Module: Ortho Views ()

Description:

The Ortho Views module can, in the usual 3D viewer and three 2D viewers, display any one of:

• a 3D scalar field defined on a uniform lattice (Uniform Scalar Field),
• a uniform scalar field specialized for the out-of-core management (Volume Data Object),
• a Surface.

The Ortho Views module defines 3 orthogonal support planes over which some overlays will be displayed. By default, an Ortho Views module is created with a "background" overlay. For volume based inputs, this "background" overlay uses Ortho Slices and for surface based inputs, "background" overlay uses Surface Cross Contours.
Note: Only support planes can be picked. This means that in case the OrthoViews module isn't displayed, it won't be possible to drag OrthoViews representations (including overlays representation) using the mouse in the 3D viewer.

In the 3D viewer, the intersection of the slices is represented by a bold cross hair. The colors used for the cross hair are the usual red, green, blue (rgb) for x, y, z axes.

2D viewers show xy, yz, and xz planar views of the data. Note that for the xy view the origin is in the upper left corner.
In each 2D viewer the color of the frame of the visible support plane corresponds to its normal axis (once again: red, green, blue for x, y, z) and the location of the two other support planes is indicated by their projected colored frame.
It is possible to hide those locators by using the viewer toggles of the module.
The camera direction of a viewer can be modified by first selecting the viewer and then clicking on one of the camera views buttons: .

In each 2D viewer it is possible to change the location of the intersection between the two other support planes by pressing [Ctrl] and clicking with the middle mouse button on the support plane. It is also possible to change the location of a support plane by pressing [CTRL] and using the mouse wheel.

It is possible to change the number of viewers by using the layout buttons: . In case of multiple viewers, the 3D viewer will always be visible.

Overlay modules: right-click on the Ortho Views popup menu, volume based and surface based overlay modules are available. Those extra overlays allow user to add meta information over support planes.

Volume overlay modules can be connected to any volume. Those overlays are:

• Isocontour Slice,
• Grid Lines,
• Ortho Slice,
• Interactive Thresholding,
• Intensity Ranges Contours.

Surface overlay modules can be connected to any surface. Those overlays are:

• Surface Cross Section,
• Surface Cross Contour.

Overlay modules are tightly connected to the Ortho Views. All ports of kind translation, rotation, plane definition, clip buttons and so on, will be hidden in those modules as they are controlled by the Ortho Views.
Overlay modules visibility in the four viewers is controlled by their viewer toggles.
The rendering priority of overlay modules can be modified from any overlay module thanks to the Layer order port:

"<<"	Move the Overlay at the bottom of all other overlays.
"<"	Move the Overlay down.
">"	Move the Overlay up.
">>"	Move the Overlay on top of all other overlays.

Hints:

• In case, you are displaying transparent overlays, you can use Sorted Layers Delayed transparency to avoid common transparency issues.
• In case, one of your overlays is fully opaque, you can use Blend Sorted transparency to avoid common transparency issues. This transparency type will give good results with a lesser impact on performance.
• In case your overlays didn't contain any semi-transparent colors but only fully transparent or opaque colors (e.g., when displaying defects over a volume), it is better to use the "Binary" transparency type. See Transparency port of the Ortho Slice module. In this case, Blend transparency is enough.

Example:

Figure 1: Example of Ortho Views use

Connections:

Data [required]
This is the data input which is connected to the module.
The appropriate "background" overlay type (volume based or surface based) is automatically created.
An Ortho Views has only one data input type: if a stack of images is connected, it is impossible to connect this Ortho Views to a surface and vice versa; the Ortho Views has to be deleted first.

Ports:

Info

This port displays the value of the data at the point where the 2D slices intersect, as well as the coordinates of this point. Those coordinates are expressed in the local coordinate space of the input.

Synchronize

In zoom mode, which is the default mode in 2D viewers, the zoom factor is controlled thanks to the left mouse click or, the mouse wheel. In zoom mode, it is also possible to pan the camera by holding down the middle mouse button. When the synchronize viewers checkbox is checked, pan and zoom are synchronized in 2D viewers.
If it is unchecked, then it is possible to control the camera location and zoom factor independently in each viewer. Focus will be on the view which did not change during the resynchronization process.

Crosshair

Use those checkboxes to show or hide the cross hair cursor in the 3D viewer and/or in all the 2D viewers.

Slice Number X

The slider controls the location of the support plane along the X axis.
The range depends on the input data type. If the input is a stack of images, the range will be 0 to the stack of image dimension in the X direction. If the input is a surface, the range is 0 to 100, the slider value being a percentage of the bounding box size in the X direction.
The clip button lets you clip the 3D view by the YZ support plane (the one along the X axis) in one of the following modes:
No clipping is applied.
The clipping direction is either the direction of the normal to the plane or its inverse, depending on which one forms the largest angle with the camera direction.
The clipping direction is the direction of the normal to the plane.
The clipping direction is the opposite direction of the normal to the plane.

Slice Number Y

The slider controls the location of the support plane along the Y axis. See description of port Translate X for more information.

Slice Number Z

The slider controls the location of the support plane along the Z axis. See description of port Translate X for more information.

Commands:

resetLayersOrder
This command can be used to automatically reset order of layers. It loops over downstream connections so that the newest layer will be in front of other layers.
It is mandatory to call this command in case, you create layers from a TCL script. If you don't call it, no order will be computed and all overlays will be drawn at the same level.