3d surface plot updates and customization

[Blueprint]

Hi all,

I am using a 3D surface plot to view a data set with time, frequency and amplitude as x, y  and z axes. I have some general comments and questions regarding the use of this plot that I hope to get answers to:)

1. Is it possible to remove the frame of the plot? The frame of the 3D surface plot display is in the "modern" style by default. When in "user defined" view, the color can be set to transparent and it is removed as expected. Next time I start the program, the borders are back to "modern".

I am having this indicator on a system style tabbed page, and it does not look very nice to have the modern control there. The same effect is seen with the color map legend, but setting this one to transparent will make it grey.

2. How can I move or resize the color map legend?

3. Is 3D graph plots excluded from the "defer panel updates" function? I dont want the front panel to update while I bring new data into the 3D graph, but even though I place defer panel updates before updating the graph, it is still visible that new data is drawn. 

4. Logarithmic axes overrides the axis settings.  If I have a non-logarithmic y-scale, I can set the range from 0.4 Hz to 11 Hz. If I change to logarithmic scale, the scale with these settings is displayed as 0.1 Hz to 100 Hz. This is really annoying because it gives little room for manually selecting scale. I dont see the reason why I cant select which range to use. Major/minor tick marks also dont have anything to say when the axis is logarithmic, it seems.

5. Are there any way to get a graph palette in projection view? I want the user to be able to switch to x-y plance view and zoom. The only cursor I get is the "hand" which wont let me do anything. The way I have implemented zoom now is by having an XY-graph under the 3D graph which the user can zoom in.

6. Cursors not visible in projection view. I have a cursor represented by a y-z plane in the "user defined" view. When I switch to x-y projection this cursor is gone. (this may be my bad settings)

7. How can I get a render window from this 3D surface plot without stopping the VI? 

I hope that these questions have really easy answers, preferably that I have done something weird that is easy to fix.

I appreciate all comments on these issues. I have added some screenshots to clearify.

Message Edited by Blueprint on 03-26-2010 07:47 AM

[ninlmartijn · Accepted solution]

Dear Blueprint,

Thank you so much for your post on our weforum. Please notice that this isn't a regular indicator. This control is called a X control. That means a lot of Labview code is hanging under beneath. Please find the files at the following location;  

C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 2009\vi.lib\Math Plots\3D Math Plots\3D Surface\3D Surface XCtrl

This explains why some normal control properties aren't available and why you can't move the different components around. You are able to make adjustments to it, so make the frame around the plot transparent for example. What I would recommend is to make a copy from the earlier mentioned location;

- copy the files to the user.lib directory, may be it is also best to create a copy in a zip file.

- open the project files and replace the project objects by the ones from the new location

- facade.vi should be visible; you can open this and make the plotframe transparent.

- you can make also the graph palette visible

I hope this will bring you further. Best regards, 

[Blueprint]

Thanks a lot, I didnt know that I could edit the XControls:)

You answered some of my questions and I appreciate that, but still some topics are left unresolved. I guess I can fiddle around in the XControl VIs and come up with something. Thanks again!