PLOTMTV(L)                                                       PLOTMTV(L)
                               March 17, 1993



 NAME
      plotmtv - fast multi-purpose plotting program for X11-windows


 SYNOPSIS
      plotmtv [-Pprinter]
              [-3d] [-colorps] [-debug] [-landscape] [-nodate] [-noxplot] [-o
              postscript-file] [-plotall] [-print] [-printcmd print_command]
              [-scale scale] [-verbose]
              [-pbg background_color] [-pfg foreground_color]
              [-<X11 options>]
              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, 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  Graphical  User
      Interface  allows interactive zoom and pan, 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.   The  X11  plot  in  PLOTMTV  can  also be
      controlled from the keyboard.  Pressing the "Q" key is a fast  way  of
      popping down the plot window.  For the 3D plot, the viewing vector can
      be changed using the "H", "J", "K",  "L"  and  "O"  keys  on  the  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 (y=constant), and "X" will plot the image projected  on  the
      y-z plane (x=constant).

 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
      -Pprinter
           Specifies the printer to which to send the PostScript plot.   The
           default  uses  the  printer  name  from  the environment variable
           $PRINTER.




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 PLOTMTV(L)                                                       PLOTMTV(L)
                               March 17, 1993



           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.

      -3d  Plots in 3D instead of the default 2D.

      -colorps
           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".

      -debug
           Makes PLOTMTV extremely loquacious.

      -landscape
           Prints the postscript plot in landscape mode (rotated).

      -nodate
           Prints the postscript plot without a time/date stamp.

      -noxplot
           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".

      -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.




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 PLOTMTV(L)                                                       PLOTMTV(L)
                               March 17, 1993



      -scale scale
           Sets a plot scale factor.   This  is  used  only  for  POSTSCRIPT
           plotting.

      -v   Makes PLOTMTV more talkative.

      -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

      -iconic

      -geom geometry

      -rv

      -bw border-width

      -bd border-color

      -fg foreground-color

      -bg background-color

      -fn font-name
           Sets input options for the X-window system.

      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")


 HISTORY
      PLOTMTV is based on the DRAWPLOT, CONTOUR and PDRAW programs from U.C.
      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;



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 PLOTMTV(L)                                                       PLOTMTV(L)
                               March 17, 1993



      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...


 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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Ralf Schwedler