotmtv uses some level 2 PostScript commands.
This sometimes causes plots to disappear if plotted on older
PostScript-level-1 printers. If this happens, try setting the
environment variable "MTV_USE_ISOLATIN_FONT" to False, i.e. "% setenv
MTV_USE_ISOLATIN_FONT False".
AUTHOR
Kenny K.H. Toh (ktoh@td2cad.intel.com)
FILES
dataplot.ps default PostScript file
SEE ALSO
The MTV Plot Data Format
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